Part 23

They passed along by many a field and dike, till at last they saw the sea in front of them, and in it were set many little green islands with the waves coursing in between. And all about the grassy hills, which soon began to lose themselves in the sand-dunes, a great quantity of peewits were flying high and low, and sea-gulls and sea-swallows. Some of these birds would crowd together on the surface of the sea, and stay there quite still, so that they looked like little white islets; and above them and about flew thousands of their fellows. The very soil itself was full of their nests, and Ulenspiegel stooped down to pick up one of their eggs which was lying on the road. No sooner had he done so than a sea-gull came flapping towards him, crying out the while most dolefully. And in answer to this summons there flew up a hundred other sea-gulls, crying out as if in anguish, hovering about the head of Ulenspiegel and over the neighbouring nests. But they did not dare to approach him.

"Ulenspiegel," said Nele, "these birds are asking you to have mercy on their eggs."

Then she began to tremble, and said:

"I am afraid. Behold, the sun is setting, the sky is pale, the stars are awakening, it is the hour of the spirits. And look at these ruddy exhalations which rise all about us and seem as it were to trail along the ground. Tyl, my beloved, what monster from hell may he be who thus in the mist begins to open his fiery mouth? And look over there towards Philipsland. It was there that the murderer king had all those poor men done to death, not once but twice, and all for the sake of his cruel ambition! And there this night the will-o'-the-wisps are dancing. For this is the night when the souls of poor men killed in battle leave their bodies all cold in purgatory, and come to warm themselves once again in the tepid air of earth. This is the hour when you may ask anything you will of Christ, He who is Lord of all good wizards."

"The ashes beat upon my heart," said Ulenspiegel. "Would that He would show me those Seven whose ashes, they say, when thrown to the winds, would make Flanders happy again, and all the world!"

"O man without faith," said Nele. "By the power of the balm it may be you will see them."

"Maybe," said Ulenspiegel, "if some spirit, forsooth, would come down to visit us from that cold star." And he pointed with his finger to the star Sirius.

No sooner had he made this gesture than a will-o'-the-wisp that had been flying round them came and attached itself to his finger, and the more Ulenspiegel tried to shake it off the firmer the little wisp held on. Nele tried to free Ulenspiegel, but now she also had a little wisp firm on the tip of her finger, and neither would it let her go. Ulenspiegel began to flick at the wisp with his free hand, saying:

"Answer me now, are you the soul of a Beggarman or of a Spaniard? If you are a Beggarman's you may go to Paradise, but if a Spaniard's, return to the hell whence you came."

Nele said to him:

"Do not abuse the souls of the dead, even though they be the souls of murderers!"

Then, making the little will-o'-the-wisp to dance at the end of her finger:

"Wisp," she said, "gentle wisp, come tell me what news do you bring from the land of souls? What rule do they live by down there? Do they eat and drink, having no mouths? For you have none, my sweet! Or wait they, perhaps, till they come to blessed Paradise ere taking upon themselves a human form?"

"Why waste time in talking to a peevish little flame that has no ears to hear with, no mouth wherewith to answer?" said Ulenspiegel.

But paying no attention to him, Nele went on:

"Wisp of mine, answer me now by dancing. For I am going to question you thrice. Once in the name of God, once in the name of Our Lady, and once in the name of the Elemental Spirits who are the messengers between God and men."

And this she did, and three times did the elf dance in answer.

Then Nele said to Ulenspiegel:

"Take off your clothes, and I will do the same. See, here is the silver box which holds the balm of vision."

"Be it as you wish," answered Ulenspiegel.

When they had undressed and anointed themselves with the balm of vision, they lay down naked as they were beside one another on the grass.

The sea-gulls screamed; the thunder growled and rumbled, and in the darkness the lightning flashed. Between two clouds the moon scarcely showed her crescent's golden horns; and the will-o'-the-wisps departed from Nele and Ulenspiegel to go off dancing with their comrades in the fields.

Suddenly a great giant hand took hold of Nele and her lover, and threw them high in air as though they had been a child's playthings. Then the giant caught them again, rolled them one on the other and kneaded them between his hands, and after that he threw them into a pool of water that lay between the hills, and last of all he dragged them out again full of water and water-weeds. And the giant began to sing in a voice so loud that all the sea-gulls of the islands awakened in terror:

With eyes that squint they would discern, These silly, wandering insect-mortals, The sacred symbols none may learn, Safe guarded now within our portals

Read then, flea, the mystery high, Read then, louse, the secret vast, Which to earth and air and sky By seven nails is anchored fast!

And now it was that Ulenspiegel and Nele discerned on the grass and in the air and in the sky, seven tablets of bronze all strangely luminous. And they were held there by seven flaming nails. And on the tablets was written:

From the dung-heap flowers arise, Seven are wicked, but seven are good. Hid in coal the diamond lies, Bad teacher oft makes pupil wise; Seven are bad, but seven are good.

And the giant walked on, followed by all the will-o'-the-wisps, who were whispering together like grasshoppers, and saying:

Look at him well--the Master of All, Before him Cæsar himself must fall. Pope of Popes, King of Kings, Fashioned of wood he is Lord of All Things.

Suddenly the lines of the giant's face suffered a change. He seemed thinner, sadder and greater than ever. And in one hand he held a sceptre, and in the other a sword. And his name was Pride.

And throwing Nele and Ulenspiegel to the ground, he said:

"I am God."

Then by his side there appeared a ruddy-faced girl, and she was seated on the back of a goat, and her bosom was bare, her gown half open, and she had a wanton eye; and her name was Luxury. After her there came an old woman, a Jewess, who was busy all the time, scraping up the egg-shells of the sea-gulls that lay about on the ground; and her name was Avarice. Then a monk appeared, most greedy and gluttonous, eating chitterlings he was, and cramming himself with sausages and champing his jaws together without ceasing, like the sow whereon he rode; and his name was Greed. Thereafter came Idleness, dragging one leg after the other; wan she was and bloated, and she had a dull eye. And Anger came chasing after Idleness with a sharp needle with which she pricked her so that she cried aloud, and Idleness grieved and lamented with many tears, and kept falling down on to her knees so tired she was. Last of all came Envy, a thin figure with a head like a viper and teeth like the teeth of a pike. And she kept biting all the others with those cruel teeth of hers--Idleness because she had too much leisure, Anger because she was too lively, Greed because he was too well fed, Luxury because she was too ruddy, Avarice because of the treasure of shells she had amassed, Pride because of his robe of purple and his crown. And the wisps kept dancing all around, and they spake with many voices like the voices of men, women, and girls, and in the plaintive voices of children, and they groaned, saying:

"O Pride, father of Ambition, and you, O Anger, that are the source of cruelty, you slew us on many a battlefield, and caused our death in many a prison and many a torture-chamber, that you might keep your sceptres and your crowns! And you, O Envy, that have destroyed so many useful thoughts while yet in the germ, we are the souls of the inventors whom you have persecuted. Avarice, you it is that have turned the blood of the poor into gold, and we are the souls of your victims. O Luxury, you are the friend and the sister of Murder; Nero, Messalina, Philip King of Spain--such are your children, and you buy virtue and you bribe corruption, and we are the souls of your dead. And you, O Idleness, and you, Greed, you befoul the world, but the world must be cleansed of you; we are the souls of those who have perished at your hands."

And a voice was heard saying:

From the dung-heap flowers arise, Seven are wicked, but seven are good. Bad teacher oft makes pupil wise. Now longs the wandering louse comprise Both coal and cinder if he could!

Then spake the wisps:

"Fire. We are Fire--the avenger of all old tears and all old pains which the people have suffered; the avenger of all the human game that has been hunted for pleasure by the Lords of this land; the avenger of all battles fought to no purpose, of all the blood that has been spilt in prison, of all the men burned at the stake and the women and girls buried alive; the avenger of all the past of blood and chains. The Fire--that is Us--we are the souls of the dead."

At these words the Seven were suddenly transformed into images of wood, though they still lost nothing of their former outline; and a voice was heard saying:

"Burn the wood, Ulenspiegel."

And Ulenspiegel turned towards the will-o'-the-wisps:

"You that are made of fire, do your office."

And the wisps thronged around the seven images, which straightway burst into flame and were reduced to ashes.

And from the ashes there flowed a river of blood.

But out of the ashes arose now seven other figures, and the first said:

"Once I was called Pride. But now my name is Nobility."

And the rest spake after the same fashion, and Nele and Ulenspiegel saw how Economy came forth from Avarice; Vivacity from Anger; Healthy Appetite from Gluttony; Emulation from Envy; and from Idleness the Dreams of poets and wise men. And Luxury, on her goat, was now transformed into the likeness of a beautiful woman, and her name was Love.

And all around them danced the will-o'-the-wisps most joyously. And thereafter did Ulenspiegel and Nele begin to hear a thousand voices as of hidden men and women, that spake with a sonorous, clicking sound, like that of castanets, and thus sang they:

When over the earth and over the sea These Seven transformed shall reign, Mortals lift up your heads again, For happy the world shall be!

And Ulenspiegel said: "These spirits are making mock of us."

And a powerful hand seized Nele by the arm, and threw her away into the void. And the Spirits sang:

When the North Shall kiss the West Then shall be the end of ruin. Find the Cincture.

"Alas!" cried Ulenspiegel. "North, West, Cincture! You speak in riddles, Sir Spirits!"

But they went on with their singing and chattering:

The North is the Netherland, Belgium is the West. Cincture is friendship, Cincture is Alliance.

"Now you are talking sense, Sir Spirits," said Ulenspiegel.

And yet again they sang:

The Cincture, little man, 'Twixt Holland and Belgium-- Firm Alliance, And beautiful Friendship.

Alliance of Counsel, Alliance of Action, By death By blood, Were it not For the Scheldt, Little man, for the Scheldt.

"Alas!" said Ulenspiegel, "such is our life! Tears of man and laughter of destiny!"

And again the Spirits repeated their rune, and their voices were like the clicking of castanets.

Alliance by blood And by death Were it not For the Scheldt.

And a strong hand took hold of Ulenspiegel and threw him into the void.

XXXV

As she fell, Nele rubbed her eyes but she could see nothing save the sun that was rising, wreathed in a golden mist. And then the tips of the grass all golden too, in that radiance which was soon to tinge with gold the plumage of the sea-gulls who slept as yet, but were about to awaken.

Nele looked downwards at herself, and seeing that she was naked she put on her clothes with all haste. Then it was that she noticed the body of Ulenspiegel where it lay there, naked also, and him also she covered with his clothes. He seemed to be still asleep and she gave him a shake, but he remained quite motionless like one dead. Then was Nele seized with fear. "Have I killed him?" she cried. "Have I killed my love with this balm of vision? Would that I too might die! Ah, Tyl, wake up! But he is as cold as marble!"

Ulenspiegel did not awake, and two nights passed and a day, and Nele still watched by his side in a fever of grief and fear.

It was at the dawn of the second day of her vigil that Nele heard the sound of a little bell in the distance, and saw presently a peasant approaching with a shovel in his hand. Behind him came a burgomaster with two aldermen carrying candles, and then the curé of Stavenisse with a beadle holding a parasol over his head. It appeared that they were going to administer the Holy Sacrament of Unction to one Jacobsen, a brave Beggarman, who had adopted the new religion by compulsion, but being about to die had returned to the bosom of the Holy Roman Church.

When they came opposite to Nele they found her still crying, and they saw the body of Ulenspiegel laid out on the grass in front of her, covered with clothes. Nele fell upon her knees in front of the little procession.

"My girl," said the burgomaster, "what are you doing by this corpse?"

Without daring to raise her eyes, Nele made answer:

"I am praying for the soul of my beloved, he that has fallen dead as if struck by lightning. I am alone now, and I am fain to die."

But already the curé was puffing with pleasure.

"Ulenspiegel the Beggarman dead!" he cried. "Praise be to God! Be quick there, peasant, and dig a grave, and take his clothes off before you bury him."

"No," said Nele, getting up from the ground. "No, you shall not take his clothes, he would be cold there in the cold earth."

"Quick!" cried the curé, addressing himself again to the peasant with the shovel.

"You may bury him," said Nele, all in tears. "I give you leave; for this sand is full of lime, so that his body will keep for ever whole and beautiful, the body of my beloved."

And half mad with anguish as she was, Nele bent over the body of Ulenspiegel, kissing him through her tears.

Now the burgomaster, the aldermen, and even the peasant had compassion on the girl, but not so the curé, who ceased not to cry out most joyfully: "The great Beggarman is dead! God be praised!"

Then the peasant dug the grave, and Ulenspiegel was placed therein, and covered all over with sand.

And over the grave the curé said the prayers for the dead, and the others knelt all round. Suddenly there was a great commotion in the sand, and Ulenspiegel arose, sneezing and shaking the sand from his hair, and he seized the curé by the throat.

"Inquisitor!" he cried. "I was asleep, and you buried me alive! Where is Nele? Have you buried her also? Who are you?"

The curé began to cry out in terror:

"The great Beggarman returns to this world! Lord God have mercy on my soul!"

And away he fled like a stag before the hounds.

Nele came to Ulenspiegel: "Kiss me, dearest," she said.

Then Ulenspiegel looked about him once more. The two peasants had run off like the curé, and that they might run the faster they had thrown to the ground both shovel and parasol. As for the burgomaster and the aldermen, they lay groaning on the grass, stopping up their ears in their fright.

Ulenspiegel went to them and gave them a good shaking.

"Think you that they can be buried in the ground," he asked them, "Ulenspiegel and Nele? Nele that is the heart of our Mother Flanders, and Ulenspiegel that is her soul? She can sleep too, forsooth, but die--never! Come, Nele."

And they twain departed, Ulenspiegel singing his sixth song. But no man knoweth where he sang his last.

NOTE

[1] The Author's debt to such sources is especially noticeable in chapters xii, xxiv, xxvi, xxx, and xxxii of the First Book.