receive his reward, and the master with gracious thanks did present it
unto him; then rode he forth from that city, and returned not again. In
three days thereafter, came all the sick folk back again unto the
hospital, and complained sorely of their sickness. Then said the master:
“What will ye? Have I not brought unto ye a physician of skill, who did
marvellously make you whole, that ye could all depart hence?” Then the
sick folk discovered to the master the knavery that Owlglass had done,
in that he had threatened them, that the last that should depart should
be burned. So the master of the hospital perceived that he had been
beguiled of Owlglass, and the sick folk abode in the house: yet was the
money lost. Owlglass still was a great physician, for he had for three
days cured them; and how many learned doctors are there who cure not in
any wise?
[Illustration: HOW OWLGLASS TURNETH DOCTOR.]
The Sixteenth Adventure.
_How Owlglass bought bread according to the proverb: “To him that hath
bread is bread given.”_
Trusty faith giveth bread. And now that Owlglass had deceived the
hospital-master, came he unto Halberstadt, and went round about the
market, and saw that it was cold and winter time. Thought he, cold and
hard is the winter, thereto bloweth a strong wind, and thou hast often
heard that to him that hath bread is bread given. Then for a few pence
buyeth Owlglass bread, borroweth also a table, and sitteth down in the
front of St. Stephen’s Dome. There held he up his knavery so long until
a dog came by, the which caught me up a loaf from the table, and ran
toward the cathedral court. While Owlglass ran after the dog, there
passed by a sow with ten young pigs; these overthrew the table, and
each, seizing a loaf, departed.
Then laughed Owlglass and said: “Now do I see that the words are not
true: ‘To him that hath bread is bread given;’ for mine is taken.”
Thereat he departed from Halberstadt unto Brunswick.
The Seventeenth Adventure.
_How Owlglass became a doctor, and did cure many folk._
The City of Frankfort is a great and handsome city, and in it do dwell
many worshipful burghers, whose riches are many, and they eat and drink
much, as is the custom with citizens; thus it fortunes that they are
often ill. No marvel therefore that in Frankfort abide many doctors, who
gain much money. Owlglass when that he came there, by his ready wit soon
perceived the better part to take, and hired himself to be a doctor’s
man, and soon it was meet that he should go with his master to visit the
patients. The good Owlglass would much have desired to know something of
the names on the bottles which stood in the house of his master; but
that could he not do, and therefore of all that his master did he could
learn nothing but that when people were sick, they should drink warm
water and be blooded. It fortuned in no long time thereafter, that his
master had on a sudden to take a journey, in such wise that he had no
time to tell the patients thereof. Then spake he unto Owlglass saying:
“Go thou about the city unto the sick, and say unto them that in no long
time shall I return unto them.”
[Illustration]
Yet the cunning Master Owlglass followed not his master’s saying, but
put on his head the wig of his master, and on his shoulders he bare his
mantle. Then, with a grave and noble demeanour, he departed unto the
houses of the sick patients who sent for him. When that he arrived, he
sat gravely down with a serious face, felt their pulses, and after much
heavy thought, he ordered them always to be blooded and to drink warm
water. Thereafter he departed from them.
Then, marvellous to tell, all his patients grew wondrously well in no
long time, and they paid him much money for his pains. When that his
master returned, the knavery of Owlglass was soon discovered, and he was
fain to depart. Yet such was the wisdom of good Master Owlglass, that it
is related that his master thereafter followed no other art than had
been thus invented by Owlglass; and after that time the doctor became
famous, and wrote a large book upon the virtue of warm water and
blood-letting.
The Eighteenth Adventure.
_How that Owlglass became a drawer of teeth and cured all by a wondrous
pill._
As Owlglass was going along the road, he met upon the highway, a man
whose face was overcome with misery. Owlglass thereat gazed upon him for
a season, and after some time spake unto him these words: “Worthy
fellow! thou dost seem so wrapped in melancholic humour, would’st tell
me what aileth thee?” “Everything in the wide world,” the other made
answer: “for I have no money, which is the joy of all worldly business;
for it maketh learned, maketh noble, maketh lovely, and merry. Also,
maketh it an end of hunger and thirst which now sorely assail me.” Then
Owlglass bethought himself for a while, and presently took up from the
next field some clay, whereof he made little pills, which he then
wrapped in pieces of paper, and said to his comrade: “Be of good cheer,
friend! Soon will we have money. Lo, in yonder city, the towers of which
we can now see, are there fools in number great. Enter thou in before
me, and there go forward till thou seest the best inn in the town, and
therein do thou stay. At dinner stay thou as long as thou canst and be
merry; yet after a while do thou cry out in great agony, as if thou
hadst the tooth-ache. Then will I not be far from thee; and when I come
in, be thou ready, and make answer to everything I say: ‘Yea.’ But do
not thou let it be perceived that thou knowest me.”
Then did the twain go forward into the town, and as Owlglass had
commanded, so all things came to pass. Owlglass told the people that he
was a dentist of great skill, and they called him to the man who was
ill. Then took he from his pocket the pills which he had made of the
clay, and laid one in the man’s mouth. “Art not thou well now”? said he
unto him. “Yea, truly,” answered the other, “all the pain is gone.” Then
all the people in the inn came round the doctor in great multitude, and
demanded that he should sell unto them his pills. And Owlglass sold what
he had for a great sum of money, and an he had had clay enough he could
have sold many more. Then shared he the gain with his comrade, and they
departed hastily from that place.
The Nineteenth Adventure.
_How that Owlglass did at Brunswick hire him to a baker, and did there
bake owls and monkeys._
It fortuned upon a time that Owlglass came into Brunswick city, and unto
an inn where bakers met together; and hard by lived a baker, who called
upon Owlglass to enter into his house, and made inquiry of him, as to
the business he might follow. Then answered Owlglass to the baker, and
spake, for our noble and well beloved master of jests was wily, and,
indeed, all things unto all men: “I am a baker’s man.” Thereat said the
baker: “Even now have I not any man in my house to serve me; wilt thou
come to me, for I have need of thee?” Owlglass at that answered: “Yea.”
And when that he had been with him two days, the baker commanded him to
bake at eventide, for that he could not help him until the morning. Then
said Owlglass: “But what would ye have me to bake?” Thereat waxed the
baker wroth, for he was a man soon hot i’ the head, and he made answer
in scorn, and said: “Art a baker’s man, and askest thou what ye should
bake? What do ye bake? Owls and monkeys bake ye?” And thereafter gat he
him to bed.
[Illustration]
Then departed Owlglass into the bake-room, and made the dough into
nought but the shape of owls and monkeys, and these did he bake in the
oven. At morning time arose the master baker, and went into the
bake-room to aid his man. Then cometh he, and findeth neither rolls nor
loaves, but rather a goodly mass of owls and monkeys. And he opened his
mouth in great rage and said unto Owlglass: “What is it that thou hast
baken?” And Owlglass did answer him and said: “Verily have I done that
which thou didst tell me to do.” And the baker, in great wroth, said:
“What shall I do with this foolish knave? Such bread will no one have?”
And therewith took he him by the head, and said unto him: “Pay me for
the dough thou hast spoiled!” Then said Owlglass: “And if I pay ye for
the dough, will the goods be mine?” And the master answered: “What care
I for such bread?” So Owlglass paid the baker for his dough, and he took
the owls and monkeys in a basket, and he carried them away unto the inn,
the sign of which was the Wild Man. And Owlglass thought within himself:
“Thou hast often heard it said, that to Brunswick canst thou bring
nothing novel or strange, but therefrom mayst thou draw great profit for
thy pains.” And it was Saint Nicholas’ even. Then stood Owlglass with
his store hard by the church gate; and he sold all his owls and monkeys
at great price, and therefrom drew he a much greater profit than what he
had paid unto the baker for his dough. This was noised about, and soon
came it heard of the baker, who waxed very angry thereupon, and he ran
unto Saint Nicolas’ Church, and would have demanded either his share, or
the charges of baking. But Owlglass had already departed with the money,
and the baker might look far and wide for him. This feat of our good
exemplar showeth plainly, that there is nothing so vain or foolish in
this world, but that it hath profit contained within it for those who
study to arrive thereat.
The Twentieth Adventure.
_How Owlglass did again hire him unto a baker, and how he bolted meal in
the moon’s light._
Thereafter departed Owlglass, and wandered hither and thither in the
land; and at last came he toward Oltzen, and entered into the village
there. And when he was besought of the people to say what trade he
exercised, he told them that he was a baker. Then did a master baker in
the village hire him; and when that Owlglass was with him present in his
house, his master did make ready that he should bake, and he spake unto
Owlglass, and did enjoin him that he should bolt the meal, so that it
might be prepared against the morning. Then Owlglass answered, and said:
“Master, I would fain have a candle, that I may see with, and so
diligently do your bidding.” “Nay,” answered the baker; “but that will I
not do. No candle shalt thou have, nor have I at any time given unto my
serving-men any such candle. Always did they bolt the meal in the moon’s
light, and verily must thou likewise do this. And this charge I thee to
do.” And Owlglass made answer, saying: “An if your former servants did
bolt the meal in the moon’s light, truly then will I also do it.” At
that was the master content, and he gat him to bed for a short while.
Thereafter taketh good Master Owlglass the bag, and he openeth the
window and putteth forth the bag, until the moon’s light doth shine
thereupon, and then letteth he all the meal fall out on the ground where
that the moon shone. And in the morning cometh the master, who desireth
to bake, and he findeth Owlglass still casting out the meal. And the
baker marvelled much when that he beheld Owlglass, for Owlglass was
white with the meal. Then said the master, who was full of anger: “What
do ye here, ye knave? Think ye that yon meal cost me nought, that ye
throw it in the dirt there?”
Then answered Owlglass: “Did not ye command me that I should, without a
candle, bolt the meal in the moon’s shine, and have not I fulfilled this
according to your words?” Then said the baker: “I said you should bolt
the meal by the moon’s light.” And Owlglass answered him: “Be then of
good cheer, master; verily thy meal is bolted both in and by the moon’s
light, and with much pains and weariness have I done this labouring. Nor
is there much lost thereby; scarce a handful. Soon will I gather it up
again, and the meal will not be in any wise made the worse.” Thereat
sayeth the baker: “In that time that thou dost gather up the meal, will
it grow too late to make the dough, and then fall to baking.” Then said
Owlglass: “Behold, master, I know a piece of counsel, how we may bake as
soon as our neighbour yonder. His dough lieth ready in the trough, and I
will go thither and quickly fetch it, and carry our meal thither in
place thereof.” Thereat grew the master of Owlglass right angry, and
said unto him: “May the evil one have thee! Get thee to the
gallows-tree, thou knave, and fetch thee thence the first thing that
thou dost find; and let the neighbour’s dough lie where it be.” “Yea,”
answered Owlglass.
Then departed he out of the house and went unto the gallows-tree, and
there lay the skull of a thief, which had fallen down. This took
Owlglass and bare it unto his master, and brought it into his house and
said: “Here bring I from the gallows-tree the first thing that I did
find. Wherefore would ye have this? Of a truth know I not what may be
the best thing it is fit for.” And then the baker spake in anger, and
said: “Lo! bringest thou me nothing more than this?” Then Owlglass
answered and said: “If that any other thing had been there, I would also
have brought it for thee; but no other thing was lying there.” Then
waxed the baker more wroth, and said unto Owlglass: “Behold, thou hast
robbed the law and the gallows; that will I tell unto the burghmaster,
and thou shalt answer it.”
And the baker departed from out of the house to the market-place, and
Owlglass followed him. So hastily, howsoever, went the baker, that he
looked not round, and knew not that Owlglass was following him. Then
stood the baker before the burghmaster, who was on the market-place, and
he began to make complaint against Owlglass. And Owlglass was lithe and
nimble, and when that the baker began his words, he stood hard by and
opened his eyes very wide. And when the baker beheld Owlglass, he clean
forgat, in his anger, what it might be that he would make complaint of,
and said to Owlglass, with great malice: “What wilt thou have?” Owlglass
made answer to him: “I desire not to have anything, than that I should
behold what complaint you make against me to the burghmaster. And that I
might see your words, do I open mine eyes very wide, for words are most
difficult to see.” Then said the baker: “Get out of my sight, thou
knavish beguiler, I desire nought else!” Owlglass then said: “If that I
should get out of thy sight, then needs must I get my body into thine
eyes; and if ye shut your eyes, must I come through thy nostrils.” Then
went the burghmaster on his way, for he perceived that it was but
foolishness; and he left them both standing. And when Owlglass saw that,
he followed the baker, and spake unto him, saying: “Master, when shall
we bake? It is time now, for the sun shineth no more.” Then departed he,
and left the baker standing in the market-place.
The Twenty and First Adventure.
_Telleth of what manner of thinking was Owlglass, and how he formed his
life according unto principles of virtue and goodness._
Of our most noble and beloved Master Owlglass, have I now told ye not a
few truthful and diverting histories and adventures; but, yet have I not
said any word in respect of his ways of thinking, gathered by great
experience out of many lands, in his continual travel to and fro, up and
down in his country. Now he loved much to be always among friends and in
company, and as long as he lived were there three things, which with
great avoidance he did always run from and leave undone. The first thing
was, that he never did ride a horse which was gray, but at all times a
bay horse, for the gray horse did mind him of an ass, the which animal
held he in great scorn. The second thing which he could not bear to be
with him was the company of little children, for that wheresoever he
found them, there was more care taken of them than of his own noble
person. The third thing was, that he would never lie in an inn where
that he found an old mild host; for a host that was old and mild held
Owlglass in but little esteem, and was thereto also for the most part
nought but a fool.
Every morn when that he rose up from his bed, he blessed himself against
healthy victual, great happiness, and strong drink, in which three
blessings none can deny that he was a wise man. And when it fortuned
that he passed by an apothecary’s house, did he bless himself against
healthy victual, for it mote truly be a healthy place whence victual
might issue; yet it was a sign of sickness before. Good fortune was it
when a stone fell from the house top and struck him not down; for then
might he of a truth cry, with great praise: “If that I had myself been
standing on that place, so would it have fallen upon me and killed me;”
and such fortune would he most willingly not have. The strong drink
against which he blessed himself, was water, for it be so strong as soon
to drive round great mill-wheels, and to the good fellow that drinketh
thereof cometh death. It was also told of Owlglass that he wept always
when that he did go down a hill, and he laughed when he climbed one. For
truly wist he, in the descending, that soon would he come again unto a
mountain, while in climbing knew he that soon would he come again to the
top, whence to pass down into the valley. In fine weather, or at a time
when summer began, then did he also weep with many tears, and when that
winter approached, laughed he. And ye that read herein may, in your
wisdom, answer the reason why he did this thing.
The Twenty and Second Adventure.
_How that Owlglass did hire him to the Count of Anhalt to blow the horn
on a tower, and when that enemies did approach, then blew he not; and
when that they came not, then blew he._
[Illustration]
Not long thereafter, came Owlglass unto the Count of Anhalt, and he did
hire him unto the count as a tower watchman. And the count at that time
had enemies in great multitude, so that he had with him in number not
small, both horsemen and foot folk, unto whom he must needs give meat
and drink every day. And Owlglass sat up on the tower, and he was clean
forgat of them that should give him provision. And on that day it came
to pass, that the enemy did, in strong force, come unto the town and
castle of the count’s grace, and they took therefrom all the cattle, and
drave them off. Owlglass then lay still upon the tower, and he looked
through the window and made not any outcry, either in that he blew, or
in that he did cry aloud. But it did come unto the ears of the count
that he heard the enemy, and with his folk he quickly gat him forth, and
pursued them and drave them before his face. Then saw some of the folk,
that Owlglass lay in the window of the tower, and laughed. Thereat did
the count cry out unto him: “Wherefore liest thou on the tower and art
so still?” And Owlglass made answer unto the count, saying: “Ere dinner
time do I not with grace and comfort ever delight in crying out.” Then
cried the count back unto him: “Wilt thou, when the enemy cometh, blow
thy horn?” Thereat said Owlglass: “Enemies dare I not blow, or would the
field be full, and with the cows would they depart. And if I blew
enemies a second time, in such multitude would they come, that they
would fight with thee, and overcome thee even in thine own gate.”
Therewith ended they their conference. Then departed the count in great
haste after his enemies, and contended with them with much strife; and
Owlglass was again forgotten as he lay upon his tower.
But the count was greatly content with his prowess, and with him brought
back from the field of battle a goodly heap of pork, the which did they
thereafter cut up, and some roasted they and other did they boil. And
Owlglass would most willingly have had thereof as he sat on his tower.
Then did he begin to plan how that he might get thereof, and he did
watch when that it should be dinner time. And when that it had become
dinner time, he began to blow his horn, and to cry with a loud voice:
“The foe cometh! The foe cometh!” Then the count gat him up with his
arms, and put on his harness, and took his weapons, and departed quickly
forth from the castle into the field. Thereat rejoiced our noble Master
Owlglass, and quickly did he get him down from the tower, and came unto
the count’s table, and took therefrom boiled and roast, in the which
delighted he, and he returned back on his steps, and gat him to the
tower. And, when that the horsemen and foot folk came again unto the
castle, and of enemies had found not a hair, then murmured they one to
the other, saying: “This hath the watchman done to mock us with great
scorn and knavery.” And the count cried aloud unto Owlglass, and said
unto him: “Wherefore hast thou become foolish and mad?” And Owlglass
said: “If that hunger and thirst drive mad, then do I not marvel at my
madness.” Thereat said the count: “Why didst thou blow on thy horn for
enemies, and there were none?” Then spake Owlglass, and made answer unto
the count, saying: “Whereas it fortuned that no enemies were present, I
thought in my mind that it would be well to blow on my horn, for that
they might come.” Then said the count unto him: “Thou goest about to
deceive us with knavish beguiling. When that the enemy cometh, thou wilt
not blow; yet when no enemy is nigh at hand, then blowest thou. Of a
truth, it is a matter of treachery.” Therewith relieved he Owlglass of
lying in the tower, and appointed thereunto another watchman.
Then came it to pass, that Owlglass should run with the foot folk to
strive in battle with the enemy. And thereat was good Master Owlglass
moved to anger, and cast about in his mind to discover how he might be
relieved, and obtain other service. And when the count’s folk departed
out from the castle to fight with the foe, then was Owlglass always the
last man; and when they returned back unto the castle, was he truly
likewise the first man to enter therein. Then spake the count unto him,
saying: “How shall I understand this thing? Wherefore art thou always
last to depart from the castle, and the first to return back again?” And
Owlglass answered and said: “Let not thine anger fall upon me, noble
lord; for when that thou and all thy people sat and ate and drank, with
great feasting, then lay I upon the tower and fasted so that I fainted
thereby, and lost much strength. If therefore ye should be minded, that
I should be the first in the field to encounter the foe, I pray thee
that ye do let me eat now that with strength may I be filled, and then
will I do it, and ye shall perceive that I shall be the first against
the enemy and the last to depart from him.” “I mark well,” spake the
count, “that thou wilt be a long time in doing this thing, and as long
as thou didst sit on the tower.” Thereat said Owlglass: “That which
belongeth of right unto a man do others take from him most willingly.”
And the count said: “Long shalt thou not be my servant,” and therewith
gave him leave to depart. And thereat rejoiced Owlglass, for he cared
not every day to fight with the enemy.
The Twenty and Third Adventure.
_How that Owlglass did have golden shoes struck unto his horse’s feet._