The Miserable was overjoyed at what had come about, and inquired
within himself whether it would be in the heart of a virgin child or
of a marriageable virgin that he would find what was promised him,
and so satisfy his great desire for worship and power.
Pondering this he went a little way through the wood and stationed
himself near to some cottages where he knew there were maids of divers
ages, and there waited until morning.
Soon after the sun was up, a little girl came out, nine years old,
or rather less, and began collecting and cutting up faggots.
Going up to her, he sang the song and showed her the sickle.
Whereupon she cried out in fear, and ran away as fast as she could.
But Halewyn, having quickly overtaken her, dragged her off by force
to his castle.
Going in, he met on the bridge his lady mother, who said to him:
"Where goest thou, Miserable, with this child?"
He answered:
"To bring honour to our house."
And his lady mother let him pass, thinking him mad.
He went into his room, opened the side of the girl beneath a breast
just budding, cut out the heart with the sickle, and drank the blood.
But he got no more strength from it than he had before.
And weeping bitter tears, he cried: "The sickle has played me
false." And he threw down into the moat both the heart and the body.
And the lady Halewyn seeing this poor heart and body dropping into
the water, ordered that they should be taken out and brought to her.
Seeing the body rent open under the breast, and the heart taken out,
she became afraid lest Siewert her first-born was following dark
practices.
And she put the girl's heart back in her breast, and gave her a very
fine and Christian burial, and had a fair great cross made on her
winding-sheet, and afterwards she was put in the ground and a fair
mass said for the quiet of her soul.
IX. Of the heart of a maid and of the great strength which came to
Sir Halewyn.
Sorely troubled, and falling on his knees, Halewyn said: "Alas, is the
spell then impotent? I sang, and she would not come to my singing! What
would you have me do now, Lord Prince of the Stones? If it is that
I must wait until nightfall, that I will do. Then, without doubt,
having no sun to hinder your powers, you will give me strength and
beauty, and all prowess, and you will send me the virgin I need."
And he went at night to wander in the woods round about the cottages,
and there, singing his song, and looking out to see if any were coming.
He saw by the light of the bright moon the daughter of Claes, a poor
mad man, nicknamed the Dog-beater, because he used to thump and pommel
grievously whomever he met, saying that these accursed dogs had robbed
him of his coat, and must give it him back again.
This girl took care of Claes very well, and would not marry, though
she was a beautiful maid, saying: "Since he is simple, I cannot leave
him to look to himself."
And every one, seeing her so stout-hearted, gave her, one some of
his cheese, another some beans, another some flour, and so they lived
together without wanting for food.
The Miserable stood still at the edge of the wood and sang. And
the maid walked straight towards the singing and fell on her knees
before him.
He went home to his castle, and she followed him, and entered in with
him, saying no word.
On the stair he met his brother, just returned from boar-hunting,
who said, in mocking wise:
"Ah, is the Miserable about to get us a bastard?" And to the girl:
"Well, mistress, thy heart must be fast set on my ugly brother that
thou must needs follow him in this wise, without a word spoken."
But Halewyn, in a rage, hit out at his brother's face with his sword.
Then, passing him by, went up into his own room.
And there, having shut fast the door, from fear of his brother,
he stripped the girl quite naked, as he had seen the virgin in his
vision. And the girl said that she was cold.
Quickly he opened her breast with the golden blade, under the left pap.
And as the maid gave the death-cry, the heart came out of itself on
the blade.
And the Miserable saw before his eyes the little mannikin coming out
of the stones of the wall, who said to him, grinning:
"Heart on heart gives strength and beauty. Halewyn shall hang the
maid in the Gallows-field. And the body shall hang until the hour of
God." Then he went back into the wall.
Halewyn put the heart on his breast, and felt it beating firmly and
taking root in his skin. And suddenly his bent back was straightened;
and his arm found such strength that he broke easily in two a heavy
oaken bench; and looking at himself in a mirror-glass he saw an image
so beautiful that he could scarce tell it for his own.
And he felt in his veins the fire of youth burning.
Going down into the great hall he found there at supper his father,
mother, brother, and sister.
None of them would have known him but for his voice, which was
unchanged.
And his mother rose and peered into his face to see him better.
And he said to her: "Woman, I am thine own son, Siewert Halewyn,
the Invincible."
But his brother, whom he had but lately smitten in the face, ran
towards him hotly, saying: "Cursed be the Invincible!" and struck
him with his knife. But the blade snapped off like glass against the
body of the Miserable; whereupon the younger brother seized him in
his arms, but the Miserable tore him off and threw him to one side
as if he had been a caterpillar.
Then he rushed at him with his head down, like a battering-ram, but
as soon as his head touched the Miserable it was cut open, and the
blood ran down over his face.
And his father and mother, his sister and the wounded brother, threw
themselves on their knees and asked his forgiveness, begging him,
since he had become so powerful, to bring them riches and honour.
"That I will," said he.
X. How the Miserable robbed a Lombard goldsmith, and of the pleasant
speech of the ladies and gentlewomen.
On the morrow, armed only with the sickle, for he despised other arms
on account of the strength which the spell gave him, Halewyn took the
body of the maid to the Gallows-field and there hanged it on the tree.
Then he rode off to the city of Ghent.
And the ladies, gentlewomen and maidens of the town, seeing him pass by
on his black horse, said among themselves: "Who is this fair horseman?"
"'Tis," he cried right proudly, "Siewert Halewyn, who was called the
Ill-favoured one."
"Nay, nay," said the bolder among them, "you are making fun of us,
My Lord, or else you have been changed by a fairy."
"Yes," said he, "and, moreover, I had fleshly knowledge of her;
and so shall have of you, if I please."
At these words the ladies and gentlewomen were not at all put out.
And he went to the shop of a Lombard goldsmith in that town, who
had at one time and another lent him six-and-twenty florins. But the
goldsmith did not know him for himself.
He told him that he was Sir Halewyn.
"Ah," said the goldsmith, "then I pray, My Lord, that you will repay
me my six-and-twenty florins."
But Halewyn, laughing: "Take me," he said, "to the room where thou
keepest thy gold."
"My Lord," said the goldsmith, "that I will not, for all that I hold
you in high esteem."
"Dog," said he, "if thou dost not obey me I will strike thee dead
instantly."
"Ha!" said the goldsmith, "do not come blustering here, My Lord, for
I am neither serf nor peasant, but a free burgess of this town. And
if you are so minded as to lay your hands on me, I shall know how to
get redress, I promise you."
Then Halewyn struck him, and the burgess called for help.
Hearing this cry, apprentices to the number of six came down into
the shop, and, seeing Halewyn, ran to seize him.
But he beat them off likewise and bade them show him where the gold
was kept.