HOW WE JOURNEYED TO WOLGAST, AND MADE GOOD BARTER THERE_Mary Schweidler, the amber witch The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known, printed from an imperfect manuscript by her father, Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of Coserow in the island of Usedom / edited by W. Meinhold ; translated from the German by Lady Duff Gordon.

Two days after, so says my daughter, but old Ilse thinks it was three

(and I myself know not which is true), we at last went to the town,

seeing that Master Rothoog had not got the box ready before. My daughter

covered it over with a piece of my departed wife her wedding-gown, which

the Imperialists had indeed torn to pieces, but as they had left it

lying outside, the wind had blown it into the orchard, where we found

it. It was very shabby before, otherwise I doubt not they would have

carried it off with them. On account of the box, we took old Ilse with

us, who had to carry it, and, as amber is very light ware, she readily

believed that the box held nothing but eatables. At daybreak, then, we

took our staves in our hands and set out with God. Near Zitze, a hare

ran across the road before us, which they say bodes no good. Well-a-day!

When we came near Bannemin I asked a fellow if it was true that here a

mother had slaughtered her own child from hunger, as I had heard. He

said it was, and that the old woman's name was Zisse; but that God had

been wroth at such a horrid deed, and she had got no good by it, seeing

that she vomited so much upon eating it that she forthwith gave up the

ghost. On the whole, he thought things were already going rather better

with the parish, as Almighty God had richly blessed them with fish, both

out of the sea and the Achterwater. Nevertheless a great number of

people had died of hunger here also. He told us that their vicar,

his reverence Johannes Lampius, had had his house burnt down by the

Imperialists, and was lying in a hovel near the church. I sent him

my greeting, desiring that he would soon come to visit me (which the

fellow promised he would take care to deliver to him), for the reverend

Johannes is a pious and learned man, and has also composed sundry Latin

_Chronosticha_ on these wretched times, in _metrum heroicum_, which, I

must say, please me greatly. When we had crossed the ferry we went in at

Sehms his house, on the Castle Green, who keeps an ale-house; he told us

that the pestilence had not yet altogether ceased in the town; whereat I

was much afraid, more especially as he described to us so many other

horrors and miseries of these fearful times, both here and in other

places, _e.g._ of the great famine in the island of Rügen, where a

number of people had grown as black as Moors from hunger; a wondrous

thing if it be true, and one might almost gather therefrom how the first

blackamoors came about. But be that as it may. _Summa_. When Master

Sehms had told us all the news he had heard, and we had thus learnt,

to our great comfort, that the Lord had not visited us only in these

times of heavy need, I called him aside into a chamber and asked him

whether I could not here find means to get money for a piece of amber

which my daughter had found by the sea. At first he said "No"; but then

recollecting, he began, "Stay, let me see, at Nicolas Graeke's, the inn

at the castle, there are two great Dutch merchants--Dieterich von

Pehnen and Jacob Kiekebusch--who are come to buy pitch and boards,

_item_ timber for ships and beams; perchance they may like to cheapen

your amber too; but you had better go up to the castle yourself, for I

do not know for certain whether they still are there." This I did,

although I had not yet eaten anything in the man's house, seeing that I

wanted to know first what sort of bargain I might make, and to save the

farthings belonging to the church until then. So I went into the

castle-yard. Gracious God! what a desert had even his Princely Highness'

house become within a short time! The Danes had ruined the stables and

hunting-lodge, Anno 1628; _item_, destroyed several rooms in the castle;

and in the _locamentum_ of his Princely Highness Duke Philippus, where,

Anno 22, he so graciously entertained me and my child, as will be told

further on, now dwelt the innkeeper Nicolas Graeke; and all the fair

tapestries, whereon was represented the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of his

Princely Highness Bogislaus X, were torn down and the walls left grey

and bare. At this sight my heart was sorely grieved; but I presently

inquired for the merchants, who sat at the table drinking their parting

cup, with their travelling equipments already lying by them, seeing that

they were just going to set out on their way to Stettin; straightway one

of them jumped up from his liquor--a little fellow with a right noble

paunch and a black plaster on his nose--and asked me what I would of

them? I took him aside into a window, and told him I had some fine

amber, if he had a mind to buy it of me, which he straightway agreed to

do. And when he had whispered somewhat into the ear of his fellow, he

began to look very pleasant, and reached me the pitcher before we went

to my inn. I drank to him right heartily, seeing that (as I have already

said) I was still fasting, so that I felt my very heart warmed by it in

an instant. (Gracious God, what can go beyond a good draught of wine

taken within measure!) After this we went to my inn, and told the maid

to carry the box on one side into a small chamber. I had scarce opened

it and taken away the gown, when the man (whose name was Dieterich von

Pehnen, as he had told me by the way) held up both hands for joy, and

said he had never seen such wealth of amber, and how had I come by it? I

answered that my child had found it on the sea-shore; whereat he

wondered greatly that we had so much amber here, and offered me three

hundred florins for the whole box. I was quite beside myself for joy at

such an offer, but took care not to let him see it, and bargained with

him till I got five hundred florins, and I was to go with him to the

castle and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I ordered mine host to

make ready at once a mug of beer and a good dinner for my child, and

went back to the castle with the man and the maid, who carried the box,

begging him, in order to avoid common talk, to say nothing of my good

fortune to mine host, nor, indeed, to any one else in the town, and to

count out the money to me privately, seeing that I could not be sure

that the thieves might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they

heard of it, and this the man did; for he whispered something into the

ear of his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat, _item_

his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a well-filled purse,

which he gave to him. _Summa_. Before long I had my riches in my pocket,

and, moreover, the man begged me to write to him at Amsterdam whenever I

found any more amber, the which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow

(as I have since heard) died of the plague at Stettin, together with his

companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. Shortly after I was

very near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing

to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I

should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of the

castle stairs and entered into a small chamber, where I humbled myself

before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke, followed me, thinking I

was a thief, and would have stopped me, so that I knew not how to excuse

myself by saying that I had been made drunken by the wine which the

strange merchants had given to me (for he had seen what a good pull I

had made at it), seeing I had not broken my fast that morning, and that

I was looking for a chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he

believed (if, in truth, it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though

not with wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly

he let me go.

But I must now tell my story of his Princely Highness, as I promised

above. Anno 22, as I chanced to walk with my daughter, who was then a

child of about twelve years old, in the castle-garden at Wolgast, and was

showing her the beautiful flowers that grew there, it chanced that as we

came round from behind some bushes we espied my gracious lord the Duke

Philippus Julius, with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff, who lay

here on a visit, standing on a mount and conversing, wherefore we were

about to return. But as my gracious lords presently walked on toward the

drawbridge, we went to look at the mount where they had stood; of a sudden

my little girl shouted loudly for joy, seeing that she found on the earth

a costly signet-ring, which one of their Princely Highnesses doubtless

had dropped. I therefore said, "Come and we will follow our gracious lords

with all speed, and thou shall say to them in Latin, '_Serenissimi

principes, quis vestrum hunc annulum deperdidit_?' (for, as I have

mentioned above, I had instructed her in the Latin tongue ever since her

seventh year); and if one of them says '_Ego_,' give to him the ring.

_Item_.--Should he ask thee in Latin to whom thou belongest, be not

abashed, and say '_Ego sum filia pastoris Coserowiensis_'; for thou wilt

thus find favour in the eyes of their Princely Highnesses, for they are

both gracious gentlemen, more especially the taller one, who is our

gracious ruler, Philippus Julius himself." This she promised to do; but as

she trembled sorely as she went, I encouraged her yet more and promised

her a new gown if she did it, seeing that even as a little child she would

have given a great deal for fine clothes. As soon, then, as we were come

into the courtyard, I stood by the statue of his Princely Highness Ernest

Ludewig, and whispered her to run boldly after them, as their Princely

Highnesses were only a few steps before us, and had already turned toward

the great entrance. This she did, but of a sudden she stood still, and

would have turned back, because she was frightened by the spurs of their

Princely Highnesses, as she afterwards told me, seeing that they rattled

and jingled very loudly.

But my gracious lady the Duchess Agnes saw her from the open window

wherein she lay, and called to his Princely Highness, "My lord, there is a

little maiden behind you, who, it seems, would speak with you," whereupon

his Princely Highness straightway turned him round, smiling pleasantly, so

that my little maid presently took courage, and, holding up the ring,

spoke in Latin as I had told her. Hereat both the princes wondered beyond

measure, and after my gracious Duke Philippus had felt his finger, he

answered, "_Dulcissima puella, ego perdidi_"; whereupon she gave it to

him. Then he patted her cheek, and again asked, "_Sed quaenam es, et unde

venis?_" whereupon she boldly gave her answer, and at the same time

pointed with her finger to where I stood by the statue; whereupon his

Princely Highness motioned me to draw near. My gracious lady saw all that

passed from the window, but all at once she left it. She, however,

came back to it again before I had time even humbly to draw near to my

gracious lord, and beckoned to my child, and held a cake out of the window

for her. On my telling her, she ran up to the window, but her Princely

Highness could not reach so low nor she so high above her as to take it,

wherefore my gracious lady commanded her to come up into the castle, and

as she looked anxiously round after me, motioned me also, as did my

gracious lord himself, who presently took the timid little maid by the

hand and went up with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff. My

gracious lady came to meet us at the door, and caressed and embraced my

little daughter, so that she soon grew quite bold and ate the cake. When

my gracious lord had asked me my name, _item_, why I had in so singular a

manner taught my daughter the Latin tongue, I answered that I had heard

much from a cousin at Cologne of Maria Schurman, and as I had observed a

very excellent _ingenium_ in my child, and also had time enough in my

lonely cure, I did not hesitate to take her in hand, and teach her from

her youth up, seeing I had no boy alive. Hereat their Princely Highnesses

marvelled greatly, and put some more questions to her in Latin, which she

answered without any prompting from me. Whereupon my gracious lord Duke

Philippus said in the vulgar tongue, "When thou art grown up and art one

day to be married, tell it to me, and thou shall then have another ring

from me, and whatsoever else pertains to a bride, for thou hast this day

done me good service, seeing that this ring is a precious jewel to me, as

I had it from my wife." Hereupon I whispered her to kiss his Princely

Highness' hand for such a promise, and so she did.

(But alas! most gracious God, it is one thing to promise, and quite

another to hold. Where is his Princely Highness at this time? Wherefore

let me ever keep in mind that "thou only art faithful, and that which thou

hast promised thou wilt surely hold." Psalm xxxiii. 4. Amen.)

_Item_. When his Princely Highness had also inquired concerning myself

and my cure, and heard that I was of ancient and noble family, and my

_salarium_ very small, he called from the window to his chancellor,

D. Rungius, who stood without, looking at the sun-dial, and told him that

I was to have an addition from the convent at Pudgla, _item_ from the

crown-lands at Ernsthoff, as I mentioned above; but, more's the pity, I

never have received the same, although the _instrumentum donationis_ was

sent me soon after by his Princely Highness' chancellor.

Then cakes were brought for me also, _item_, a glass of foreign wine in a

glass painted with armorial bearings, whereupon I humbly took my leave,

together with my daughter.

However, to come back to my bargain, anybody may guess what joy my child

felt when I showed her the fair ducats and florins I had gotten for the

amber. To the maid, however, we said that we had inherited such riches

from my brother in Holland; and after we had again given thanks to the

Lord on our knees, and eaten our dinner, we bought in a great store of

bread, salt, meat, and stock-fish: _item_, of clothes, seeing that I

provided what was needful for us three throughout the winter from the

cloth-merchant. Moreover, for my daughter I bought a hair-net and a

scarlet silk bodice, with a black apron and white petticoat, _item_, a

fine pair of earrings, as she begged hard for them; and as soon as I had

ordered the needful from the cordwainer we set out on our way homewards,

as it began to grow very dark; but we could not carry nearly all we had

bought. Wherefore we were forced to get a peasant from Bannemin to help

us, who likewise was come into the town; and as I found out from him

that the fellow who gave me the piece of bread was a poor cotter called

Pantermehl, who dwelt in the village by the roadside, I shoved a couple of

loaves in at his house-door without his knowing it, and we went on our way

by the bright moonlight, so that by the help of God we got home about ten

o'clock at night. I likewise gave a loaf to the other fellow, though truly

he deserved it not, seeing that he would go with us no further than to

Zitze. But I let him go, for I, too, had not deserved that the Lord should

so greatly bless me.

_The Eleventh Chapter_

HOW I FED ALL THE CONGREGATION:

_ITEM_, HOW I JOURNEYED TO THE HORSE FAIR AT GÜTZKOW, AND WHAT BEFELL

ME THERE

Next morning my daughter cut up the blessed bread, and sent to every one

in the village a good large piece. But as we saw that our store would

soon run low, we sent the maid with a truck, which we bought of Adam

Lempken, to Wolgast to buy more bread, which she did. _Item_, I gave

notice throughout the parish that on Sunday next I should administer the

blessed sacrament, and in the meantime I bought up all the large fish

that the people of the village had caught. And when the blessed Sunday

was come I first heard the confessions of the whole parish, and after

that I preached a sermon on Matt. xv. 32--"I have compassion on the

multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." I first applied the same to

spiritual food only, and there arose a great sighing from both the men

and the women, when, at the end, I pointed to the altar, whereon stood

the blessed food for the soul, and repeated the words, "I have compassion

on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." (N.B.--The pewter

cup I had borrowed at Wolgast, and bought there a little earthenware

plate for a paten till such time as Master Bloom should have made ready

the silver cup and paten I had bespoke.) Thereupon as soon as I had

consecrated and administered the blessed sacrament, _item_, led the

closing hymn, and every one had silently prayed his "Our Father" before

going out of church, I came out of the confessional again, and motioned

the people to stay yet a while, as the blessed Saviour would feed not

only their souls, but their bodies also, seeing that he still had the

same compassion on his people as of old on the people at the Sea of

Galilee, as they should presently see. Then I went into the tower and

fetched out two baskets which the maid had bought at Wolgast, and which I

had hidden there in good time; set them down in front of the altar, and

took off the napkins with which they were covered, whereupon a very loud

shout arose, inasmuch as they saw one filled with broiled fish and the

other with bread, which we had put into them privately. Hereupon, like

our Saviour, I gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to the churchwarden

Hinrich Seden, that he might distribute it among the men, and to my

daughter for the women. Whereupon I made application of the text, "I have

compassion on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat," to the

food of the body also; and walking up and down in the church, amid great

outcries from all, I exhorted them alway to trust in God's mercy, to pray

without ceasing, to work diligently, and to consent to no sin. What was

left I made them gather up for their children and the old people who were

left at home.

After church, when I had scarce put off my surplice, Hinrich Seden his

squint-eyed wife came and impudently asked for more for her husband's

journey to Liepe; neither had she had anything for herself, seeing she had

not come to church. This angered me sore, and I said to her, "Why wast thou

not at church? Nevertheless, if thou hadst come humbly to me thou shouldst

have gotten somewhat even now, but as thou comest impudently, I will give

thee nought: think on what thou didst to me and to my child." But she stood

at the door and glowered impudently about the room till my daughter took

her by the arm and led her out, saying, "Hear'st thou, thou shalt come back

humbly before thou gett'st anything, but when thou comest thus, thou also

shalt have thy share, for we will no longer reckon with thee an eye for an

eye, and a tooth for a tooth; let the Lord do that if such be his will, but

we will gladly forgive thee!" Hereupon she at last went out at the door,

muttering to herself as she was wont; but she spat several times in the

street, as we saw from the window.

Soon after I made up my mind to take into my service a lad, near upon

twenty years of age, called Claus Neels, seeing that his father, old

Neels of Loddin, begged hard that I would do so, besides which the lad

pleased me well in manners and otherwise. Then, as we had a good harvest

this year, I resolved to buy me a couple of horses forthwith, and to sow

my field again; for although it was now late in the year, I thought that

the most merciful God might bless the crop with increase if it seemed

good to him.

Neither did I feel much care with respect to food for them, inasmuch as

there was a great plenty of hay in the neighbourhood, seeing that all the

cattle had been killed or driven away (as related above). I therefore made

up my mind to go in God's name with my new ploughman to Gützkow, whither a

great many Mecklenburg horses were brought to the fair, seeing that times

were not yet so bad there as with us. Meanwhile I went a few more times up

the Streckelberg with my daughter at night, and by moonlight, but found

very little; so that we began to think our luck had come to an end, when,

on the third night, we broke off some pieces of amber bigger even than

those the two Dutchmen had bought. These I resolved to send to my wife's

brother, Martin Behring, at Hamburg, seeing that the schipper Wulff of

Wolgast intends, as I am told, to sail thither this very autumn, with

pitch and wood for shipbuilding. I accordingly packed it all up in a

strong chest, which I carried with me to Wolgast when I started with my

man on my journey to Gützkow. Of this journey I will only relate thus

much, that there were plenty of horses and very few buyers in the market.

Wherefore I bought a pair of fine black horses for twenty florins apiece;

_item_, a cart for five florins; _item_, twenty-five bushels of rye, which

also came from Mecklenburg, at one florin the bushel, whereas it is hardly

to be had now at Wolgast for love or money, and costs three florins or

more the bushel. I might therefore have made a good bargain in rye at

Gützkow if it had become my office, and had I not, moreover, been afraid

lest the robbers, who swarm in these evil times, should take away my corn,

and ill-use and perchance murder me into the bargain, as has happened to

sundry people already. For, at this time especially, such robberies were

carried on after a strange and frightful fashion on Strellin heath at

Gützkow; but by God's help it all came to light just as I journeyed

thither with my man-servant to the fair, and I will here tell how it

happened. Some months before a man had been broken on the wheel at

Gützkow, because, being tempted of Satan, he murdered a travelling

workman. The man, however, straightway began to walk after so fearful a

fashion, that in the evening and night-season he sprang down from the

wheel in his gallows' dress whenever a cart passed by the gallows, which

stands hard by the road to Wolgast, and jumped up behind the people, who

in horror and dismay flogged on their horses, and thereby made a great

rattling on the log embankment which leads beside the gallows into a

little wood called the Kraulin. And it was a strange thing that on the

same night the travellers were almost always robbed or murdered on

Strellin heath. Hereupon the magistrates had the man taken down from the

wheel and buried under the gallows, in hopes of laying his ghost. But it

went on just as before, sitting at night snow-white on the wheel, so that

none durst any longer travel the road to Wolgast. Until at last it

happened that, at the time of the above-named fair, young Rüdiger von

Nienkerken of Mellenthin, in Usedom, who had been studying at Wittenberg

and elsewhere, and was now on his way home, came this road by night with

his carriage. Just before, at the inn, I myself had tried to persuade him

to stop the night at Gützkow on account of the ghost, and to go on his

journey with me next morning, but he would not. Now as soon as this young

lord drove along the road, he also espied the apparition sitting on the

wheel, and scarcely had he passed the gallows when the ghost jumped down

and ran after him. The driver was horribly afraid, and lashed on the

horses, as everybody else had done before, and they, taking fright,

galloped away over the log-road with a marvellous clatter. Meanwhile,

however, the young nobleman saw by the light of the moon how that the

apparition flattened a ball of horse-dung whereon it trod, and straightway

felt sure within himself that it was no ghost. Whereupon he called to the

driver to stop; and as the man would not hearken to him, he sprang out of

the carriage, drew his rapier, and hastened to attack the ghost. When the

ghost saw this he would have turned and fled, but the young nobleman gave

him such a blow on the head with his fist that he fell upon the ground

with a loud wailing. _Summa_: the young lord, having called back his

driver, dragged the ghost into the town again, where he turned out to be a

shoemaker called Schwelm.

I also, on seeing such a great crowd, ran thither with many others to

look at the fellow. He trembled like an aspen leaf; and when he was

roughly told to make a clean breast, whereby he might peradventure save

his own life, if it appeared that he had murdered no one, he confessed

that he had got his wife to make him a gallows' dress, which he had

put on, and had sat on the wheel before the dead man, when, from the

darkness and the distance, no one could see that the two were sitting

there together; and this he did more especially when he knew that a

cart was going from the town to Wolgast. When the cart came by, and he

jumped down and ran after it, all the people were so affrighted that

they no longer kept their eyes upon the gallows, but only on him,

flogged the horses, and galloped with much noise and clatter over the

log embankment. This was heard by his fellows in Strellin and Dammbecke

(two villages which are about three-fourths on the way), who held

themselves ready to unyoke the horses and to plunder the travellers

when they came up with them. That after the dead man was buried he

could play the ghost more easily still, etc. That this was the whole

truth, and that he himself had never in his life robbed, still less

murdered, any one; wherefore he begged to be forgiven: that all the

robberies and murders which had happened had been done by his fellows

alone. Ah, thou cunning knave! But I heard afterwards that he and his

fellows were broken on the wheel together, as was but fair.

And now to come back to my journey. The young nobleman abode that night

with me at the inn, and early next morning we both set forth; and as we

had grown into good-fellowship together, I got into his coach with him,

as he offered me, so as to talk by the way, and my Claus drove behind

us. I soon found that he was a well-bred, honest, and learned gentleman,

seeing that he despised the wild student life, and was glad that he had

now done with their scandalous drinking-bouts: moreover, he talked his

Latin readily. I had therefore much pleasure with him in the coach.

However, at Wolgast the rope of the ferry-boat broke, so that we were

carried down the stream to Zeuzin, and at length we only got ashore with

great trouble. Meanwhile it grew late, and we did not get into Coserow

till nine, when I asked the young lord to abide the night with me, which

he agreed to do. We found my child sitting in the chimney-corner, making

a petticoat for her little god-daughter out of her own old clothes. She

was greatly frighted, and changed colour when she saw the young lord

come in with me, and heard that he was to lie there that night, seeing

that as yet we had no more beds than we had bought for our own need from

old Zabel Nehring the forest ranger his widow, at Uekeritze. Wherefore

she took me aside: What was to be done? My bed was in an ill plight, her

little god-child having lain on it that morning; and she could nowise

put the young nobleman into hers, although she would willingly creep in

by the maid herself. And when I asked her why not? she blushed scarlet

and began to cry, and would not show herself again the whole evening, so

that the maid had to see to everything, even to the putting white sheets

on my child's bed for the young lord, as she would not do it herself. I

only tell this to show how maidens are. For next morning she came into

the room with her red silk bodice, and the net on her hair, and the

apron; _summa_, dressed in all the things I had bought her at Wolgast,

so that the young lord was amazed, and talked much with her over the

morning meal. Whereupon he took his leave, and desired me to visit him

at his castle.

[Illustration: The Gallows Ghost]

_The Twelfth Chapter_

WHAT FURTHER JOY AND SORROW BEFELL US:

_ITEM_, HOW WITTICH APPELMANN RODE TO DAMEROW TO THE WOLFHUNT, AND WHAT HE

PROPOSED TO MY DAUGHTER

The Lord blessed my parish wonderfully this winter, inasmuch as not only a

great quantity of fish were caught and sold in all the villages, but in

Coserow they even killed four seals: _item_, the great storm of the 12th

of December threw a goodly quantity of amber on the shore, so that many

found amber, although no very large pieces, and they began to buy cows and

sheep from Liepe and other places, as I myself also bought two cows;

_item_, my grain which I had sown, half on my own field and half on old

Paasch's, sprang up bravely and gladly, as the Lord had till _datum_

bestowed on us an open winter; but so soon as it had shot up a finger's

length, we found it one morning again torn up and ruined, and this time

also by the devil's doings, since now, as before, not the smallest trace

of oxen or of horses was to be seen in the field. May the righteous God,

however, reward it, as indeed he already has done. Amen.

Meanwhile, however, something uncommon happened. For one morning, as I

have heard, when Lord Wittich saw out of the window that the daughter of

his fisherman, a child of sixteen, whom he had diligently pursued, went

into the coppice to gather dry sticks, he went thither too; wherefore, I

will not say, but every one may guess for himself. When he had gone some

way along the convent mound, and was come to the first bridge, where the

mountain-ash stands, he saw two wolves coming towards him; and as he had

no weapon with him, save a staff, he climbed up into a tree; whereupon the

wolves trotted round it, blinked at him with their eyes, licked their

lips, and at last jumped with their fore-paws up against the tree,

snapping at him; he then saw that one was a he-wolf, a great fat brute

with only one eye. Hereupon in his fright he began to scream, and the

long-suffering of God was again shown to him, without, however, making him

wiser; for the maiden, who had crept behind a juniper-bush in the field

when she saw the Sheriff coming, ran back again to the castle and called

together a number of people, who came and drove away the wolves, and

rescued his lordship. He then ordered a great wolf-hunt to be held next

day in the convent wood, and he who brought the one-eyed monster, dead or

alive, was to have a barrel of beer for his pains. Still they could not

catch him, albeit they that day took four wolves in their nets, and killed

them. He therefore straightway ordered a wolf-hunt to be held in my

parish. But when the fellow came to toll the bell for a wolf-hunt, he did

not stop a while, as is the wont for wolf-hunts, but loudly rang the bell

on, _sine morâ_, so that all the folk thought a fire had broken out, and

ran screaming out of their houses. My child also came running out (I

myself had driven to visit a sick person at Zempin, seeing that walking

began to be wearisome to me, and that I could now afford to be more at

mine ease); but she had not stood long, and was asking the reason of the

ringing, when the Sheriff himself, on his grey charger, with three

cart-loads of toils and nets following him, galloped up and ordered the

people straightway to go into the forest and to drive the wolves with

rattles. Hereupon he, with his hunters and a few men whom he had picked

out of the crowd, were to ride on and spread the nets behind Damerow,

seeing that the island is wondrous narrow there, and the wolf dreads the

water. When he saw my daughter he turned his horse round, chucked her

under the chin, and graciously asked her who she was, and whence she came?

When he had heard it, he said she was as fair as an angel, and that he had

not known till now that the parson here had so beauteous a girl. He then

rode off, looking round at her two or three times. At the first beating

they found the one-eyed wolf, who lay in the rushes near the water. Hereat

his lordship rejoiced greatly, and made the grooms drag him out of the net

with long iron hooks, and hold him there for near an hour, while my lord

slowly and cruelly tortured him to death, laughing heartily the while,

which is a _prognosticon_ of what he afterwards did with my poor child,

for wolf or lamb is all one to this villain. Just God! But I will not be

beforehand with my tale.

Next day came old Seden his squint-eyed wife, limping like a lame dog, and

put it to my daughter whether she would not go into the service of the

Sheriff; praised him as a good and pious man; and vowed that all the world

said of him were foul lies, as she herself could bear witness, seeing that

she had lived in his service for above ten years. _Item_, she praised the

good cheer they had there, and the handsome beer-money that the great

lords who often lay there gave the servants which waited upon them; that

she herself had more than once received a rose-noble from his Princely

Highness Duke Ernest Ludewig; moreover, many pretty fellows came there,

which might make her fortune, inasmuch as she was a fair woman, and might

take her choice of a husband; whereas here in Coserow, where nobody ever

came, she might wait till she was old and ugly before she got a curch on

her head, etc. Hereat my daughter was beyond measure angered, and

answered, "Ah! thou old witch, and who has told thee that I wish to go

into service to get a curch on my head? Go thy ways, and never enter the

house again, for I have nought to do with thee." Whereupon she walked away

again, muttering between her teeth.

Scarce had a few days passed, and I was standing in the chamber with the

glazier, who was putting in new windows, when I heard my daughter scream

in the kitchen. Whereupon I straightway ran in thither, and was shocked

and affrighted when I saw the Sheriff himself standing in the corner with

his arm round my child her neck; he, however, presently let her go, and

said: "Aha, reverend Abraham, what a coy little fool you have for a

daughter! I wanted to greet her with a kiss, as I always use to do, and

she struggled and cried out as if I had been some young fellow who had

stolen in upon her, whereas I might be her father twice over." As I

answered nought, he went on to say that he had done it to encourage her,

seeing that he desired to take her into his service, as indeed I knew,

with more excuses of the same kind which I have forgot. Hereupon I pressed

him to come into the room, seeing that after all he was the ruler set over

me by God, and humbly asked what his lordship desired of me. Whereupon he

answered me graciously that it was true he had just cause for anger

against me, seeing that I had preached at him before the whole

congregation, but that he was ready to forgive me, and to have the

complaint he had sent in _contra me_ to his Princely Highness at Stettin,

and which might easily cost me my place, returned to him if I would but do

his will. And when I asked what his Lordship's will might be, and excused

myself as best I might with regard to the sermon, he answered that he

stood in great need of a faithful housekeeper whom he could set over the

other women-folk; and as he had learnt that my daughter was a faithful and

trustworthy person, he would that I should send her into his service. "See

there," said he to her, and pinched her cheek the while, "I want to lead

you to honour, though you are such a young creature, and yet you cry out

as if I were going to bring you to dishonour. Fie upon you!" (My child

still remembers all this _verbotenus_; I myself should have forgot it a

hundred times over in all the wretchedness I since underwent.) But she was

offended at his words, and, jumping up from her seat, she answered

shortly, "I thank your lordship for the honour, but will only keep house

for my papa, which is a better honour for me"; whereupon he turned to me

and asked what I said to that. I must own that I was not a little

affrighted, inasmuch as I thought of the future and of the credit in which

the Sheriff stood with his Princely Highness. I therefore answered with

all humility that I could not force my child, and that I loved to have her

about me, seeing that my dear huswife had departed this life during the

heavy pestilence, and I had no child but only her. That I hoped therefore

his lordship would not be displeased with me that I could not send her

into his lordship's service. This angered him sore, and after disputing

some time longer in vain he took leave, not without threats that he would

make me pay for it. _Item_, my man, who was standing in the stable, heard

him say as he went round the corner, "I will have her yet, in spite of

him!"

I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday

following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome fellow,

and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him on his horse,

and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a present, in hopes that

I would think better of his offer, seeing that he had been ever since

seeking on all sides for a housekeeper in vain. Moreover, that if I

changed my mind about it his lordship would speak for me to his Princely

Highness, so that the dotation of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to

me out of the princely _aerarium_, etc. But the young fellow got the same

answer as his master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away

with him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told him

at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to supply me with it

abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game in the forest, and that

he often went a-hunting on the Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my

daughter) pleased him uncommonly, the more because I would not do his

master's will, who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any

girl in peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had

rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the course of

three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and grew more and more

sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal about his good place, and

how he was in search of a good huswife, whence we soon guessed what

quarter the wind blew from. _Ergo_, my daughter told him that if he was

seeking for a huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to

Coserow to no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there,

which vexed him so sore that he never came again.

And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the

Sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without more

ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover, he promised

to build him a house of his own in the forest; _item_, to give him pots

and kettles, crockery, bedding, etc., seeing that he had stood god-father

to the young fellow, who, moreover, had ever borne himself well during

seven years he had been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that

his lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody but

her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a huswife.

This, however, did not seem to anger him, but after he had talked a long

time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat which pretends

to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners, but she is not in

earnest, and presently springs out upon it again. For doubtless he saw

that he had set to work stupidly; wherefore he went away in order to begin

his attack again after a better fashion, and Satan went with him, as

whilom with Judas Iscariot.

_The Thirteenth Chapter_

WHAT MORE HAPPENED DURING THE WINTER:

_ITEM_, HOW IN THE SPRING WITCHCRAFT BEGAN IN THE VILLAGE

Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the merciful

God bestowed a great plenty of fish, both from the Achterwater and the

sea, and the parish again had good food; so that it might be said of us,

as it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great

mercies will I gather thee." Wherefore we were not weary of praising the

Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church, buying new

pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had stolen the old ones.

_Item_, they desired to make good to me the money I had paid for the new

cups, which, however, I would not take.

There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who had not

been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch as they had

spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread. I therefore made an

agreement with them that I would lend them the money for it, and that if

they could not repay me this year, they might the next, which offer they

thankfully took; and we sent seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg,

to fetch seed-corn for us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin

Behring, in Hamburg, had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had

sailed home by Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper

it with him!

Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the midwife in the

parish, and had also brought my child into the world. Of late, however,

she had had but little to do, seeing that in this year I only baptized two

children, namely, Jung his son in Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little

daughter, the same whom the Imperialists afterwards speared. _Item_, it

was now full five years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one

may guess that I might have starved to death had not the righteous God so

mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to him alone

be all honour and glory. Amen.

Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the Sheriff had

last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat reading with my

child the second book of _Virgilius_ of the fearful destruction of the

city of Troy, which was more terrible even than that of our own village,

when a cry arose that our old neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had

bought only a few days before, had stretched out all-fours and seemed

about to die; and this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but

half an hour before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three

hairs from its tail, and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for

it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow would get

better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing that she is the

only maid in the whole village (for the others are still children); and

the cow got better from that very hour, whereat all the folks were amazed.

But it was not long before the same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst

it was feeding heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's

sake to take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill

men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also, and it did as

much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was _gravida_, was

straightway taken in labour from the fright; and my child was scarce out

of the pigsty when the woman went into her cottage, wailing and holding by

the wall, and called together all the woman of the neighbourhood, seeing

that the proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long

something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women stooped

down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like a bat, flew up

off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room, and then shot out of

the window with a great noise, so that the glass clattered down into the

street. When they looked after it nothing was to be found. Any one may

judge for himself what a great noise this made in all the neighbourhood;

and the whole village believed that it was no one but old Seden his

squint-eyed wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat.

But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her cow got

the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too came lamenting,

and begged my daughter to take pity on her, as on the rest, and to cure

her poor cow for the love of God. That if she had taken it ill of her that

she had said anything about going into service with the Sheriff, she could

only say she had done it for the best, etc. _Summa_, she talked over my

unhappy child to go and cure her cow.

Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the whole

congregation, praying that he would not allow the Evil One to take from us

that which his mercy had once more bestowed upon us after such extreme

want. _Item_, that he would bring to light the _auctor_ of such devilish

works, so that he might receive the punishment he deserved.

But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief

befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came

running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do

no good, and the beast died under her hands.

_Item_, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my daughter had

paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor woman kept it like a

child, and let it run about her room. This little pig got the mischief,

like all the rest, in the twinkling of an eye; and when my daughter was

called it grew no better, but also died under her hands; whereupon the

poor woman made a great outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my

child was moved to pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow

should litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on,

together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for his

merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened to old wife

Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running for my daughter

with loud outcries, and although my child told her that she must have seen

herself that nothing she could do for the cattle cured them any longer,

she ceased not to beg and pray her and to lament till she went forth to do

what she could for her with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose,

inasmuch as the little pig died before she left the sty. What think you

this devil's whore then did? After she had run screaming through the

village she said that any one might see that my daughter was no longer a

maid, else why could she now do no good to the cattle, whereas she had

formerly cured them? She supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on

the Streckelberg, whither she went so often this spring, and that God only

knew who had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the

whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had often

walked on the Streckelberg this spring, both with me and also alone, in

order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed sea, while she

recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of _Virgilius_ as pleased

her best (for whatever she read a few times, that she remembered).

Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no wolves now

left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been they always fly

before a human creature in the summer season. Howbeit, I forbade her to

dig for amber. For as it now lay deep, and we knew not what to do with the

earth we threw up, I resolved to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait

till my store of money grew very scant before we would dig any more.

But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had promised she

would, and of this her disobedience came all our misery. (Oh, blessed

Lord, how grave a matter is thy holy fourth commandment!) For as his

reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this spring, had

told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the _Opp. St.

Augustini_, and I had said before her that I desired above all things to

buy that book, but had not money enough left, she got up in the night

without my knowledge to dig for amber, meaning to sell it as best she

might at Wolgast, in order secretly to present me with the _Opp. St.

Augustini_ on my birthday, which falls on the 28th _mensis Augusti_. She

had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir, whereof

there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should perceive anything

of it.

Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young _nobilis_ Rüdiger of

Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the terrible witchcraft

that went on in the village. When I had told him all about it he shook his

head doubtingly, and said he believed that all witchcraft was nothing but

lies and deceit; whereat I was struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had

hitherto held the young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see

that he was an Atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile

he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus, who

would hear nothing of witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were

melancholy persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a

_pactum_ with the devil; and that to him they seemed more worthy of pity

than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had not indeed read any

such book (for say, who can read all that fools write?), but that the

appearances here and in all other places proved that it was a monstrous

error to deny the reality of witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then

likewise deny that there were such things as murder, adultery, and theft.

But he called my _argumentum_ a _dilemma_, and after he had discoursed a

great deal of the devil, all of which I have forgotten, seeing it savoured

strangely of heresy, he said he would relate to me a piece of witchcraft

which he himself had seen at Wittenberg.

It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good charger

at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the horse presently

began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head, snorted, kicked, and

roared, not as horses used to neigh, but with a sound as though the voice

came from a human throat, so that all the folks were amazed, and thought

the horse bewitched. It presently threw the captain, and crushed his head

with its hoof, so that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set

off at full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched

horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died. That he,

Rüdiger, had then drawn near, together with many others, seeing that the

colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon of the regiment to cut

open the horse and see in what state it was inwardly. However, that

everything was quite right, and both the surgeon and army physician

testified that the horse was thoroughly sound; whereupon all the people

cried out more than ever about witchcraft. Meanwhile he himself (I mean

the young _nobilis_) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's

nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew out a

match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and which some wicked

fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a pin. Hereupon all

thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and search was made for the

culprit, who was presently found to be no other than the captain's own

groom. For one day that his master had dusted his jacket for him he swore

an oath that he would have his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal

himself had heard as he chanced to be standing in the stable. _Item_,

another soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off

the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus thought

the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were sifted to the

bottom; like as I myself had seen at Gützkow, where the devil's apparition

turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one day I should own that it was

the same sort of thing here in our village. By reason of this speech I

liked not the young nobleman from that hour forward, believing him to be

an Atheist. Though, indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he

was in the right, more's the pity; for had it not been for him what would

have become of my daughter?

But I will say nothing beforehand.--_Summa_: I walked about the room in

great displeasure at his words, while the young lord began to argue with

my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and now in the vulgar tongue,

as the words came into his mouth, and wanted to hear her mind about it.

But she answered that she was a foolish thing, and could have no opinion

on the matter; but that, nevertheless, she believed that what happened in

the village could not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out

of the room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again

my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close before

her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off, whether anything

had happened, which she at first denied, but afterwards owned that he had

said to her while I was gone that he knew but one person who could

bewitch; and when she asked him who that person was, he caught hold of her

hand and said, "It is yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell

upon my heart, as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further,

but only gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her

so red.

But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if one's

back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb

To drive a goose and watch a maid

Needs the devil himself to aid

is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity!

_The Fourteenth Chapter_

HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN:

_ITEM_, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE

FORT AT PEENEMÜNDE

We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I

reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my orchard, and which

truly were a strange thing; for the trees blossomed so fair and sweetly

that one day as we were walking under them, and praising the almighty

power of the most merciful God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to

bless us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of

next winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise; for all in a moment

the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars (great and small,

and of every shape and colour) that one might have measured them by the

bushel, and before long my poor trees looked like brooms, and the blessed

fruit--which was so well set--all fell off, and was scarce good enough for

the pigs. I do not choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own

private thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley,

whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up bravely.

On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the malice of Satan.

Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the parish--in part because

they had sown no winter crops, and in part because the summer crops did

not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was

caught by the mercy of God, especially herring; but they were very low in

price. Moreover, they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself

killed one as I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a

rock close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled off

my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not, and then

struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot bear much on his

nose), so that he tumbled over into the water; but he was quite stunned,

and I could easily kill him outright. It was a fat beast, though not very

large; and we melted forty pots of train-oil out of his fat, which we put

by for a winter store.

Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so that he

wished to receive the holy sacrament. When I went to him he could give no

reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for fear of his old Lizzie,

who was always watching him with her squinting eyes, and would not leave

the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old,

said that a few days before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle

under the garden-hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife

quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her teeth that

he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit, and that he

would straightway go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a

child's tale, it may be true for all that, seeing that children and fools,

they say, speak the truth.

But be that as it may. _Summa_, my old warden grew worse and worse; and

though I visited him every morning and evening--as I use to do to my

sick--in order to pray with him, and often observed that he had somewhat

on his mind, nevertheless he could not disburthen himself of it, seeing

that old Lizzie never left her post.

This went on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to beg

me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup, because he had

been told that he should get better if he took it mixed with the dung of

fowls. For some time I would not consent, seeing that I straightway

suspected that there was some devilish mischief behind it; but he begged

and prayed, till I did as he would have me.

And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour; so that when I went to

pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on the bench with a

bowl between his knees, out of which he was supping broth. However, he

would not pray (which was strange, seeing that he used to pray so gladly,

and often could not wait patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent

after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed);

but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock

whose dung he had taken for my trouble, as it was a fine large cock, and

he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the poultry

was by this time gone to roost, he went up to the perch which was behind

the stove, and reached down the cock, and put it under the arm of the

maid, who was just come to call me away.

Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I turned

it out to breed. I went to him once more, and asked whether I should give

thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; whereupon he answered

that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I shook my head, and

left the house, resolving to send for him as soon as ever I should hear

that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often went to fetch flax to

spin from the Sheriff). But mark what befell within a few days! We heard

an outcry that old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had

become of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg,

whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my

daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing that she

went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had not; but, woe is

me, she was soon to hear enough of him; for one morning, before sunrise,

as she came down into the wood on her way back from her forbidden digging

after amber, she heard a woodpecker (which no doubt was old Lizzie

herself) crying so dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the

bushes to see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker sitting on the

ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what old

Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up, with its beak

full of the hair and slipped into a hollow tree. While my daughter still

stood looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had heard

the cries of the woodpecker, as he was cutting roofing shingles on the

mountain, with his boy--and was likewise struck with horror when he saw

the hair on the ground. At first they thought a wolf must have eaten him,

and searched all about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up

they fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they

made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here, too, there

was a great bunch of red hair stuck to some leaves as if with pitch, but

that it was not pitch, but something speckled red and white, like

fishguts; _item_, that the leaves all around, even where there was no

hair, were stained and spotted, and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the

lad, at his master's bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two

below straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden,

and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would not pray

nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself believed the same,

and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the congregation. But further on

it will be seen that the Lord had yet greater cause for giving him into

the hands of Satan, inasmuch as he had been talked over by his wicked wife

to renounce his Maker in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this

devil's whore did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by

whole handsful when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old

Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was to take

care of her for the future, etc.

Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and might,

together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day _mensis Junii_,

whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the holy Roman Empire laid

their confession before the most high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at

Augsburg; and I preached a sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession

of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation

came to the Sacrament. Now, towards the evening of the selfsame day, as I

walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred sail of

ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and plainly heard firing,

whereupon we judged forthwith that this must be the most high and mighty

King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the aid

of poor persecuted Christendom. While we were still debating, a boat

sailed towards us from Oie wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer

there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that it

really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with his fleet

from Rügen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at the time, and saw

how he went ashore with his officers, and straightway bared his head and

fell upon his knees.

Thus, then, most gracious God, did I thy unworthy servant enjoy a still

greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I had done on the

blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed not for a moment to

fall on my knees with my child, and to follow the example of the king. And

God knows I never in my life prayed so fervently as that evening, whereon

the Lord showed such a wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of

his poor Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had

everywhere called upon him, on their knees, for his gracious help against

the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night I could not

sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to Damerow, where

something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed that he, too, was

bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, seeing that the boy had

eaten something unwholesome in the forest. He could not tell what kind of

berries they were; but the _malum_, which turned all his skin bright

scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly

after, I met a messenger from Peenemünde, whom his Majesty the high and

mighty King Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the Sheriff that on the

29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send three guides

to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him through the woods to

Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. _Item_, he related how his

Majesty had taken the fort at Peenemünde yesterday (doubtless the cause of

the firing we heard last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away

as fast as they could, and played the bushranger properly; for after

setting their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and

part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine.

Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a _carmen gratulatorium_ to his

Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my

little daughter might present to him.

I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and she

straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance about the

room. But when she had considered a little, she thought her clothes were

not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and that I should buy her a

blue silk gown, with a yellow apron, seeing that these were the Swedish

colours, and would please his Majesty right well. For a long time I would

not, seeing that I hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her

kisses and coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered

my ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff.

Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud, and showeth

mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such pride. For I myself

felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with two women who were to help

her to sew, and laid the stuff before me. Next day she set to work at

sunrise to sew, and I composed my _carmen_ the while. I had not got very

far in it when the young Lord Rüdiger of Nienkerken came riding up, in

order, as he said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to

march through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter,

_item_ informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly, and instructed

my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day than I altogether

liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the Latin, as _ratscho_ pro _ratio,

uet_ pro _ut, schis_ pro _scis_, etc., so that she might be able to answer

his Majesty with all due readiness. He said, moreover, that he had held

much converse with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald,

wherefore if she pleased they might act a short _colloquium_, wherein he

would play the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and

they both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially when

I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the while. But say,

dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I went my ways, and let them

chatter till near noon, when the young lord at last took leave. But he

promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and believed

that the whole island would flock together at Coserow. As soon as he was

gone, seeing that my _vena poetica_ (as may be easily guessed) was still

stopped up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish,

exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone by

Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to fall on

their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and that I knelt

down; _item_, to join at once in singing the Ambrosian hymn of praise,

which I should lead off as soon as the bells began to ring. This they all

promised to do; and after I had again exhorted them to it on Sunday in

church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my

heart, we scarce could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience.

_The Fifteenth Chapter_

OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WHAT

BEFELL THEREAT

Meanwhile I finished my _carmen_ in _metrum elegiacum_, which my daughter

transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is fairer than mine) and

diligently learned, so that she might say it to his Majesty. _Item_, her

clothes were gotten ready, and became her purely; and on Monday she went

up to the Streckelberg, although the heat was such that the crows gasped

on the hedges; for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed

to wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening she

came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers; but her hair

was quite wet, and hung all matted about her shoulders. (My God, my God,

was everything to come together to destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I

asked, therefore, where she had been that her hair was so wet and matted:

whereupon she answered that she had gathered flowers round the Kölpin, and

from thence she had gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in

the sea, seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said

she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow doubly a

clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked grave, although I

said nought.

Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the Giant's

Stone, men, women, and children. _Summa_, everybody that was able to walk

was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was already dressed in all her

bravery, namely, a blue silken gown, with a yellow apron and kerchief, and

a yellow hair-net, with a garland of blue and yellow flowers round her

head. It was not long before my young lord arrived, finely dressed, as

became a nobleman. He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I

should go up to the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans

von Nienkerken, _item_ Wittich Appelmann and the Lepels of Gnitze, were

also going, and that there was much people on all the high roads, as

though a fair was being held. But I straightway perceived that all he

wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as he presently occupied himself

about her, and began chattering with her in the Latin again. He made her

repeat to him the _carmen_ to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of

the king, answered her: "_Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae mihi in

coloribus caeli, ut angelus Domini appares utinam semper mecum esses,

nunquam mihi male caderet_"; whereupon she grew red, as likewise did I,

but from vexation, as may be easily guessed. I therefore begged that his

lordship would but go forward toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter

had yet to help me on with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered

that he would wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then

go together. _Summa_, I blessed myself from this young lord; but what

could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it all; and before

long we went up to the Stone, where I straight-way chose three sturdy

fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the steeple, that they might

begin to ring the bells as soon as they should see me get up upon the

Stone and wave my napkin. This they promised to do, and straightway

departed; whereupon I sat down on the Stone with my daughter, thinking

that the young lord would surely stand apart, as became his dignity;

albeit he did not, but sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat

there all alone, and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see

my child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont to

do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard how matters

stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock Hans von Nienkerken and

Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old Nienkerken called to his son in an

angry voice: and seeing that the young lord heard him not, he rode up to

the Stone, and cried out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Canst thou

not hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Rüdiger followed

him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how the old lord

seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him; but knew not what

this might signify: we were to learn it soon enough, though, more's the

pity! Soon after the two Lepels of Gnitze came from the Damerow; and the

noblemen saluted one other on the green sward close beside us, but without

looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say that nought could yet be seen of

his Majesty, but that the coastguard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and

that several hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was

known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from the

Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich, who had

dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch his boy up into a

tall oak-tree to look out for the king, straightway busied himself about

my daughter again, who now sat all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not

taken his huntsman? and whether she would not change her mind on the

matter and have him now, or else come into service with him (the Sheriff)

himself? for that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it

one day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was but

one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would take so much

useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all haste and came to

where I stood under the tree, looking after the lad who was climbing up

it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a great curse when my daughter

turned her back upon him, and went straightway into the alder-grove close

by the high road, where stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken.

Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore, and found it quite

true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and Oie towards

Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us that we could see the

soldiers standing upon them and the flashing of their arms. _Item_, we

heard the horses neigh and the soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were

drumming, and on another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet

gazed we saw smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great

noise, and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water,

which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight towards us.

Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud cries, and we plainly

heard the soldiery in the ships laugh thereat. But the ball flew up and

struck into the midst of an oak hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two

cartloads of boughs fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all

the road by which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no

longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried out to

us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was marching out of the

forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the king was among them.

Hereupon the Sheriff ordered the road to be cleared forthwith, and this

was some time a-doing, seeing that the thick boughs were stuck fast in the

trees all around; the nobles, as soon as all was made ready, would have

ridden to meet his Majesty, but stayed still on the little green sward,

because we already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close

to us in the forest.

It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood with the

three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of them was known to me

(it was Stoffer Krauthahn of Peenemünde), I drew near and begged him that

he would tell me when the king should come. But he answered that he was

going forward with the cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for

a tall dark man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck,

for that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great standard

whereon was a yellow lion.

Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the forest.

And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland bowmen, who went

clothed all in furs, although it was now the height of summer, whereat I

greatly wondered. After these there came much people, but I know not what

they were. Presently I espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way so

that I could not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the

coppice, the great flag with the lion on it, and behind that the head of a

very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon straightway I

judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my napkin toward the

steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out, and while the dark man

rode nearer to us, I pulled off my skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led

the Ambrosian hymn of praise, and all the people plucked their hats from

their heads and knelt down on the ground all around, singing after me;

men, women, and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the

green sward, and did not take off their hats and behave with attention

until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It was a coal-black

charger, and stopped with its two fore-feet right upon my field, which I

took as a sign of good fortune.) When we had finished, the Sheriff quickly

got off his horse, and would have approached the king with his three

guides, who followed after him; _item_, I had taken my child by the hand,

and would also have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned

away the Sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his

Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous heart,

seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the protection and

aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it as a sign from God that

such had happened on this the high festival of our poor church, and I

prayed his Majesty graciously to receive what my daughter desired to

present to him; whereupon his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly.

Such gracious bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly

just before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath, whereon lay the

_carmen_, saying, "_Accipe hanc vilem coronam et haec_" whereupon she

began to recite the _carmen_. Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more

gracious, looking now on her and now on the _carmen_, and nodded with

especial kindness towards the end, which was as follows:--

Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor

Intrabis patriae libera regna meae;

Tunc meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae,

Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam.

Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum

Auguror et res est ista futura brevi!

Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optime princeps,

Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale!

As soon as she held her peace, his Majesty said, "_Propius accedas, patria

virgo, ut te osculer_"; whereupon she drew near to his horse, blushing

deeply. I thought he would only have kissed her forehead, as potentates

commonly use to do, but not at all! he kissed her lips with a loud smack,

and the long feathers on his hat drooped over her neck, so that I was

quite afraid for her again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off

his gold chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my

child's neck with these words: "_Hocce tuce pulchritudim! et si favente

Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula

exspecto_."

Hereupon the Sheriff with his three men again came forward and bowed down

to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no Latin, _item_ no

Italian nor French, I had to act as interpreter. For his Majesty inquired

how far it was to Swine, and whether there was still much foreign soldiery

there: And the Sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the

camp; whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and nodding graciously,

cried "_Valete_!" And now came the rest of the troops, about 3000 strong,

out of the coppice, which likewise had a valiant bearing, and attempted no

fooleries, as troops are wont to do, when they passed by us and the women,

but marched on in honest quietness, and we followed the train until the

forest beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty,

and every one went on his way home.

_The Sixteenth Chapter_

HOW LITTLE MARY PAASCH WAS SORELY PLAGUED OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WHOLE

PARISH FELL OFF FROM ME

Before I proceed any further I will first mark that the illustrious King

Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut down the 300 Croats at

Swine, and was thence gone by sea to Stettin. May God be for ever gracious

to him! Amen.

But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil now played

pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun to think that the

ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers, but it pleased him to try

us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few days after the arrival of the

most illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus, it was bruited about that my

child her little god-daughter was possessed of the Evil One, and tumbled

about most piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold

her. My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but

presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even to come

near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that she should never

come within his doors again, as his child had got the mischief from the

white roll which she had given her that morning. It was true that my child

had given her a roll, seeing that the maid had been the day before to

Wolgast and had brought back a napkin full of them.

Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to old

Paasch his house to exorcise the foul fiend and to remove such disgrace

from my child. I found the old man standing on the floor by the cockloft

steps weeping; and after I had spoken "The peace of God," I asked him

first of all whether he really believed that his little Mary had been

bewitched by means of the roll which my child had given her? He said,

"Yes!" And when I answered that in that case I also must have been

bewitched, _item_ Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten of

the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I would not go

into the room and see for myself how matters stood. I then entered with

"The peace of God," and found six people standing round little Mary her

bed; her eyes were shut, and she was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit

Wells (who was a young and sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one

leg and held her out like a hedgestake, so that I might see how the devil

plagued her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of

Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was pitiful

to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet so that four strong men

were scarce able to hold her: _item_ she was afflicted with extraordinary

risings and fallings of her belly, as if a living creature were therein,

so that at last the old witch Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly,

whereupon the child seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat

the Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who

possessed her. She straightway grew worse than before, and began to gnash

her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to strike so hard with her hands and feet

that she flung her father, who held one of her legs, right into the middle

of the room, and then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that

the blood flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly as

though she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan

that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a dog, _item_

to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass voice, like an old man's,

"I will not depart." But he should soon have been forced to depart out of

her, had not both father and mother besought me by God's holy Sacrament to

leave their poor child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but

rather made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only

admonished the parents to seek for help, like the Canaanitish woman, in

true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to sigh in constant

faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my daughter is

grievously vexed of a devil," Matthew xv.; that the heart of our Lord

would then melt, so that he would have mercy on their child, and command

Satan to depart from her. _Item_, I promised to pray for the little child

on the following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to

bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing that the

ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise beyond the

clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home sorely troubled,

where I soon learned that she was somewhat better; thus it still is sure

that Satan hates nothing so much, after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of

the Gospel. But wait, and I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel"

(Genesis, chap, iii.); nought shall avail thee.

Howbeit before the blessed Sunday came, I perceived that many of my people

went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in the parish, where

I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went to Uekeritze to see young

Tittlewitz, there even befell me as follows:--Claus Pieper the peasant

stood in his yard chopping wood, and on seeing me he flung the axe out of

his hand so hastily that it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the

pigsty, making the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked

why he thus ran from me, his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also

believed that my daughter had bewitched her little god-child? "_Ille_.

Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did. _Ego_. Why, then, had

she been so kind to her formerly, and kept her like a sister through the

worst of the famine? _Ille_. This was not the only mischief she had done.

_Ego_. What, then, had she done besides? _Ille_. That was all one to me.

_Ego_. He should tell me, or I would complain to the magistrate. _Ille_.

That I might do, if I pleased." Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any

one may guess that I was not slow to inquire everywhere what people

thought my daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I

might have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover not one child

came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and when I sent out

the maid to ask the reason she brought back word that the children were

ill, or that the parents wanted them for their work. I thought and

thought, but all to no purpose, until the blessed Sunday came round when I

meant to have held a great Sacrament, seeing that many people had made

known their intention to come to the Lord's table. It seemed strange to me

that I saw no one standing (as was their wont) about the church door; I

thought, however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I

went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than six people

assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the accursed witch no

sooner saw my daughter follow me than she made the sign of the cross and

ran out of the door under the steeple; whereupon the five others, among

them mine own church-warden Claus Bulken (I had not appointed any one in

the room of old Seden), followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood

curdled, and I began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against

the confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in order to

spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter with all the people;

are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came to myself again and went into

the churchyard to look after them. But all were gone save my churchwarden,

Claus Bulken, who stood under the lime-tree, whistling to himself. I

stepped up to him and asked what had come to the people? Whereupon he

answered he could not tell; and when I asked him again why, then, he

himself had left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone,

seeing that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me

the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the parish?

But he answered, I should very soon find it out for myself; and he jumped

over the wall and went into old Lizzie her house, which stands close by

the churchyard.

My child had made ready some veal broth for dinner, for which I mostly use

to leave everything else; but I could not swallow one spoonful, but sat

resting my head on my hand, and doubted whether I should tell her or no.

Meanwhile the old maid came in ready for a journey, and with a bundle in

her hand, and begged me with tears to give her leave to go. My poor child

turned pale as a corpse, and asked in amaze what had come to her? but she

merely answered, "Nothing!" and wiped her eyes with her apron. When I

recovered my speech, which had well-nigh left me at seeing that this

faithful old creature was also about to forsake me, I began to question

her why she wished to go; she who had dwelt with me so long, and who would

not forsake us even in the great famine, but had faithfully borne up

against it, and, indeed, had humbled me by her faith, and had exhorted me

to stand out gallantly to the last, for which I should be grateful to her

as long as I lived. Hereupon she merely wept and sobbed yet more, and at

length brought out that she still had an old mother of eighty living in

Liepe, and that she wished to go and nurse her till her end. Hereupon my

daughter jumped up and answered with tears, "Alas, old Ilse, why wilt thou

leave us, for thy mother is with thy brother? Do but tell me why thou wilt

forsake me, and what harm have I done thee, that I may make it good to

thee again." But she hid her face in her apron and sobbed and could not

get out a single word; whereupon my child drew away the apron from her

face, and would have stroked her cheeks to make her speak. But when Ilse

saw this she struck my poor child's hand and cried, "Ugh!" spat out before

her, and straightway went out at the door. Such a thing she had never done

even when my child was a little girl, and we were both so shocked that we

could neither of us say a word.

Before long my poor child gave a loud cry, and cast herself upon the

bench, weeping and wailing, "What has happened, what has happened?" I

therefore thought I ought to tell her what I had heard--namely, that she

was looked upon as a witch. Whereat she began to smile instead of weeping

any more, and ran out of the door to overtake the maid, who had already

left the house, as we had seen. She returned after an hour, crying out

that all the people in the village had run away from her when she would

have asked them whither the maid was gone. _Item_, the little children,

for whom she had kept school, had screamed, and had hidden themselves from

her; also no one would answer her a single word, but all spat out before

her, as the maid had done. On her way home she had seen a boat on the

water, and had run as fast as she could to the shore, and called with

might and main after old Ilse, who was in the boat. But she had taken no

notice of her, not even once to look round after her, but had motioned her

to be gone. And now she went on to weep and to sob the whole day and the

whole night, so that I was more miserable than even in the time of the

great famine. But the worst was yet to come, as will be shown in the

following chapter.

_The Seventeenth Chapter_

Mary Schweidler, the amber witch The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known, printed from an imperfect manuscript by her father, Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of Coserow in the island of Usedom / edited by W. Meinhold ; translated from the German by Lady Duff Gordon. · 第 7 / 17 题