When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was full of
people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others wept; my child
told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse was called, who sat on
a bench behind, so that we had not seen her, the strength wherewith the
Lord had gifted her was again at an end, and she repeated the words of our
Saviour, "He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me":
and she held fast by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for
very grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound
herself about before the court like a woman in travail. But when Dom.
Consul threatened that the constable should presently help her to her
words, she testified that my child had very often got up in the night and
called aloud upon the foul fiend.
_Q_. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her?
_R_. She never had heard him at all.
_Q_. Whether she had perceived that _Rea_ had a familiar spirit, and in
what shape? She should think upon her oath, and speak the truth.
_R_. She had never seen one.
_Q_. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the chimney?
_R_. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the door.
_Q_. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or pitch-fork?
_R_. Once the broom was gone, but she had found it again behind the stove,
and may be left it there herself by mistake.
_Q_. Whether she had never heard _Rea_ cast a spell or wish harm to this
or that person?
_R_. No, never; she had always wished her neighbours nothing but good, and
even in the time of bitter famine had taken the bread out of her own mouth
to give it to others.
_Q_. Whether she did not know the salve which had been found in _Rea_ her
coffer?
_R_. Oh, yes! her young mistress had brought it back from Wolgast for her
skin, and had once given her some when she had chapped hands, and it had
done her a vast deal of good.
_Q_. Whether she had anything further to say?
_R_. No, nothing but good.
Hereupon my man Claus Neels was called up. He also came forward in tears,
but answered every question with a "Nay," and at last testified that he
had never seen nor heard anything bad of my child, and knew nought of her
doings by night, seeing that he slept in the stable with the horses; and
that he firmly believed that evil folks--and here he looked at old
Lizzie--had brought this misfortune upon her, and that she was quite
innocent.
When it came to the turn of this old limb of Satan, who was to be the
chief witness, my child again declared that she would not accept old
Lizzie's testimony against her, and called upon the court for justice, for
that she had hated her from her youth up, and had been longer by habit and
repute a witch than she herself.
But the old hag cried out, "God forgive thee thy sins; the whole village
knows that I am a devout woman, and one serving the Lord in all things";
whereupon she called up old Zuter Witthahn and my church-warden Claus
Bulk, who bore witness hereto. But old Paasch stood and shook his head;
nevertheless when my child said, "Paasch, wherefore dost thou shake thy
head?" he started, and answered, "Oh, nothing!"
Howbeit, _Dom. Consul_ likewise perceived this, and asked him, whether he
had any charge to bring against old Lizzie; if so, he should give glory to
God, and state the same; _item_, it was competent to every one so to do;
indeed the court required of him to speak out all he knew.
But from fear of the old dragon, all were still as mice, so that you might
have heard the flies buzz about the inkstand. I then stood up, wretched as
I was, and stretched out my arms over my amazed and faint-hearted people
and spake, "Can ye thus crucify me together with my poor child? Have I
deserved this at your hands? Speak, then; alas, will none speak?" I heard,
indeed, how several wept aloud, but not one spake; and hereupon my poor
child was forced to submit.
And the malice of the old hag was such that she not only accused my child
of the most horrible witchcraft, but also reckoned to a day when she had
given herself up to Satan to rob her of her maiden honour; and she said
that Satan had, without doubt, then defiled her when she could no longer
heal the cattle, and when they all died. Hereupon my child said nought,
save that she cast down her eyes and blushed deep, for shame at such
filthiness; and to the other blasphemous slander which the old hag uttered
with many tears, namely, that my daughter had given up her (Lizzie's)
husband, body and soul, to Satan, she answered as she had done before. But
when the old hag came to her re-baptism in the sea, and gave out that
while seeking for strawberries in the coppice she had recognised my
child's voice, and stolen towards her, and perceived these devil's doings,
my child fell in smiling, and answered, "Oh, thou evil woman! how couldst
thou hear my voice speaking down by the sea, being thyself in the forest
upon the mountain? surely thou liest, seeing that the murmur of the waves
would make that impossible." This angered the old dragon, and seeking to
get out of the blunder she fell still deeper into it, for she said, "I saw
thee move thy lips, and from that I knew that thou didst call upon thy
paramour the devil!" for my child straight-way replied, "Oh, thou ungodly
woman! thou saidst thou wert in the forest when thou didst hear my voice;
how then up in the forest couldst thou see whether I, who was below by the
water, moved my lips or not?"--
Such contradictions amazed even _Dom. Consul_, and he began to threaten
the old hag with the rack if she told such lies; whereupon she answered
and said, "List, then, whether I lie! When she went naked into the water
she had no mark on her body, but when she came out again I saw that she
had between her breasts a mark the size of a silver penny, whence I
perceived that the devil had given it her, although I had not seen him
about her, nor, indeed, had I seen any one, either spirit or child of man,
for she seemed to be quite alone."
Hereupon the Sheriff jumped up from his seat, and cried, "Search must
straightway be made for this mark"; whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered,
"Yea, but not by us, but by two women of good repute," for he would not
hearken to what my child said, that it was a mole, and that she had had it
from her youth up, wherefore the constable his wife was sent for, and
_Dom. Consul_ muttered somewhat into her ear, and as prayers and tears
were of no avail, my child was forced to go with her. Howbeit, she
obtained this favour, that old Lizzie Kolken was not to follow her, as she
would have done, but our old maid Ilse. I, too, went in my sorrow, seeing
that I knew not what the women might do to her. She wept bitterly as they
undressed her, and held her hands over her eyes for very shame.
Well-a-day, her body was just as white as my departed wife's; although in
her childhood, as I remember, she was very yellow, and I saw with
amazement the mole between her breasts, whereof I had never heard aught
before. But she suddenly screamed violently and started back, seeing that
the constable his wife, when nobody watched her, had run a needle into the
mole, so deep that the red blood ran down over her breasts. I was sorely
angered thereat, but the woman said that she had done it by order of the
judge, which, indeed, was true; for when we came back into court, and the
Sheriff asked how it was, she testified that there was a mark of the size
of a silver penny, of a yellowish colour, but that it had feeling, seeing
that _Rea_ had screamed aloud when she had, unperceived, driven a needle
therein. Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_ suddenly rose, and,
stepping up to my child, drew her eyelids asunder, and cried out,
beginning to tremble, "Behold the sign which never fails": whereupon the
whole court started to their feet, and looked at the little spot under her
right eyelid, which in truth had been left there by a stye, but this none
would believe. _Dom. Consul_ now said, "See, Satan hath marked thee on
body and soul! and thou dost still continue to lie unto the Holy Ghost;
but it shall not avail thee, and thy punishment will only be the heavier.
Oh, thou shameless woman! thou hast refused to accept the testimony of old
Lizzie; wilt thou also refuse that of these people, who have all heard
thee on the mountain call upon the devil thy paramour, and seen him appear
in the likeness of a hairy giant, and kiss and caress thee?"
Hereupon old Paasch, goodwife Witthahn, and Zuter came forward and bare
witness, that they had seen this happen about midnight, and that on this
declaration they would live and die; that old Lizzie had awakened them one
Saturday night about eleven o'clock, had given them a can of beer, and
persuaded them to follow the parson's daughter privately, and to see what
she did upon the mountain. At first they refused but in order to get at
the truth about the witchcraft in the village, they had at last, after a
devout prayer, consented, and had followed her in God's name.
They had soon through the bushes seen the witch in the moonshine; she
seemed to dig, and spake in some strange tongue the while, whereupon the
grim arch-fiend suddenly appeared, and fell upon her neck. Hereupon they
ran away in consternation, but, by the help of the Almighty God, on whom
from the very first they had set their faith, they were preserved from the
power of the Evil One. For, notwithstanding he had turned round on hearing
a rustling in the bushes, he had had no power to harm them.
Finally, it was even charged to my child as a crime, that she had fainted
on the road from Coserow to Pudgla, and none would believe that this had
been caused by vexation at old Lizzie her singing, and not from a bad
conscience, as stated by the judge.
When all the witnesses had been examined, _Dom. Consul_ asked her whether
she had brewed the storm, what was the meaning of the frog that dropped
into her lap, _item_, the hedgehog which lay directly in his path? To all
of which she answered, that she had caused the one as little as she knew
of the other. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked her, last
of all, whether she would have an advocate, or trust entirely in the good
judgment of the court. To this she gave answer that she would by all means
have an advocate. Wherefore I sent my ploughman, Claus Neels, the next day
to Wolgast to fetch the _Syndicus_ Michelsen, who is a worthy man, and in
whose house I have been many times when I went to the town, seeing that he
courteously invited me.
I must also note here that at this time my old Ilse came back to live with
me; for after the witnesses were gone she stayed behind in the chamber,
and came boldly up to me, and besought me to suffer her once more to serve
her old master and her dear young mistress; for that now she had saved her
poor soul, and confessed all she knew. Wherefore she could no longer bear
to see her old masters in such woeful plight, without so much as a
mouthful of victuals, seeing that she had heard that old wife Seep, who
had till _datum_ prepared the food for me and my child, often let the
porridge burn; _item_, oversalted the fish and the meat. Moreover, that I
was so weakened by age and misery, that I needed help and support, which
she would faithfully give me, and was ready to sleep in the stable, if
needs must be; that she wanted no wages for it, I was only not to turn her
away. Such kindness made my daughter to weep, and she said to me, "Behold,
father, the good folks come back to us again; think you, then, that the
good angels will forsake us for ever? I thank thee, old Use; thou shall
indeed prepare my food for me, and always bring it as far as the
prison-door, if thou mayest come no further; and mark, then, I pray thee,
what the constable does therewith."
This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her abode
in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for what she then
did for me and for my poor child!
_The Twenty-second Chapter_
HOW THE _SYNDICUS DOM._ MICHELSEN ARRIVED AND PREPARED HIS DEFENCE OF MY
POOR CHILD
The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., _Dom. Syndicus_ came driving
up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge bag full of books
with him, but was not so friendly in his manner as was usual with him, but
very grave and silent. And after he had saluted me in my own room, and had
asked how it was possible for my child to have come to such misfortune, I
related to him the whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head.
On my asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he
answered, "Nay"; he would rather first study the _acta_. And after he had
eaten of some wild duck-which my old Ilse had roasted for him, he would
tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the castle, whence he did not
return till the following afternoon. His manner was not more friendly now
than at his first coming, and I followed him with sighs when he asked me
to lead him to my daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for
the first time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole
life had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for very
grief. But she smiled and cried out to _Dom. Syndicus_, "Are you indeed
the good angel who will cause my chains to fall from my hands, as was done
of yore to St. Peter?" To which he replied, with a sigh, "May the Almighty
God grant it"; and as, save the chair whereon my child sat against the
wall, there was none other in the dungeon (which was a filthy and stinking
hole, wherein were more wood-lice than ever I saw in my life), _Dom.
Syndicus_ and I sat down on her bed, which had been left for her at my
prayer; and he ordered the constable to go his ways until he should call
him back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her
justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I perceived,
from the shadow at the door, that some one must be standing without. I
therefore went quickly to the door, which was half open, and found the
impudent constable, who stood there to listen. This so angered _Dom.
Syndicus_ that he snatched up his staff in order to hasten his going, but
the arch-rogue took to his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took
this opportunity to tell her worshipful defensor what she had suffered
from the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable
might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last night
again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked aloud and beaten
him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had left her. This _Dom.
Syndicus_ promised to obtain for her; but with regard to the _defensio_,
wherewith she now went on, he thought it would be better to make no
further mention of the _impetus_ which the Sheriff had made on her
chastity. "For," said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to
give sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm than
good, seeing that the _praeses_ thereof is a cousin of the Sheriff, and
ofttimes goes a-hunting with him. Besides, thou being charged with a
capital crime hast no _fides_, especially as thou canst bring no witnesses
against him. Thou couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst
confirm the charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to
save thee by my _defensio_." These reasons seemed sufficient to us both,
and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who seeth in secret,
and to complain of our wrongs to him, as we might not complain to men. But
all my daughter said about old Lizzie--_item_, of the good report wherein
she herself had, till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write
down, and add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so
as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture. That she
was to make herself easy and commend herself to God; within two days he
hoped to have his _defensio_ ready and to read it to her. And now, when he
called the constable back again, the fellow did not come, but sent his
wife to lock the prison, and I took leave of my child with many tears:
_Dom. Syndicus_ told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a
husband had done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the
woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had
forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue, and that
she was to say her _defensio_ over again in Latin, if she was able.
Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a quarter of an hour or more,
in such wise that not only _Dom. Syndicus_ but I myself also was amazed,
seeing that she did not stop for a single word, save the word
"hedgehog," which we both had forgotten at the moment when she asked us
what it was.--_Summa. Dom. Syndicus_ grew far more gracious when she had
finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he would set
to work forthwith.
After this I did not see him again till the morning of the third day at
ten o'clock, seeing that he sat at work in a room at the castle, which the
Sheriff had given him, and also ate there, as he sent me word by old Ilse
when she carried him his breakfast next day.
At the above-named time he sent the new constable for me, who, meanwhile,
had been fetched from Uzdom at his desire. For the Sheriff was exceeding
wroth when he heard that the impudent fellow had attempted my child in the
prison, and cried out in a rage, "S'death, and 'ouns, I'll mend thy
coaxing!" Whereupon he gave him a sound thrashing with a dog-whip he held
in his hand, to make sure that she should be at peace from him.
But, alas! the new constable was even worse than the old, as will be shown
hereafter. His name was Master Köppner, and he was a tall fellow with a
grim face, and a mouth so wide that at every word he said the spittle ran
out at the corners, and stuck in his long beard like soap-suds, so that my
child had an especial fear and loathing of him. Moreover, on all occasions
he seemed to laugh in mockery and scorn, as he did when he opened the
prison-door to us, and saw my poor child sitting in her grief and
distress. But he straightway left us without waiting to be told, whereupon
_Dom. Syndicus_ drew his defence out of his pocket, and read it to us; we
have remembered the main points thereof, and I will recount them here, but
most of the _auctores_ we have forgotten.
1. He began by saying that my daughter had ever till now stood in good
repute, as not only the whole village, but even my servants bore witness;
_ergo_, she could not be a witch, inasmuch as the Saviour hath said, "A
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit" (Matt. vii.).
2. With regard to the witchcraft in the village, that belike was the
contrivance of old Lizzie, seeing that she bore a great hatred towards
_Rea_, and had long been in evil repute, for that the parishioners dared
not to speak out, only from fear of the old witch; wherefore Zuter, her
little girl, must be examined, who had heard old Lizzie her goodman tell
her she had a familiar spirit, and that he would tell it to the parson;
for that notwithstanding the above-named was but a child, still it was
written in Psalm viii., "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou
ordained strength...."; and the Saviour himself appealed (Matt. xxi.) to
the testimony of little children.
3. Furthermore, old Lizzie might have bewitched the crops, _item_, the
fruit-trees, inasmuch as none could believe that _Rea_, who had ever shown
herself a dutiful child, would have bewitched her own father's corn, or
made caterpillars come on his trees; for no one, according to Scripture,
can serve two masters.
_Item_, she (old Lizzie) might very well have been the woodpecker that was
seen by _Rea_ and old Paasch on the Streckelberg, and herself have given
over her goodman to the Evil One for fear of the parson, inasmuch as
Spitzel _De Expugnatione Orci_ asserts; _item_, the _Malleus Maleficarum_
proves beyond doubt that the wicked children of Satan ofttimes change
themselves into all manner of beasts, as the foul fiend himself likewise
seduced our first parents in the shape of a serpent (Gen. iii.).
5. That old Lizzie had most likely made the wild weather when _Dom.
Consul_ was coming home with _Rea_ from the Streckelberg, seeing it was
impossible that _Rea_ could have done it, as she was sitting in the coach,
whereas witches when they raise storms always stand in the water, and
throw it over their heads backwards; _item_, beat the stones soundly with
a stick, as Hannold relates. Wherefore she too, may be, knew best about
the frog and the hedgehog.
6. That _Rea_ was erroneously charged with that as a _crimen_ which ought
rather to serve as her justification, namely, her sudden riches. For the
_Malleus Maleficarum_ expressly says that a witch can never grow rich,
seeing that Satan, to do dishonour to God, always buys them for a vile
price, so that they should not betray themselves by their riches.
Wherefore that as _Rea_ had grown rich, she could not have got her wealth
from the foul fiend, but it must be true that she had found amber on the
mountain; that the spells of old Lizzie might have been the cause why they
could not find the vein of amber again, or that the sea might have washed
away the cliff below, as often happens, whereupon the top had slipped
down, so that only a _miraculum naturale_ had taken place. The proof which
he brought forward from Scripture we have quite forgotten, seeing it was
but middling.
7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself that she
had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about _Rea_, wherefore
she might in truth have been only naturally bathing, in order to greet the
King of Sweden next day, seeing that the weather was hot, and that bathing
was not of itself sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that
she had as little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of
Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe
herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David could
see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan, inasmuch as
there was feeling therein; _ergo_, it must be a natural mole, and it was a
lie that she had it not before bathing. Moreover, that on this point the
old harlot was nowise to be believed, seeing that she had fallen from one
contradiction into another about it, as stated in the _acta_.
8. Neither was it just to accuse _Rea_ of having bewitched Paasch his
little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out of the room, nay,
even sat herself down on the little girl her belly when the pastor went to
see her, it most likely was that wicked woman (who was known to have a
great spite against _Rea_) that contrived the spell through the power of
the foul fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was
"a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John viii.).
9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain in the
shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest _gravamen_, inasmuch
as not only old Lizzie, but likewise three trustworthy witnesses, had seen
him. But who could tell whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had
contrived this devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether;
for that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as
_Rea_ had declared it to be, it still was very likely that she had not
lied, but had mistaken Satan for the young lord, as he appeared in his
shape; _exemplum_, for this was to be found even in Scripture: for that
all _Theologi_ of the whole Protestant Church were agreed that the vision
which the witch of Endor showed to King Saul was not Samuel himself, but
the arch-fiend; nevertheless, Saul had taken it for Samuel. In like manner
the old harlot might have conjured up the devil before _Rea_, who did not
perceive that it was not the young lord, but Satan, who had put on that
shape in order to seduce her; for as _Rea_ was a fair woman, none could
wonder that the devil gave himself more trouble for her than for an old
withered hag, seeing he has ever sought after fair women to lie with them.
Lastly, he argued that _Rea_ was in nowise marked as a witch, for that she
neither had bleared and squinting eyes nor a hooked nose, whereas old
Lizzie had both, which Theophrastus Paracelsus declares to be an unfailing
mark of a witch, saying, "Nature marketh none thus unless by abortion, for
these are the chiefest signs whereby witches be known whom the spirit
_Asiendens_ hath subdued unto himself."
When _Dom. Syndicus_ had read his _defensio_, my daughter was so rejoiced
thereat that she would have kissed his hand, but he snatched it from her
and breathed upon it thrice, whereby we could easily see that he himself
was nowise in earnest with his _defensio_. Soon after he took leave in an
ill-humour, after commending her to the care of the Most High, and begged
that I would make my farewell as short as might be, seeing that he
purposed to return home that very day, the which, alas! I very unwillingly
did.
_The Twenty-third Chapter_