In those days, which were days of spring, fresh and clear, when
all the earth is in love, Soetkin was chatting by the open window,
and Claes humming a tune, while Ulenspiegel was dressing up the dog
Bibulus Schnouffius in a judge's bonnet. The dog plied his paws as
though desirous of passing judgment upon some one, though in reality
it was simply his way of trying to get rid of his ungainly head-gear.
All at once, Ulenspiegel shut the window and ran back into the
room. Then he jumped upon the chairs and the table, reaching up towards
the ceiling with his hands. Soetkin and Claes soon discovered the cause
of this mad behaviour, for there was a tiny little bird, chirruping
with fear, and cowering against a beam in the recess of the ceiling,
and Ulenspiegel was trying to catch it. He had almost succeeded when
Claes spoke out briskly and asked him:
"Why are you jumping about like this?"
"To catch the bird," answered Ulenspiegel, "and put him in a cage,
and feed him with seeds, and make him sing for me."
Meantime the bird, crying in an agony of terror, flew back into the
room, striking its head against the window-pane. Still Ulenspiegel
went on trying to catch it, but suddenly the hand of Claes came down
heavily upon his shoulder.
"Catch the bird if you can," said he, "put it in a cage, make it sing
for your pleasure; but I also will put you in a cage that is fastened
with strong bars of iron, and I will make you sing too. Then you,
who like nothing better than to run about, will be able to do so no
more; and you will be kept standing in the shade when you are chilly,
and in the sun when you are hot. And, one Sunday, we shall all go out
and forget to give you your food, and we shall not return again till
Thursday, and then maybe we shall find our Tyl all stiff and starved
to death."
Soetkin was crying at this picture, but Ulenspiegel started forward.
"What are you going to do?" asked Claes.
"Open the window for the bird to fly out," he answered.
And in fact the bird, which was a goldfinch, flew straight out through
the window, and with a cry of joy mounted up into the air like an
arrow, and then alighted upon a neighbouring apple-tree, smoothing
its wings with its beak, ruffling its plumage. And all kinds of abuse
did it sing in its bird language, all directed against Ulenspiegel.
Then Claes said:
"O son of mine, take care that you never take away its liberty
from either man or beast, for liberty is the greatest good in the
world. Let every one be free, free to go out into the sun when it is
cold, and into the shade when it is hot. And let God give judgment
on His Sacred Majesty, he who, not content with denying freedom of
belief to the people of Flanders, has now put all the noble city of
Ghent into a cage of slavery."