Now in those days Katheline had effected a cure, by means of herbs,
on three sheep, an ox, and a pig, all belonging to a certain man
named Speelman. She also attempted to cure a cow, the property of one
Jan Beloen, but in this she was not successful. Jan Beloen promptly
accused her of being a witch, asserting that she had laid a charm
on the animal, inasmuch as all the time she was giving the herbs
she had caressed it and talked to it, in the Devil's own language,
as was evident--for what business has an honest Christian woman to
go talking with an animal...?
Jan Beloen added that he was a neighbour of Speelman's, the man whose
ox had been cured, together with three sheep and a pig as aforesaid,
and if Katheline had now killed his cow, it was doubtless at the
instigation of Speelman, who was jealous at seeing his, Beloen's,
land better and more profitably cultivated than his own. Pieter
Meulmeester, a man of good life and reputation, and Jan Beloen himself
both testified that Katheline was commonly reputed to be a witch by
the people of Damme, and that she had certainly killed the cow; and
on this testimony Katheline was arrested and condemned to be tortured
until she had confessed her crimes and malpractices.
She was cross-examined by a certain alderman who was notorious for
his ill-temper, for he was accustomed to drink brandy all the day
long. And he ordered her to be placed on the seat of torture in the
presence of himself and the members of the Town Council.
The torturer put her on the seat stark naked, and then shaved off her
hair, looking carefully to see that no charm was concealed anywhere
about her person. Finding none, he bound her with cords to the seat
of torture. And she said:
"It shames me to be naked before these men. O Mother Mary, let me die!"
The torturer then wrapped some damp cloths round her breast and body
and legs, and raising the bench upright he proceeded to pour great
quantities of hot water down her throat so that her stomach became
all swollen. Then he let the bench down again.
The alderman asked Katheline if she would now acknowledge her
crime. She made a sign in the negative. And the torturer poured more
hot water into her; but this Katheline brought all up again.
Then by the advice of the doctor she was released. But she did not
speak a word, only beat her breast as much as to say that the hot
water had burned her. When the torturer saw that she was recovered
from this first ordeal, he said to her:
"Confess that you are a witch, and that you laid a charm on the cow."
"I will confess no such thing," replied Katheline. "I am here in your
power. Nevertheless, I tell you that an animal can die of an illness,
just as a man can, and in spite of all the help of surgeons and of
doctors. And I swear by Our Lord Christ who was pleased to die upon
the Cross for our sins, that I wished to do no harm to this cow,
but simply to cure her by well-known remedies."
Thereat the alderman was angry and cried out:
"This devil's drab, she cannot go on lying for ever! Put her to the
second torture."
Then he drank a large glass of brandy.
The torturer meanwhile sat Katheline down on the lid of an oak coffin
which was placed on trestles. Now the coffin-lid was pointed like a
roof, and the edge of it was as sharp as a sword. A great fire was
burning in the fireplace, for it was the month of November. Katheline,
seated on the edge of the coffin-lid, had her feet shod in shoes of
new leather several sizes too small for her, and then she was placed
in front of the fire. When she began to feel the sharp wood of the
coffin-lid cutting into her flesh, and when her shoes began to shrink
under the heat of the fire, Katheline cried aloud:
"Oh, agony! Will no one give me a draught of black poison?"
"Put her nearer the fire," said the alderman.
Then he inquired of her:
"How often, pray, have you ridden on a broom to the Witches'
Sabbath? And how many times have you caused the corn to wither in
the ear, and the fruit on the tree, and the babe in the womb of
its mother? And turned most loving brothers into sworn enemies,
and sisters into rivals full of hatred?"
Katheline would have answered if she had been able. But she could
only move her arms, as if to say "No." But the alderman said:
"I see she will not speak till she has felt her witch's fat all
melting in the fire. Put her nearer."
Katheline cried out. But the alderman said:
"You had better ask Satan, your friend, to refresh you."
And now her shoes were beginning to smoke in the heat of the fire,
so that she made a gesture as if to try and take them off.
"Ask Satan to help you," said the alderman.
Ten o'clock struck. It was the madman's dinner hour. And he retired
with the torturer and the clerk of the court, leaving Katheline alone
in front of the fire in the place of torture.
An hour later they returned. Katheline was still sitting there stiff
and motionless. The clerk said:
"I think she is dead."
The alderman commanded the torturer to remove Katheline from the
coffin-lid, and to take off the shoes from her feet. This he could
not do, so that he was forced to cut them, and Katheline's feet were
exposed to view, all red and bleeding. The alderman, whose thoughts
were still with his dinner, gazed at her without a word. But after
a while she came to her senses, and fell upon the ground, nor was
she able to get up again in spite of many attempts. Then she said to
the alderman:
"Once you desired me for your wife. But now you shall have none of
me! Four times three is the sacred number, and my husband is the
thirteenth."
The alderman was going to answer her, but she forestalled him:
"Be silent. His hearing is more delicate than that of the archangel
in heaven who counts the heart-beats of the just. Why are you so
late? Four times three is the sacred number. He killeth those who
hold me in desire."
The alderman said:
"It seems she welcomes the devil to her bed!"
"The pains of the torture have turned her brain," said the clerk.
So Katheline was taken back into prison. And three days later there
was a meeting of the aldermen in the Council Hall; and after some
deliberation Katheline was condemned to suffer the ordeal by fire.
She was taken to the grand market of Damme by the torturer and his
assistants. There she was made to mount the scaffold. In the square
were assembled the provost, the herald, and the judges. The herald
sounded his trumpet thrice, then turned towards the crowd and made
the following announcement:
"The Council of Damme," he cried, "having taken pity upon the woman
Katheline, have decreed that punishment shall not be exacted to the
full extremity of the rigour of our laws. Nevertheless, in witness
that she is a sorceress, her hair shall be burned, she shall pay
a fine of twenty carolus d'or, and she shall be banished from the
territory of Damme for the space of three years, under penalty of
losing one of her limbs."
And at this rough gentleness the people broke into applause.
Then the torturer tied Katheline to the stake, placed on her shorn
scalp a wig of tow, and held it in the fire. And the tow burned for
a long time, and Katheline cried aloud and wept.
Then they released her, and she was put in a cart and taken away
outside the territory of Damme. She could not walk at all, because
of her feet that were burned.