"Ah!" said Mathyssen, "there lives a man who is sadder even than you
are--Grypstuiver the fishmonger. None speaks to him, and all avoid him,
so much so that when he wants his pint of bruinbier he is forced to
go out all alone to the poor folk of the Roode Valck. Verily he is
well punished."
"The ashes beat...." Ulenspiegel answered him again.
And the same evening, when the bells of Notre Dame were sounding
the ninth hour, Ulenspiegel sallied forth towards the Roode Valck,
but failing to find the fishmonger there as he had expected, he went
wandering along under the trees that grow by the canal-side. It was
a bright moonlight night.
Presently he saw the figure of the murderer coming towards him. He
passed close in front of Ulenspiegel, who could hear what he was
saying, for the fishmonger was talking to himself, as is the custom
of they who live much alone.
"Where have they hidden it?" he muttered. "Where have they hidden
the money?" But Ulenspiegel answered the question for him by giving
him a great blow in the face.
"Alas!" cried the fishmonger as he felt the hand of Ulenspiegel upon
him. "Alas, I know you! You are his son! But have pity on me. Have
pity! For I am weak and aged, and what I did to your father was not
done out of malice, but in the service of His Majesty. Only deign to
forgive me, and I will give you back again all the goods that I have
bought, and you shall not pay me a penny. You shall have everything,
and half a florin over and above, for I am not a rich man. No, you
must not think that I am rich!"
And he was about to kneel down in front of Ulenspiegel. But seeing
him so ugly, so craven, and so base, Ulenspiegel took hold of him
and threw him into the canal.
And he went away.
L
And from many a funeral pyre there ascended to heaven the smoke from
the flesh of the victims, and Ulenspiegel, thinking ever upon Claes
and Soetkin, wept in his loneliness.
At last, one evening, he went to find Katheline, thinking to inquire
of her some way of remedy or revenge.
She was alone with Nele, sewing by the light of the lamp. At the sound
which Ulenspiegel made as he came in, Katheline raised her head slowly
like one that is awakened from a heavy sleep.
He said: "The ashes of Claes beat upon my breast, and I am fain to
do somewhat to save this land of Flanders. But what can I do? I have
entreated the great God of earth and heaven, but he has answered
me nothing."
Katheline said: "The great God cannot hear you. First of all you
should have recourse to the spirits of the elemental world, for they,
uniting in themselves two natures, both celestial and terrestrial, are
enabled to receive the plaints of men and hand them on unto the angels,
who themselves in their turn carry them up thereafter to the Throne."
"Help me," he said, "only help me now, and I will repay you with my
blood if need be."
"I can help you," said Katheline, "on one condition only: that a girl
who loves you is willing to take you with her to the Sabbath of the
Spirits of Spring, which is the Easter of Fruitfulness."
"I will take him," said Nele.
Whereupon Katheline took a crystal goblet and poured into it a certain
mixture of a greyish colour, and she gave it to them both to drink, and
rubbed their temples with this mixture, and their nostrils likewise,
and the palms of their hands, and their wrists, and she also caused
them to eat a pinch of white powder, and then she told them to gaze the
one at the other in such manner that their two souls might become one.
Ulenspiegel looked at Nele, and straightway the sweet eyes of the
girl illumined in him a mighty flame, and because of the mixture he
had taken he felt as it were a thousand crabs nipping his skin all
over him.
After that Nele and Ulenspiegel undressed, and very beautiful they
looked in the lamplight, he in the pride of his manly strength, and
she in all her youthful grace and sweetness. But they were not able to
see one another, for already it was as though they were asleep. Then
Katheline rested the neck of Nele upon the arm of Ulenspiegel, and
taking his hand she placed it upon the young girl's heart. And there
they stayed, all naked, lying side by side. And to both of them it
seemed that their bodies, where they touched, were made of tender fire,
like the sun itself in the month of roses.
Then, as they afterwards related, they climbed together on to the
window-sill, whence they threw themselves out into space, and felt
the air all round them, buoying them up as the waters buoy up the
ships at sea.
Thereafter they lost all consciousness, seeing naught of earth where
slept poor mortals, nor yet of heaven whose clouds were rolling now
beneath their feet; for now they had set their feet upon Sirius,
the frozen star, and from thence again they were flung upon the Pole.
There it was that a fearful sight awaited them, a giant all naked,
the Giant Winter. His hair was wild and tawny, and he was seated on an
ice-floe, with his back resting against a wall of ice. Near by in the
pools of water there disported a host of bears and seals, bellowing all
round him. In a hoarse voice the giant summoned to his presence the
hail-storms and the snow-storms and the icy showers; also there came
at his behest the grey clouds and brown odorous mists, and the winds
among whom is the sharp north wind, he that blows the strongest of
all. Such were the terrors that raged together in that place of bane.
But smiling in the midst, the giant reclined on a bed of flowers
that had been withered by his own hand, and of leaves dried by his
very breath. Then, leaning down and scratching the ground with his
finger-nails, and biting it with his teeth, the giant began to burrow
a great pit. For he wanted to discover the heart of the earth to
devour it, and to put the blackened coal where once there had been
shady forests, and chaff where once had been corn, and barren sand
in place of fruitful soil. But old earth's heart was made of fire,
so that he dared not touch it but recoiled therefrom in dread.
There he sat like a king upon his throne, draining his horn of oil. All
round him were his bears and seals, and the skeletons of those whom
he had killed on the high seas or on the dry land or in the cottages
of the poor. He listened joyfully to the roaring of the bears, to the
braying of the seals, and to the sound made by the skeletons of men
and animals as the bones clicked together beneath the claws of the
crows and vultures that came for the last remaining piece of flesh
that might still adhere to them. And sweet also to his ears was the
noise the ice-floes made as they were driven one against another by
the waves of that dreary sea.
And when he spoke, the voice of the giant was even as the roaring of
a hurricane or as the noise of winter storms, or as the wind howling
in the chimneys.
"I am cold and afraid," said Ulenspiegel.
"He is powerless against immortal souls," said Nele.
Even as she spoke a great commotion arose among the seals, who began
to rush back into the sea with all haste. And it was apparent that
the bears also were afraid for they lay back their ears and began to
bellow most piteously. As for the crows and ravens, they cawed as
though they were in terror of their lives, and started off to hide
themselves among the clouds.
And now it was that Nele and Ulenspiegel first began to hear a sound
as of a mighty battering-ram beating upon the farther side of that
glassy wall against which Giant Winter had been reclining. And the
wall cracked visibly and shook to its foundations. But of all this
Giant Winter heard nothing at all, for he went on baying and bellowing
most joyfully, filling and emptying again and again his bowl of oil,
and continuing his search for the heart of the earth, that he might
freeze it to nothing, although, forsooth, whenever he found that fiery
centre he always lacked the courage so much as to take it in his hand!
Meanwhile the blows of the battering-ram resounded heavier and louder,
and the crack in the wall of ice grew broader every second, and all
around the giant, the rain of icicles ceased not to fall in myriad
fragments. And the bears roared ceaselessly and piteously, and the
seals sent up their plaintive cries from the dreary waste of water.
Suddenly the wall gave way, and from the bright sky beyond it a man
descended. Naked he was, most beautiful of aspect, holding in one of
his hands a hatchet of pure gold. This was Lucifer, the light-bringer,
Lord of the Spring.
When Giant Winter saw him he immediately cast away his bowl of oil
and entreated the new-comer to spare at least his life. But at the
first warm breath of Spring, Giant Winter lost all his strength,
and Lucifer was able to bind him with a chain of diamonds, and tie
him securely to the Pole.
Then, standing still, the Lord of the Spring most tenderly and
amorously cried aloud, and from the heavens there descended a woman,
naked also, and most fair, most beautiful. She stood beside her lord,
and spake to him:
"You are my conqueror, strong man."
And thus he answered her:
"If you are hungry, eat; if you are thirsty, drink; if you are afraid,
come near to me. I am your mate."
"I have no hunger, no thirst, but for thee alone," she said.
Then the Lord of the Spring called out yet seven times and again. Most
tremendous was his voice, and there was a mighty din of thunder and
lightning, and behind him there came into being a kind of dais all
made of suns and stars. And the lord and his lady sat them down on
two thrones.
Then these twain, their countenances remaining still and motionless,
and without the least tremor to spoil the calmness of their majesty and
their power, both together cried aloud. And at that sound there was
a movement in the earth like that of a countless multitude of worms,
and not in the earth only but in the hard stone and in the ice-floes
also. And Nele and Ulenspiegel heard a sound like that which might
be made by gigantic birds trying to crack with their beaks the great
imprisoning egg-shells wherein they were concealed. And amid this
great commotion of the earth, heaving and subsiding like the waves
of the sea, there appeared forms like those of eggs.
And suddenly, on all sides, trees emerged, their bare branches all
entangled together, and their stems shaking and tottering together
like drunken men, which began to separate themselves the one from the
other, leaving empty spaces of earth between. And now from the ever
restless soil there emerged the Spirits of Earth, and from the depths
of the forest the Spirits of the Woods, and from the neighbouring sea,
now cleared of ice, the Spirits of the Water.
And Nele and Ulenspiegel could discern the guardian spirits of all
these wonders. Dwarfs there were, men of the woods that lived like
trees and carried, instead of mouths and stomachs, little clusters of
roots sprouting from below the face to the end that they might suck
their nourishment from the bosom of mother earth. Lords of the mines
there were as well, they that know no speech, and are destitute of
heart or entrails, and move about like glittering automatons. There
came also the dwarfs of flesh and bone, little fellows with lizards'
tails and the heads of toads, and a lantern on their head for
head-gear. These are they that leap by night upon the shoulder of the
drunken wayfarer or the tired traveller, and then jump down again,
waving their lanterns the while so as to lead into marsh or ditch
that hapless wight who thinks the light he sees is a candle set to
beacon his way home.
There came too the Girl-Flower spirits, blossoms they of womanly
health and strength. Naked they were and unashamed, glorying in their
beauty, and having nothing to cover them but their hair. The eyes of
these maids shone liquid like mother-of-pearl seen through water;
the flesh of their bodies was firm, white, and glittering in the
sunshine; and from half-opened ruby lips their breath wafted down
more balmy than jasmine.
These are the maids that wander at eventide in the parks or gardens of
the world, or belike in the shady paths of some woodland glade. Amorous
they are, searching ever for some soul of man to possess it for
themselves. And whenever some mortal lad and lass come walking their
way, they try to kill the girl, but failing in this they breathe a
breath of love upon the doubting damsel, so that she fears no longer
to abandon herself to the delights of love, but gives herself to her
lover. For then the Girl-Flower is permitted to take her share of
the kisses.
Besides all this, Nele and Ulenspiegel could see descending now
far from heaven the Guardian Spirits of the Stars, the Spirits of
the Winds, of the Breezes, and of the Rain: young, winged men that
fertilize the earth. And there appeared from every point in the heavens
the soul-birds, the dear swallows. At their coming the light itself
seemed to grow brighter, and the girl-flowers, the lords of the rocks,
the princes of the mines, the men of the woods, the spirits of water,
fire, and earth, all cried out with one voice, "O Light, O sap of
Spring, Glory to the Spirit of Spring!" And though the sound of all
this shouting was more powerful than the noise of a raging sea, or of a
thunder-storm, or of a hurricane let loose, yet it seemed most solemn
music to the ears of Nele and Ulenspiegel, who stood, motionless and
dumb, curled up behind the gnarled and wrinkled stem of a mighty oak.
But sights more terrible yet awaited them, for now the spirits took
their places by thousands upon the backs of gigantic spiders, and toads
with trunks like those of elephants, and serpents all intertwined,
and crocodiles that stood upright on their tails and held a whole bevy
of spirits in their mouths. Snakes, too, there were that carried more
than thirty dwarfs at a time, both male and female, sitting astride
on their writhing bodies; and thousands upon thousands of insects,
more huge than Goliath himself, armed with swords, lances, jagged
scythes, seven-pronged forks, and every other kind of murderous and
horrifying implement. Great was the uproar, and stern the battle
which they fought amongst themselves, the strong eating up the weak
and getting fat thereon, thus demonstrating how death is ever born
from life, and life from death.
And out of all this throng of spirits, confused and serried, there came
a sound as of a deep rumbling of thunder, or of a hundred looms, of
weavers, fullers, and locksmiths, all working together in full swing.
And suddenly the Spirits of the Sap made their appearance on the
scene. Short they were, and squat, and their loins were as large as
the great barrel of Heidelberg itself. And their thighs were fat
like hogsheads of wine, and their muscles so strangely strong and
powerful that one would have said that their bodies were made of
naught but eggs, eggs big and little, joined up to one another, and
covered over with a kind of ruddy skin, strong and glistening like
their scanty beards and tawny hair. And they carried great tankards
or goblets that were filled with a strange liquor.
When the other spirits saw them coming, there at once arose among
them a great flutter of joy. The trees and the plants became the
victims of a strange restlessness, and the thirsty earth opened in
a thousand fissures that it might drink of the liquor.
And the Spirits of the Sap poured out their wine, and at the same
moment everything began to bud, and to grow green, and to come
into flower; and the sward was alive with buzzing insects, and the
sky was filled with birds and butterflies. The spirits, meanwhile,
continued pouring out their sap, and those below them received the
wine as they best were able: the girl-flowers opening their mouths and
leaping upon the tawny cup-bearers and kissing them for more; others
clasping their hands in prayer; yet others, in their delight, allowing
the precious liquid to rain upon them as it would; but all alike,
hungry and thirsty, flying, standing still, running, or motionless,
all greedy for the wine, and more alive for every drop they were able
to get. And none was there so old, whether he were plain or handsome,
but he was filled with fresh force and with new and lusty youth.
And with great shouting and laughing they pursued each other among
the trees like squirrels, or in the air like birds, each male seeking
his female, and acting out beneath God's open sky the sacred task
of nature.
And the Spirits of the Sap brought to the King and Queen a mighty bowl
brimming with their wine. And the King and the Queen drank thereof,
and embraced one another. And the King, holding the Queen fast in
his arms, threw the dregs of that bowl far away upon the trees and
flowers and all the other spirits that were there. And loud did he
raise his voice, crying:
"Glory to Life! Glory to the free air! Glory to Force!"