Then he helped her to climb up beside him on to the cart, and made
her sit close by his side. He removed her apron from her head and the
cloak from her shoulders, and then when he had kissed her a hundred
times at least, he asked her:
"Where were you going to, beloved?"
She answered him nothing, but seemed carried away in a sort of
ecstasy. Ulenspiegel, in like rapture, said to her:
"Anyway you are here now! And truly the wild hedgerow is dun beside
the sweet pink colouring of your skin, and though you are no queen,
behold I will make a crown of kisses all for you! O sweet arms of
my love, so tender, so rosy, and made for nothing but to hold me
in their embrace! Ah, little girl, little love, how dare I touch
you? These rough hands of mine, will they not tarnish the purity of
your white shoulder? Yea verily, for the lightsome butterfly may flit
to rest upon the crimson carnation, but I, clumsy bumpkin that I am,
how can I rest myself without tarnishing the living whiteness that
is you? God is in heaven, the king is on his throne, the sun rides
triumphing in the sky, but am I a god, or a king, or the sun himself
that I may come so close to you? O tresses softer than silk! O Nele,
I fear to touch your hair, so clumsy am I, lest I tear it, lest I
shred it all to pieces. But have no fear, my love. Your foot, your
sweet foot! What makes it so white? Do you bathe it in milk?"
Nele would have risen from his side, but,
"What are you afraid of?" he asked her. "It is not the sun alone that
shines upon us now and paints you all gold. Do not cast down your
eyes, but look straight into mine, and behold the pure fire that
flames there. And listen, my love, hearken to me, dearest. Now is
midday, the silent hour. The labourer is at home, eating his dinner
of soup. Shall we not also feed upon our love? Oh why, oh why have I
not yet a thousand years wherein to tell at your knees my rosary of
Indian pearls!"
"Golden Tongue!" she said.
But my Lord the Sun blazed down upon the white hood of the cart,
and a lark sang high over the clover, and Nele leant her head upon
the shoulder of Ulenspiegel.