On the morrow there came a soft wind blowing from Brabant. The snow
began to melt and the meadows were all flooded.
And the bell that is called Borgstorm summoned the judges to the
tribunal of the Vierschare. And they sat under the penthouse, because
the grassy banks where they were accustomed to sit were too damp. And
round about the tribunal stood the people of the town.
Joos Damman was brought before the judges. He was not in bonds, and he
still wore the dress of a nobleman. Katheline was also brought there,
but her hands were tied in front of her, and she wore a grey dress,
the dress of a prisoner.
On being examined, Joos Damman pleaded guilty to the charge of having
killed his friend Hilbert with a sword in single combat; and this he
confessed willingly because, as he said, he was protected by the law
of Flanders, which made a murderer safe from conviction after the
space of ten years.
Then the bailiff asked him if he was a sorcerer.
"No," replied Damman.
"Prove it," said the bailiff.
"That I will do at the right time and in the proper place," said Joos
Damman, "but not now."
Then the bailiff began to question Katheline. She, however, paid no
attention to his questions, but kept her eyes fixed on Hans, saying:
"You are my green master. Beautiful you are as the Sun himself. Put
out the fire, my pet!"
Then Nele spoke on Katheline's behalf.
"She can tell you naught, my Lord, that you do not know already. She
is not a sorceress. She is only out of her mind."
Then the bailiff said his say:
"A sorcerer, I would remind you, is one who knowingly employs a
devilish art, or devilish arts, for the attainment of a certain
object. Well, these two persons, the man and the woman, I find to
be sorcerers both in intention and in fact; the man because, as
the evidence states, he gave to this woman the balm of the Witches'
Sabbath, and made his visage like unto Lucifer so as to obtain money
from her and the satisfaction of his wanton desires. And the woman also
I find to be a sorceress because she submitted herself to the man,
taking him for a devil and abandoning herself to his will. I ask,
therefore, if the gentlemen of the tribunal are agreed that it is a
case where the prisoners should both be sent to the torture?"
The aldermen did not answer, but showed clearly enough that such was
not their desire, so far at any rate as Katheline was concerned.
Then the bailiff spake again:
"Like you I am moved with pity and compassion for the woman, but mad
as she undoubtedly is and obedient in all things to the devil, is it
not probable that at the behest of her leman she might have committed
the most horrible crimes and abominations, as do all those who resign
themselves to the devil's will? No. Since Joos Damman has refused
to acknowledge any crime save that of murder, and since Katheline
has not told us anything at all, it is clear that by the laws of the
Empire we are bound to proceed in the manner I have indicated."
And the aldermen gave sentence to the effect that the two prisoners
were to be committed to torture on the following Friday, which was
the day but one following.
And Nele cried out for mercy upon Katheline, and the people joined
with her in supplication, but all in vain. And the prisoners were
taken back into the gaol.
There, by order of the tribunal, the keeper of the gaol was ordered
to provide a couple of guards for each prisoner, and these guards
were commanded to beat them whenever they looked like going off to
sleep. Now the two guards that were allotted to Katheline suffered her
to sleep during the night; but they that were assigned to Joos Damman
beat him unmercifully every time that he closed his eyes or even hung
his head down. And neither of the prisoners was given anything to
eat through all that Wednesday, and through all the night and day
which followed. But on the Thursday evening they were given food
and drink--meat, that is to say, which had been soaked in salt and
saltpetre, and water which had been salted in a similar fashion. And
this was the beginning of their torture. And in the morning, crying out
with thirst, they were led by the sergeants into the chamber of doom.
There they were set opposite to one another, bound as they were,
each to a separate bench which itself was covered with knotted cords
that hurt them grievously. And they were both made to drink a glass
of water saturated with salt and saltpetre.
Joos Damman began to fall off to sleep where he was, but the sergeants
soon beat him awake again. And Katheline said:
"Do not beat him, kind sirs. He has committed but a single crime,
when he killed Hilbert--and that was done for love's sake. Oh, but I
am thirsty! And you also are thirsty, Hans, my beloved! Pray give him
something to drink first of all. Water! Water! My body is burning me
up. But spare him. I will die for him. Water!"
Joos said to her:
"Ugly old witch that you are, go and die for all I care! Throw her
into the fire, my Lords! Oh, but I am thirsty!"
Meanwhile the clerks of the court were busy writing down every word
that was being said. And the bailiff asked him:
"Have you nothing to confess?"
"I have nothing more to say," replied Damman. "You know all that
there is to know."
"Forasmuch as he persists in his denials," said the bailiff, "let him
remain where he is until he shall have made a complete avowal of his
crimes. Let him neither eat nor drink nor go to sleep."
"So be it," said Joos Damman. "And I will amuse myself by watching
the sufferings of this old witch here."
And Katheline answered him, saying:
"Cold arms, warm heart, Hans, my beloved! I am thirsty, my head
is burning!"
The clerk of the court wrote down what she said, and the bailiff
asked her:
"Woman, have you nothing to say in your own defence?"
But Katheline only gazed at Joos Damman, and said very amorously:
"It is the hour of the sea-eagle, Hans, my pet. They say that you will
give me back the seven hundred caroluses. Put out the fire! Put out
the fire!" Then she began to cry out most horribly: "Water! Water! My
head is burning! God and His angels are eating apples in heaven!"
And she lost consciousness.
Thereupon the bailiff ordered her to be released from the bench of
torture; which was done, and thereafter she was seen to stagger to
and fro because of her feet, which were all swollen from the cords
that had been bound too tight.
"Give her to drink," said the bailiff.
And they gave her some fresh water which she swallowed greedily,
holding the goblet between her teeth as a dog holds a bone and refusing
to let it go. Then they gave her more water, and this she would have
carried over to Joos Damman had not the torturer wrested the goblet
from her hand. And she fell down asleep, like a piece of lead.
But Joos Damman cried out in his fury:
"I also am thirsty and sleepy. Why do you give her to drink? Why do
you let her fall asleep?"
"She is a woman," answered the bailiff. "And she is weak and out of
her mind."
"Her madness is only pretence," said Joos Damman. "She is a witch. I
want to drink, and I want to sleep."
And he closed his eyes, but his tormentors struck him in the face.
"Give me a knife," he cried, "that I may cut these varlets in
pieces. I am a nobleman; no one has ever struck me in the face
before! Water! Let me sleep. I am innocent. It is not I that took
the seven hundred caroluses, it was Hilbert. Water! I have never
committed any sorceries nor any incantations. I am innocent. Leave
me alone and give me something to drink."
But the bailiff only asked him how he had passed the time after he
left Katheline.
"I do not know Katheline at all," he said, "therefore I never left
her. You have asked me an unfair question, and I am not bound to
answer it. Give me something to drink. Let me go to sleep. I tell
you it was Hilbert who was responsible for everything."
"Take him away," said the bailiff, "put him back into his prison. But
see that he has nothing to drink, and that he does not fall asleep
until he has admitted his sorceries and incantations."
And now Damman suffered the most cruel torture of all, and he cried
out continually in his prison: "Water! Water!" And so loudly did he
cry that the people outside could hear him, nevertheless they felt
no pity for him. And when he began to fall off to sleep the guards
struck him in the face, and he cried out again, like a tiger:
"I am a nobleman, and I will kill you, you varlets! I will go to the
King our master. Water!"
But he would confess nothing at all, and they left him where he was.