It was the season of harvest. The air was heavy, the wind warm. They
that gathered the harvest were able now to reap at their ease, under
a free sky and from a free soil, the corn they had sown.
Frise, Drenthe, Overyssel, Gueldre, Utrecht, Noord Brabant, Noord
and Zuid Holland; Walcheren, Noord and Zuid Beveland; Duiveland and
Schouwen which together make up Zeeland; the sea-bordering lands to the
north from Knokke to Helder; the isles of Texel, Vlieland, Ameland,
and Schiermonik Oog--all were being delivered from the Spanish yoke,
from the Eastern Scheldt to the Oost Ems. And Maurice, the son of
William the Silent, was continuing the war.
Ulenspiegel and Nele kept still their youthfulness, their strength
and their beauty, for the Love and the Spirit of Flanders never grow
old. And they lived happily at the Tower of Neere, waiting for that
day when, after so many cruel trials, they would be able to breathe
the breath of liberty upon their native land of Belgium.
Ulenspiegel had asked to be made governor and guardian of the
Tower. For he had, so he said, the eyes of an eagle and the ears of
a hare, and so he would be able to see at once if the Spaniard ever
dared to show himself again in the lands that had been delivered from
his yoke. Then quickly would he sound the wacharm, the alarm-bell as
we call it in our tongue.
To this request the magistrate consented, and in virtue of the good
service he had rendered, Ulenspiegel was allowed a florin every day,
two pints of beer, a ration of beans, cheese, biscuits, and three
pounds of beef weekly.
And so did Ulenspiegel and Nele live on the Tower together very
happily, having joy to see in the distance the free isles of Zeeland,
and near at hand the woods and castles and fortresses, and the armed
ships of the Beggarmen that guarded the coast.
At night they would often mount to the top of the Tower, and there
they would sit together on the flat roof, talking of many a stern
battle and telling many a tale of love, past and to come. And from
their Tower they could see the ocean, which, when the weather was hot,
furled and unfurled along the shore its shining waves, and threw them
upon the island-coasts like wraiths of fire. And among the polders
the will-o'-the-wisps would come a-dancing. And Nele was afraid of
them, for she said they were the souls of the poor dead. And true it
was that all those places where they danced had once been fields of
battle. And the will-o'-the-wisps would oftentimes spring forth from
the polders, and run along the dikes, and then return again to the
polders, as though unwilling to leave the bodies whence they had come.
One night Nele said to Ulenspiegel:
"Behold how many spirits there are in Dreiveland, and how high
they fly! Over there by the Isle of Birds they seem to crowd the
thickest. Will you come with me there one night, Tyl? We would take
with us the balm that can show us things invisible to mortal eyes."
But Ulenspiegel answered:
"If you mean the balm we took when we went to the great Sabbath of
Spring, I have no more faith or confidence in what we saw there than
in any idle dream."
"It is wrong to deny the power of charms," said Nele. "Come,
Ulenspiegel!"
"Very well," he said.
The next day Ulenspiegel arranged with the magistrate that one of
the soldiers who had clear sight and a faithful heart should take
his place at the Tower for that one evening. And away he went with
Nele towards the Isle of Birds.
They passed along by many a field and dike, till at last they saw the
sea in front of them, and in it were set many little green islands with
the waves coursing in between. And all about the grassy hills, which
soon began to lose themselves in the sand-dunes, a great quantity of
peewits were flying high and low, and sea-gulls and sea-swallows. Some
of these birds would crowd together on the surface of the sea, and
stay there quite still, so that they looked like little white islets;
and above them and about flew thousands of their fellows. The very
soil itself was full of their nests, and Ulenspiegel stooped down
to pick up one of their eggs which was lying on the road. No sooner
had he done so than a sea-gull came flapping towards him, crying out
the while most dolefully. And in answer to this summons there flew
up a hundred other sea-gulls, crying out as if in anguish, hovering
about the head of Ulenspiegel and over the neighbouring nests. But
they did not dare to approach him.
"Ulenspiegel," said Nele, "these birds are asking you to have mercy
on their eggs."
Then she began to tremble, and said:
"I am afraid. Behold, the sun is setting, the sky is pale, the stars
are awakening, it is the hour of the spirits. And look at these ruddy
exhalations which rise all about us and seem as it were to trail along
the ground. Tyl, my beloved, what monster from hell may he be who thus
in the mist begins to open his fiery mouth? And look over there towards
Philipsland. It was there that the murderer king had all those poor men
done to death, not once but twice, and all for the sake of his cruel
ambition! And there this night the will-o'-the-wisps are dancing. For
this is the night when the souls of poor men killed in battle leave
their bodies all cold in purgatory, and come to warm themselves once
again in the tepid air of earth. This is the hour when you may ask
anything you will of Christ, He who is Lord of all good wizards."
"The ashes beat upon my heart," said Ulenspiegel. "Would that He would
show me those Seven whose ashes, they say, when thrown to the winds,
would make Flanders happy again, and all the world!"
"O man without faith," said Nele. "By the power of the balm it may
be you will see them."
"Maybe," said Ulenspiegel, "if some spirit, forsooth, would come down
to visit us from that cold star." And he pointed with his finger to
the star Sirius.
No sooner had he made this gesture than a will-o'-the-wisp that
had been flying round them came and attached itself to his finger,
and the more Ulenspiegel tried to shake it off the firmer the little
wisp held on. Nele tried to free Ulenspiegel, but now she also had a
little wisp firm on the tip of her finger, and neither would it let her
go. Ulenspiegel began to flick at the wisp with his free hand, saying:
"Answer me now, are you the soul of a Beggarman or of a Spaniard? If
you are a Beggarman's you may go to Paradise, but if a Spaniard's,
return to the hell whence you came."
Nele said to him:
"Do not abuse the souls of the dead, even though they be the souls
of murderers!"
Then, making the little will-o'-the-wisp to dance at the end of
her finger:
"Wisp," she said, "gentle wisp, come tell me what news do you bring
from the land of souls? What rule do they live by down there? Do they
eat and drink, having no mouths? For you have none, my sweet! Or
wait they, perhaps, till they come to blessed Paradise ere taking
upon themselves a human form?"
"Why waste time in talking to a peevish little flame that has no ears
to hear with, no mouth wherewith to answer?" said Ulenspiegel.
But paying no attention to him, Nele went on:
"Wisp of mine, answer me now by dancing. For I am going to question
you thrice. Once in the name of God, once in the name of Our Lady,
and once in the name of the Elemental Spirits who are the messengers
between God and men."
And this she did, and three times did the elf dance in answer.
Then Nele said to Ulenspiegel:
"Take off your clothes, and I will do the same. See, here is the
silver box which holds the balm of vision."
"Be it as you wish," answered Ulenspiegel.
When they had undressed and anointed themselves with the balm of
vision, they lay down naked as they were beside one another on
the grass.
The sea-gulls screamed; the thunder growled and rumbled, and in the
darkness the lightning flashed. Between two clouds the moon scarcely
showed her crescent's golden horns; and the will-o'-the-wisps departed
from Nele and Ulenspiegel to go off dancing with their comrades in
the fields.
Suddenly a great giant hand took hold of Nele and her lover, and threw
them high in air as though they had been a child's playthings. Then
the giant caught them again, rolled them one on the other and kneaded
them between his hands, and after that he threw them into a pool of
water that lay between the hills, and last of all he dragged them out
again full of water and water-weeds. And the giant began to sing in a
voice so loud that all the sea-gulls of the islands awakened in terror:
With eyes that squint they would discern,
These silly, wandering insect-mortals,
The sacred symbols none may learn,
Safe guarded now within our portals
Read then, flea, the mystery high,
Read then, louse, the secret vast,
Which to earth and air and sky
By seven nails is anchored fast!
And now it was that Ulenspiegel and Nele discerned on the grass and
in the air and in the sky, seven tablets of bronze all strangely
luminous. And they were held there by seven flaming nails. And on
the tablets was written:
From the dung-heap flowers arise,
Seven are wicked, but seven are good.
Hid in coal the diamond lies,
Bad teacher oft makes pupil wise;
Seven are bad, but seven are good.
And the giant walked on, followed by all the will-o'-the-wisps,
who were whispering together like grasshoppers, and saying:
Look at him well--the Master of All,
Before him Caesar himself must fall.
Pope of Popes, King of Kings,
Fashioned of wood he is Lord of All Things.
Suddenly the lines of the giant's face suffered a change. He seemed
thinner, sadder and greater than ever. And in one hand he held a
sceptre, and in the other a sword. And his name was Pride.
And throwing Nele and Ulenspiegel to the ground, he said:
"I am God."
Then by his side there appeared a ruddy-faced girl, and she was seated
on the back of a goat, and her bosom was bare, her gown half open,
and she had a wanton eye; and her name was Luxury. After her there
came an old woman, a Jewess, who was busy all the time, scraping up
the egg-shells of the sea-gulls that lay about on the ground; and her
name was Avarice. Then a monk appeared, most greedy and gluttonous,
eating chitterlings he was, and cramming himself with sausages and
champing his jaws together without ceasing, like the sow whereon
he rode; and his name was Greed. Thereafter came Idleness, dragging
one leg after the other; wan she was and bloated, and she had a dull
eye. And Anger came chasing after Idleness with a sharp needle with
which she pricked her so that she cried aloud, and Idleness grieved
and lamented with many tears, and kept falling down on to her knees so
tired she was. Last of all came Envy, a thin figure with a head like
a viper and teeth like the teeth of a pike. And she kept biting all
the others with those cruel teeth of hers--Idleness because she had
too much leisure, Anger because she was too lively, Greed because he
was too well fed, Luxury because she was too ruddy, Avarice because
of the treasure of shells she had amassed, Pride because of his robe
of purple and his crown. And the wisps kept dancing all around, and
they spake with many voices like the voices of men, women, and girls,
and in the plaintive voices of children, and they groaned, saying:
"O Pride, father of Ambition, and you, O Anger, that are the source
of cruelty, you slew us on many a battlefield, and caused our death
in many a prison and many a torture-chamber, that you might keep
your sceptres and your crowns! And you, O Envy, that have destroyed
so many useful thoughts while yet in the germ, we are the souls of
the inventors whom you have persecuted. Avarice, you it is that have
turned the blood of the poor into gold, and we are the souls of your
victims. O Luxury, you are the friend and the sister of Murder; Nero,
Messalina, Philip King of Spain--such are your children, and you
buy virtue and you bribe corruption, and we are the souls of your
dead. And you, O Idleness, and you, Greed, you befoul the world,
but the world must be cleansed of you; we are the souls of those who
have perished at your hands."
And a voice was heard saying:
From the dung-heap flowers arise,
Seven are wicked, but seven are good.
Bad teacher oft makes pupil wise.
Now longs the wandering louse comprise
Both coal and cinder if he could!
Then spake the wisps:
"Fire. We are Fire--the avenger of all old tears and all old pains
which the people have suffered; the avenger of all the human game
that has been hunted for pleasure by the Lords of this land; the
avenger of all battles fought to no purpose, of all the blood that
has been spilt in prison, of all the men burned at the stake and the
women and girls buried alive; the avenger of all the past of blood
and chains. The Fire--that is Us--we are the souls of the dead."
At these words the Seven were suddenly transformed into images of
wood, though they still lost nothing of their former outline; and a
voice was heard saying:
"Burn the wood, Ulenspiegel."
And Ulenspiegel turned towards the will-o'-the-wisps:
"You that are made of fire, do your office."
And the wisps thronged around the seven images, which straightway
burst into flame and were reduced to ashes.
And from the ashes there flowed a river of blood.
But out of the ashes arose now seven other figures, and the first said:
"Once I was called Pride. But now my name is Nobility."
And the rest spake after the same fashion, and Nele and Ulenspiegel
saw how Economy came forth from Avarice; Vivacity from Anger; Healthy
Appetite from Gluttony; Emulation from Envy; and from Idleness the
Dreams of poets and wise men. And Luxury, on her goat, was now
transformed into the likeness of a beautiful woman, and her name
was Love.
And all around them danced the will-o'-the-wisps most joyously. And
thereafter did Ulenspiegel and Nele begin to hear a thousand voices as
of hidden men and women, that spake with a sonorous, clicking sound,
like that of castanets, and thus sang they:
When over the earth and over the sea
These Seven transformed shall reign,
Mortals lift up your heads again,
For happy the world shall be!