_How Satan, by the permission of the most righteous God, sought
altogether to ruin us, and how we lost all hope._
The same day, at about three in the afternoon, when I was gone to
Conrad Seep his ale-house to eat something, seeing that it was now
nearly two days since I had tasted aught save my tears, and he had
placed before me some bread and sausage, together with a mug of
beer, the constable came into the room and greeted me from the
sheriff, without, however, so much as touching his cap, asking
whether I would not dine with his lordship; that his lordship had
not remembered till now that I belike was still fasting, seeing
the trial had lasted so long. Hereupon I made answer to the
constable that I already had my dinner before me, as he saw
himself, and desired that his lordship would hold me excused.
Hereat the fellow wondered greatly, and answered, Did I not see
that his lordship wished me well, albeit I had preached at him as
though he were a Jew? I should think on my daughter, and be
somewhat more ready to do his lordship's will, whereby
peradventure all would yet end well. For his lordship was not such
a rough ass as _Dom. Consul_, and meant well by my child and
me, as beseemed a righteous magistrate.
After I had with some trouble rid myself of this impudent fox, I
tried to eat a bit, but nothing would go down save the beer. I
therefore soon sat and thought again whether I would not lodge
with Conrad Seep, so as to be always near my child; _item_,
whether I should not hand over my poor misguided flock to M.
Vigelius, the pastor of Benz, for such time as the Lord still
should prove me. In about an hour I saw through the window how
that an empty coach drove to the castle, and the sheriff and
_Dom. Consul_ straightway stepped thereinto with my child;
_item_, the constable climbed up behind. Hereupon I left
everything on the table and ran to the coach, asking humbly
whither they were about to take my poor child; and when I heard
they were going to the Streckelberg to look after the amber, I
begged them to take me also, and to suffer me to sit by my child,
for who could tell how much longer I might yet sit by her! This
was granted to me, and on the way the sheriff offered me to take
up my abode in the castle and to dine at his table as often as I
pleased, and that he would, moreover, send my child her meat from
his own table. For that he had a Christian heart, and well knew
that we were to forgive our enemies. But I refused his kindness
with humble thanks, as my child did also, seeing we were not yet
so poor that we could not maintain ourselves. As we passed by the
water-mill the ungodly varlet there again thrust his head out of a
hole and pulled wry faces at my child; but, dear reader, he got
something to remember it by; for the sheriff beckoned to the
constable to fetch the fellow out, and after he had reproached him
with the tricks he had twice played my child, the constable had to
take the coachman his new whip and to give him fifty lashes,
which, God knows, were not laid on with a feather. He bellowed
like a bull, which, however, no one heard for the noise of the
mill-wheels, and when at last he did as though he could not stir,
we left him lying on the ground and went on our way.
As we drove through Uekeritze a number of people flocked together,
but were quiet enough, save one fellow who, _salvâ veniâ_,
mocked at us with unseemly gestures in the midst of the road when
he saw us coming. The constable had to jump down again, but could
not catch him, and the others would not give him up, but pretended
that they had only looked at our coach and had not marked him. May
be this was true! and I am therefore inclined to think that it was
Satan himself who did it to mock at us; for mark, for God's sake,
what happened to us on the Streckelberg! Alas! through the
delusions of the foul fiend, we could not find the spot where we
had dug for the amber. For when we came to where we thought it
must be, a huge hill of sand had been heaped up as by a whirlwind,
and the fir-twigs which my child had covered over it were gone.
She was near falling in a swound when she saw this, and wrung her
hands and cried out with her Saviour, "My God, my God, why hast
Thou forsaken me!"
Howbeit, the constable and the coachman were ordered to dig, but
not one bit of amber was to be found, even so big as a grain of
corn, whereupon _Dom. Consul_ shook his head and violently
upbraided my child; and when I answered that Satan himself, as it
seemed, had filled up the hollow in order to bring us altogether
into his power, the constable was ordered to fetch a long stake
out of the coppice which we might thrust still deeper into the
sand. But no hard _objectum_ was anywhere to be felt,
notwithstanding the sheriff, _Dom. Consul_, and myself in my
anguish did try everywhere with the stake.
Hereupon my child besought her judges to go with her to Coserow,
where she still had much amber in her coffer which she had found
here, and that if it were the gift of the devil it would all be
changed, since it was well known that all the presents the devil
makes to witches straightway turn to mud and ashes.
But, God be merciful to us, God be merciful to us! when we
returned to Coserow, amid the wonderment of all the village, and
my daughter went to her coffer, the things therein were all tossed
about, and the amber gone. Hereupon she shrieked so loud that it
would have softened a stone, and cried out, "The wicked constable
hath done this! when he fetched the salve out of my coffer, he
stole the amber from me, unhappy maid." But the constable, who
stood by, would have torn her hair, and cried out, "Thou witch,
thou damned witch, is it not enough that thou hast belied my lord,
but thou must now belie me too?" But _Dom. Consul_ forbade
him, so that he did not dare lay hands upon her. _Item_, all
the money was gone which she had hoarded up from the amber she had
privately sold, and which she thought already came to about ten
florins.
But the gown which she had worn at the arrival of the most
illustrious king Gustavus Adolphus, as well as the golden chain
with his effigy which he had given her, I had locked up as though
it were a relic in the chest in the vestry, among the altar and
pulpit cloths, and there we found them still; and when I excused
myself therefor, saying that I had thought to have saved them up
for her there against her bridal day, she gazed with fixed and
glazed eyes into the box, and cried out, "Yes, against the day
when I shall be burnt! O Jesu, Jesu, Jesu!" Hereat _Dom.
Consul_ shuddered and said, "See how thou still dost smite
thyself with thine own words. For the sake of God and thy
salvation, confess, for if thou knowest thyself to be innocent,
how, then, canst thou think that thou wilt be burnt?" But she
still looked him fixedly in the face, and cried aloud in Latin,
"_Innocentia, quid est innocentia! Ubi libido dominatur,
innocentia leve præsidium est._" [Footnote: These words are
from Cicero, if I do not mistake.]
Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again shuddered, so that his beard
wagged, and said, "What, dost thou indeed know Latin? Where didst
thou learn the Latin?" And when I answered this question as well
as I was able for sobbing, he shook his head, and said, "I never
in my life heard of a woman that knew Latin." Upon this he knelt
down before her coffer, and turned over everything therein, drew
it away from the wall, and when he found nothing he bade us show
him her bed, and did the same with that. This, at length, vexed
the sheriff, who asked him whither they should not drive back
again, seeing that night was coming on? But he answered, "Nay, I
must first have the written paction which Satan has given her;"
and he went on with his search until it was almost dark.
[Footnote: At this time it was believed that as a man bound
himself to the devil by writing, so did the devil in like manner
to the man.] But they found nothing at all, although _Dom.
Consul_, together with the constable, passed over no hole or
corner, even in the kitchen and cellar. Hereupon he got up again
into the coach, muttering to himself, and bade my daughter sit so
that she should not look upon him.
And now we once more had the same _spectaculum_ with the
accursed old witch Lizzie Kolken, seeing that she again sat at her
door as we drove by, and began to sing at the top of her voice,
"We praise thee, O Lord." But she screeched like a stuck pig, so
that _Dom. Consul_ was amazed thereat, and when he had heard
who she was, he asked the sheriff whether he would not that she
should be seized by the constable and be tied behind the coach, to
run after it, as we had no room for her elsewhere; for that he had
often been told that all old women who had red squinting eyes and
sharp voices were witches, not to mention the suspicious things
which _Rea_ had declared against her. But he answered that he
could not do this, seeing that old Lizzie was a woman in good
repute, and fearing God, as _Dom. Consul_ might learn for
himself; but that, nevertheless, he had had her summoned for the
morrow, together with the other witnesses.
Yea, in truth, an excellently devout and worthy woman!--for
scarcely were we out of the village, when so fearful a storm of
thunder, lightning, wind, and hail burst over our heads, that the
corn all around us was beaten down as with a flail, and the horses
before the coach were quite maddened; however, it did not last
long. But my poor child had to bear all the blame again,
[Footnote: Such sudden storms were attributed to witches.]
inasmuch as _Dom. Consul_ thought that it was not old Lizzie,
which, nevertheless, was as clear as the sun at noon-day, but my
poor daughter who brewed the storm;--for, beloved reader, what
could it have profited her, even if she had known the black art?
This, however, did not strike _Dom. Consul_, and Satan, by
the permission of the all-righteous God, was presently to use us
still worse; for just as we got to the Master's Dam, [Footnote: It
is also called to the present day, and is distant a mile from
Coserow.] he came flying over us in the shape of a stork, and
dropped a frog so exactly over us that it fell into my daughter
her lap: she gave a shrill scream, but I whispered her to sit
still, and that I would secretly throw the frog away by one leg.
But the constable had seen it, and cried out, "Hey, sirs! hey,
look at the cursed witch! what has the devil just thrown into her
lap?" Whereupon the sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ looked round
and saw the frog, which crawled in her lap, and the constable,
after he had blown upon it three times, took it up and showed it
to their lordships. Hereat _Dom. Consul_ began to spew, and
when he had done, he ordered the coachman to stop, got down from
the coach, and said we might drive home, that he felt qualmish,
and would go a-foot and see if he got better. But first he
privately whispered to the constable, which, howbeit, we heard
right well, that when he got home he should lay my poor child in
chains, but not so as to hurt her much; to which neither she nor I
could answer save by tears and sobs. But the sheriff had heard it
too, and when his worship was out of sight he began to stroke my
child her cheeks from behind her back, telling her to be easy, as
he also had a word to say in the matter, and that the constable
should not lay her in chains. But that she must leave off being so
hard to him as she had been hitherto, and come and sit on the seat
beside him, that he might privately give her some good advice as
to what was to be done. To this she answered, with many tears,
that she wished to sit only by her father, as she knew not how
much longer she might sit by him at all; and she begged for
nothing more save that his lordship would leave her in peace. But
this he would not do, but pinched her back and sides with his
knees; and as she bore with this, seeing that there was no help
for it, he waxed bolder, taking it for a good sign. Meanwhile
_Dom. Consul_ called out close behind us (for being
frightened he ran just after the coach), "Constable, constable,
come here quick; here lies a hedgehog in the midst of the road!"
whereupon the constable jumped down from the coach.
This made the sheriff still bolder; and at last my child rose up
and said, "Father, let us also go a-foot; I can no longer guard
myself from him here behind!" But he pulled her down again by her
clothes, and cried out angrily, "Wait, thou wicked witch, I will
help thee to go a-foot if thou art so wilful; thou shalt be
chained to the block this very night." Whereupon she answered, "Do
you do that which you cannot help doing: the righteous God, it is
to be hoped, will one day do unto you what He cannot help doing."
Meanwhile we had reached the castle, and scarcely were we got out
of the coach, when _Dom. Consul_, who had run till he was all
of a sweat, came up, together with the constable, and straightway
gave over my child into his charge, so that I had scarce time to
bid her farewell. I was left standing on the floor below, wringing
my hands in the dark, and hearkened whither they were leading her,
inasmuch as I had not the heart to follow; when _Dom.
Consul_, who had stepped into a room with the sheriff, looked
out at the door again, and called after the constable to bring
_Rea_ once more before them. And when he had done so, and I
went into the room with them, _Dom. Consul_ held a letter in
his hand, and, after spitting thrice, he began thus, "Wilt thou
still deny, thou stubborn witch? Hear what the old knight, Hans
von Nienkerken, writes to the court!" Whereupon he read out to us,
that his son was so disturbed by the tale the accursed witch had
told of him, that he had fallen sick from that very hour, and that
he, the father, was not much better. That his son, Rüdiger, had
indeed at times, when he went that way, been to see Pastor
Schweidler, whom he had first known upon a journey; but that he
swore that he wished he might turn black if he had ever used any
folly or jesting with the cursed devil's whore his daughter; much
less ever been with her by night on the Streckelberg, or embraced
her there.
At this dreadful news we both (I mean my child and I) fell down in
a swound together, seeing that we had rested our last hopes on the
young lord; and I know not what further happened. For when I came
to myself, my host, Conrad Seep, was standing over me, holding a
funnel between my teeth, through which he ladled some warm beer
down my throat, and I never felt more wretched in all my life;
insomuch that Master Seep had to undress me like a little child,
and to help me into bed.