_How in my presence the devil fetched old Lizzie Kolken_.
When I recovered from my above-mentioned swound, I found my host,
his wife, and my old maid standing over me, and pouring warm beer
down my throat. The faithful old creature shrieked for joy when I
opened my eyes again, and then told me that my daughter had not
suffered herself to be racked, but had freely confessed her crimes
and fyled herself as a witch. This seemed pleasant news to me in
my misery, inasmuch as I deemed the death by fire to be a less
heavy punishment than the torture. Howbeit when I would have
prayed I could not, whereat I again fell into heavy grief and
despair, fearing that the Holy Ghost had altogether turned away
His face from me, wretched man that I was. And albeit the old
maid, when she had seen this, came and stood before my bed and
began to pray aloud to me; it was all in vain, and I remained a
hardened sinner. But the Lord had pity upon me, although I
deserved it not, insomuch that I presently fell into a deep sleep,
and did not awake until next morning when the prayer-bell rang;
and then I was once more able to pray, whereat I greatly rejoiced,
and still thanked God in my heart, when my ploughman Claus Neels
came in and told me that he had come yesterday to tell me about my
oats, seeing that he had gotten them all in; and that the
constable came with him who had been to fetch old Lizzie Kolken,
inasmuch as the honourable high court had ordered her to be
brought up for trial. Hereat the whole village rejoiced, but
_Rea_ herself laughed, and shouted, and sang, and told him
and the constable, by the way (for the constable had let her get
up behind for a short time), that this should bring great luck to
the sheriff. They need only bring her up before the court, and in
good sooth she would not hold her tongue within her teeth, but
that all men should marvel at her confession; that such a court as
that was a laughing-stock to her, and that she spat, _salvâ
veniâ_, upon the whole brotherhood, &c.
Upon hearing this I once more felt a strong hope, and rose to go
to old Lizzie. But I was not quite dressed before she sent the
impudent constable to beg that I would go to her with all speed
and give her the sacrament, seeing that she had become very weak
during the night. I had my own thoughts on the matter, and
followed the constable as fast as I could, though not to give her
the sacrament, as indeed anybody may suppose. But in my haste I,
weak old man that I was, forgot to take my witnesses with me; for
all the misery I had hitherto suffered had so clouded my senses
that it never once came into my head. None followed me save the
impudent constable; and it will soon appear how that this villain
had given himself over body and soul to Satan to destroy my child,
whereas he might have saved her. For when he had opened the prison
(it was the same cell wherein my child had first been shut up), we
found old Lizzie lying on the ground on a truss of straw, with a
broom for a pillow (as though she were about to fly to hell upon
it, as she no longer could fly to Blockula), so that I shuddered
when I caught sight of her.
Scarce was I come in when she cried out fearfully, "I'm a witch,
I'm a witch! Have pity upon me, and give me the sacrament quick,
and I will confess everything to you!" And when I said to her,
"Confess then!" she owned that she, with the help of the sheriff,
had contrived all the witchcraft in the village, and that my child
was as innocent thereof as the blessed sun in heaven. Howbeit that
the sheriff had the greatest guilt, inasmuch as he was a warlock
and a witch's priest, and had a spirit far stronger than hers,
called Dudaim, [Footnote: This remarkable word occurs in the I
Mos. xxx. 15 ff. as the name of a plant which produces
fruitfulness in women; but the commentators are by no means agreed
as to its nature and its properties. The LXX. render it by
_Mandragoras_, which has been understood by the most eminent
ancient and modern theologians to mean the mandrake (Alraunwurzel)
so famous in the history of witchcraft. In many instances the
devils, strangely enough, receive Christian names; thus the
familiar spirit of old Lizzie is afterwards called Kit,
_i.e._, Christopher.] which spirit had given her such a blow
on the head in the night as she should never recover. This same
Dudaim it was that had raked up the crops, heaped sand over the
amber, made the storm, and dropped the frog into my daughter her
lap; _item_, carried off her old goodman through the air.
And when I asked her how that could be, seeing that her goodman
had been a child of God until very near his end, and much given to
prayer; albeit I had indeed marvelled why he had other thoughts in
his last illness; she answered, that one day he had seen her
spirit, which she kept in a chest, in the shape of a black cat,
and whose name was Kit, and had threatened that he would tell me
of it; whereupon she, being frightened, had caused her spirit to
make him so ill that he despaired of ever getting over it.
Thereupon she had comforted him, saying that she would presently
heal him if he would deny God, who, as he well saw, could not help
him. This he promised to do; and when she had straightway made him
quite hearty again, they took the silver which I had scraped off
the new sacrament cup, and went by night down to the sea-shore,
where he had to throw it into the sea with these words, "When this
silver returns again to the chalice, then shall my soul return to
God." Whereupon the sheriff, who was by, re-baptized him in the
name of Satan, and called him Jack. He had had no sponsors save
only herself, old Lizzie. Moreover that on St. John's Eve, when he
went with them to Blockula for the first time (the Herrenberg
[Footnote: A hill near Coserow. In almost all trials of witches
hills of this kind in the neighbourhood of the accused are
mentioned, where the devil, on Walpurgis Night and St. John's Eve,
feasts, dances, and wantons with them, and where warlock priests
administer Satanic sacraments, which are mere mockeries of those
of Divine institution.] was their Blockula), they had talked of my
daughter, and Satan himself had sworn to the sheriff that he
should have her. For that he would show the old one (wherewith the
villain meant God) what he could do, and that he would make the
carpenter's son sweat for vexation (fie upon thee, thou arch
villain, that thou could'st thus speak of my blessed Saviour!).
Whereupon her old goodman had grumbled, and as they had never
rightly trusted him, the spirit Dudaim one day flew off with him
through the air by the sheriff's order, seeing that her own
spirit, called Kit, was too weak to carry him. That the same
Dudaim had also been the woodpecker who afterwards 'ticed my
daughter and old Paasch to the spot with his cries, in order to
ruin her. But that the giant who had appeared on the Streckelberg
was not a devil, but the young lord of Mellenthin himself, as her
spirit, Kit, had told her.
And this she said was nothing but the truth, whereby she would
live and die; and she begged me, for the love of God, to take pity
upon her, and, after her repentant confession, to speak
forgiveness of her sins, and to give her the Lord's Supper; for
that her spirit stood there behind the stove, grinning like a
rogue, because he saw that it was all up with her now. But I
answered, "I would sooner give the sacrament to an old sow than to
thee, thou accursed witch, who not only didst give over thine own
husband to Satan, but hast likewise tortured me and my poor child
almost unto death with pains like those of hell." Before she could
make any answer, a loathsome insect, about as long as my finger,
and with a yellow tail, crawled in under the door of the prison.
When she espied it, she gave a yell, such as I never before heard,
and never wish to hear again. For once, when I was in Silesia, in
my youth, I saw one of the enemy's soldiers spear a child before
its mother's face, and I thought _that_ a fearful shriek
which the mother gave; but her cry was child's play to the cry of
old Lizzie. All my hair stood on end, and her own red hair grew so
stiff that it was like the twigs of the broom whereon she lay; and
then she howled, "That is the spirit Dudaim, whom the accursed
sheriff has sent to me--the sacrament, for the love of God, the
sacrament!--I will confess a great deal more--I have been a witch
these thirty years!--the sacrament, the sacrament!" While she thus
bellowed and flung about her arms and legs, the loathsome insect
rose into the air, and buzzed and whizzed about her where she lay,
insomuch that it was fearful to see and to hear. And this
she-devil called by turns on God, on her spirit Kit, and on me, to
help her, till the insect all of a sudden darted into her open
jaws, whereupon she straightway gave up the ghost, and turned all
black and blue like a blackberry.
I heard nothing more save that the window rattled, not very loud,
but as though one had thrown a pea against it, whereby I
straightway perceived that Satan had just flown through it with
her soul. May the all-merciful God keep every mother's child from
such an end, for the sake of Jesus Christ our blessed Lord and
Saviour! Amen.
As soon as I was somewhat recovered, which, however, was not for a
long time, inasmuch as my blood had turned to ice, and my feet
were as stiff as a stake, I began to call out after the impudent
constable, but he was no longer in the prison. Thereat I greatly
marvelled, seeing that I had seen him there but just before the
vermin crawled in, and straightway I suspected no good, as,
indeed, it turned out; for when at last he came upon my calling
him, and I told him to let this carrion be carted out which had
just died in the name of the devil, he did as though he was
amazed; and when I desired him that he would bear witness to the
innocence of my daughter, which the old hag had confessed on her
deathbed, he pretended to be yet more amazed, and said that he had
heard nothing. This went through my heart like a sword, and I
leaned against a pillar without, where I stood for a long time:
but as soon as I was come to myself I went to _Dom. Consul_,
who was about to go to Usedom, and already sat in his coach. At my
humble prayer he went back into the judgment-chamber with the
_Camerarius_ and the _Scriba_, whereupon I told all that
had taken place, and how the wicked constable denied that he had
heard the same. But they say that I talked a great deal of
nonsense beside; among other things that all the little fishes had
swam into the vault to release my daughter. Nevertheless, _Dom.
Consul_. who often shook his head, sent for the impudent
constable, and asked him for his testimony. But the fellow
pretended that as soon as he saw that old Lizzie wished to
confess, he had gone away, so as not to get any more hard words,
wherefore he had heard nothing. Hereupon I, as _Dom. Consul_
afterwards told the pastor of Benz, clenched my fists and
answered, "What, thou arch rogue, didst thou not crawl about the
room in the shape of a reptile?" whereupon he would hearken to me
no longer, thinking me distraught, nor would he make the constable
take an oath, but left me standing in the midst of the room, and
got into his coach again.
Neither do I know how I got out of the room; but next morning when
the sun rose, and I found myself lying in bed at Master Seep his
ale-house, the whole _casus_ seemed to me like a dream;
neither was I able to rise, but lay a-bed all the blessed Saturday
and Sunday, talking all manner of _allotria_. It was not till
towards evening on Sunday, when I began to vomit and threw up
green bile (no wonder!), that I got somewhat better. About this
time _Pastor Benzensis_ came to my bedside, and told me how
distractedly I had borne myself, but so comforted me from the Word
of God, that I was once more able to pray from my heart. May the
merciful God reward my dear gossip, therefore, at the day of
judgment! For prayer is almost as brave a comforter as the Holy
Ghost Himself, from whom it comes; and I shall ever consider that
so long as a man can still pray, his misfortunes are not
unbearable, even though in all else "his flesh and his heart
faileth" (Ps. lxxiii.).