_Of that which befell us by the way--Item, of the fearful death
of the sheriff at the mill._
We met with many wonders by the way, and with great sorrow; for
hard by the bridge, over the brook which runs into the Schmolle,
[Footnote: A lake near Pudgla.] stood the housekeeper her hateful
boy, who beat a drum and cried aloud, "Come to the roast goose!
come to the roast goose!" whereupon the crowd set up a loud laugh,
and called out after him, "Yes, indeed, to the roast goose! to the
roast goose!" Howbeit, when Master Krekow led the second verse the
folks became somewhat quieter again, and most of them joined in
singing it from their books, which they had brought with them. But
when he ceased singing awhile the noise began again as bad as
before. Some cried out, "The devil hath given her these clothes,
and hath adorned her after that fashion;" and seeing the sheriff
had ridden on before, they came close round the cart, and felt her
garments, more especially the women and young maidens. Others,
again, called loudly, as the young varlet had done, "Come to the
roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon one fellow
answered, "She will not let herself be roasted yet; mind ye that:
she will quench the fire!" This, and much filthiness beside, which
I may not for very shame write down, we were forced to hear, and
it especially cut me to the heart to hear a fellow swear that he
would have some of her ashes, seeing he had not been able to get
any of the wand; and that naught was better for the fever and the
gout than the ashes of a witch. I motioned the _Custos_ to
begin singing again, whereupon the folks were once more quiet for
a while--_i.e._, for so long as the verse lasted; but
afterwards they rioted worse than before. But we were now come
among the meadows, and when my child saw the beauteous flowers
which grew along the sides of the ditches, she fell into deep
thought, and began again to recite aloud the sweet song of St.
Augustinus as follows:--
"Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum,
Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum,
Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt,
Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum,
Pendent porna noridorum non lapsura nemorum
Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum
Agnus est foelicis urbis lumen inocciduum."
[Footnote:
"Around them, bright with endless Spring, perpetual roses bloom,
Warm balsams gratefully exude luxurious perfume;
Red crocuses, and lilies white, shine dazzling in the sun;
Green meadows yield them harvests green, and streams with honey
run;
Unbroken droop the laden boughs, with heavy fruitage bent,
Of incense and of odours strange the air is redolent:
And neither sun, nor moon, nor stars dispense their changeful
light,
But the Lamb's eternal glory makes the happy city bright!"]
By this _Casus_ we gained that all the folk ran cursing away
from the cart, and followed us at the distance of a good
musket-shot, thinking that my child was calling on Satan to help
her. Only one lad, of about five-and-twenty, whom, however, I did
not know, tarried a few paces behind the cart, until his father
came, and seeing he would not go away willingly, pushed him into
the ditch, so that he sank up to his loins in the water. Thereat
even my poor child smiled, and asked me whether I did not know any
more Latin hymns wherewith to keep the stupid and foul-mouthed
people still further from us. But, dear reader, how could I then
have been able to recite Latin hymns, even had I known any? But my
_Confrater_, the reverend Martinus, knew such an one; albeit,
it is indeed heretical; nevertheless, seeing that it above measure
pleased my child, and that she made him repeat to her sundry
verses thereof three and four times, until she could say them
after him, I said naught; otherwise I have ever been very severe
against aught that is heretical. Howbeit, I comforted myself
therewith that our Lord God would forgive her in consideration of
her ignorance. And the first line ran as follows:--_Dies iræ,
dies ilia._ [Footnote: Day of wrath, that dreadful day; one of
the most beautiful of the Catholic hymns.] But these two verses
pleased her more than all the rest, and she recited them many
times with great edification, wherefore I will insert them here:--
"Judex ergo cum sedebit
Quidquid latet apparebit
Nil inultum remanebit:
_Item_,
Rex tremendæ majestatis
Qui salvandos salvas gratis
Salva me, fons pietatis!"
[Footnote:
"The judge ascends his awful throne,
He makes each secret sin be known,
And all with shame confess their own.
Thou mighty formidable king!
Thou mercy's unexhausted spring,
Some comfortable pity bring."--_Old Version._]
When the men with the pitchforks, who were round about the cart,
heard this, and at the same time saw a heavy storm coming up from
the Achterwater, [Footnote: A wash formed by the river Peene.]
they straightway thought no other but that my child had made it;
and, moreover, the folk behind cried out, "The witch hath done
this; the damned witch hath done this!" and all the ten, save one
who stayed behind, jumped over the ditch, and ran away. But
_Dom. Consul_, who, together with the worshipful court, drove
behind us, no sooner saw this than he called to the constable,
"What is the meaning of all this?" Whereupon the constable cried
aloud to the sheriff, who was a little way on before us, but who
straightway turned him about, and when he had heard the cause,
called after the fellows that he would hang them all upon the
first tree, and feed his falcons with their flesh, if they did not
return forthwith. This threat had its effect; and when they came
back he gave each of them about half-a-dozen strokes with his
riding-whip, whereupon they tarried in their places, but as far
off from the cart as they could for the ditch.
Meanwhile, however, the storm came up from the southward, with
thunder, lightning, hail, and such a wind, as though the
all-righteous God would manifest His wrath against these ruthless
murderers; and the tops of the lofty beeches around us were beaten
together like besoms, so that our cart was covered with leaves as
with hail, and no one could hear his own voice for the noise. This
happened just as we were entering the forest from the convent dam,
and the sheriff now rode close behind us, beside the coach wherein
was _Dom. Consul_. Moreover, just as we were crossing the
bridge over the mill-race, we were seized by the blast, which
swept up a hollow from the Achterwater with such force that we
conceived it must drive our cart down the abyss, which was at
least forty feet deep or more; and seeing that, at the same time,
the horses did as though they were upon ice, and could not stand,
the driver halted to let the storm pass over, the which the
sheriff no sooner perceived, than he galloped up and bade him go
on forthwith. Whereupon the man flogged on the horses, but they
slipped about after so strange a fashion, that our guards with the
pitchforks fell back, and my child cried aloud for fear; and when
we were come to the place where the great waterwheel turned just
below us, the driver fell with his horse, which broke one of its
legs. Then the constable jumped down from the cart, but
straightway fell too, on the slippery ground; Item, the driver,
after getting on his legs again, fell a second time. Hereupon the
sheriff with a curse spurred on his grey charger, which likewise
began to slip as our horses had also done. Nevertheless, he came
sliding towards us, without, however, falling down; and when he
saw that the horse with the broken leg still tried to get up, but
always straightway fell again on the slippery ground, he hallooed
and beckoned the fellows with pitchforks to come and unharness the
mare; _item_, to push the cart over the bridge, lest it
should be carried down the precipice. Presently a long flash of
lightning shot into the water below us, followed by a clap of
thunder so sudden and so awful that the whole bridge shook, and
the sheriff his horse (our horses stood quite still) started back
a few paces, lost its footing, and, together with its rider, shot
headlong down upon the great mill-wheel below, whereupon a fearful
cry arose from all those that stood behind us on the bridge. For a
while naught could be seen for the white foam, until the sheriff
his legs and body were borne up into the air by the wheel, his
head being stuck fast between the fellies; and thus, fearful to
behold, he went round and round upon the wheel. Naught ailed the
grey charger, which swam about in the mill-pond below. When I saw
this, I seized the hand of my innocent lamb, and cried, "Behold,
Mary, our Lord God yet liveth! 'And he rode upon a cherub, and did
fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Then did he beat
them small as the dust before the wind; he did cast them out as
the dirt in the streets.' [Footnote: Ps. xviii. 10, 42.] Look
down, and see what the Almighty God hath done." While she hereupon
raised her eyes toward heaven with a sigh, we heard _Dom.
Consul_ calling out behind us as loudly as he could: and,
seeing that none could understand his words for the fearful storm
and the tumult of the waters, he jumped down from the coach, and
would have crossed the bridge on foot, but straightway he fell
upon his nose, so that it bled, and he crept back again on his
hands and feet, and held a long talk with _Dom. Camerarius_,
who, howbeit, did not stir out of the coach. Meanwhile, the driver
and the constable had unyoked the maimed horse, bound it, and
dragged it off the bridge, and now they came back to the cart, and
bade us get down therefrom, and cross the bridge on foot, the
which we did after that the constable had unbound my child, with
many curses and ill words, threatening that, in return for her
malice, he would keep her roasting till late in the evening. (I
could not blame him much therefore; for truly this was a strange
thing!) But, albeit, my child herself got safe across; we two--I
mean reverend Martinus and myself--like all the others, fell two
or three times to the ground. At length we all, by God His grace,
got safe and sound to the miller's house, where the constable
delivered my child into the miller his hands, to guard her on
forfeit of his life, while he ran down to the mill-pond to save
the sheriff his grey charger. The driver was bidden the while to
get the cart and the other horses off the bewitched bridge. We
had, however, stood but a short time with the miller, under the
great oak before his door, when _Dom. Consul_ with the
worshipful court, and all the folks, came over the little bridge,
which is but a couple of musket shots off from the first one, and
he could scarce prevent the crowd from falling upon my child and
tearing her in pieces, seeing that they all, as well as _Dom.
Consul_ himself, imagined that none other but she had brewed
the storm, and bewitched the bridge (especially as she herself had
not fallen thereon), and had likewise caused the sheriff his
death; all of which, nevertheless, were foul lies, as ye shall
hereafter hear. He, therefore, railed at her for a cursed
she-devil, who, even after having confessed and received the holy
Sacrament, had not yet renounced Satan; but that naught should
save her, and she should, nevertheless, receive her reward. And,
seeing that she kept silence, I hereupon answered, "Did he not see
that the all-righteous God had so ordered it, that the sheriff,
who would have robbed my innocent child of her honour and her
life, had here forfeited his own life as a fearful example to
others?" But _Dom. Consul_ would not see this, and said that
a child might perceive that our Lord God had not made this storm,
or did I peradventure believe that our Lord God had likewise
bewitched the bridge? I had better cease to justify my wicked
child, and rather begin to exhort her to repent, seeing that this
was the second time that she had brewed a storm, and that no man
with a grain of sense could believe what I said, &c.
Meanwhile the miller had already stopped the mill, _item,_
turned off the water, and some four or five fellows had gone with
the constable down to the great water-wheel, to take the sheriff
out of the fellies, wherein he had till _datum_ still been
carried round and round. This they could not do until they had
first sawn out one of the fellies; and when at last they brought
him to the bank, his neck was found to be broken, and he was as
blue as a corn-flower. Moreover, his throat was frightfully torn,
and the blood ran out of his nose and mouth. If the people had not
reviled my child before, they reviled her doubly now, and would
have thrown dirt and stones at her, had not the worshipful court
interfered with might and main, saying that she would presently
receive her well-deserved punishment.
Also, my dear gossip, the reverend Martinus, climbed up into the
cart again, and admonished the people not to forestall the law;
and seeing that the storm had somewhat abated, he could now be
heard. And when they had become somewhat more quiet, _Dom.
Consul_ left the corpse of the sheriff in charge with the
miller, until such time as, by God's help, he should return.
_Item,_ he caused the grey charger to be tied up to the
oak-tree till the same time, seeing that the miller swore that he
had no room in the mill, inasmuch as his stable was filled with
straw; but that he would give the grey horse some hay, and keep
good watch over him. And now were we wretched creatures forced to
get into the cart again, after that the unsearchable will of God
had once more dashed all our hopes. The constable gnashed his
teeth with rage, while he took the cords out of his pocket to bind
my poor child to the rail withal. As I saw right well what he was
about to do, I pulled a few groats out of my pocket, and whispered
into his ear, "Be merciful, for she cannot possibly run away, and
do you hereafter help her to die quickly, and you shall get ten
groats more from me!" This worked well, and albeit he pretended
before the people to pull the ropes tight, seeing they all cried
out with might and main, "Haul hard, haul hard," in truth, he
bound her hands more gently than before, and even without making
her fast to the rail; but he sat up behind us again with the naked
sword, and after that _Dom. Consul_ had prayed aloud, "God
the Father, dwell with us," likewise the _Custos_ had led
another hymn (I know not what he sang, neither does my child), we
went on our way, according to the unfathomable will of God, after
this fashion: the worshipful court went before, whereas all the
folks to our great joy fell back, and the fellows with the
pitchforks lingered a good way behind us, now that the sheriff was
dead.