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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sidonia the Sorceress V2, by Milliam Meinhold
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sidonia the Sorceress V2
+
+Author: Milliam Meinhold
+
+Release Date: June 16, 2013 [EBook #6701]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIDONIA THE SORCERESS V2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced from
+images generously made available by the CWRU Preservation
+Department Digital Library
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SIDONIA THE SORCERESS
+
+
+
+THE SUPPOSED DESTROYER OF THE WHOLE REIGNING DUCAL HOUSE OF
+POMERANIA.
+
+TRANSLATED BY LADY WILDE
+
+MARY SCHWEIDLER
+
+THE AMBER WITCH BY WILLIAM MEINHOLD DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II.
+
+
+1894
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+SIDONIA THE SORCERESS.
+
+
+
+BOOK III.
+
+Continued.
+
+_FROM THE RECEPTION OF SIDONIA INTO THE CONVENT AT MARIENFLIESS
+UP TILL HER EXECUTION, AUGUST_ 19TH, 1620.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+How Dorothea Stettin is talked out of the sub-prioret by Sidonia,
+and the priest is prohibited from visiting the convent.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+How Sidonia wounds Ambrosia von Guntersberg with an axe, because
+she purposed to marry--And prays the convent porter, Matthias
+Winterfeld, to death--For these, and other causes, the reverend
+chaplain refuses to shrive the sorceress, and denounces her
+publicly from the altar.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Dorothea Stettin falls sick, and how the doctor manages to bleed
+her--Item, how Sidonia chases the princely commissioners into the
+oak-forest.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+How the assembled Pomeranian princes hold a council over Sidonia,
+and at length cite her to appear at the ducal court.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Of Sidonia's defence--Item, how she has a quarrel with Joachim
+Wedel, and bewitches him to death.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+How a strange woman (who must assuredly have been Sidonia) incites
+the lieges of his Grace to great uproar and tumult in Stettin, by
+reason of the new tax upon beer.
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Of the fearful events that take place at Marienfliess--Item, how
+Dorothea Stettin becomes possessed by the devil.
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Of the arrival of Diliana and the death of the convent priest--
+Item, how the unfortunate corpse is torn by a wolf.
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+How Jobst Bork has himself carried to Marienfliess in his bed to
+reclaim his fair young daughter Diliana--Item, how George
+Putkammer threatens Sidonia with a drawn sword.
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+How my gracious Lord Bishop Franciscus and the reverend Dr. Joel
+go to the Jews' school at Old Stettin, in order to steal the Schem
+Hamphorasch, and how the enterprise finishes with a sound.
+cudgelling.
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+How the Duke Francis seeks a virgin at Marienfliess to cite the
+angel Och for him--Of Sidonia's evil plot thereupon, and the
+terrible uproar caused thereby in the convent.
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Of the death of the abbess, Magdalena von Petersdorfin--Item, how
+Duke Francis makes Jobst Bork and his daughter, Diliana, come to
+Camyn, and what happens there.
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Jobst Bork takes away his daughter by force from the Duke and Dr.
+Joel; also is strengthened in his unbelief by Dr. Cramer--Item,
+how my gracious Prince arrives at Marienfliess, and there
+vehemently menaces Sidonia.
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Of the fearful death of his Highness, Duke Philip II. of
+Pomerania, and of his melancholy but sumptuous burial.
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+How Jobst Bork and his little daughter are forced at last into the
+"Opus Magicum"--Item, how his Highness, Duke Francis, appoints
+Christian Ludecke, his attorney-general, to be witch-commissioner
+of Pomerania.
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+How Christian Ludecke begins the witch-burnings in Marienfliess,
+and lets the poor dairy-mother die horribly on the rack.
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+What Sidonia said to these doings--Item, what our Lord God said;
+and lastly, of the magical experiment performed upon George
+Putkammer and Diliana, in Old Stettin.
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Of the awful and majestic appearance of the sun-angel, Och.
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+How old Wolde is seized, confronted with Sidonia, and finally
+burned before her window.
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+How Diliana Bork and George Putkammer are at length betrothed--
+Item, how Sidonia is degraded from her conventual dignities and
+carried to the witches' tower of Saatzig in chains.
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+Of the execution of Sidonia and the wedding of Diliana.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+Mournful destiny of the last princely Pomeranian remains--My visit
+to the ducal Pomeranian vault in Wolgast, on the 6th May 1840.
+
+
+THE AMBER WITCH.
+
+PREFACE
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+How the Imperialists robbed me of all that was left, and likewise
+broke into the church and stole the _Vasa Sacra;_ also what
+more befell us.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+How our need waxed sorer and sorer, and how I sent old Ilse with
+another letter to Pudgla, and how heavy a misfortune this brought
+upon me.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+How the old maid-servant humbled me by her faith, and the Lord yet
+blessed me, His unworthy servant.
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+How we journeyed to Wolgast, and made good barter there.
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+How I fed all the congregation--Item, how I journeyed to the
+horse-fair at Guetzkow, and what befell me there.
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+What further joy and sorrow befell us-Item, how Wittich Appelmann
+rode to Damerow to the wolf-hunt, and what he proposed to my
+daughter.
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+What more happened during the winter--Item, how in the spring
+witchcraft began in the village.
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+How old Seden disappeared all on a sudden--Item, how the great
+Gustavus Adolphus came to Pomerania, and took the fort at
+Peenemuende.
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Of the arrival of the high and mighty King Gustavus Adolphus, and
+what befell thereat.
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+How little Mary Paasch was sorely plagued of the devil, and the
+whole parish fell off from me.
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+How my poor child was taken up for a witch, and carried to Pudgla.
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Of the first trial, and what came thereof.
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+How Satan, by the permission of the most righteous God, sought
+altogether to ruin us, and how we lost all hope.
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Of the malice of the Governor and of old Lizzie--Item, of the
+examination of witnesses.
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+_De confrontations testium_.
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+How the _Syndicus Dom._ Michelson arrived, and prepared his
+defence of my poor child.
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+How my poor child was sentenced to be put to the question.
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+How in my presence the devil fetched old Lizzie Kolken.
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+How Satan sifted me like wheat, whereas my daughter withstood him
+right bravely.
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+How I received the Holy Sacrament with my daughter and the old
+maid-servant, and how she was then led for the last time before
+the court, with the drawn sword and the outcry, to receive
+sentence.
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+Of that which befell us by the way--Item, of the fearful death of
+the sheriff at the mill.
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+How my daughter was at length saved by the help of the all-merciful,
+yea, of the all-merciful God.
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+Of our next great sorrow, and final joy.
+
+
+
+BOOK III. Continued.
+
+FROM THE RECEPTION OF SIDONIA INTO THE CONVENT AT MARIENFLIESS UP
+TILL HER EXECUTION, AUGUST 19TH, 1620.
+
+VOL. II.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+_How Dorothea Stettin is talked out of the sub-prioret by
+Sidonia, and the priest is prohibited from visiting the
+convent._
+
+
+If Sidonia could not be the pastor's wife, she was determined at
+least to be sub-prioress, and commenced her preparations for this
+object by knitting a little pair of red hose for her cat. Then she
+sent for Dorothea Stettin, saying that she was weak and ill, and
+no one took pity on her.
+
+When the good Dorothea came as she was asked, there lay my serpent
+on the bed in her nun's robes, groaning and moaning as if her last
+hour had come; and scarcely had the sub-prioress taken a seat near
+her, when my cat crept forth from under the bed, in his little red
+hose, mewing and rubbing himself up against the robe of the
+sub-prioress, as if praying her to remove this unwonted constraint
+from him, of the little red hose.
+
+After Dorothea had inquired about her sickness, she looked at the
+cat, and asked wonderingly, what was the meaning of such a strange
+dress?
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah, dear friend, it was dreadful to my feelings to see the
+little animal going about naked, therefore I knit little hose for
+him, as you see; indeed, I am often tempted to wonder how the Lord
+God could permit the poor animals to appear naked before us."
+
+_Haec_ (extending her arms for joy, so that she almost tumbled back
+off the stool).--"Oh, God be praised and thanked, at last I have
+found one chaste soul in this wicked world! (sobs, throws up her
+eyes, falls upon Sidonia's neck, kisses her, and weeps over her:)
+ah yes, one chaste soul at last, like herself!"
+
+_Illa._--"True, Dorothea, there is no virtue so rare in this
+evil world as chastity. Ah, why has the Lord God placed such
+things before our eyes? I never can comprehend it, and never will.
+What a sight for a chaste virgin these naked animals! What did the
+dear sister think on the matter?"
+
+_Haec._--"Ah, she knew not what to think, had asked the priest
+about it."
+
+_Illa._--"And what did he say?"
+
+_Haec._--"He laughed at her."
+
+_Illa._--"Just like him, the lewd, hypocritical pharisee."
+
+_Haec._--"Eh? she was too hard on the good priest. He was a
+pure and upright servant of God."
+
+_Illa._--"Ay, as Judas was. Had not sister Dorothea
+heard----"
+
+_Haec._--"No; for God's sake, what? The dear sister frightened
+her already."
+
+_Illa._--"First, you confess that the priest laughed when you
+talked about chastity?"
+
+_Haec._--"Yes, true, ah, indeed true."
+
+_Illa._--"Then you remember that he preached a sermon lately
+upon adul--upon adul--. No, she never could utter the word--the
+horrible word. Upon the seventh commandment, to the great scandal
+of the entire convent?"
+
+_Haec._--"Ah yes, ah yes, she was there, and had to stop one
+ear with her finger, the other with her kerchief, not to hear all
+the strange and dreadful things he was saying."
+
+_Illa._--"And yet this was the man that ran in and out of the
+cloister daily at his pleasure, sent for or not--a young unmarried
+man--though the convent rules especially declared an _old_
+man. Ah, if _she_ were sub-prioress, this scandal should
+never be permitted."
+
+_Haec_.--"What could be done? it was a blessed thing to live
+in peace. Besides, the priest was such a pious man."
+
+_Illa_.--"Pious? Heaven defend us from such piety! Why, had
+she not heard?--the whole convent talked about it."
+
+_Haec_.--"No, no; for God's sake, what had happened? tell
+her--she had been making sausages all the morning, and had heard
+nothing."
+
+_Illa_.--"Then know, ah God, how it pained her to talk of
+it--she had heard a great noise in the kitchen in the morning, as
+if all the pots and pans were tumbled about, and when she ran in
+to see--there was the priest--oh, her chaste eyes never had seen
+such a sight--the _pious_ priest making love to her old maid,
+Wolde."
+
+_Haec_.--"Impossible, impossible!--to her old maid, Wolde?"
+
+_Illa_.-"Yea, and he was praying her for kisses, and praising
+her fat hand, and extolling her white hair. But as to what more
+she had seen----"
+
+_Haec_.--"For God's sake, sister, what more?"
+
+_Illa_ (sighing, and covering her face with both hands).--"No,
+no, that she could never bring her chaste lips to utter. Oh, that
+such wickedness should be in the world (weeping bitterly). But she
+would never enter the chapel again, and that priest there; nor
+receive the rites from him. But this was not all; the dear sister
+must hear how he revenged himself upon her, because she
+interrupted his toying with the old hag. It was truth, all truth!
+She (Sidonia) grew so ill with fright and horror that she was
+unable to disrobe, and threw herself on the bed just as she was,
+but growing weaker and weaker hour by hour, sent for the priest at
+last, to pray with her, and afterwards to offer up general
+supplication for her restoration, in the chapel with all the
+sisterhood; but only think, the shameless hypocrite refused to
+pray with her, because he spied an end of her black robe out of
+the bed, declaring she was not ill at all, that she was a base
+liar, all because she had lain down in her convent dress, and
+finally went his way cursing and swearing, without even saying one
+prayer, or uttering one word of comfort, as was his duty. And now,
+alas! she must die without priest or sacrament! To what a Sodom
+and Gomorrah she had come! But if an old hag like her maid was not
+safe from the shameless parson, how could she or any of them be
+safe? What was to be done? unless the dear sister, as
+sub-prioress, took the matter in her own hands, and brought him to
+task about it?"
+
+At this proposal the other trembled like an aspen leaf, and seemed
+more dead than alive. She wept, wrung her hands--for God's sake
+what could she do? how could she talk on such a matter? Let the
+abbess see to it, if she chose.
+
+_Illa_.--"Stuff, the old pussy--the less said of _her_
+the better. Why, she was worse than the old maid, Wolde, herself."
+
+_Haec_.--"The abbess? why, the whole convent, and the whole
+world too, talked of her piety and virtue."
+
+_Illa_.--"Very virtuous, truly, to have the priest locked up
+with her; and when some of the sisters wished to remain,
+suspecting that all was not right, the priest pushed them out at
+the door with his own hands, and bolted it after them, as many
+could testify to her had been done this very day. Oh, what a Sodom
+and Gomorrah she had been betrayed into! (weeping, sobbing, and
+falling upon Dorothea's neck.) I pray you, sister, for the sake of
+our heavenly bridegroom, bring this evil to an end, otherwise fire
+and brimstone will assuredly and justly be rained down upon our
+poor cloister."
+
+Still the other maintained, "That the dear sister must err as
+regarded the abbess. It might be her chaste zeal that blinded her.
+True enough, probably, what she said of the priest; but the worthy
+abbess--no, never could she believe that."
+
+_Illa_.--"Let her have proof then. It was not her custom to
+weaken innocence; call her maid, Wolde."
+
+Then as Wolde entered, Sidonia made a sign, and bid her tell the
+sub-prioress all that the shameless priest had done.
+
+_Ancilla_.--"He had asked her for little kisses, praised her
+hands and hair, and her beautiful limp, and had sat up close to
+her on the bench, then run after her into the kitchen, gave her
+money (shows the money), asked again for kisses, then----"
+
+Sidonia screams--
+
+"Hold your tongue; no more, no more; enough, enough!"
+
+At this story, Dorothea Stettin nearly went into convulsions--she
+wrung her hands, crying--.
+
+"How is it possible? O heaven, how is it possible?"
+
+_Illa_.--"There is something more quite possible also; the
+hag shall tell you what she saw at the room door of the abbess."
+
+_Ancilla_.-"When the scandalous priest left her, he went
+straight to the abbess, and there was taken with cramps, as she
+heard, upon which all the convent ran thither, and she with the
+rest. And he was lying stretched out on a bench, like one dead, no
+doubt from shame; but the shame soon went off, and then he got up,
+and bade them all leave the room. However, good Anna Apenborg did
+not choose to go, for she suspected evil. Whereupon he seized her
+by the hand, and put her out along with the others. She saw all
+this herself, for she was standing in the passage, waiting to
+speak to sister Anna. When, behold, she was pushed out, to her
+great surprise, in this way by the priest, and they heard the door
+bolted inside immediately after."
+
+At this Dorothea Stettin fell upon Sidonia's bed, weeping,
+sobbing, and ready to die with grief; but Sidonia bade her not
+take on so; for perhaps, after all, the old hag had not told the
+truth, at least concerning the dear, worthy abbess; but two
+witnesses would be sufficient testimony. Whereupon she bid Wolde
+watch for Anna Apenborg from the window, and beckon to her to come
+in if she saw her going by.
+
+And scarcely had Wolde stepped to the window, when she laughed and
+said--
+
+"Truly, there stands Anna chatting with Agnes Kleist's maid at the
+well. Shall I run and call her?"
+
+"Yes," said Sidonia.
+
+In a little while Wolde returned with sister Anna. The girl looked
+wildly round at first, stared at the broom-sticks which lay
+crosswise under the table, and then asked, with a trembling voice,
+what the good sister wanted with her, while she took a seat on a
+trunk near the bed.
+
+"My old maid," said Sidonia, "tells me that the reverend chaplain
+took you by the hand, and put you out of the abbess's room, after
+which he bolted the door. Is this true or not? Speak the whole
+truth."
+
+So Anna related the whole story as Wolde had done; but, while
+talking, the curious damsel lifted up a corner of the quilt to
+peep under the bed, upon which my cat in his little red hose crept
+forth again, mewing and rubbing himself against Anna, at which she
+gave a shriek of horror and sprang out of the room, down the steps
+and into the courtyard, without ever once venturing to look behind
+her. And many think that this cat was Sidonia's evil spirit Chim.
+But Anna Apenborg saw afterwards a pair of terrible fiery eyes
+glaring at her from Sidonia's window; so others said, that must
+have been Chim. But we shall hear more of this same cat presently.
+
+_Summa_.--Sidonia knew well enough what made the girl scream,
+but she turned to Dorothea, and said--
+
+"Ah, see how this wickedness has shocked the poor young nun!
+Therefore, dear sister, you must, as sub-prioress, make an end of
+the scandal, and prohibit this false priest from visiting the
+convent; for, indeed, they who permitted him such freedom amongst
+the nuns were more to blame for his sins than he himself."
+
+Poor Dorothea groaned forth in answer--
+
+"Alas, alas! why did I ever accept the sub-prioret? For the couple
+of sacks of flour and the bit of corn which she got more than the
+others, it was not worth while to be plagued to death. It was all
+true about the priest. He must be dismissed. But then she loved
+peace. How could she right such matters? Oh, that some one would
+relieve her of this sub-prioret!"
+
+_Illa_.--"That can be easily done if you will. Suppose you
+ask Anna Apenborg to take it?"
+
+_Haec_.--"No, no; Anna had not sense enough for that; but if
+the dear sister herself would take it, how happy she would feel."
+
+_Illa_.--"She was too sick, probably going to die; who could
+tell?"
+
+_Haec_.--"No, no; she would pray for her. The dear sister
+could not be spared yet. Let her say yes (falling on her neck and
+weeping), only let her say yes."
+
+_Illa_.--"Well, out of love to her she would say yes; and if
+the Lord raised her up from this sick bed, order and decorum
+should reign again in the convent."
+
+_Haec_ (again embracing her with gratitude).--"No doubt they
+would. She knew well that no such pure-minded nun was in the
+convent as her dear sister Sidonia."
+
+_Illa_.--"But, good Dorothea, in order to get rid of the
+priest as soon as possible, we had better send the porter
+immediately to summon the abbess and the entire sisterhood here,
+for you to tender your resignation in their presence."
+
+_Haec_.--"But sister Sidonia must promise not to complain of
+the priest or the abbess to the Prince."
+
+_Illa_.--"No, no; I can settle the matter quietly, without
+laying a complaint before the Prince."
+
+_Haec_.--"All right, then. Everything, if possible, in peace."
+
+Hereupon Sidonia despatched the porter to the abbess with a
+request that she and the whole convent would assemble in
+half-an-hour at the refectory, as she had somewhat to communicate.
+Meanwhile she instructed Dorothea in what she was to say, so as
+not to disgrace the poor abbess before the whole convent.
+
+At the end of the half-hour, the abbess and the entire sisterhood
+appeared, but all with anger and mistrust depicted on their
+countenances. Sidonia then spake--
+
+"Since ye and your priest refused to pray for me, I have prayed
+for myself, and the Lord hath heard me in my weakness, and made me
+strong enough to listen to the request of this good sister,
+Dorothea, and promise to fulfil it. Speak, sister Dorothea, what
+was your prayer?"
+
+So Dorothea advanced, weeping and wringing her hands--
+
+"Ah, God! she could no longer be sub-prioress. She loved peace too
+much. But there were bad doings in the convent--she would say no
+more--only they must end. Therefore she had earnestly prayed her
+dear sister Sidonia to relieve her from the duties of office, and
+become sub-prioress in her stead."
+
+Here she loosed the veil, which differed from the others, by
+having a key embroidered in gold thereon--the abbess had two keys
+on her veil--and bound it on Sidonia, who had by this time risen
+from bed, taking Sidonia's veil for herself. Then leading the
+fatal sorceress forward, she said--
+
+"Good mother and dear sisters--behold your sub-prioress!"
+
+Thereupon the abbess and the whole convent remained quite mute, so
+great was their horror.
+
+Then Sidonia asked--
+
+"Have they aught to say against it? If so, let them speak."
+
+But they all remained silent and trembling, till at last the
+abbess murmured--
+
+"Is this done with your free-will, Dorothea?"
+
+"Ah, yes, yes, truly," she answered. "I told you before with what
+earnest prayers I besought the dear sister to release me. God be
+thanked she has consented at last. Who can keep order and decorum
+so well throughout the convent?"
+
+Then the abbess spoke again--
+
+"Sister Sidonia, I have no opposition to make, as you know full
+well. So, if the Prince, and the sheriff, our worthy
+superintendent, consent, you shall be sub-prioress. Yet first you
+must render an account of your strange doings this past night, for
+things were seen and heard in your chamber which could not have
+been accomplished without the help of the great enemy himself."
+
+Hereat Sidonia laughed as if she would die. She would tell them
+the whole trick. They all knew what a trouble to the convent was
+this Anna Apenborg from her curiosity--not once or twice, but ten
+times a day, running in and out with her chat and gossip. She had
+tried all means to prevent her, but in vain. Even in the middle of
+her prayers, the said Anna would come in to tell her what one
+sister was cooking, and another getting, or some follies even
+quite unfit for chaste ears. And that last night being very sick,
+she sent for the priest, upon which she heard Anna calling out
+from the window to the porter, "Will he come? will he come?"
+_Item_, she had then crept down to listen at the door. So
+after the priest went, notwithstanding all her weakness, she
+(Sidonia) determined to give her a good fright, and thus prevent
+her from spying and listening any more. Then she called Wolde, and
+bid her dance, while she muttered some words out of the
+cookery-book. But here Anna called out, "It is not true; there
+were _three_ danced. Where is the carl with the deep bass
+voice? Who could this be at that midnight hour, but the devil
+bodily himself?"
+
+At this, Sidonia laughed louder than before. It was her cat--her
+own cat, who was springing about the room, because for divers
+reasons she had put little red hose on him. On this she stoops
+under the bed, seizes my cat by the leg, who howls (that was the
+deep bass voice), and flings him into the middle of the room,
+where all the nuns, when they beheld his strange jumps and springs
+in the little hose, burst out into loud laughter, in which the
+abbess herself could not refrain from joining. So as there was no
+evidence against Sidonia, and Anna Apenborg was truly held of all
+as a most troublesome chatterbox and spy, the inquiry ended. And
+with somewhat more friendliness, putting the best face on a bad
+matter, they accepted Sidonia for their sub-prioress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+_How Sidonia wounds Ambrosia von Guntersberg with an axe,
+because she purposed to marry--And prays the convent porter,
+Matthias Winterfeld, to death--For these, and other causes, the
+reverend chaplain refuses to shrive the sorceress, and denounces
+her publicly from the altar_.
+
+
+Sidonia's first act, as may easily be imagined, was to dismiss the
+priest; and for this purpose she wrote him a letter, saying that
+he must never more presume to set foot within the cloister, for if
+old ice-grey mothers were not safe from him, how could she and the
+other maidens hope to escape? If he disobeyed her orders, she
+would summon him before the princely consistorium, where strange
+things might be told of him.
+
+So the reverend David consented right willingly, and never saw the
+nuns except on Sundays in the chapel, but Sidonia herself never
+appeared in the nuns' choir. She gave Dorothea many excellent and
+convincing reasons for her absence. (But in my opinion, it was
+caused by hate and abhorrence of the sacrament and the holy Word
+of God; for such are a torment and a torture to the children of
+the devil, even as the works of the devil are an abomination to
+the children of God.)
+
+When, however, the report came, that the reverend David was indeed
+betrothed to Barbara Bamberg, Sidonia presented herself once in
+the choir, kneeled down, and was heard to murmur, "Wed if thou
+wilt, that I cannot hinder; but a child thou shalt never hold at
+the font!" And truly was the evil curse fulfilled.
+
+Meanwhile the fear and the dread of her increased daily in the
+convent, for besides old Wolde, two other horrible hags were
+observed frequently going in and out of her apartments--true
+children of Satan, as one might see by their red, glowing eyes.
+With these she practised many horrible sorceries, sometimes
+quarrelled with them, however, and beat them out with the
+broom-stick; but they always came back again, and were as well
+received as ever.
+
+Then she had strifes and disputes with every one who approached
+her, and was notorious through all the courts of justice for her
+wrangling and fighting, in particular with her brother's son, Otto
+of Stramehl, for she sued him for an _alimentum_ pension, and
+also demanded that the rents of her two farm-houses in Zachow
+should be paid her, according to the sum to which they must have
+accumulated during the last fifty years. But he answered, she
+should have no money; why did she not live at her farm-houses? He
+knew nothing of the rents, the whole matter was past and
+forgotten, and she had no claim now on him, and so every month she
+wrangled in the courts about this business. _Item_, she
+fought with Preslar of Buslar, because, being a feudal vassal of
+the Borks', she required him to kiss her hand, which he refused;
+then her dog having strayed into his house, she accused him of
+having stolen it. _Item_, she fought with the maid who acted
+as cook in the convent kitchen, and said she never got a morsel
+fit to eat. And the said maid (I forget her name now) having
+salted the fish too much one day, she ran after her with a
+broom-stick--once, indeed, beat her so severely, that she was lame
+her life long after.
+
+But worse than the fish-salting was the white kerchief which the
+maid wore. For people, she said, might take her at a distance to
+be one of the honourable convent ladies, therefore she must wear a
+coloured one. This the maid would not do, so she was soon brought
+to an untimely end also, along with all others who displeased her.
+
+These things, and many more, came out upon her trial, but for
+divers reasons I must pass them over. All her notes, messages, and
+letters, she entrusted to the porter, Matthias Winterfeld, who was
+often sent, may be five times a week, by her to Stargard. But he
+dared not remonstrate, or she would have struck him with the
+broom-stick.
+
+However, all this is nothing in comparison with the way she
+treated the unfortunate nuns. The younger and prettier they were,
+so much the more she boxed, beat, and martyred them, even striking
+them with the broom-stick. And if they ever smiled or seemed happy
+talking to one another, she abused and reviled them, calling them
+idle wantons, who thought of nothing but matrimony. None were
+permitted outside the convent gates, not even to visit their
+parents: they should not be flying back with their crumbs of
+gossip about brides and weddings, forsooth, and such-like improper
+thoughts. Neither should they go to the annual fair. She would go
+herself and buy everything for them she thought needful, only let
+them give her the gold.
+
+And out of deadly fear the poor maidens bore this tyranny long
+while silently; even the abbess feared to complain, so that
+Sidonia soon usurped the entire government of the convent.
+
+But the powder-mill broke out at last into vivid flames, as I
+shall narrate here. It was on this wise:--Amongst the novices was
+one beautiful young maiden, Ambrosia von Guntersberg by name. She
+was fifth daughter of old Ambrosius of Falkenwald, a little town
+near Jacobshagen. One day a young nobleman called Ewald von
+Mellenthin beheld her in her cloister habit. Think you he forgot
+her? No, he can never forget the maiden! One, two weeks pass over,
+but she has sunk deeper and deeper into his heart; at last he rose
+up and went to Falkenwald to her father, Ambrosius, asking her
+hand in honourable marriage.
+
+Now, the old man was well pleased, for he was poor, and had five
+daughters; so he bid the young noble write a letter to his
+daughter Ambrosia, which he would inclose in one from himself to
+her. But no answer arrived from the maiden (we may guess why, for
+Sidonia opened and read all the letters that came to the convent,
+before they were handed to their owners. Those that displeased her
+she burned; no doubt, therefore, the love-letter was the first in
+the flames). But the young noble grew impatient for an answer, and
+resolved to ride to Marienfliess. So he ties his good horse to a
+cross in the churchyard, walks straight up to the convent, and
+rings the bell. Immediately the old porter, Matthias, opened to
+him, with his hands covered with blood (for he was killing a fat
+ox for the nuns, close by); whereupon the noble lord prayed to
+speak a few words to the young novice Ambrosia von Guntersberg, at
+the grating; and in a little time the beautiful maiden appeared,
+tripping along the convent court (but Sidonia is before her).
+Ambrosia advanced modestly to the grating, and asked the handsome
+knight, "What was his pleasure?" who answered, "Since I beheld you
+in Guntersberg, dearest lady, my heart has been wholly yours; and
+when I saw how diligently and cheerfully you ruled your father's
+house during his sickness, I resolved to take you for my wife, if
+such were possible; for I need a good and prudent spouse at my
+castle of Lienke, and methinks no better or more beautiful could
+be found than yourself. Therefore I obtained your father's
+permission to open the matter to you in writing, and he inclosed
+my letter in one of his own; but you have neither answered one nor
+the other. Whereupon, in my impatience, I saddled my good horse,
+and rode over here to have an answer at once from your own
+beautiful lips."
+
+When Sidonia heard this, she grew black in the face with
+rage--"What! in her presence, before her very face, to dare to
+hold such language to a young maiden--a mere child--who knew
+nothing at all of what marriage meant. He must pack off this
+instant, or the devil himself should turn him out of the
+cloister."
+
+Meanwhile the young maiden took heart (for the handsome knight
+pleased her), and said, "Gracious Lady Prioress (Sidonia made them
+all call her Gracious Lady, as if she were a born princess), I am
+no more a child, as you say, and I know very well what marriage
+means."
+
+This boldness made the other so wroth that she screamed--"Wait! I
+will teach you what marriage is;" and she sprang on her to box
+her. But Ambrosia rushed through the side-door out into the court,
+Sidonia following; however, not being able to reach her, she
+seized up the axe with which the porter had been killing the ox,
+and flung it after her, wounding the poor maiden so in the foot
+that the red blood poured down over her white stockings, while the
+young lover, who could not break the grating, screamed and stamped
+for rage and despair. By the good mercy of God the wound was only
+slight, still the fair novice fell to the ground; but seeing
+Sidonia rushing at her again with the large butcher's knife which
+the porter had been using, she sprang up and ran to the grating,
+crying out to the noble, "Save me! save me!"
+
+And at her screams all the nuns threw up their windows, right and
+left, over the courtyard; but finding the young knight could not
+help her, she ran to the old porter, still screaming, "Save me!
+save me! she is going to murder me!"
+
+Now the fellow was glad enough to be revenged on Sidonia, for she
+had sent him running to Stargard for her late the night before,
+and the moment the ox was to be quartered, he was to be off there
+again at her command; so he rushed at the vile witch, and seizing
+her up like a bundle of old rags, pitched her against the wall
+with all his force, adding a right hearty curse; and there she lay
+quaking like an old cat, while the handsome young noble laughed
+loud from the grating.
+
+But she was up again soon, shook her dry, withered fist at the
+porter, and cried, "Ha! thou insolent churl, I will pray thee to
+death for this!"
+
+Whereupon she went off to her room, and locked herself up there,
+while the fair Ambrosia ran to the grating, and stretching out her
+little hands through the bars, exclaimed, "I am yours, dear
+knight; oh, take me away from this horrible hell!"
+
+This rejoiced my young noble heartily, and he kissed the little
+hands and lamented over her foot--"And was it much hurt? She must
+lift it up, and show him if the wound was deep."
+
+So she raised up the dainty foot a little bit, and then saw that
+her whole shoe was full of blood; but the old porter, who came by
+just then, comforted the handsome youth, and told him he would
+stop the blood directly, for the wound was but a trifle. Whereupon
+he laid a couple of straws over it, murmured some words, and
+behold, in a moment, the blood is staunched! Then the fair novice
+thanked him courteously, and prayed him to unlock the wicket, for
+she would go and stay a couple of hours with the miller's wife,
+while this young noble, to whom she had plighted love and troth,
+returned to her father's for a carriage to bring her home. After
+what had passed now, never more would she enter the cloister.
+
+But what happened? Scarcely had the good old porter unfastened the
+grating, and the young knight taken the fair girl in his arms,
+kissing her and pressing her to his heart (well Sidonia did not
+see him), when Matthias screamed out, "My God, what ails me?" and
+fell flat on the ground. At this the young knight left his bride,
+and flew to raise him up. "What could ail him?" But the poor old
+man can hardly speak, his eyes are turned in his head, and he
+gasped, "It was as if a man were sitting inside his breast, and
+crushing him to death. Oh, he could not breathe--his ribs were
+breaking!"
+
+The alarmed young noble then helped the poor creature to reach his
+room, which lay close by the wicket; and having laid him on the
+bed in care of his wife, and recommended him to the mercy of God,
+he returned to his own fair bride, to carry her off from this
+murder-hole, and place her in safety with the miller's wife. I may
+as well mention here that he and the beautiful Ambrosia were
+wedded in due time, and lived long in peace and happiness, blessed
+with many lovely children; for all the evil which Sidonia tried to
+bring upon them, as we shall hear, came to nought, through the
+mercy of the great God.
+
+But to return to the porter-on the third day he died; and during
+that time, day and night, Sidonia prayed, and was never seen but
+once. This was at the dividing of the salmon, when she threw up
+her window, and shaking her withered clenched hand at them, and
+her long white locks, threatened the nuns on their peril to touch
+the tail-piece-the tail-piece was hers.
+
+A general horror pervaded the convent now, in truth, when the
+death of the porter was known. Anna Apenborg shut herself up,
+trembling, in her cell, and even good Dorothea began somewhat to
+doubt the virtues of the vile sorceress; for the corpse had a
+strange and unnatural appearance, so that it was horrible to look
+upon, by which signs it was easy to perceive that he had been
+prayed to death, as the fearful night-hag had threatened.
+
+I must notify these symptoms, for the corpses of many of Sidonia's
+victims presented the same appearances; as the corpse of the
+reverend David--_item_, Joachim Wedeln of
+Cremzow--_item/_, Doctor Schwalenberg of Stargard, and Duke
+Philip II., and lastly, the abbess, Magdalena von Petersdorf.
+Whether her brother's son, Otto of Stramehl, whom she was
+suspected also of having prayed to death, presented the like, I
+cannot say with certainty. At this same time also his princely
+Grace Duke Bogislaff XIII. expired, many say bewitched to death;
+but of this I have no proof, as the body had quite a natural
+aspect after death. Still he had just arranged to journey to
+Marienfliess himself, and turn out Sidonia, in consequence of the
+accusations of Sheriff Sparling and the convent chaplain, so that
+his sudden death looks suspicious; however, as the _medicus_,
+Dr. Nicolaus Schulz, pronounced, "Quod ex ramis venae portae Epatis
+et lienis exporrectis, iste adustus sanguis eo prosiliiset" (for
+he died by throwing up a black matter like his brothers); and
+further, as the manikin on the three-legged hare did not appear
+this time at the castle, I shall not lay the murder on Sidonia, to
+increase her terrible burden at the last day, though I have my own
+thoughts upon the matter.
+
+_Summa._-My gracious Prince died _suddenly_. Alas, woe!
+exactly like all his brothers; he was just sixty-one years old,
+seven months, and fifteen days, and a more God-fearing prince
+never sat on a throne. But my grief over the fate of this great
+Pomeranian house has carried me away from the corpse of the old
+porter. The appearances were these:--
+
+1. The face brown, green, and yellow, particularly about the
+_musculi frontales et temporales._
+
+2. The _musculi pectorales_ so swelled, and the _cartilago
+ensiformis_ so singularly raised, that the chest of the corpse
+touched the mouth.
+
+3. From the _patella_ of the left leg to the _malleolus
+externus_ of the foot, all brown, green, and yellow, blended
+together.
+
+And on examination of the said corpse, Dr. Kukuck of Stargard
+affirmed and was ready to swear, that no one tittle of the
+signature of Satan was wanting thereupon.
+
+_Summa_.--The poor carl was buried with great mourning on the
+following Friday; and the reverend David preached a sermon
+thereupon, in which he plainly spoke of his strange and unnatural
+death, so that every one knew well whom he suspected. My hag heard
+of this instantly, and therefore determined to attend the
+sacrament on the following Sunday; for this end she despatched
+Wolde to the priest, bidding her tell him she had a great desire
+to attend the holy rite, and would go to confession that day after
+noon. At this horrid blasphemy a cold shudder fell upon the priest
+(and I trust every Christian man will feel the like as he reads
+this), for he now saw through her motive clearly, how she wanted
+to blind the eyes of the people as to the death of the porter, by
+this mockery of the holiest rites of religion. Besides, amongst
+the horrible abominations practised by witches, it is well known
+that having received the sacred bread, they privately take the
+same again from their mouth and feed their familiar therewith. And
+one day when the convent was quite still, Anna Apenborg, having
+crept down to peep through the key-hole of the refectory door, saw
+enough to confirm this general belief.
+
+No wonder then if the good priest stood long silent from horror;
+then he spake--"Tell the prioress it is well;" but when Wolde was
+gone, he threw himself upon his knees in his closet before God,
+and wrestled long in prayer, with tears and wringing of hands,
+that He would open to him what was his path of duty.
+
+About noon he became more composed, through the great mercy of the
+Lord; and bid his wife, Barbara, come to him, with whom he had
+lived now a year and a half in perfect joy, though without
+children. To her he disclosed the proposition of the horrible
+sorceress, and afterwards spake thus:--
+
+"And because, dear Barbara, after earnest prayer to God, I have
+come to the resolution neither to shrive nor to give the Lord's
+body to this daughter accursed of hell, do not be surprised if a
+like death awaits me as happened to the porter, Matthias. When I
+die, therefore, dear wife, take thee another spouse and bear
+children. 'For the woman,' says the Scripture, 'shall be blessed
+through childbearing, so as she continues in faith, and love, and
+in holiness with sobriety' (I Tim. ii.). Thus thou wilt soon
+forget me."
+
+But the poor wife wept, and besought him to turn from his resolve,
+and not incur the vengeance of Sidonia. So he answered, "Weep not,
+or our parting will be more bitter; this poor flesh and blood is
+weak enough, still never will I blaspheme the holy rite of our
+Church, and 'cast pearls before swine' (Matt. vii.). And wherefore
+weep? At the last day they would meet again, to smile for ever in
+an eternity of joy. But could he hope for this if he were an
+unfaithful steward of the mysteries of God? No; but it was
+written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is thy
+sting? Hell, where is thy victory? God be thanked who giveth us
+the victory through Christ our Lord' (I Cor. xv.). In God
+therefore he trusted, and in His strength would go now to the
+confessional."
+
+She must let him go; the sexton would soon ring the bell, and he
+wished to pray some time alone in the church. Her tears had again
+disturbed his spirit, and made him weak. But he would use the holy
+keys of his office, which his Saviour had entrusted to him, to His
+glory alone, even if this accursed sorceress were to bring him to
+the grave for it. If the Lord will, He could protect him, but he
+would still do his duty. Will she not let him go now, that he may
+pray?
+
+And when she unwound her arms, he took her again in his, kissed
+her, sobbed, and wept; then tearing himself away, went out into
+the church by the garden entrance.
+
+Then the poor wife flung herself on a seat, weeping and praying,
+but in a little while in came Dorothea Stettin, saying, "That she
+was going to confession, and had no small silver for the
+offertory. Could she give her change of a dollar?"
+
+Then she asked about the other's grief; and having heard the
+cause, promised to go to the priest herself, and beseech him not
+to break the staff "Woe" over Sidonia. She went therefore
+instantly to the church, and found him on his knees praying behind
+the altar. Whereupon she entreated him, after her fashion, not to
+break the blessed peace--peace above all things.
+
+Meanwhile the sexton rung the bell, and Sidonia entered, sweeping
+the nave of the church to the altar, followed by seven or eight
+nuns. But when she beheld Dorothea come out at one side, and the
+priest at the other, and that not another soul had been in the
+church, she laughed aloud mockingly, and clapped her hands--"Ha!
+the pious priest, would he tell them now what he and Dorothea were
+doing behind the altar? The sisters were all witnesses how this
+shameless parson conducted himself." Though she spoke this quite
+loud for every one to hear, yet not one of the nuns made answer,
+but stood trembling like doves who see the falcon ready to pounce
+upon them. Yea, even as Dorothea came down the altar steps to take
+her place in the choir, my hag laughed loud again like Satan, and
+cried, "Ah! the chaste virgin! who meetest the priest behind the
+altar! Thou shameless wanton, the prioress shall teach thee fitter
+behaviour soon!"
+
+Poor Dorothea turned quite pale with fright, and began--"Ah! dear
+sister, only listen!"
+
+But the dragon snapped at her, with--"Dear sister, forsooth!
+What!--was she to bear this insolence? Let her know that the
+gracious Lady Prioress was not to be talked to as 'dear sister '!"
+
+Here the organ struck up the confession hymn; and the whole
+congregation being assembled in the church, Sidonia and the seven
+nuns ascended the steps of the altar, bowed to the priest, and
+then took their seats, whereupon the organ ceased playing.
+
+After a brief silence, the poor minister sighed heavily, and then
+spake--"Sidonia, after all that has been stated concerning you,
+particularly with regard to the death of the convent porter within
+these last few days, I cannot, as a faithful servant of God, give
+you either absolution or the holy rite of the Lord's Supper, until
+you clear yourself from such imputations before a princely
+consistorium."
+
+At this my hag laughed loud from the altar, crying, "Eh?--that was
+a strange story. What had she done to the convent porter?"
+
+_Ille_.--"Prayed him to death, as every one believed, and his
+appearance proved."
+
+_Haec_ (still laughing).--"He must have lost his senses. Let
+him go home and bind asses' milk upon his temples; he would soon
+be better."
+
+_Ille_.--"She should remember where and what she spoke. Had
+she not herself said, she would pray the porter to death?"
+
+_Haec_ (laughing yet louder).--"Oh! in truth, his little bit
+of mother-wit was quite gone. When and where had it been ever
+heard that one person could pray another to death? Then they might
+pray them to life again. Shall she try it with the porter?"
+
+_Ille_.--"Why then had she threatened it?"
+
+_Haec_ (still laughing).--"Ah! poor man! she saw now he was
+quite foolish. Why had she threatened? Why, in anger, of course,
+because the vile churl had flung her against the wall. Had he
+never heard the poor people say to each other, 'May the devil take
+you;' but if one happened to die soon after, did people really
+think the devil had taken him? Why, he was as superstitious as an
+old spinning-wife."
+
+_Ille_.--"She had heard his resolve. This was no place to
+argue with her; therefore she might go her ways, for he would
+verily not give her absolution."
+
+So Sidonia rose up raging from the confessional, clenched her
+hand, and screamed out in the still church, so that all the people
+shuddered with horror--"Ye are all my witnesses that this
+worthless priest has denied me absolution, because, forsooth, he
+says I killed the convent porter. Ha! ha! ha! Where is it said in
+your Scriptures that one man can pray another to death? But the
+licentiousness of the vile priest has turned his brain, and he
+wallows in all most senseless superstitions. Did he not run after
+my old hag of a servant, as I myself saw; and this was not enough,
+but he must take Dorothea Stettin (the hypocritical wanton) behind
+the altar alone; and because I and these seven maidens discovered
+his iniquity, he refuses me the rites, and must have me before a
+princely consistorium to revenge himself. But wait, priest, I will
+drag the sheep's clothing from thee. Wait, thou shalt yet repent
+this bitterly!"
+
+After the horrible sorceress had so blasphemed, she departed as
+quickly as possible from the church, muttering to herself. The
+congregation remained silent from fear and terror; and the poor
+priest, who seemed more dead than alive, prayed the sexton to
+fetch him a cup of water, which he drank; and then being in some
+degree recovered, he stepped forth, and addressed the congregation
+thus:--
+
+"Dear brethren and friends, after what ye have just heard, ye will
+not wonder if I am unable to receive confessions this day, or to
+administer the holy communion. Ye all know Dorothea Stettin,
+neither is my character unknown to you; therefore remember the
+words of St. Peter, 'The devil goeth about as a roaring lion,
+seeking whom he may devour.' But we will resist him, steadfast in
+the faith. Meet me, then, tomorrow here at the altar, and ye shall
+hear my justification. After which, I will shrive those who desire
+to be partakers of the holy sacrament."
+
+And on the following morning, the holy minister of God preached
+from Matthew v. 11--"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and
+persecute you, and say all manner of evil falsely against you, for
+My sake; be glad and comforted, for ye shall be well recompensed
+in heaven." And in this powerful sermon he drew a picture of
+Sidonia from her youth up; so that many trembled for him when they
+remembered her power, though they glorified God for the mighty
+zeal and courage that burned in his words. But when Sidonia heard
+of this sermon, she became almost frantic from rage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+_Dorothea Stettin falls sick, and how the doctor manages to
+bleed her--Item, how Sidonia chases the princely commissioners
+into the oak-forest._
+
+
+Such a public humiliation the good virgin Dorothea Stettin found
+it impossible to bear. She fell sick, and repented with bitter
+tears of the trust and confidence she had reposed in Sidonia;
+finally, the abbess sent off a message to Stargard for the
+_medicus_, Dr. Schwalenberg.
+
+This doctor was an excellent little man, rather past middle age
+though still unmarried, upright and honest, but rough as
+bean-straw. When he stood by Dorothea's bed and had heard all
+particulars of her illness, he bid her put out her hand, that he
+might feel her pulse. "No, no;" she answered, "that could she
+never do; never in her life had a male creature felt her pulse."
+At this my doctor laughed right merrily, and all the nuns who
+stood round, and Sidonia's old maid, Wolde, laughed likewise; but
+at last he persuaded Dorothea to stretch out her hand.
+
+"I must bleed her," said the doctor. "This is _febris
+putrida_; therefore was her thirst so great: she must strip her
+arm till he bleed her." But no one can persuade her to this--strip
+her arm! no, never could she do it; she would die first: if the
+doctor could do nothing else, he may go his ways.
+
+Now the doctor grew angry. Such a cursed fool of a woman he had
+never come across in his life; if she did not strip her arm
+instantly, he would do it by force. But Dorothea is inflexible;
+say what he would, she would strip her arm for no man!
+
+Even the abbess and the sisterhood tried to persuade her.
+
+"Would she not do it for her health's sake; or, at least, for the
+sake of peace?"
+
+They were all here standing round her, but all in vain. At last
+the doctor, half-laughing, half-cursing, said--
+
+"He would bleed her in the foot. Would that do?"
+
+"Yes, she would consent to that; but the doctor must leave the
+room while she was getting ready."
+
+So my doctor went out, but on entering again found her sitting on
+the bed, dressed in her full convent robes, her head upon Anna
+Apenborg's shoulder, and her foot upon a stool. As the foot,
+however, was covered with a stocking, the doctor began to scold.
+
+"What was the stocking for? Let him take off the stocking. Was she
+making a fool of him? He advised her not to try it."
+
+"No," Dorothea answered, "never would she strip her foot for him.
+Die she would if die she must, but that she could never do! If he
+could not bleed her through the stocking, he may go his ways."
+
+_Summa_.--As neither prayers nor threatening were of any
+avail, the doctor, in truth, had to bleed her through the
+stocking; and scarcely had he finished, when Sidonia sent, saying.
+
+"That she, too, was ill, and wished to be bled."
+
+And there lay my hag alone, in bed, as the doctor entered. She was
+right friendly.
+
+"And was it indeed true, that absurd fool Dorothea did not choose
+to be bled? Now he saw himself what a set of simpletons she had to
+deal with in the convent. No wonder that they all blackened her
+and belied her. She was sick from very disgust at such malice and
+absurdity. Ah, she regretted now not having married when she had
+the opportunity; it would have been better, and she had many
+offers. But she always feared she was too poor. However, her
+fortune was now excellent, for her sister had died without
+children, and left her everything--a very large inheritance, as
+she heard. But the dear doctor must taste her beer; she had tapped
+some of the best, and there was a fresh can of it on the table."
+
+But my doctor was too cunning not to see what she was driving at;
+besides, he had heard of her beer-brewing, so he answered--
+
+"He never drank beer; but what ailed her?"
+
+"Ah, she didn't know herself, but she had a trembling in all her
+limbs. Would he not take a glass of mead, or even water? Her old
+servant should bring it to him."
+
+"No. Let her just put out her hand for him to feel her pulse."
+
+Instantly she stretched forth, not her hand alone, but her whole
+naked, dry, and yellow arm from the bed. Whereupon the doctor
+spoke--
+
+"Eh? What should I bleed you for? The pulse is all right. In fact,
+old people never should be bled without serious cause; for at
+seventy or so, mind ye, every drop is worth a groschen."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Sidonia, starting up; "what the devil, do ye
+think I am seventy? Why, I am hardly fifty yet."
+
+"Seventy or fifty," answered the doctor, "it is all much the same
+with you women-folk."
+
+"To the devil with you, rude churl!" screamed Sidonia. "If you
+will not bleed me, I'll find another who will. Seventy indeed! So
+rude a knave is not in the land!"
+
+But my doctor goes away laughing; and as the ducal commissioners
+had arrived to try Sidonia's case, with the convent chaplain, he
+went down to meet them at Sheriff Sparling's, and these were the
+commissioners:--
+
+1. Christian Ludeck, state prosecutor; a brother of the priest's.
+
+2. Johann Wedel of Cremzow.
+
+3. Eggert Sparling, sheriff of Marienfliess.
+
+4. Jobst Bork, governor of Saatzig.
+
+This Jobst was son to that upright Marcus whose wife, Clara von
+Dewitz, Sidonia had so miserably destroyed. For his good father's
+sake, long since dead, their Graces of Stettin had continued him
+in the government of Saatzig, for he walked in his father's steps,
+only he was slow of speech; but he had a lovely daughter, yet more
+praiseworthy than her grandmother, Clara of blessed memory, of
+whom we shall hear more anon.
+
+_Summa_.--The doctor found all the commissioners assembled in
+the sheriff's parlour. _Item_, Anna Apenborg and the abbess
+as witnesses, who deposed to all the circumstances which I have
+heretofore related; also, the abbess set forth the prayer of the
+sick Dorothea Stettin, that she might be restored to the
+sub-prioret out of which the false Sidonia had wickedly talked
+her, and now for thanks gave her insolent contempt and mocking
+sneers.
+
+Anna Apenborg further deposed, that, looking through the key-hole
+of the refectory door one day, she spied the wicked witch boring a
+hole in the wall; in this she placed a tun-dish, and immediately
+after, a rich stream of cow's milk flowed down into a basin which
+Sidonia held beneath, and that same day the best cow in the
+convent stopped giving milk, and had never given one drop since.
+And because the dairymaid, Trina Pantels, said openly this was
+witchcraft, and accused Sidonia and the old hag Wolde of being
+evil witches--for she was not a girl to hold her tongue, not
+she--her knee swelled up to the size of a man's head, and day and
+night she screamed for agony, until another old witch that visited
+Sidonia, Lena of Uchtenhagen, for six pounds of wool, gave her a
+plaster of honey and meal to put on the knee, and what should be
+drawn out of the swelling, but quantities of pins and needles; and
+how could this have been, but by Sidonia's witchcraft? [Footnote:
+However improbable such accusations may seem, numbers of the like,
+some even still more extraordinary, may be found in the witch
+trials of that age, by any one who takes the trouble of referring
+to them.]
+
+Many witnesses could prove this fact; for Tewes Barth, Dinnies
+Koch, and old Fritz were by, when the plaster was taken off.
+
+Then Sheriff Sparling deposed, that having smothered his bees
+lately, he sent a pot of pure honey to each of the nuns, as was
+his custom; but Sidonia scolded, and said her pot was not large
+enough, and abused him in a cruel manner about his stinginess in
+not sending her more. So, some days after, as he was riding
+quietly home to his house, across the convent court, suddenly the
+whole ground before him became covered with the shadows of
+bee-hives, and little shadows like bees went in and out, and
+wheeled about just as real bees do. Whereupon, he looked in every
+direction for the hives, for no shadows can be without a body, but
+not a hive nor a bee was in the whole place round; but he heard a
+peal of mocking laughter, and, on looking up, there was the wicked
+witch looking out at him from a window, and she called out--
+
+"Ho! sir sheriff, when you smother bees again, send me more honey.
+A couple of pounds of the best--good weight!"
+
+And this he did to have peace for the future.
+
+Now the commissioners noted all this down diligently; but the
+state prosecutor shook his head, and asked the abbess--
+
+"Wherefore she had not long ago brought this vile witch before the
+princely court?"
+
+To which she answered, sighing--.
+
+"What would that help? She had already tasted the vengeance of the
+wicked sorceress, and feared to taste it again. Well, night and
+day had she cried to God to free the convent from this she-devil,
+and often resolved to unfold the whole Satan's work to his
+Highness, though her own life would be perilled surely by so
+doing. But she was ready, as a faithful mother of the convent, to
+lay it down for her children, if, indeed, that could save them.
+But how would her death help these poor young virgins? For
+assuredly the moment Sidonia had brought her to a cruel end, she
+would make herself abbess by force, and this was such a dread to
+the sorrowing virgins, that they themselves entreated her to keep
+silence and be patient, waiting for the mercy of God to help them.
+For truly the power of this accursed sorceress was as great as her
+wickedness."
+
+Here answered Dr Schwalenberg--
+
+"This power can soon be broken; he knew many receipts out of
+Albertus Magnus, Raimundus Lallus, Theophrastus, Paracelsus, &c.,
+against sorcery and evil witches."
+
+This was a glad hearing to the state prosecutor, and he answered
+with a joyful mien and voice--
+
+"Marry, doctor, if you know how to get hold of this evil hag, do
+it at once; we shall then bind her arms, so that she can make no
+signs to hurt us, and clap a pitch-plaster on her mouth, to stop
+the said mouth from calling the devil to her help; after which, I
+can easily bring her with me to Stettin, and answer for all
+proceedings to his Grace. Probably she is a-bed still; go back,
+and pretend that, upon reflection, you think it will be better to
+bleed her. Then, when you have hold of her arm, call in the
+fellows, whom the sheriff will, I am sure, allow to accompany
+you."
+
+"Yes, yes," cried the sheriff, "take twenty of my men with you, my
+good doctor, if you will."
+
+"Well, then," resumed the state prosecutor, "let them rush in,
+bind the dragon, clap the pitch-plaster on her mouth, and she is
+ours in spite of all the devils."
+
+"Right, all right," cried the doctor; "never fear but I'll pay her
+for her matrimonial designs upon me."
+
+And he began to prepare the plaster with some pitch he got from a
+cobbler, when suddenly the state prosecutor screamed out--
+
+"Merciful God! see there! Look at the shadow of a toad creeping
+over my paper, whereon I move my hand!"
+
+He springs up--wipes, wipes, wipes, but in vain; the unclean
+shadow is there still, and crawls over the paper, though never a
+toad is to be seen.
+
+What a commotion of horror this Satan's work caused amongst the
+bystanders, can be easily imagined. All stood up and looked at the
+toad-shadow, when the abbess screamed out, "Merciful God! look
+there! look there! The whole floor is covered with toad-shadows!"
+Hereupon all the women-folk ran screaming from the room, but
+screamed yet louder when they reached the door, and met there
+Sidonia and her cat face to face. Round they all wheeled again,
+rushed to the back-door, out into the yard, over the pond, and
+into the oak-wood, without daring once to look behind them. But
+the men remained, for the doctor said bravely, "Wait now, good
+friends, patience, she can do us no harm;" and he murmured some
+words.
+
+But just as they all made the sign of the cross, and silently put
+up a prayer to God, and gathered up their legs on the benches, so
+that the unclean shadows might not crawl upon their boots, the
+horrible hag appeared at the window, and her cat in his little red
+hose clambered up on the sill, mewing and crying (and I think
+myself that this cat was her spirit Chim, whom she had sent first
+to the sheriff's house to hear what was going on; for how could
+she have known it?).
+
+_Summa_.--She laid one hand upon the window, the better to
+look in, and clenching the other, shook it at them, crying out,
+"Wait, ye accursed peasant boors, I, too, will judge ye for your
+sins!" But seeing her cousin, Jobst Bork, present, she screamed
+yet louder--"Eh! thou thick ploughman, hath the devil brought thee
+here too? Art thou not ashamed to accuse thy own kinswoman? Wait,
+I will give thee something to make thee remember our
+relationship!"
+
+And as she began to murmur some words, and spat out before them
+all, the state prosecutor jumped up and rushed out after the
+women, and Sheriff Sparling rushed out after him, and they never
+stopped or stayed till both reached the oak-wood.
+
+But Jobst said calmly, "Cousin, be reasonable; it is my duty!" My
+doctor, however, wanted to pay her off for the marriage business,
+so he seized a whip with which Sheriff Sparling had been thrashing
+a boor, and hurrying out, cried, "I will make her reasonable! Thou
+old hag of hell! here is the fit marriage for thee!" and so whack,
+whack upon her thin, withered shoulders.
+
+Truly the witch cried out now in earnest, but began to spit at the
+same time, so that the doctor had given but four strokes when the
+whip fell from his hand, and he tottered hither and thither,
+crying, "O Lord! O Lord!" At this the sorceress laughed
+scornfully, and mocking his movements, cried out likewise, "O
+Lord! O Lord!" and when the poor doctor fell down flat upon the
+earth like the old porter and others, she began to dance, chanting
+her infernal psalm:--
+
+   "Also kleien und also kratzen,
+    Meine Hunde und meine Katzen"
+
+And the cat in his little red hose danced beside her. After which,
+she returned laughing to the convent to pray him to death, while
+the poor fellow lay groaning and gasping upon the pavement. None
+were there to help him, for the state prosecutor and Wedeln had
+made off to Stargard as quick as they could go, and Sheriff
+Sparling was still hiding in the bush. However, Jobst and the old
+dairy-woman helped him up as best he could, and asked what ailed
+him? to which he groaned in answer, "There seemed to be some one
+sitting inside his breast, and breaking the _cartilago
+ensiformis_ horribly asunder. Ah, God! ah, God! he was weak
+indeed! his hour was come; let them lay him in a coach, and carry
+him directly to Stargard."
+
+This was done as soon as the sheriff could be found; but my
+doctor's screams never ceased for three days, after which he gave
+up the ghost, and the corpse had the same appearance as that of
+the convent porter, which I have already noticed. Thus it happened
+with the wise!
+
+But Johann Wedeln fared little better, as we shall see; for after
+the doctor's strange death, he said openly everywhere, he would
+never rest till the accursed witch was burned. Anna Apenborg
+repeated this in the convent, and to Sidonia's maid, upon which
+the witch sent for Anna, and asked was the report true? And when
+the other did not deny it, she exclaimed, "Now for this shall the
+knave be contracted all his life long, and twist his mouth
+_thus_." Whereupon she mimicked how his shoulders would be
+drawn up to his ears, and twisted her mouth in horrible
+contortions, so that it was a shame and sin to look at her. And
+truly this misfortune fell upon him from that hour. And afterwards
+when he heard of her wickedness, from Anna Apenborg and others,
+and brought her to an account for her sorcery in Stettin, she made
+him bite the dust and lie in his coffin ere long, out of malice
+and terrible revenge, as we shall hear further on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+_How the assembled Pomeranian princes hold a council over
+Sidonia_ [Footnote: Note of Bogislaff XIV.--I was not present
+at this council, for I was holding my espousals at the time. (The
+Duke married the Princess Elizabeth von Schleswig Holstein in
+1615, but left no heirs.)] _and at length cite her to appear at
+the ducal court._
+
+
+When the state prosecutor, Christian Ludeck, reached Stettin with
+his appalling news, the Duke was seriously troubled in mind as to
+how he could best save the holy sisterhood, and indeed the whole
+land, from the terrible Satanic power and murderous malice of this
+cruel sorceress. So he summoned all the princes of his family to a
+convocation on a certain day, at Old Stettin; but when they
+arrived, his Grace was absent, for he had gone to Coblentz on some
+business, and here was the matter.
+
+His steward, Jeremias Schroter, was an unworthy agent, as his
+Grace heard; and when the time came for the poor people to get
+their oats or corn, he sent round and made them all give their
+receipts first, saying "They should have their corn after;" but
+when they went to bring it home, he beat them, and asked what they
+meant--he had their receipts: they were cheats, and should get no
+more corn from him.
+
+Now, a poor parson's widow came up all the way to Stettin, to
+complain of the steward to his Highness, who was shocked at such
+knavery, and determined to go down himself to Coblentz and make
+inquiries; for the steward swore that the people were liars, and
+had defamed him.
+
+The Duke therefore bid the chancellor, Martin Chemnitz, entertain
+his princely brothers until his return, which would not be before
+evening, and to show them his painting and sculpture galleries,
+and whatever else in the castle might please them. And now to show
+the good heart of his Grace, I must mention that, seeing the poor
+widow was tired with her six miles' walk, he bid her get up beside
+the coachman on the box of his carriage, and he would drive her
+himself to her own place.
+
+Meanwhile the young princes arrived, and the court marshal, the
+chancellor, the aforesaid state prosecutor, and other high
+officials, received them on behalf of his Highness. Doctor Cramer,
+_vice-superintendens_, my esteemed father-in-law, was also
+present--_item_, Doctor Constantius Oesler.
+
+They were first led into the picture-gallery by the chancellor
+(although Duke George cared little about such matters), where
+there was a costly collection of paintings by Perugino, Raphael,
+Titian, Bellini, &c.--_item_, statues, vases, coins, and
+medals, all of which his Grace had brought lately from Italy. Here
+also there was a large book, covered with crimson velvet, lying
+open, in which his Grace the Duke had written down many extracts
+from the sermons of Doctor Cramer and Mag. Reutzio, with marginal
+Latin notes of his own; for the Duke had a table in his oratory or
+closet in St. Mary's Church, that he might write down what pleased
+him, and a Greek and Latin Bible laid thereon. This book was,
+therefore, a right pleasing sight to Doctor Cramer, who stood and
+read his own sermons over again with great relish, while the
+others examined the paintings.
+
+When they grew weary, the chancellor conducted them to the
+library, which contained ten thousand books. But Duke Ulrich said,
+"Marry, dear brothers, what the devil is there to see here? Let us
+rather go down to the stables, and examine my new Danish horses;
+then come up to my quarters (for his Grace lived with his brother,
+Duke Philip), and have a good Pomeranian carouse to pass away the
+time; for as to these fooleries, which have cost our good brother
+such a mint of money, I would not give a dollar for them all."
+
+So they ran down the steps leading to the stables; but first he
+brought them into the hunting-hall, belonging to his quarter,
+which was decorated, and covered all along the walls with
+hunting-horns, rifles, cross-bows, and hunting-knives and pouches,
+with the horns of all sorts of animals killed in the chase.
+Whereupon Duke George said, "He was content to remain here--the
+horses he could see on the morrow."
+
+So he sat down by the wine-flask, which lay there already upon the
+table; and while Duke Ulrich was trying to persuade him to come to
+the stables, saying he could have the wine-flask after, the door
+opened, and his Highness Duke Philip unexpectedly entered the
+apartment.
+
+He embraced all his dear brothers, and then, turning to Duke
+Francis, the bishop, said, "Tell me, dear Fra (so he always called
+him, for his Grace spoke Italian and Latin like German), is there
+any hope of a christening at thy castle? Oh, say yes, and I will
+give thee a duchy for my godchild."
+
+But Bishop Francis answered mournfully, "No!" Then Duke Philip
+turned to another--"How say you, brother--mayhap there is hope of
+an heir to Wolgast?"
+
+"None, alas!" was the answer.
+
+"No, no!" exclaimed the Duke, "and there is no hope for me
+either--none!" Then he walked up and down the hall in great
+agitation, at last stopped, and lifting up his hands to heaven,
+cried, "Merciful God, a child, a child! Is my whole ancient race
+to perish? Wilt Thou slay us, as Thou didst the first-born of
+Egypt? Oh! a child, a child!"
+
+Here Doctor Cramerus advanced humbly, and said, "Your Highness
+should have faith. Remember what St. Paul says (Rom. iv.)
+concerning the faith of Abraham and Sarah; and Abraham was a
+hundred years old, whereas your Highness is scarce forty,
+therefore why despair of the mercy of God? Besides, many of his
+brothers were still unwed."
+
+Hereat his Grace stood silent, and looked round at his dear
+brothers; but Duke George exclaimed, "You need not look at me,
+dear brother, for I mean never to marry" (which, indeed, was the
+truth, for he died some short time after at Buckow, whether
+through Sidonia's witchcraft I know not, at the age of thirty-five
+years, and unmarried. One thing, however, is certain, that his
+death was as strange as the others; for in seven days he was well,
+sick, dead, buried). [Footnote: There was formerly a Cistercian
+monastery at Buckow, in the chapel of which still hangs a picture
+of this Prince. Like most of his race, the face is in the highest
+degree unmeaning; indeed, nothing more can be said of him than
+that he was born and died.]
+
+_Summa_.--His Highness first excused himself to his
+illustrious brothers for his absence, and related the cause, how
+his knave of a steward had been oppressing the poor, whereupon he
+determined to go himself and avenge their injuries; for a prince
+should be the father of his people, and it was a blessed work, the
+Scripture said, to visit the fatherless and widows in their
+affliction (James i. 27). So he hid himself in a little closet,
+where he could hear everything in the widow's house, and then bid
+her send for the steward; and when he came, the widow asked for
+her corn, as usual, but he said, "She must give him the receipt
+first, and then she might have it;" upon which she gave him the
+receipt, and he went away. Then the Duke bid the widow send a
+peasant and his cart for the corn; however, the old answer came
+back--"She was a cheat--what did she mean? He had her receipt in
+his hand."
+
+Upon this the Duke drove himself to the knave, and made him, in
+his presence, pay down all the arrears of corn to the widow; then
+he beat him black and blue, for a little parting remembrance, and
+dismissed him ignominiously from his service. After this he had
+thoughts of driving round to visit Prechln of Buslar, for the
+rumour was afloat that Sidonia had bewitched his little son
+Bartel, scarcely yet a year old, and made him grow a beard on his
+chin like an old carl's, that reached down to his little stomach.
+But as his dear brothers were waiting for him, his Grace had given
+up this journey, particularly as he wished to hear their opinions
+without delay as to what could be done to free the land from this
+evil sorceress Sidonia. Hereupon he bade Christian Ludeck, the
+state prosecutor, to read the proceedings at Marienfliess from his
+notes.
+
+As he proceeded to read the Acta, the listeners crossed and
+blessed themselves; at last Duke Francis, the bishop, spake--"Did
+I not say well, when years ago, in Oderkrug, I prayed our father
+of blessed memory to burn this vile limb of Satan for a terrible
+example? But my good brother Philip sided against me with my
+father, and he was deemed the wiser. Who is the wiser now, I
+wonder--eh?"
+
+Then Duke Philip asked Dr. Cramer, "What he thought of the matter
+as _theologus_?" who answered, "Your Grace must spare me; I
+will accuse no one, not even Sidonia, for though such things
+appear verily to be done by the help of the devil, yet had they no
+proof, seeing that no _medicus_ had hitherto dissected any
+one of the _cadavera_ which it was avowed Sidonia had
+bewitched to death."
+
+Hereupon Dr. Constantius spake that he had already, by legal
+permission, dissected the body of his colleague, Dr. Schwalenberg,
+and delivered over the _visum repertum_ to his Grace's
+chancellor. Then he described the appearances, which were truly
+singular, particularly that of the _cartilago ensiformis_.
+_Item_, concerning the _valvulae tricuspidales_, through
+which the blood falls into the heart. They were so powerfully
+contracted that the blood was forced to take another course, for
+which reason, probably, the corpse seemed so dreadfully
+discoloured. _Item_, the _vena pulmonalis_ had burst,
+from which cause the doctor had spit blood to the last. And
+lastly, the _glandulae sublinguales_ were so swollen that the
+tongue could not remain in the mouth. Such a death was not
+natural; that he averred. But whether Sidonia's sorcery had caused
+it, or it were sent as a peculiar punishment by God, that he would
+not say; he agreed with the excellent Dr. Cramer, and thought it
+better to accuse no one.
+
+"Now by the cross!" cried Duke Francis, "what else is it but
+devil's work? But the lords were very lukewarm, and resolved not
+to peril themselves; _that_ he saw. However, if his brother,
+Duke Philip, permitted the whole princely race to be thus
+bewitched to death, he would have to answer for it at the day of
+judgment. He prayed him, therefore, for the love of God, to send
+for the hag instantly, and drag her to the scaffold."
+
+Hereat Duke Philip sank his head upon his arm, and was silent a
+long space. But the state prosecutor gave answer--"Marry! will
+your Episcopal Highness then take the trouble to tell us, who is
+to seize the hag? I will do it not, and who else will? for,
+methinks, whoever touches her must needs be sore tired of life."
+
+"If no one else will," returned the bishop, "my Camyn executioner,
+Master Radeck, will surely do it, for he never feared a witch;
+besides, he knows all their _arcana_."
+
+Meanwhile, as Duke Philip still sat in deep thought, and played
+with a quill, the door opened, and a lacquey entered with a
+message from the noble Prechln of Buslar, requesting an
+_audienza_ of his Grace. He had an infant in his arms which a
+wicked witch had prayed to death, and the child had a beard on it
+like an old man, so that all in the castle were terrified at the
+sight.
+
+His Grace Duke Philip instantly started up. "Merciful God! is it
+true?" waved his hand to the lacquey, who withdrew, and then
+walked up and down, exclaiming still, "Merciful God! what can be
+done?"
+
+"Torture! burn! kill!" cried Duke Francis, the bishop "and
+to-morrow, if it be possible. I shall send this night for my
+executioner! trust to him. He will soon screw the soul out of the
+vile hag; take my word for it."
+
+"Ay! torture! burn! kill!" cried also the state prosecutor, "and
+the sooner the better, gracious master. For God's sake, no mercy
+more!"
+
+Here the door opened, and Prechln of Buslar entered, pale as the
+infant corpse that lay upon his arms. This corpse was dressed in
+white with black ribbons, and a wreath of rosemary encircled the
+little head; but, what was strange and horrible, a long black
+beard depended from the infant's chin, which the wind, as the door
+opened, blew backward and forward in the sorrowing father's face.
+After him came his wife, wringing her hands wildly from grief, and
+an old serving-maid.
+
+Truly the whole convocation shuddered at the sight, but Bishop
+Francis was the first to speak--
+
+"And this is no devil's work?" he exclaimed. "Now, by my faith, ye
+and your wise doctors are fools if ye deny this evidence. Come
+nearer, poor fellow; set the corpse of your child down, and tell
+us how it came to pass. We had heard of your strange affliction,
+and just spoke thereon as you entered. Ha! the sorceress cannot
+escape us now, methinks."
+
+Now, when the mourning father began to tell the story, his wife
+set up such a weeping and lamentation, and the old nurse followed
+her example after such a lugubrious fashion, that their lordships
+could not hear a word. Whereupon his Grace Duke Philip was obliged
+earnestly to request that the women should keep silence whilst
+Prechln of Buslar spoke.
+
+I have already mentioned what grudge Sidonia had against him,
+because he refused to acknowledge himself her feudal vassal by
+kissing her hand; also, how she accused him afterward of stealing
+her dog. This the poor knight related now at length, and with many
+tears, and continued--
+
+"During the strife between them, she one day spat upon both his
+little sons, and the eldest, Dinnies, a fine fellow of seven years
+old, who was playing with a slipper at the time under the table,
+died first. But the accursed witch had stepped over to the cradle
+where his little Bartholomew lay sleeping, while this old nurse,
+Barbara Kadows, rocked him, and murmuring some words, spat upon
+him, and then went away, cursing, from the house. So the spell was
+put upon both children that same day, and Dinnies took sick
+directly, and in three days was a corpse; but on his little Memi
+first grew this great black beard which their lordships all saw,
+and then he likewise died, after crying three days and three
+nights in horrible torture." The old nurse confirmed all this, and
+said--
+
+"That when the horrible hag knelt down by the cradle to blow upon
+the child, she turned up her eyes, so that nothing but the whites
+could be seen. Ah! what a wicked old hag that could not spare a
+child like that, and could put such an old man's beard on its
+little face."
+
+Then Duke Philip asked the knight if he had accused Sidonia of the
+witchcraft, and what had she answered?
+
+"Ah yes, he had done so, but by letter, for he feared to go to
+Marienfliess, lest it might happen to him as to others who met her
+face to face, and his messenger brought back a letter in answer,
+by which their lordships could see how her arrogance equalled her
+wickedness," and he drew forth her letter from his bosom, and
+handed the same to his Highness. Now Bishop Francis would have
+prevented his brother touching the letter, but Duke Philip had a
+brave heart, and taking it boldly, read aloud as follows:--
+
+"SIDONIA, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, PRIORESS OF THE NOBLE CONVENT OF
+MARIENPLIESS, LADY AND HEIRESS OP THE LANDS AND CASTLE OF
+STRAMEHL, LABES, REGENWALD, WANGERIN, AND OTHERS--GREETING."
+
+"GOOD FRIEND AND VASSAL,"
+
+"Touching your foul accusation respecting your two brats, and my
+bewitching them to death, I shall only say you must be mad. I have
+long thought that pride would turn your brain: now I see it has
+been done. If Bartel has got a beard, send for soap and shave him.
+As to yourself, I counsel you to come to Marienfliess to old
+Kathe, she knows how to turn the brain right again with a wooden
+bowl. Pour hot water therein, three times boiled, set the bowl on
+your head, and over the bowl an inverted pot; then, as the water
+is drawn up into the empty pot, so will the madness be drawn up
+out of your brain into the wooden bowl, and all will be right
+again. It is a good receipt; I counsel you to try it. She only
+desires you to kiss her hand in return. Such is the advice of your
+feudal lady and seigneuress,
+
+"SIDONIA BORK."
+
+His Highness had hardly finished reading the letter, when Bishop
+Francis cried out--
+
+"What the devil, brother, hast thou made the murderous dragon a
+prioress?"
+
+But his Highness knew nothing of it, and wondered much likewise.
+Whereupon the state prosecutor told them how it came about, and
+that poor Dorothea Stettin had been talked out of her situation by
+the dragon, as was all here to be seen set down in full in the
+indictment; but, as the case was not now under discussion, he
+would pass it over, although great quarrels and scandal prevailed
+in the convent in consequence, and poor Dorothea lay sick,
+earnestly desiring to be restored to her prioret.
+
+Bishop Francis now grew yet more angry--
+
+"Give the witch a prioret in hell," he cried. "What would his dear
+brother do, now that the proofs were in his hands?"
+
+To which Duke Philip answered mildly--
+
+"Dear Fra, think on my symbol, C. & R." (that is, _Christo et
+Reipublicae_, for Christ and the State). "Let us not be
+over-hasty. Suppose that Dr. Constantinus should first dissect
+this poor infant, and see what really caused its death."
+
+Thereat the doctor plunged his hand in his pocket, to draw forth
+his case of instruments, but the mother screamed out, and ran to
+tear the child from him--"No, no; they should never cut up her
+little Memi!" _Item_, the maid screamed out, "No, no; she
+would lose her life first!" _Item_, the father stood still
+and trembled, but said never a word.
+
+What was to be done now? His Grace repented of his hastiness, and
+at last said--
+
+"Well, then, friends, let the doctor examine the infant
+externally, look into its mouth, &c."
+
+And when the parents consented to this, his Grace prayed them
+gently to withdraw with him into another apartment while the
+examination was made, as such a sight might give them pain. To
+this also they consented, and his Grace led the way to another
+hall (giving a sign privately to the doctor to do his business
+properly), where a splendid collation was served. After which,
+just to detain them longer, his Grace brought them to visit the
+picture-gallery.
+
+_Summa_.--When they returned, the dissection had been
+accomplished, at which sight the parents and the maid screamed;
+but his Grace confuted them, saying--
+
+"That the ends of justice required it. He would now take the case
+into his own hands, and they might return quietly to their own
+castle and bury their infant, who would sleep as well dissected as
+entire."
+
+Having at last calmed them somewhat, they kissed his hand and took
+their leave.
+
+Meanwhile the two young Dukes, Ulrich and George, finding the time
+hang heavy, had slipped away from the council-board, and gone down
+to the ducal stables.
+
+When his Highness noticed their absence, he sent a page bidding
+them return and give their opinion in council as to what should be
+done next. But they sent back an answer--"Let the lords do what
+they pleased; as for them they were off to the chase, seeing it
+was pleasanter to hunt a hare than a witch."
+
+Now Bishop Francis stormed in earnest.
+
+"Marry, some folk would not believe in witchcraft, till they stood
+with their heels turned toward heaven; and here these idle
+younkers must needs ride off to the chase when the life and death
+of our race hangs in the balance. I say again, brother, torture,
+burn, kill, and as soon as may be."
+
+But Duke Philip still answered mildly--
+
+"Dear Fra, the _medicus_ hath just pronounced that the corpse
+of the poor child presents no unnatural appearances; and as to the
+beard, this may just as well be a _miraculum Dei_ as a
+_miraculum damonis_, therefore I esteem it better to cite
+Sidonia to our court, and admonish her strenuously to all good."
+
+This course had little favour from Bishop Francis; but when the
+state prosecutor agreed with his Highness, and Dr. Cramerus
+praised so Christian and merciful a resolve, he was at last
+content, particularly as some one said (I forget who, but I rather
+think it was the chancellor, Martinus Chemnitz), that Mag. Joel of
+Grypswald gave it as his opinion that it would be a matter of
+trouble and danger to seize the witch, seeing that her familiar,
+the spirit Chim, was a mighty and strong spirit, and capable of
+taking great revenge on any who laid hand upon her; but that he,
+Mag. Joel, would do for him easily if he came in his way.
+
+This intelligence gave the bishop great comfort, and he instantly
+despatched a letter to Mag. Joel, bidding him come forthwith to
+Stettin, whilst the chancellor prepared a _Citationem realem
+sive personalem_ for Sidonia, which contained the following:--
+
+"WE, PHILIP, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, &c.,
+
+"Command thee, Sidonia von Bork, conventual and not prioress of
+the noble convent of Marienfliess, to appear before us, at our
+court of Stettin, on the 15th day of July, at three of the clock,
+to answer for the evil deeds whereof thou art accused, under
+punishment of banishment, forfeiture, and great danger to thy body
+and life. Against such, therefore, take thou heed.
+
+"Signatum, Old Stettin, 10th July 1616.
+
+"PHILIPPUS, _manu sua_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+_Of Sidonia's defence--Item, how she has a quarrel with Joachim
+Wedel, and bewitches him to death_.
+
+
+At three of the clock on the appointed day, the grand Rittersaal
+(knights' hall) of the stately castle of Old Stettin was crowded
+with ministers, councillors, and officials, who had met there by
+command of their illustrious mightinesses, Duke Philip, Prince and
+Lord of Stettin, and Francis, Bishop of Camyn. Amongst the nobles
+assembled were Albert, Count of Eberstein, Lord of Neugarten and
+Massow; Eustache Flemming, hereditary Grand Marshal; Christoph von
+Mildenitz, privy councillor and dean of the honourable chapter of
+Camyn; Caspar von Stogentin, captain at Friedrichswald; Christoph
+von Plate, master of the ceremonies; Martin Chemnitz, Chancellor
+of Pomerania; Dr. Cramer, my worthy lord father-in-law,
+_vice-superintendens_; Dr. Constantius Oesler,
+_medicus_; Christian Ludeck, attorney-general; Mag. Joel of
+Grypswald, and many others. These all stood in two long rows,
+waiting for their princely Graces. For it was rumoured that
+Sidonia had already arrived with the fish-sellers from Grabow,
+which, indeed, was the case; and she had, moreover, packed seven
+hogsheads of her best beer on the waggon along with her, purposing
+to sell it to profit in the town; but the devil truly got his
+profit out of the said beer, for by it not only our good town of
+Stettin, but likewise the whole land, was nearly brought to ruin
+and utter destruction, as we shall hear further on.
+
+_Summa_.--When all the afore-named were ranged in rank and
+order, the great doors of the hall were flung wide open, and Duke
+Philip entered first. Every one knows that he was small, delicate,
+almost thin in person, pale of face, with a moustache On his upper
+lip, and his hair combed _a la Nazarena_. [Footnote: Divided
+in the centre, and falling down straight at each side, as in the
+pictures of our Saviour.] He wore a yellow doublet with
+silver-coloured satin sleeves, scarlet hose trimmed with gold
+lace, white silk stockings, and white boots, with gold spurs;
+round his neck was a Spanish ruff of white point lace, and by his
+side a jewel-hilted sword; his breast and girdle were also
+profusely decorated with diamonds. So his Highness advanced up the
+hall, wearing his grey beaver hat, from which drooped a stately
+plume of black herons' feathers, fastened with an aigrette of
+diamonds. This he did not remove, as was customary, until all
+present had made their obeisance and deferentially kissed his
+hand. Duke Francis followed in his episcopal robes, with a mitre
+upon his head, and a bishop's crook of ivory in his hand. The
+other young dukes, Ulrich, George, and Bogislaus, remained
+cautiously away. [Footnote: Note of Bogislaff XIV.--Yes; but not
+out of fear. I was celebrating my espousals, as I have said.]
+
+And the blood-standard waved from the towers, and the princely
+soldatesca, with all the officers, lined the castle court, so that
+nothing was left undone that could impress this terrible sorceress
+with due fear and respect for their illustrious Graces.
+
+And when the order was given for Sidonia to be admitted, the two
+Princes leaned proudly on a table at the upper end of the hall,
+while the assembled nobles formed two long lines at each side.
+Three rolls of the drum announced the approach of the prisoner.
+But when she entered, accompanied by the lord provost, in her
+nun's robes and white veil, on which the key of her office was
+embroidered in gold, a visible shudder passed over her frame;
+collecting herself, however, quickly, she advanced to kiss their
+Graces' hands, but Bishop Francis, after he had drawn his
+_symbolum_ with chalk before him on the table, namely, H, H,
+H, that is, "Help, helper, help," cried out, "Back, Satan! stir
+not from thy place; and know that if thou shouldst attempt any of
+thy diabolical sorceries upon my dear lord and brother here (as
+for me, this honourable, consecrated, and priestly robe saves me
+from thy power) thou shalt be torn limb from limb, and thy members
+flung to feed the dogs, while thou art yet living to behold it,
+accursed, thrice-accursed witch!"
+
+And his Grace, in his great rage against her, struck the table
+with his ivory crook, so that he broke a bottle filled with red
+ink which stood thereon, and the said ink (alas! what an evil
+omen) poured down upon Duke Philip's white silk stockings, and
+stained them red like blood.
+
+Meanwhile Sidonia exclaimed, "What! is there no leech here to feel
+the pulse of his Serene Highness? Surely the dog-days, that we are
+in the middle of, have turned his brain completely. Any little bit
+of mother-wit he might have had is clean gone. What! she had
+scarcely entered--knew not yet of what she was accused, and she
+was 'Satan!' 'a thrice-accursed witch!' who was to be cut up into
+little bits to feed dogs! Had any man ever heard the like? Would
+the nobles of Pomerania, whom she saw around her, suffer one of
+their own rank--a lady of castles and lands--to be thus handled?
+She called upon them all as witnesses, and after the
+_audienza_ a notary should be summoned to note all down, for
+she would assuredly appeal to the states of the kingdom, and bring
+her cause before the Emperor."
+
+Hereupon Duke Philip interposed--"Lady, our dear brother is of a
+hasty temperament; yet you can scarce wonder at his speech, or
+take it ill, when you consider the terrible evils which you have
+brought upon our ancient and illustrious race. However, as an
+upright and good prince must judge the cause of his subjects
+before his own, I shall first inquire what caused the sudden
+illness of the sheriff, Eggert Sparling, and of the abbess,
+Magdalena, that time they brought my father's letter to you?--that
+letter which you said was a forgery, and flung into the fire."
+
+_Illa._--"What caused it? How could she remember? It was a
+long time ago; but so far as she recollected, they came in when
+she was brewing beer or cooking sausages, and she opened the
+window to admit fresh air; before this window they both sat and
+talked, to be out of the smell of the cooking; could they not have
+got rheumatism by such means? Let his Grace ask the doctors did it
+require witchcraft to give a man the rheumatism, who sat in a
+draught of air?"
+
+_The Duke_.--"But both were cured again as quickly as they
+had taken it."
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah, yes! She would have done her best to cure even
+her greatest enemy, for the holy Saviour had said, 'Bless them
+that curse you; do good to them that hate you; pray for them that
+persecute you.' To such commands of her Lord she had ever been a
+faithful servant, and therefore searched out of her cookery-book
+for a _sympatheticum_, but for thanks, lo, now what she gets!
+Such was the way of this wicked world. Perhaps my gracious lord
+would like to know of the _sympatheticum_; she would say it
+for him, if he wished."
+
+"Keep it to yourself, woman," roared Duke Francis, "and tell us
+why you burned my father's letter?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Because, in truth, she deemed it a forgery. How
+could she believe a knave who had already deceived his own
+gracious Prince? For did not this base sheriff appropriate to his
+own use eleven mares, one hundred sheep, sixteen head of cattle,
+and forty-two boars, all the property of his Highness, to the
+great detriment of the princely revenue. _Item_, at the last
+cattle sale he had put three hundred florins into his own bag, and
+many more evil deceits had this wicked cheat practised."
+
+"Keep to the question," cried Duke Philip, "and answer only what
+you are asked. What was that matter concerning the priest which
+caused you to complain of him to our princely consistorium?"
+
+_Illa._--"Ay! and no notice taken, though it was a scandal
+that cried to Heaven, how this licentious young carl was admitted
+into the convent as chaplain, when the regulations especially
+declared that an honourable _old_ man should hold the office.
+She prayed, therefore, that another priest might be appointed."
+
+Hereat my worthy father-in-law, Dr. Cramer, said, "Good lady, be
+not so hasty; from all we have heard, this priest is a right
+worthy and discreet young man."
+
+_Illa._--"Right worthy and discreet, truly! as her old maid
+could testify; or the abbess, with whom he locked himself up; or
+Dorothea Stettin, with whom he was discovered behind the holy
+altar. Fie! The scandal that such a fellow should be convent
+chaplain! and that a Christian government should suffer it!"
+(spitting three times on the ground.)
+
+_The Duke_.--"The inquiry concerning him was pending. For
+what cause had she forced herself into the sub-prioret?"
+
+_Illa._--"She! Forced herself! Forced herself into the
+sub-prioret! What devil had invented this story? Why, the abbess
+and the whole convent were witness that she was forced into it;
+for as Dorothea Stettin was ashamed after that business behind the
+altar when she was discovered with the priest--besides, was a
+weak, silly thing at all times--she had consented to relieve her
+from the sub-prioret at her (Dorothea's) earnest supplication and
+prayer."
+
+_The Duke_.--"Wherefore had she treated the novices with such
+cruelty, and run at them with axes and knives, to do them grievous
+bodily harm?"
+
+_Illa._--"They were a set of young wantons, always gossiping
+about marriage and loons, therefore she had held a strict hand
+over them, which she would not deny; particularly as if any of the
+nuns fell into sin, the law decreed that she was to be beheaded.
+Was she therefore wrong or right? Truly the abbess said nothing,
+for she was as bad as any of them, and had locked herself up with
+the priest."
+
+_The Duke._--"What caused the sudden death of the convent
+porter?"
+
+_Illa_.-"What! was this, too, laid on her as a crime? Why, at
+last, if any one died in Wolgast, or another in Marienfliess
+during her absence, she would have to answer for it."
+
+_The Duke_.--"But Dr. Schwalenberg had died in the self-same
+way, and as suddenly--tumbling down dead upon the pavement."
+
+_Illa_.--"The knave was so drunk when he ran after her with a
+horsewhip to beat her, that he tumbled down on the stones; and
+mayhap the shock killed him, as it did that other knave who flung
+her against the wall; or that he got a fit; for such would have
+been a just judgment of God on him, as it is written (Malachi iii.
+5), 'I will be a swift witness for the widow and the orphan.' Ah!
+truly she was a poor orphan, and the just God had been her swift
+witness; for which, all praise and glory be to His name for ever"
+(weeping).
+
+Here Christoph Mildenitz, canon of Camyn, exclaimed, "Marry, thou
+wicked viper, I have seen the corpse of this same Schwalenberg
+myself, and every one, even the physicians, said that he had died
+no natural death."
+
+_Illa_.--"Must the fat canon put in his word now? Ha! this
+was her thanks for the gloves she had knit him, and which he wore
+at this present moment, for she knew them, even at that distance,
+by the black seams round the thumbs. But so it was ever: she had
+no greater enemies than those whom she had done kindness to."
+
+_The Duke_.--"Prechln von Buslar also accused her of having
+brought his two sons to death, and making a long man's beard grow
+upon the little Bartel."
+
+_Illa_ (laughing).--"Ah! it is easy to see by your Grace that
+we are in the dog-days. Your Highness must pardon my mirth; but
+who could help it? Merciful God! are Thy wonders, sent to fright
+the world and turn men from sin, to be called devil's sorceries!
+To what a pass is the world come! Has your Highness forgotten all
+history? Know you not that God gives many signs to His people, and
+speaks in wonders? Yet, when did men, till now, say that these
+signs were of the devil alone, and persecute and destroy helpless
+women by reason of them? Speak, gracious Duke--speak, ye noble
+lords--have ye not tortured, and burned, and put to death weak and
+innocent women without number for these things, and must ye needs
+now seek my life? And when was it ever known, till now, that
+nobles sat in judgment upon one of their own rank--a lady of as
+high blood and proud descent as any of ye here--for old wives'
+tales like these, and children's fooleries? Speak! Whoso saith I
+lie, let him step forward and convict me." [Footnote: It was a
+fact that the persecution of witches had risen at this period
+almost to a mania.]
+
+There was a dead silence in the hall when she had ended, and even
+Duke Philip looked down ashamed, for he could not but acknowledge
+that she spoke the truth, however unwillingly he believed aught
+the vile sorceress uttered.
+
+At last Bishop Francis spake--"Why then didst thou blow upon the
+children of Prechln of Buslar, if it were not to bewitch them to
+death?"
+
+Whereupon the witch answered scornfully--"If that could kill, then
+were we all dead long since, for the wind blows on us every
+minute, and we blow upon our hot broth to cool it, yet who dies
+thereof? How could a bishop be so sunk in superstition? As to
+Prechln of Buslar, no wonder if God had smitten him for his pride
+and arrogance, as it is said (Luke i. 51), 'He scatters such as
+are proud of heart,' for, though her feudal vassal, he had refused
+to do her homage; therefore here was no witch-work, but only God's
+work, testifying against sinful haughtiness and pride.
+
+"Moreover, it was false that she had blown upon the children; the
+silly fool Prechln had imagined it all--nothing was too absurd for
+stupidity like his to believe; and what then? Can't people die but
+by witchcraft? Did St. Peter bewitch that covetous knave Ananias
+(Acts v.) when he fell down dead at his feet for having lied to
+the Holy Ghost? Let the honourable convocation answer her truly."
+
+_Summa_.--The end of all was (as we may imagine) that the cunning
+Satan was allowed to depart in peace, only receiving a wholesome
+admonition from his Highness Duke Philip, and another from my
+worthy father-in-law, Dr. Cramer.
+
+But what happened as she returned to her lodgment in the Ruedenberg
+Street? Behold Joachim Wedel of Cremzow, whom she had made
+contracted, sat at his window to enjoy the air, but the evil hag
+no sooner looked up and saw him than she began to mock him,
+twisting her mouth awry, even as he twisted his mouth. When he
+observed her, his face grew red with anger, and he cried out of
+the window, "Ha, thou accursed witch, I am not so
+help--help--help--helpless as thou thinkest; so do not
+twi--twi--twi--twist thy mouth at me that way."
+
+To which Sidonia only answered with the one word "Wait!" and
+passed on, but returned soon again with a notary and two witnesses
+(one was the landlord of the inn where she had left her beer),
+stepped up to the chamber where Joachim sat, and bid them take
+down that he had called her an accursed witch while she was
+quietly going along the street to her lodgment.
+
+Poor Wedel vainly tried to speak in his defence; the hag
+maintained her assertion, and prayed that the just God who brought
+all liars to destruction would avenge her cause, if it were His
+gracious will, for the Scripture said (Psalm v. 7), "I will
+destroy them that speak leasing." Therefore she left him and all
+her other enemies in the hand of God. He would take vengeance!
+
+And oh, horror! scarcely had she returned to her lodgment when the
+poor man began to scream, "There is some one sitting within my
+breast, and lifting up the breast-bone!" Thus he screamed and
+screamed three days and three nights long; no physician, not even
+Dr. Constantinus, could help him, and finally, when he died, his
+body presented the same appearances precisely as those of Dr.
+Schwalenberg and the convent porter, as the doctors who dissected
+him affirmed upon oath. He was a clever man, learned and well
+read, and left _Annales_ behind him, a work which this cruel
+witch caused to remain unfinished.
+
+And further, it was a strange thing (whether of witchcraft or of
+God, I cannot say) that except my gracious Duke Philip, almost
+every one present at this remarkable _colloquium_ died within
+the year; for example, Count Albert, Eustache Flemming, Caspar von
+Stogentin, Christoph von Mildenitz--all lay in their graves before
+the year was out. [Footnote: Some place the death of Joachim Wedel
+so early as 1606. The whole matter is taken, almost word for word,
+from the criminal records in the Berlin Library; and, according to
+Daehnert, the first question on the book concerned the death of
+this man. His, _Annales_ include the years from 1501 to 1606;
+they contain the whole history of that period, but the work has
+never been printed. Daehnert, however, vol. ii. Pomeranian Library,
+gives some extracts therefrom; also, in Franz Kock's
+"Recollections of Dr. John Bugenhagen," Stettin, 1817, we find
+this chronicle quoted.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+_How a strange woman (who must assuredly have been Sidonia)
+incites the lieges of his Grace to great uproar and tumult in
+Stettin, by reason of the new tax upon beer_.
+
+
+My gracious Prince will perhaps say, "But, Theodore, how comes it
+that this hag, who in her youth could not be brought to learn the
+catechism, quoted Scripture in her old days like a priest?"
+
+I answer--Serene Prince and Lord, that seems in my opinion because
+the evil witch found that Scripture, when not taught of God, can
+be made to serve the devil's purposes. For this reason she studied
+therein; not to make honey, but to extract poison, as your Grace
+may have perceived in her strifes with individuals, and even with
+the constituted authorities. Further, methinks, she must also have
+studied in history books, for how else could she have discoursed
+upon political matters so as to raise the whole population of
+Stettin into open revolt, as we shall soon see. However, I leave
+these questions undecided, and shall only state facts, leaving the
+rest for your Highness's judgment.
+
+The day following that on which Sidonia had been tried before the
+noble convocation (and she must have still been in the town, I
+think, for it was late in the previous evening when she bewitched
+Joachim Wedel), the priest of St. Nicholas read out after the
+sermon, before the whole congregation, the ducal order declaring
+that, from that date forward, the quart of beer, hitherto sold for
+a Stralsund shilling, should not be sold under sixteen Pomeranian
+pence. This caused great murmurs and discontent among the people;
+and when they came out of church they rushed to the inn, where
+Sidonia had been staying, to discuss the matter freely, and
+screamed and roared, and gesticulated amongst themselves, saying,
+"The council had no right to raise the price of beer; they were a
+set of rogues that ought to be hung," &c., and they struck
+fiercely on the table, so that the glasses rang. Just then an old
+hag came to the door, but not in a cloister habit. She had a black
+plaster upon her nose, and complained how she had hurt herself by
+falling on the sharp stones, which had put her nose out of joint.
+
+"People talked of this new decree--was it true that the poor folk
+were to pay sixteen Pomeranian pence for a quart of beer?--O God!
+what the cruelty and avarice of princes could do. But she scarcely
+believed the report, for she brewed beer herself better than any
+brewer in the land, and yet could sell the quart for eightpence,
+and have profit besides. Oh, that princes and ministers could rob
+the poor man so! ay, they would take the very shirt off his back
+to glut their own greed and covetousness. And what did they give
+their hard-earned gold for? To build fine houses for the Prince,
+forsooth, and fill them with fine pictures from Italy, and
+statues, as if he were a brat of a school-girl, and must have his
+dolls to play with."
+
+"What sort is your beer, old dame?" asked a fellow. "Marry, it
+must be strange trash, I warrant."
+
+_Illa_.--"No, no; if they would not believe her word, let
+them taste the beer. She wanted nothing further but to prove how
+the wicked government oppressed the poor folk; for she was a
+God-fearing woman, and her heart was filled with grief to see how
+the princes lately, in this poor Pomerania, squeezed the very
+life-blood out of the people," &c. Then she lifted up a barrel of
+beer upon the table (I have already said that Sidonia had brought
+some with her to sell), and invited the discontented people to
+taste it, which they were nothing loth to do, and soon broached
+the said barrel. Then, having tasted, they extolled her beer to
+the skies--"No better had ever been brewed." Now other troops of
+the discontented came pouring in from Lastadie, Wiek, &c.,
+cursing, and swearing, and shouting--"The beer must not be raised;
+they would force the government to take off the tax. Would not
+their comrades join?"
+
+This was fine fun to the old hag, and she produced another barrel
+of beer, which the mob emptied speedily, and then began talking,
+shouting, screaming, roaring like flocks of wild geese; and when
+the old hag saw that they had got enough under their caps to make
+them quite desperate, she began--
+
+"Was not her beer as good as any beer in the duchy?"
+
+"Ay, ay--better!" shouted the mob, "Where dost thou live, mother?"
+
+To this she gave no answer, but continued: "Yet this beer cost but
+eightpence a quart, by which they could see how the wicked and
+cruel government oppressed them. Oh, it was a sin that cried to
+Heaven, to see how princes and nobles scourged and skinned the
+poor folk. They swilled wine of the best, and plenty, in their own
+gorgeous castles, but grudged poor bitter poverty its can of beer!
+Shame on such a government!"
+
+"True, true!" shouted the mob; "she is right: we are scourged and
+skinned by these worthless nobles. Come, brothers, let us off to
+the council-hall, and if they will not take off the tax, we'll
+murder every soul of them."
+
+_Illa_.--"And be asses for their pains. Was that all they
+could do--_pray_ the mighty council, forsooth, to lower the
+tax? Oh, brave fellows! What! had they not the power in their own
+hands, if they would only be united? Had they never heard how the
+people of Anklam had, in former times, killed their rulers and
+governors, and then did justice to themselves? What right had
+prince, minister, or council to skin a people? They had all stout
+arms and brave hearts here, as she saw; _could they not right
+themselves?_--must they needs crouch for their own to prince or
+minister? Did she lie, or did she speak the truth?"
+
+Here the mob cheered and shouted, "True! true!" and they struck
+the table till the glasses broke, roaring, "She is right,
+brothers. Are we not strong? Can we not right ourselves? Why
+should we go begging to a council? May the devil take all the
+covetous, rich knaves, who drink the people's blood!"
+
+_Illa_.--"But may be they wanted a prince--eh? The prince was
+the shepherd, the council only the dog who bit the sheep as his
+master commanded. Eh, children? is not a prince a fine thing, to
+squeeze the sweat and life-blood out of ye, and turn it into gold
+for himself? For what are his riches but your sweat and blood, if
+ye reflect on it; and is it a sin to take your own? Methinks if
+all princes were killed or banished, and their goods divided
+amongst the people, ye would all have enough. Have ye not heard of
+that brotherhood who set all princes and governments at defiance
+for two hundred years, and lived like brothers amongst themselves,
+dividing all goods alike, so that they were called Like-dealers;
+and no beggar was found amongst them, for they had all things in
+common. [Footnote: These Like-dealers were the communists of the
+Middle Ages, and were for a number of years the plague of the
+northern seas; until at the beginning of the fifteenth century
+they were subdued, and many of them captured by the Dutch, who
+nailed them up in barrels, leaving an aperture for the head, at
+top, and then decapitated them. The best account of them is found
+in "Raumer's Historical Note-book," vol. ii. p. 19. And if any one
+wishes to see the result of communist teaching, they have only to
+study here the horrible excesses to which it leads.
+
+The communism of the apostolic age might have been suited to a
+period in which it would be difficult to say whether faith or love
+predominated most; but even then it by no means prevented the
+existence of extreme poverty, for we read frequently in the Acts
+and Epistles of the _collections_ made for the Christian
+churches. But in our faithless, loveless, selfish, sin-drowned
+century, such an attempt at community of goods would not only
+annihilate all morality completely, but absolutely degrade us back
+from civilisation and modern Catholicism into the rudest and most
+meagre barbarism. The apostles of such doctrines now must speak,
+though perhaps unconsciously, from the sole inspiration of Satan,
+like Sidonia. The progress of humanity is not to be furthered by
+such means. Let our merchants no longer degrade human beings into
+machines for their factories, nor our princes degrade them into
+automaton puppets for their armies, but of men make _living
+men_. And the strong energy, the stern will, the vital
+spiritual power that will thus be awakened, will and must produce
+the regeneration of humanity.] Wherefore can ye not be
+Like-dealers also? Are there not rich enough for ye to kill? And
+if ye are united, who can withstand you? Look at the dog and the
+cattle--how the poor stupid beasts let themselves be driven, and
+bit, and beaten, just because they are used to it; but, lo! if the
+cattle should all turn their horns against the dog and the
+shepherd, what becomes of my fine pair? So is it with the Prince
+and his council. Oh, if ye were only united! Fling off the parsons
+too, for they are prime movers of all your misery. Do they not
+teach you, and teach you from your youth up, that ye must have
+princes and priests? Eh, brothers, where is that written in the
+Scriptures?
+
+"Doth not St. Peter say (1st Epistle, chap, ii.), 'Ye are a royal
+priesthood'? What then! if ye are kings, princes, and priests
+yourselves, must ye needs pay for other kings, princes, and
+priests? Can ye not govern yourselves? can ye not pray for
+yourselves? In my opinion, yes! Doth not the same St. Peter
+likewise call ye 'a chosen people,' 'a people of inheritance;'
+but, I pray you, where is your inheritance?--poor beggars as ye
+are--to whom neither priest nor prince will give one can of beer.
+Ha! go, I tell you--take back your kingship, your priesthood, your
+inheritance. Become Like-dealers, brothers, even as the early
+Christians, who had all things in common, before the greed of
+priest or prince had robbed them of all. Like-dealers!
+Like-dealers! run, run--kill, slay, strike all dead, and never
+rest until ye drown the last priest in the blood of the last
+prince!"
+
+As the hag thus spoke, through the horrible inspiration of Satan,
+the passions of the mob rose to frenzy, and they rushed out and
+joined the bands in the streets, and the crowds that poured from
+every door; and as they repeated her words from one to the other
+the frenzy spread (for they were like oil to fire). But the hag
+with the black plaster on her nose, when she saw herself left
+alone in the chamber, looked out after them, and laughed, and
+danced, and clapped her hands.
+
+Now the Prince and court had withdrawn to Colbatz for safety, and
+a council was summoned in all haste and anxiety. The water-gate
+was barred likewise, to prevent a junction with the people of
+Lastadie and Wiek, but the townspeople, who had gathered in
+immense crowds, broke it in, and joining with the others,
+proceeded to storm the council-hall, where the honourable council
+were then sitting. They shouted, roared, menaced, and seizing the
+clerk, Claude Lorenz, in the chamber, murdered him before the very
+eyes of the burgomasters, and flung the body out of the window;
+then rushing down the steps again, proceeded along the
+corn-market, and by the high street into the horse-market, where
+they sacked three breweries from the roof to the cellar; and
+dragging out the barrels, staved in the bottom, and drank out of
+their hats and caps, shouting, roaring, singing, and dancing,
+while they swilled the good beer; so that the sight was a scandal
+to God and man.
+
+And the uproar waxed stronger and stronger throughout that whole
+night. Not a word of remonstrance or expostulation will the people
+listen to; they threaten to hang up the messengers of the
+honourable council, and show no respect even to a mandate from his
+Highness, under his own seal and hand, which a horseman brings
+them. They laugh, mock, fling it into the gutter, sack more
+breweries, and by ten of the clock, just as the citizens are going
+to church, they number ten bands strong.
+
+So my worthy father-in-law, Dr. Cramer, with the dean and
+archdeacon of St Mary's, stood upon the steps at the church-door
+as the bells rung, and the mob rushed by to sack more breweries.
+And he spoke friendly to the rioters--"They should stop and hear
+what the Word of God said about the uproar at Ephesus (Acts
+xix.)."
+
+And some would, and some would not. What did they want with
+parsons? Strike all the parsons dead. They could play the priest
+for themselves, and forgive their own sins. Yet many went in, for
+it was the custom to attend the weekly preaching, and my worthy
+father-in-law, turning round, addressed them from the nave of the
+church--me-thinks they needed it!
+
+One very beautiful comparison that he employed made a great
+impression, and brought many to reason. For he spoke of the bees,
+how, when they wander too far from the hive, they can be brought
+back by soft, sweet melody, and so might this wild and wandering
+human swarm be brought back to the true hive by the soft and
+thrilling melody of God's holy Word. Then for conclusion he read
+the princely mandate from the altar; but at this the uproar
+recommenced, and they ran shouting and screaming out of the
+church, and to their wild work again, staving in the barrels and
+drinking the beer; and they insulted a magistrate that spoke
+mildly to them, and said if they would be quiet, he would try and
+have the tax removed. So they raged like the bands of Korah and
+Abiram; wanted to kill every one, all the rich, and divide their
+goods; for their riches were their blood and sweat. They would
+drag the four guilds to the council-hall, and the chief
+burgomasters, and hang them all up, and afterwards the honourable
+council, and all the priests, &c. So passed the first and second
+day.
+
+On the third morning by six of the clock, his Highness Duke
+Philip, with all his suite, drove in six coaches from Colbatz up
+to the Oderstrasse, galloping into the middle of the crowd of
+noisy, drunken rioters, who thronged the grass-market as thick as
+bees in a swarm.
+
+He wished to pass on quickly to the castle, but could not, so he
+had to see and hear for himself how the insurrection raged, and
+the mob surrounded the coach of his Highness with loud cries, in
+which nothing could be heard distinctly, but on one side "Kill
+him!" and on the other, "Let him go!" This made Bishop Francis
+wild with anger, and he wanted to jump out of the coach and beat
+back the people, but Duke Philip gently restrained him. "See you
+not," he said, "the people are sick? Hot words will increase their
+sickness." Then he motioned to Mag. Reutzio, the court chaplain,
+who sat in the coach, to admonish the crowd.
+
+But the moment the reverend M. Reutzio put his head out of the
+window to address them, the people shouted, "Down with the parson!
+what is he babbling for. Dr. Cramer told us all that yesterday. We
+want no parsons; kill them! kill them! Down with priests! down
+with princes!" And they sprang upon the horses to cut the traces,
+but the coachman and outriders slashed away right and left with
+their horsewhips, so that the mob recoiled; and then with loud
+shouts of "Make way! make way!" the coachman lashed his horses
+forward into a gallop.
+
+But behold, as they crossed the Shoe-strasse, a coarse, thick-set
+woman knelt by the kennel with her daughter, a half-grown girl,
+and they were drinking beer from a barrel like calves. This same
+woman was knocked down by the foremost horse, so that she fell
+into the gutter. Hereat she roared and cursed his princely Grace,
+and flung the beer-can at him, but it fell upon the horse, who
+grew wild, and dashed off in a mad gallop across the Shoe-strasse
+into the Pelzerstrasse, and up to the castle without pausing,
+where a large crowd had already collected.
+
+If the sovereign people had been wild before, they were ten times
+more wild now, and ran to try and get into the castle after his
+Highness; but the Duke ordered the gates to be closed. He, finding
+that the courts and corridors were already filled with the members
+of the venerable council, and three hundred of the militia, bade
+the men stand to their arms, load the heavy artillery, and erect
+the blood-standard on the tower, while he and the princes, with
+the honourable members, considered what could best be done in this
+grave and dangerous crisis. Whereupon he bade the council attend
+him in the state banqueting-hall.
+
+Now the honourable council declared they were ready to part life
+and limb for their liege lord and the illustrious house of
+Pomerania, according to the terms of their oath; but the burghers
+would not. For when Duke Philip asked, would not the burghers go
+forth, and help to disperse this armed and unruly mob, the militia
+made sundry objections, and set forth numerous difficulties.
+Whereupon Bishop Francis started up, and exclaimed, "Brother, I
+pray thee, do not stoop to conciliate the people! If ye know not
+how to die, I can go forth and die for all--since it has come to
+this." And he rose to depart.
+
+But his Highness seized him by the hand, and entreated patience
+yet for one hour more. Then he turned to the militia, and again
+admonished them of their duty, and bid them remember the oath; but
+they answered sharply, "Why the devil should we go forth and shoot
+our brothers, neighbours, and friends? They are more to us than
+all." _Item_, they recapitulated their objections and
+difficulties.
+
+Hereupon his Highness exclaimed, "Alas! how comes it that my good
+people of Stettin are so unruly? If the Stralsunders indeed had
+risen, I would say nothing, but my dear Stettiners, who have ever
+been so true and loyal, holding to their province through all
+adversities, and now--ah! that I should live to see this day!"
+
+Then Bishop Francis spake--"Truly, our good Stettiners are to be
+known no longer. Were it possible to bewitch a whole people, I
+would say this witch-devil of Marienfliess had done it. For in all
+Pomeranian land was it ever heard that the people refused
+obedience to their Prince as the burgher militia here have dared
+to refuse this day?"
+
+Just then the evil tidings arrived that the mob were sacking the
+house of one of the chiefs of the council, whereupon his Highness
+Duke Philip called out again, "Will ye stand by me or not? Here is
+no time for hesitation, but action. Will ye follow me? Speak,
+lieges!"
+
+Hereat a couple of hundred voices responded "Yes, yes;" but the
+"yes" fell as dull and cold upon the ear as the clang of a leaden
+bell.
+
+However, Bishop Francis instantly exclaimed, "Good! Go then, all
+of ye, to the armoury, and arm yourselves with speed. Meanwhile I
+shall see to the loading of the cannon in the castle court. Then
+whosoever among you is for God and the Prince, follow me to
+victory or death."
+
+But Duke Philip interposed. "Not so, dear brother; not so, my good
+lieges; let us try first what reconciliation will do, for they are
+my erring children."
+
+And though Duke Francis was sore displeased and impatient, yet my
+gracious Prince despatched his chief equerry, Andreas Ehlers, as
+herald to the people, dressed in complete armour, and with a drawn
+sword in his hand, accompanied by three trumpeters, to read a new
+princely proclamation to the people.
+
+So the herald rode first to the grass-market, and when the trumpet
+sounded, the people stood still and listened, whereupon he read
+the following proclamation, in a loud voice:--
+
+"The Serene and Illustrious Prince and Lord, Lord Philip, Duke of
+Stettin, Pomerania, Cassuben, and Wenden, Prince of Rugen, Count
+of Gutzkow, and Lord of the lands of Lauenburg and Butow, our
+gracious Prince, Seigneur, and Lord, hereby commandeth all
+present, from Lastadie, Wiek, Dragern, and other places assembled,
+to lay down their arms, and retire each man to his own home in
+peace and quietness, without offering further molestation to his
+loyal lieges, burghers, and citizens, on pain of severe punishment
+in person and life, and deprivation of all wonted privileges.
+Further, if they have aught of complaint against the honourable
+council or burgesses, let them bring the same before his Highness
+himself. Meanwhile the quart of beer, until further orders, shall
+be reduced to its original price, as agreed on yesterday in
+council, and be sold henceforth for one Stralsund shilling.
+
+"Signatum, Old Stettin, the 18th July, 1616.
+
+"PHILIPPUS, _manu sua_."
+
+When the herald had finished reading, and shown the princely
+signature and seal to the ringleaders, a great murmur arose among
+the crowd, of which, however, the herald took no heed, but rode on
+to the horse-market, where he likewise read the proclamation, and
+so on through the principal thorough-fares. Then he returned to
+the grass-market, but lo! not a soul was to be seen; the crowds
+had all dispersed, and quietness reigned everywhere. Whereupon the
+herald rode joyfully to the horse-market, to see if the like had
+happened there, and truly peace had returned here too. And all
+along the principal streets where the proclamation had been read,
+the people were thoroughly subdued by this princely clemency and
+authority.
+
+So when the herald returned to the castle, and related the success
+of his mission, the tears filled the eyes of his Grace Duke
+Philip, and taking his lord brother by the hand, he exclaimed,
+"See, dear Francis, how true are the words of Cicero, '_Nihil
+tam populare quam bonitas_.'" [Footnote: (Nothing so popular as
+kindness.)] Then they both went forth and walked arm in arm
+throughout the town, and wherever his Grace saw any group still
+gathered round the beercans, he told them to be content, for the
+beer should be sold to them at the Stralsund shilling. And thus
+the riot was quelled, and the town returned to its accustomed
+quietness and order.
+
+Now truly the same Cicero says, "_In imperita muititudine est
+varietas et inconstantia et crebra tanquam tempestatum, sic
+sententiarum commutatio_." [Footnote: (The senseless multitude
+are changeful and inconstant as the weather, and their opinions
+suffer as many mutations.)]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+_Of the fearful events that take place at Marienfliess--Item,
+bow Dorothea Stettin becomes possessed by the devil._
+
+
+Meanwhile Satan hath not been less busy at Marienfliess in
+Sidonia's absence, than at Old Stettin in her presence. But he
+cunningly changed his mode of action, not to be recognised, and
+truly Dorothea Stettin was the first he practised on. For having
+recovered from her sickness, she one day presented herself at
+church in the nun's choir as usual; but while joining in the
+closing hymn, she suddenly changed colour, began to sob and
+tremble in every limb, then continued the chant in a strange,
+uncertain voice, sometimes treble, sometimes bass, like that of a
+lad whose beard is just beginning to grow. At this the abbess and
+the sisterhood listened and stared in wonder, then asked if the
+dear sister had fallen ill again?
+
+"No," she answered gruffly, "she only wanted to be married. She
+was tired of playing the virgin. Did the abbess know, perchance,
+of any one who would suit her as bridegroom? For she must and
+would be married!"
+
+Think now of the horror of the nuns. Still they thanked God that
+such a _scandalum_ had happened during the singing, and not
+at the blessed sermon. Then they seized her by the arms, and drew
+her away to her cell. But woe, alas! scarcely had she reached it,
+when she threw herself upon her bed in strong convulsions. Her
+eyes turned so that only the whites were to be seen, and her face
+grew so drawn and strange that it was a grief to look upon it, and
+still she kept on screaming in the deep, gruff man's voice--"For a
+bridegroom! a bridegroom!" she that was so modest, and had such a
+delicate, gentle voice. Whereupon all the sisters rushed in to
+hear her the moment the sermon was over; _item_, the priest
+in his surplice.
+
+But the unfortunate maiden no sooner beheld him, than she cried
+out in the deep bass voice--"David, I must marry; wilt thou be my
+bridegroom?" And when he answered, "Alas, poor girl! when was such
+speech ever heard from you before? Satan himself must have
+possessed you!" she cried out again, "Hold your chatter--will you,
+or will you not?"
+
+"How can I take you?" replied the priest; "you know well that I
+have a wife already." Whereupon the gruff bass voice answered,
+with mocking laughter, "Ha! ha! ha! what matter for that? Take
+more wives!"
+
+Here some of the young novices laughed, but others who had never
+wept _bis dato_, now broke out in violent weeping, and the
+abbess exclaimed, "Oh, merciful God! who hath ever heard the like
+from this our chaste sister, whom we have known from her youth up?
+Oh! deliver her from this wicked devil who reigns in her soul and
+members!"
+
+But at the mention of the holy name, the evil one raged more
+furiously than ever within her. He tore her, so that she foamed at
+the mouth, and--ah! woe is me that I must speak it--uttered coarse
+and shameful words, such as the most shameless groom or jack-boy
+would scarce pronounce.
+
+These sent all the novices flying and screaming away; but the
+abbess remained, with some of the nuns, also the priest, who
+prepared now to exorcise the devil with the most powerful
+conjurations. Yet ere he began, a strange thing happened; for the
+possessed maiden became suddenly quite still, all her members
+relaxed, and her eyes closed heavily as if in sleep. But it was
+not so, for she then began, in her own soft, natural voice, to
+chant a hymn in Dutch, although they all knew she never had
+learned one word of that language. The words were these:--
+
+"Oh, chaste Jesu! all whose being
+Was so lovely to our seeing,
+Thoughts and speech, and soul and senses,
+Filled with noblest evidences.
+
+Oh! the God that dwelt in Thee,
+In His sinless purity!
+Oh, Christ Immanuel,
+Save me from the sinner's hell!
+
+Make my soul, with power divine,
+Chaste and holy, ev'n as Thine!"
+
+Then she added in her own tongue--"Ah! ye must pray much before
+this devil is cast out of me. But still pray, pray diligently, and
+it will be done.
+
+"Guard, Lord Christ, our deepest slumber,
+Evil thoughts may come in dreams;
+And the senses list the murmur,
+Though the frail form sleeping seems.
+
+Oh! if Thy hand do not keep us,
+Even in sleep, from passion's flame,
+Though our eyes close on temptation,
+We may fall to sin and shame!
+Amen."
+
+"Yes, yes, oh, pray for me; be not weary, her judgment is
+pronounced."
+
+"What mean you?" spake the abbess, "whose judgment hath been
+pronounced?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Know you not, then? Sidonia's."
+
+_Haec_.--"How could she have bewitched you? She is far from
+here."
+
+_Illa_.--"Spirits know no distance."
+
+_Haec_.--"How then hath she done this?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Her spirit Chim summoned another spirit last
+evening, who entered into me as I gasped for air, after that
+strife between you and your maid, for I was shocked to hear this
+faithful creature called a thief."
+
+_Haec_.--"And is she not a thief?"
+
+_Illa_.--"In no wise. She is as innocent as a new-born
+child."
+
+_Haec_.--"But there was no one else in the chamber when I laid
+down my purse, and when she went away it was gone."
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah! your dog Watcher was there, and the purse was
+made of calf's skin, greased with your hands, for you had been
+rolling butter; so the dog swallowed it, having got no dinner.
+Kill the dog, therefore, and you will find your purse."
+
+_Haec_.--"For the love of Heaven! how know you aught of my
+rolling butter?"
+
+_Illa_.--"A beautiful form like an angel sits at my head, and
+whispers all to me."
+
+_Haec_.--"That must be the devil, who has gone out of thee,
+for fear of the priest."
+
+_Illa_.--"Oh, no! He sits under my liver. See!--there is the
+angel again! Ha! how terribly his eyes are flashing!"
+
+_Haec_.--"Canst thou see, then? Thine eyes are close shut"
+(opening Dorothea's eyes by force, but the pupil is not to be
+seen, only the white).
+
+_Illa_.--"I see, but not through the eyes--through the
+stomach."
+
+_Haec_.--"What? Thou canst see through the stomach?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Ay, truly! I can see everything: there is Anna
+Apenborg peeping under the bed; now she lets the quilt drop in
+fright. Is it not so?"
+
+The abbess clasps her hands together, looks at the priest in
+astonishment, and cries, "For the love of God, tell me what does
+all this betoken?"
+
+To which the priest answers, "My reason is overwhelmed here, and I
+might almost believe what the ancients pretended, and Cornelius
+Agrippa also maintained, that two _daemones_ or spirits attend
+each man from infancy to the grave; and that each spirit strives
+to blend himself with the mortal, and make the human being like
+unto himself, whether it be for good or evil. [Footnote: Cornelius
+Agrippa, of the noble race of Nettersheim, natural philosopher,
+jurist, physician, soldier, necromancer, and professor of the
+black art--in fine, learned in all natural and supernatural
+wisdom, closed his restless life at Grenoble, 1535. His principal
+work, from which the above is quoted (cap. xx.), is entitled _De
+Occulta Philosophia_. That Socrates had an attendant spirit or
+demon from his youth up, whose suggestions he followed as an
+oracle, is known to us from the _Theages_ of Plato. But of
+the nature of this genius, spirit, or voice, we have no certain
+indications from the ancients, though the subject has been much
+investigated in numerous writings, beginning with the monographs
+of Apulejus and Plutarch. The first (Apulejus), _De Deo
+Socratis_, makes the strange assertion, that it was a common
+thing with the Pythagoreans to have such a spirit; so much so,
+that if any among them declared he had _not_ one, it was
+deemed strange and singular.]
+
+"However, I esteem this apparition to be truly Satan, who has
+changed himself into an angel of light to deceive more easily, as
+is his wont; therefore, as this our poor sister hath also a
+prophesying spirit, like that maiden mentioned, Acts xvi. 16, let
+us do even as St. Paul, and conjure it to leave her. But first, it
+would be advisable to see if she hath spoken truth respecting the
+dog."
+
+So my dog was killed, and there in truth was the purse of gold
+found in his stomach, to the wonderment of all, and the great joy
+of the poor damsel who had been accused of stealing it.
+Immediately after, the poor possessed one turned herself on the
+couch, sighed, opened her eyes, and asked, "Where am I?" for she
+knew nothing at all of what she had uttered during her sleep, and
+only complained of a weakness through her entire frame. [Footnote:
+That poor Dorothea was in the somnambulistic state (according to
+our phraseology) is evident. A similar instance in which the
+demoniac passed over into the magnetic state is given by Kerner,
+"History of Possession," p. 73. I must just remark here, that
+Kieser ("System of Tellurism") is probably in error when he
+asserts, from the attitudes discovered amongst some of the
+Egyptian hieroglyphics, that the ancients were acquainted with the
+mode of producing the magnetic state by manipulation or passes,
+for Jamblicbus enumerates all the modes known to the ancients of
+producing the divining crisis, in his book _De Mysteriis
+AEgyptorium_, in the chapter, _Insperatas vacat ab actione
+propria_, page 58, and never mentions manipulation amongst
+them, of which mode, indeed, Mesmer seems to have been the
+original discoverer. The ancients, too, were aware (as we are)
+that the magnetic and divining state can be produced only in young
+and somewhat simple (_simpliciores_) persons. Porphyry
+confirms this in his remarkable letter to the Egyptian priest of
+Anubis (to which I earnestly direct the physiologists), in which
+he asks, "Wherefore it happens that only simple (_aplontxronz
+kai nxonz_) and young persons were fitted for divination?" Yet
+there were many even then, as we learn from Jamblich and the later
+Psellus, who maintained the modern rationalistic view, that all
+these phenomena were produced only by a certain condition of our
+own spiritual and bodily nature; although all somnambulists affirm
+the contrary, and declare they are the result of external
+_spiritual_ influences working upon them.] After this, the
+evil spirit left her in peace for two days, and every one hoped
+that he had gone out of her; but on the third day he began to rage
+within the unfortunate maiden worse than ever, so that they had to
+send quickly for the priest to exorcise him. But behold, as he
+entered in his surplice, and uttered the salutation, "The peace of
+our Lord Jesus Christ be upon this maid," the evil spirit with the
+man's coarse voice cried out of poor Dorothea's mouth--
+
+"Come here, parson, I'll soon settle for you."
+
+Then it cursed, swore, and blasphemed God, and raged within the
+poor maiden, so that the foam gathered on her pale lips. But the
+reverend David is not to be frightened from his duty by the foul
+fiend. He kneeled down first, with all present, and prayed
+earnestly to God; then endeavoured to make the possessed maiden
+repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Creed after him; but the devil
+would not let her. He raged, roared, laughed scornfully, and
+abused the priest with such unseemly words that it was a grief and
+horror to hear them.
+
+"Wait, parson," it screamed, "in three days thou shalt be as I am.
+(Namely, a spirit; though no one knew then what the devil meant.)
+I will make thee pay for this, because thou tormentest me."
+
+But neither menaces nor blasphemies could deter the good priest.
+He lifted his eyes to heaven, and prayed that beautiful prayer
+from the Pomeranian liturgy, page 244, which he had by heart:--
+
+"O Lord Jesu Christ, Thou Son of the living God, at whose name
+every knee must bend, in heaven, upon the earth, and under the
+earth; God and man; our Saviour, our brother, our Redeemer; who
+hast conquered sin, and death, and hell, trod on the devil's head
+and destroyed his works--Thou hast promised, Thou holy Saviour,
+'that whatever we ask the Father in Thy name, Thou wilt grant unto
+us.' Therefore, by that holy promise, we pray Thee, Lord Christ,
+to look with pity upon this our sister, who hath been baptized in
+Thy holy name, redeemed by Thy precious blood, washed from all
+sin, anointed by Thy Holy Spirit, and made one with Thee, a member
+of the living temple of Thy body. Relieve her from the tyranny and
+power of the devil; graciously cast out this unclean spirit, that
+so Thy holy name may be praised and glorified, for ever and ever.
+Amen."
+
+Then he laid his hand upon the sick maiden's head, while the
+hellish fiend raged and roared more furiously than ever, so that
+all present were seized with trembling, and exclaimed--
+
+"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the strength of the
+Lord Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, I
+bid, desire, and command thee, thou unclean spirit, to come forth,
+and give place to the Holy Spirit of God! Amen."
+
+Whereupon the convulsions ceased in the sick maiden's limbs, and
+she sank down gently on her bed, as a sail falls when the cords
+are loosed and the wind ceases; and thus she lay for a long time
+quite still.
+
+After which, she said in her own natural voice--
+
+"Now I see him no more!"
+
+"Who is it that you see no more?" asked the abbess.
+
+_Illa_.--"The evil spirit, my angel says. He has gone forth
+from me. Woe, woe, alas!"
+
+_Haec_.--"Why dost thou cry, alas, when he has in truth gone
+out from thee?"
+
+_Illa.--"My angel says, he will first strangle the priest who
+has cast him forth, then will he return, as it is written in the
+Scripture (Matt. xi. 24), 'After three days I will return to my
+house from which I had gone forth.' Ah, look! the good priest is
+growing pale. But let him be comforted, for he shall have his
+reward in heaven, as the Lord saith (Matt, v.)."
+
+_Haec_.--"But why does the great God permit such power to the
+devil, if what thou sayest be true?"
+
+_Illa_ is silent.
+
+_Haec_.--"Thou art silent; what says thy angel?"
+
+_Illa_.--"He is silent also--now he speaks again."
+
+_Haec_.--"What says he then?"
+
+_Illa_.--"The wisdom of God is silent."
+
+The abbess repeats the words, while the priest falls back against
+the wall, as white as chalk, and exclaims--
+
+"Your angel is right. I feel as if a mouse were running up and
+down through my body. Alas! now the bones of my chest are
+breaking. Farewell, dear sisters; in heaven we shall meet again.
+Farewell; pray for me. I go to lay my head upon my death-pillow."
+
+And he was scarcely gone out at the door when a great cry and
+weeping arose amongst the sisters present, and the abbess asked,
+weeping likewise--
+
+"Is this, too, Sidonia's work?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Whose else? She hath never forgiven him because he
+rejected her love, and hath only delayed his death to a fitting
+opportunity."
+
+_Haec_.--"Merciful God! and will this murderous nun be brought
+to judgment?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Yes, when her hour comes, she will be burned and
+beheaded--not many years after this."
+
+_Haec_.--"And what will become of you? Will you die, if Satan
+often takes up his dwelling-place in your heart?"
+
+_Illa_.--"If you do not prevent him, I shall die; if he leave
+me, I shall grow well."
+
+_Haec_.--"What can we, miserable mortals, do to prevent him?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Jobst Bork of Saatzig has three rings, which the
+spirits made, and gave to his grandmother in Pansin. _Item_,
+he has also a beautiful daughter called Diliana, and as no second
+on earth bears her name, [Footnote: In fact, I have nowhere else
+met with the name "Diliana," whereas that of "Sidonia" is by no
+means uncommon. Virgil calls Dido "Sidonia" (AEn. i, v. 446), with
+somewhat of poetic license, for she was not born in Sidon but in
+Tyre. About the time of the Reformation this name became very
+common in the regal houses. For example, King George of Bohemia,
+Duke Henry of Saxony, Duke Franz of Westphalia, and others, had
+daughters called "Sidonia." For this reason, therefore, the proud
+knight of Stramehl probably gave the same name to his daughter. In
+the Middle Ages I find only one Sidonia or Sittavia, the spouse of
+Count Manfred of Xingelheim, who built the town of Zittau, and
+died in the year 1021.] so is there no other who equals her in
+goodness, piety, humility, chastity, and courage. If this Diliana
+lays one of the rings on my stomach, in the name of God, the devil
+can no more enter in me, and I shall be healed. But what do I
+see?--there she comes herself."
+
+_Haec_.--"Who comes?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Diliana. She has run away from her father, and will
+offer herself as servant to Sidonia, because old Wolde is sick."
+
+_Haec_.--"She must be foolish then, if this be true."
+
+_Illa_.--"Ay, she is foolish, but it is from pure love, which
+indeed is a godlike folly; for Sidonia hath bewitched her poor
+father, and he grows worse and worse, and her prayers to the
+sorceress are of no avail to help him, so she hath privately left
+her father's castle, to offer herself as servant to Sidonia; for
+no wench, far or near, will be found who will take old Wolde's
+place, and she hopes, in return for this, that the sorceress will
+give her something from her herbal to cure her old father. Ha!
+what do I see? How her beautiful hair streams behind her upon the
+wind! How she runs like a deer over the heather, and looks back
+often, for her heart is trembling lest her father might send after
+her. Now she enters the wood; see, she kneels down, and prays for
+her father and for herself, that God will keep her steps. Let us
+pray also, dear sisters, for her, for the poor priest, and for the
+unfortunate maiden."
+
+Whereupon they all fell upon their knees, and the possessed virgin
+offered up so beautiful a prayer that none had ever heard the like
+before, and every face was bedewed with tears. After which she
+awoke, and, as the first time, remembered nothing whatever of what
+had passed, or of what she had uttered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+_Of the arrival of Diliana and the death of the convent
+priest--Item, how the unfortunate corpse is torn by a wolf_.
+
+
+Scarcely had the abbess returned to her apartment when Diliana
+sprang in, with flowing hair, and her beautiful, blooming face
+looking like a rose sprinkled with morning dew. So the worthy
+matron screamed first with wonder that all should be true, then
+taking the lovely young maiden in her arms, pressed her to her
+heart, and asked--
+
+"Wherefore comest thou here, my beloved Diliana?"
+
+_Illa_.--"I have run away from my father, good mother, and
+will serve my cousin Sidonia Bork as her waiting-maid, hoping that
+in return she will give him something out of her herbal to heal
+his poor frame, which is distracted day and night with pain, even
+as she healed you and Sheriff Sparling; and she will do this, I am
+sure, because I hear that her maid, Anne Wolde, is sick, and no
+one in all the country round will take service with her, they
+say."
+
+_Haec_.--"Poor child, thou knowest not what thou dost. She
+will slay thee, or ill-treat thee in her wickedness, or may be
+bring some worse evil than either on thee."
+
+_Illa_.--"And I will do as the Lord commanded--if she strike
+me on one cheek, I will turn to her the other also, whereby she
+will be softened, and consent to help my poor father."
+
+_Haec_.--"She will help him in nothing, and then how wilt
+thou bear the disgrace of servitude?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Disgrace? If the soul suffer not disgrace, the
+body, methinks, can suffer it never."
+
+_Haec_.--"But how canst thou do the duties of a serving-wench?
+Thou, brought up the lady of a castle!"
+
+_Illa_.--"I have learned everything privately from Lisette;
+trust me, I can feed the pigs and sheep, milk the cow, and wash
+the dishes, &c."
+
+_Haec_.--"But what put it into thy head, child, to serve her
+as a maid?"
+
+_Illa_.--"When I last entreated my cousin Sidonia to help my
+poor father, she said, 'Get me a good maid who will do my business
+well, and then I shall see what can be done to help him. Now, as
+no one will take service with her, what else can I do, but play
+the trencher-woman myself, and thus save my poor father's life?"
+
+_Haec_.--"Thou hast saved it once before, as I have heard."
+
+_Illa_ is silent.
+
+_Haec_.--"How was it? Tell me, that I may see if they told me
+the story truly."
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah, good mother, speak no more of it. It was as you
+have heard, no doubt."
+
+_Haec_.--"People say that a horse threw your father, dragged
+him along, and attempted to kick him, upon which, while all the
+men-folk stood and gaped, you flew like the wind, seized the
+bridle of the animal, and held him fast till your father was up
+again."
+
+_Illa_.--"Well, mother, there was nothing very wonderful in
+that."
+
+_Haec_.--"Also, they tell that one day at the hunt you came
+upon a part of the wood where two robbers were beating a noble
+almost to death, after having plundered him. You sprang forward,
+menaced them, and finally made them take to their heels, after
+which you helped the poor wounded man upon your own palfrey, like
+a good Samaritan indeed, and without thought of the danger or
+fatigue, walked beside him, leading the horse by the bridle until
+clear out of the wood, and thus----"
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah, good mother, do not make me more red than I am;
+for know, the poor wounded noble thought so much of what I had
+done, that he must needs ask me for his bride, though truly I
+would have done the like for a beggar."
+
+_Haec_.--"Then it was George Putkammer, and thou wilt not have
+him?"
+
+_Illa_.--"I may say with Sara (Tobias iii.), 'Thou knowest,
+Lord, that I have desired no man, and have kept my soul pure from
+all evil lusts;' but indeed to save my father's life is more to me
+than a bridegroom. A bridegroom may be offered many times in life
+to a young thing like me, but a father comes never again."
+
+_Haec_.--"God grant that thou mayest save him, but never tell
+thy cousin Sidonia of George Putkammer's love, else, methinks, it
+will be all over with thee."
+
+_Illa_.--"But if she ask me, I cannot lie unto her----"
+
+Just then the cry was heard, "The priest is dying;" whereupon the
+abbess, Diliana, indeed the whole convent, rushed out to visit him
+at the glebe-house. The priest, however, was dead when they
+arrived, and his corpse had the same signature of Satan as the
+others who died before him, save only that his right hand was
+uplifted, and had stiffened into the same position in which he
+held it when he exorcised the evil spirit out of Dorothea.
+
+So they all stood around pale and trembling, while they listened
+to his poor widow telling how his breast-bone rose up higher and
+higher, until at length he died in horrible agony.
+
+But behold, the door flies open, and Sidonia, who had just
+returned from her long journey, enters, with her long black habit
+trailing after her through the chamber. Whereupon they all become
+dumb with horror and disgust, and stand there like so many marble
+or enchanted figures.
+
+"Ah, what is this I hear," exclaimed the accursed sorceress, "just
+on my return home? Is the worthy and upright man really dead? Woe!
+alas, that I could have saved him from this! How did it happen?
+Thank God that I was not here at the time, or the wicked world,
+which lays all manner of crimes upon me falsely, might have
+accused me of this likewise. Yes, I thank God a thousand times
+that I was absent! Speak, poor Barbara! how did it happen that
+your dear spouse fell so suddenly ill?"
+
+But the poor wife only trembled, and sank powerless against the
+bed where the corpse of her husband lay stretched; for when
+Sidonia advanced close to it, the red blood oozed from the mouth
+of the dead man, as if to accuse his murderess before God and man.
+
+And no one could speak a word, not even a sob was heard in answer
+to her questions; whereupon the sorceress spake again--
+
+"Alas, what is all this which has happened in my absence! Good
+Dorothea, they tell me, is possessed by a devil; but, at least,
+people can see now that I am as innocent as a new-born infant;
+though, assuredly, some terrible sinner must be lurking amongst
+us, though we know it not, or all this judgment would not come
+upon the convent. I would not willingly condemn any Christian
+soul; but, if I err not, the old dairy-woman is the person!"
+
+This she said from revenge, because the woman had refused to give
+her seven cheeses for a florin, when she was on her way to
+Stettin. Of the misfortunes which grew out of these same cheeses
+for the poor dairy-woman, we shall hear more in due time.
+
+At this horrible hypocrisy and falsehood the abbess could no
+longer hold her peace, and cried, "In my opinion, sister, you err
+much; the old dairy-mother is a pious and honest woman, as all the
+convent can testify, and attended diligently on our dead pastor
+here to be catechised."
+
+_Illa_.--"Who then, else? It was incomprehensible. A thousand
+times thank God that she had been away during it all. Now they
+must hold their tongues, they who had blackened her to the Prince;
+but his Grace had done her justice, and dismissed her honourably
+from the trial at Stettin."
+
+_Haec_.--"I have a different version of the story; for his
+Highness has commanded you to resign the sub-prioret to Dorothea
+Stettin forthwith--_item_, you are to be kept close within
+the convent walls, for which purpose I shall order the great
+padlock to be placed again upon the gates. Thus his Grace
+commands; and as we have a chapter assembled here already, I may
+announce the resolve with all due form."
+
+_Illa_.--"What! you tell me this, in the presence of the
+priest's wife and your serving-wenches? Do they belong to the
+chapter of noble virgins? I shall forward a _protocollum_ to
+his Highness, setting forth all that has happened in my absence,
+and get all the sisterhood to sign it, that the Duke may know what
+kind of folk the abbess summons to her chapter; but as touching
+the sub-prioret, it is well known to you all how it was forced
+upon me by Dorothea, as I fully explained to the princes in
+council. However, speak, sisters; if ye indeed wish this light,
+silly creature, this devil-possessed Dorothea Stettin, for your
+sub-prioress again, take her, and welcome--I will not prevent you.
+She can teach you all the shameful words which, as I hear, flow so
+liberally from her lips--eh, sisters, will ye have the wanton or
+not?"
+
+And when the nuns all cried "No, no!" the accursed witch went on--
+
+"Well, then, I bid ye all to assemble instantly in my apartment,
+to testify the same to his Highness; also to bear witness of the
+evil deeds done in my absence, for that the poor priest has died
+no natural death, is evident; therefore his Grace, I trust, will
+probe the business to the uttermost, and find out who is the evil
+Satan amongst us--ay, and tear off the deceitful mask, that my
+good name thereby may be justified before the Prince and the whole
+world."
+
+Diliana now stepped forward from amidst a crowd of serving-women
+among whom she had concealed herself, and bowed low in salutation
+to Sidonia; but the witch laughed scornfully, and cried, "What!
+has your worthy father sent you to me?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah, no; she came out of her own free will, to serve
+her good cousin Sidonia, for she heard that no maid could be found
+to hire with her, therefore she would play the serving-wench
+herself, and ask no other wages but a cure from her receipt-book
+for her dear father, who was daily growing worse and worse."
+
+_Haec_.--"She required much from her maid; and on her way home
+she had bought six little pigs--_item_, she had a cow, cocks
+and hens, geese, and seven sheep. All these the maid must feed and
+look after, besides doing all the indoor work."
+
+_Illa_.--"She could do all that easily, for old Lisa had
+instructed her in everything."
+
+_Haec_.--"But how was it that she was not ashamed to play the
+serving-wench--she, a castle and land dowered maiden, with that
+illustrious name she bore?"
+
+_Illa_.--"There was but one thing of which men need be
+ashamed, and that was sin; but this was not sin."
+
+_Haec_.--"She was very sharp with her answers. Why did she not
+talk to her father, who had made her brother's son, Otto of
+Stramehl, give up to him her two farm-houses in Zachow, with all
+the rents appertaining; but Otto had been justly punished by the
+good God, for she had just got tidings of his death."
+
+_Illa_.--"But my father will restore you all, good cousin, as
+he wrote to you himself."
+
+_Haec_.--"Ay, the old houses, may be, he'll give back, but
+will he restore the rents that have been gathering for fifty
+years? No, no, he refuses the money, even as my nephew Otto
+refused it (but God has struck him dead for it, as I said before).
+[Footnote: He died suddenly just at this time; and Sidonia
+confessed, at the eleventh torture question, that she had caused
+his death, (Daehnert, p. 430.)] Oh, truly these proud knights of my
+own kin and name stood bravely for me against the world! ay, I owe
+them many thanks for turning me out, a poor young maiden,
+unfriended and alone, till I became a world's wonder, and the
+scorn of every base and lying tongue; but persecution was ever the
+lot of the children of God."
+
+_Illa_.--"Her poor father had not the gold; for five
+rix-dollars a year would amount in fifty years to five hundred
+rix-dollars, and such a sum her father could not command."
+
+_Haec_.--"Yet he had enough to spend on horses, falcons,
+hunting, and the like; only for her he had naught."
+
+_Illa_ (kissing her hand).--"Ah, good cousin, leave him in
+peace, and help him if you can; I will serve thee as well as I am
+able--my life long, if you ask it of me."
+
+_Haec_.--"Away! thou silly, childish thing; how should the
+meek Sidonia ever bear to be served by a noble lady as thou art?
+If the world had not blackened me before, it might begin now in
+earnest, and justly."
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah, good, kind cousin, will you then heal my father
+for nothing?"
+
+_Haec_.--"Well, I shall see about it, if, perchance, it be
+God's will."
+
+_Illa_ (kissing her hand again).--"Dear cousin, how good you
+are! Now see, all of ye, what a kind cousin I have in Sidonia, who
+has promised to cure my loved father" (dancing for joy like a
+child).
+
+_Haec_.--"Come, then, all present, to my apartment; thou,
+Diliana, mayest draw up the _protocollum_, and better,
+perhaps, than a bad notary. Come!"
+
+So they all proceeded to the refectory, and the
+_protocollum_, was drawn up and signed, and Sidonia compelled
+the new convent porter to carry it off, that very night, to his
+Highness at Stettin.
+
+Meanwhile the poor widow, along with some other women, including
+the old dairy-mother, prepared the poor priest's corpse for
+burial, and they put on him his black Geneva gown--_item_,
+black plush breeches, which his brother-in-law in Jacobshagen had
+made him a present of. I note the plush breeches especially, for
+what reason my readers will soon see; and because the parsonage
+swarmed with rats, they had the corpse carried before nightfall
+into the church, and set down close beside the altar; and by
+command of the sheriff the windows were thrown open to admit fresh
+air, on account of the dead body lying there.
+
+An hour after the poor widow went into the church, to see if the
+blood yet flowed from the mouth of her dear murdered husband. But
+what sees she?--the corpse is lying on its face in the coffin in
+place of on its back. She calls the dairy-mother in, trembling
+with horror, and they turn him between them. Then they go forth,
+but return in a little while again, and see, the corpse is again
+turned upon its face. And no one is able to comprehend how the
+corpse can turn of itself, or be turned by any one, for the widow
+has one key of the church and the abbess has the other; therefore
+the poor wife, simple as she is, resolves to hide herself in the
+church for the night, and light the altar candles, that she might
+see how it happened that the corpse turned in the coffin. And the
+dairy-mother agreed to watch with her; _item_, Anna Apenborg,
+who heard the story from them; _item_, Diliana, for as
+Sidonia had no bed to give her, the young maiden had gone to sleep
+with Anna, and there the priest's maid told them of the horrible
+way her poor master's corpse had turned in the coffin. So the
+weeping widow let them all watch with her gladly, for she feared
+to be alone, but warned them to speak no word, lest the evil-doer,
+whoever it might be, should perceive them, and keep away. There
+was no man within call, either, to help them, for the porter had
+gone away to Stettin; so they four, after commending themselves to
+God, went secretly into the church at ten of the clock, laid the
+corpse right upon its back, and lit candles round it, as the
+custom is. Item, they lit the candles on the altar, and then hid
+themselves in the dark confession-box, which lay close by the
+altar, and from which they could see the coffin perfectly.
+
+After waiting for an hour or more, sighing and weeping, and when
+the hour-glass which they had brought with them showed it was the
+twelfth hour--hark! there was a noise in the coffin that made them
+all start to their feet, and at the same instant the private door
+of the nuns' choir opened gently, and something came down the
+steps of the gallery, step by step, on to the coffin, and the
+blood now froze in their veins, for they perceived that it was a
+wolf; and he laid his paws upon the corpse, and began to tear it.
+
+At this sight the poor widow screamed aloud, whereupon the wolf
+sprang back and attempted to make off, but Diliana bounded on its
+track, crying, "A wolf! a wolf!" and seeing upon the altar an old
+tin crucifix, which some of the workmen who had been opening the
+vault had brought up from below, she seized it and pursued the
+wolf out of the great gate into the churchyard, while the rest
+followed screaming. And as the wolf ran fast, and made for the
+graves, as if to hide itself, the daring virgin, not being able to
+get near enough to strike it, flung the crucifix at the unclean
+beast, when lo! the wolf suddenly disappeared, and nothing was to
+be seen but Sidonia in the clear moonlight, standing trembling
+beside a grave.
+
+"Good cousin!" exclaimed Diliana in horror, "where has the wolf
+gone? we were pursuing a wolf." Upon which the horrible and
+accursed night-raven recovered herself quickly, and pointing with
+her finger to the crucifix which lay upon the ground, said with a
+tone of mingled scorn and anger, "There, thou stupid fool! he sank
+beneath that cross!"
+
+The poor innocent child believed her, and ran forward to pick up
+the crucifix, looking in every direction around for the wolf; but
+the others, who were wiser, saw full well that the wolf had been
+none other than Sidonia herself, for her lips were bloody, and
+round them, like a beard, were sticking small black threads, which
+were indeed from the black silk hose of the poor corpse. And when
+they looked at her horrible mouth they trembled, but were silent
+from fear; all except the inquisitive Anna Apenborg, who asked,
+"Dear sister, what makes you here at midnight in the churchyard?"
+
+Here the horrible witch-demon mastered her anger, and answered in
+a melancholy, plaintive tone, "Ah, good sister Anna! I had a
+miserable toothache, so that I could not sleep, and I just crept
+down here into the fresh air, thinking it might do me good. But
+what are you all doing here by night in the churchyard?"
+
+No one replied; indeed, she seemed not to care for an answer, but
+put up her kerchief to her horrible and traitorous mouth, and
+turned away whimpering. The others, however, went back to the
+church, where the corpse truly lay upon its back as they had left
+it, but the hose were rent at the knee, and the flesh torn and
+bloody.
+
+How can I tell now of the poor widow's screams and tears?
+
+_Summa_.--The corpse was buried the next day, and as no man
+had been a witness of the night-scene, only the weeping women, no
+one would believe their strange story, neither on the last trial
+would the judges even credit so wild a tale as that Sidonia could
+change herself into a wolf, and pronounced as their opinion, that
+fear must have made the women blind, or distracted their heads,
+and that no doubt a real wolf had attacked the corpse, which was
+by no means a strange or unusual occurrence. (But I have my own
+opinion on the subject, and many who read this will think
+differently from the judges, I warrant.)
+
+For no more horrible vengeance could have been devised by
+Beelzebub himself, the chief of the devils, than this of the
+she-wolf Sidonia Bork (for Bork means wolf in the Gothic tongue),
+to revenge herself on the priest because he disdained her love.
+But why and wherefore the unfortunate corpse was found so often
+turned upon its face, that I cannot explain, and it must ever
+remain a mystery, I think. However, I shall pass on now to other
+matters, for truly we have had enough of these disgusting horrors.
+[Footnote: One of the most inveterately rooted of our
+superstitions is this belief in the existence of man-wolves. Ovid
+mentions it in his _Lycaon_, and even Herodotus. Many modern
+examples are given in Dr. Weggand's natural history, which book I
+recommend to all lovers of the marvellous, for they will find much
+in it which far surpasses what we have related above concerning
+Sidonia. The belief in a vampire, which Lord Byron has clothed
+with his genius, belongs to the same order of superstitions; and
+Horst, in his Magic Library, furnishes some very curious remarks
+concerning it. Even Luther himself believed in the possibility of
+such existences.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+_How Jobst Bork has himself carried to Marienfliess in his bed,
+to reclaim his fair young daughter Diliana--Item, how George
+Putkammer threatens Sidonia with a drawn sword._
+
+
+Now Jobst Bork of Saatzig had but this one daughter, the fair
+Diliana, whom he loved ten times more than his life; and no sooner
+had he heard of her flight than he guessed readily whither, and
+for what cause, she had flown; for, that day and night her
+thoughts were bent on how to help him, he knew well; also, the
+teachings of old Lisa were not unknown to him. So he resolved to
+go and seek her, and sent for twelve peasants to carry him, as he
+was, in his bed, to Marienfliess, for his limbs were so contracted
+from gout that he could neither ride, walk, nor stand.
+
+Accordingly, next morning early, the twelve peasants bearing the
+couch on which lay the poor knight, entered the great gate of the
+convent, and they set down the bed, by command of the knight, just
+beneath Sidonia's window. Whereupon the miserable father stretched
+forth his right hand, and cried out, as loud as he was able,
+"Sidonia Bork, I conjure you by the living God, give me my child
+again!"
+
+Three times he repeated this adjuration. So we may imagine how the
+whole convent ran together to see who was there. Anna Apenborg and
+Diliana were, however, not amongst them, for they had been up late
+watching by the corpse, and were still fast asleep; _item_,
+Sidonia, I think, was snoring likewise, for she never appeared,
+until at last she threw up the window, half-dressed, and screamed
+out, "What wants the cursed knave? Hath the devil possessed you,
+Jobst, in earnest? Good people, take the fellow to Dorothea's
+cell--they are fit company for one another!"
+
+But the knight again stretched forth his trembling arm from the
+bed, and repeated his adjuration solemnly, using the same words.
+
+At this, Sidonia's face glowed with anger; and seizing her
+broom-stick, she rushed out of the room, down the steps, and into
+the courtyard, while her long, thin, white hair flew wildly about
+her face and shoulders, and her red eyes glared like two red coals
+in her head. (I have omitted to notice that this horrible Satan's
+hag had long since got his signature in her red eyes; for, as the
+slaves of vice are known by their ash-pale colour, and the
+_black_ circle round their eyes, so the slaves of Satan are
+known by the _red_ circle.) But when the evil witch reached
+the spot where the sick knight lay on his bed, and saw the crowd
+standing round him, she changed her demeanour, and leaning on the
+broom-stick, exclaimed, "Methinks, Jobst, you are mad; and you and
+your daughter ought to be put at once into a mad-house; for, judge
+all of ye who stand here round us, how unjustly I am accused.
+Yesterday this man's daughter comes to me, and says she will play
+my serving-wench, if I promise to cure her father; just as if I
+were the Lord God, and could heal sickness as I willed; but I
+refused to take her, as was meet, and the whole convent can
+testify this of me; when, see now, here comes this fool of a
+father, and, taking the Lord's name in vain, demands his daughter
+of me, though I never had her, nor detained her; and she can go
+this moment whither she likes, as ye all know."
+
+Hereupon the abbess herself advanced to the bed, and spake--"In
+truth, you err, sir knight. Sidonia hath refused to accept your
+daughter's service! But here comes the fair maiden herself--ask
+her if it is not so."
+
+And Diliana, who had thrown on her clothes in haste, and ran with
+Anna out of her cell, sprang forward, and fell sobbing upon her
+father's bosom, who sobbed likewise, and cries, in an agitated
+voice, "God be thanked, I have thee again; now I shall die happy!
+Ah! silly child, how couldst thou run away from me! Dearest!--my
+heart's dearest!--my own joy-giving Diliana! ah, leave me not
+again before I die--it will not be long, perhaps."
+
+Here the weeping of the peasants interrupted him, for they loved
+the good knight dearly, and the rude boors sobbed, and blew their
+noses, in great affliction, like so many children. But the knight
+was too proud to beg a cure from Sidonia; he would rather
+die--better death than humiliation. So he spake--"Children, lift
+me up again, in the name of God, and bear me home; and thou, my
+Diliana, walk thou by my side, sweet girl, that my eyes may not
+lose thee for an instant."
+
+So the peasants lifted up the bed again on their shoulders; but
+Diliana exclaimed, "Wait, ah, my heart's dearest father, you do
+our good cousin Sidonia sore injustice. Only think, she has
+promised to cure you, without any recompense at all! Is it not
+true, dear cousin? Set the bed down again, good vassals! Is it not
+true, dear cousin?"
+
+As she thus spoke, and kissed the claws of the horrible hell-wolf
+with her beautiful bright lips, such an expression of rage and
+unutterable hatred passed over Sidonia's face, that all, even the
+peasants, shuddered with horror, and nearly let the bed fall from
+their trembling hands; but the fair young girl was unaware of it,
+for she was bending down upon the hand of the evil sorceress.
+
+However, my hag soon composed herself; and, no doubt, fearing the
+vengeance of Duke Francis, or hoping perhaps to cover her evil
+deeds by this one public act of charity, and so gain a good name
+before the world, and the fair opinion of their Highnesses, to
+whom she had written the day previous, she rested her arm once
+more upon the broom-stick, and turning to the crowd, thus spake--
+
+"Ye shall see now that Sidonia hath a truly Christian heart in her
+bosom; for, by the help of God, I will try and heap coals of fire
+upon mine enemy's head. Yes, he is mine enemy. None have
+persecuted me more than he and his race, though, God be good to
+me, it is my own race likewise. His false father was the first to
+malign me, and yet more guilty was his still falser mother; but
+God punished her hypocrisy with a just judgment, for she died in
+child-birth of him, so true is it what the Scripture says, 'The
+Lord abhors both the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.' Ah, she was
+deceitful beyond all I have met with upon earth--also, this her
+son, the false Clara's son, hath made my nephew, Otto of Stramehl,
+in a traitorous and unknightly manner, give him up my two
+farm-houses at Zachow, and he now refuses to restore me either my
+farms or the rents thereto belonging."
+
+Here Jobst cried out, "'Tis false, Sidonia! I shall say nothing of
+thy statements respecting my parents, for all who knew them
+testify that they were righteous and honourable their life long,
+therefore let them rest in their graves; but as touching thy
+farm-houses, thou shalt have them back, as I have already written
+to thee. The accumulated rents, however, thou canst not have, for
+it were a strange and unjust thing, truly, to demand fifty years'
+rent from me, who have only been in possession of the farms for
+half a year."
+
+"What! thou unjust knave," screamed Sidonia furiously; but then
+suddenly strangled the wrath in her throat with a convulsion, as
+if a wolf were gulping a bone, and continued--"It may be a hard
+struggle to help one of thy name, but I remember the words of my
+heavenly Bridegroom (oh, that the horrible blasphemy did not choke
+her), 'I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse
+you, do good to them that hate you;' and so, Jobst Bork, I will do
+good to thee out of my herbal, if the merciful God will assist my
+efforts, as I hope."
+
+Then she turned her hypocritical, Satanic eyes up to heaven,
+sighed, and stepping to the bed, murmured some words; then asked,
+"How is it with thee now, Jobst? is there ease already?"
+
+"Oh yes, good cousin," he answered, "I am better, much better,
+thanks, good cousin! Lift me up again, children, and bear me
+homeward--I thank thee, cousin!" and with these words he was borne
+out of the convent gates, the fair young Diliana following him
+closely; and scarcely had they left the town and reached the moor,
+when the knight called out from the bed, "Oh, it is true, my own
+dear daughter--praise be to God, I am indeed better; but I am so
+weary!"
+
+And he sank back almost immediately into a deep sleep, which
+continued till they reached the castle of Saatzig, and the bearers
+laid the bed down again in its old place in the knight's
+chamber--still he woke not.
+
+Then Diliana kneeled down beside him, and thanked the Lord with
+burning tears; sprang up again quickly, and bade them saddle her
+palfrey, for she must ride away, but would return again before a
+couple of hours. If her father woke up in the meantime, let them
+say he must not be uneasy, for that she would return soon and tell
+him herself whither and on what errand she had been.
+
+Hereupon she went to a large cabinet that stood in her father's
+chamber, took out a little casket containing three golden rings,
+mounted her palfrey, and rode back with all speed on the road to
+Marienfliess. But I must here relate how these magic golden rings
+came into possession of the family; the tradition runs as
+follows:--
+
+A long while ago the castle of Pansin, which had originally
+belonged to the Knights Templars, became a fief of the Bork
+family, and the Count who was then in possession went to the wars
+in the Holy Land, leaving his fair young wife alone in her sorrow:
+and lo! one night, as she was weeping bitterly, a spirit appeared
+in her chamber, and motioned her to rise from bed and follow him
+to the castle garden. But she was horror-struck, and crept
+trembling under the quilt. Next night the ghost again stood by her
+bed, made the same gestures even menacingly, but she was
+frightened, and hid her head beneath the clothes.
+
+The third night brought the ghost likewise; but this time the fair
+lady took courage, rose from bed, and followed him in silence down
+the steps into the castle garden, on to a small island, where the
+two streams, the Ihna and the Krampehl, meet. Here there was a
+large fire, and around it many spirits were seated. Hereupon her
+ghost spake--
+
+"Fear nothing, but fill thy apron with coals from the fire, and
+return to the castle; but, I warn thee, do not look back."
+
+The fair chatelaine did as she was desired, filled her apron, and
+returned to the castle; but all the way, close behind her, there
+was a terrible uproar, and the rushing and roaring as of many
+people. However, she never looked back, only on reaching the
+castle gates she thought she might take one peep round just as she
+was closing them; but, lo! instantly her apron was rent, and the
+coals fell hither and thither on the ground, and out of all she
+could only save three pieces, with which she rushed on to her own
+apartment, never again looking behind her, though the uproar
+continued close to her very heels all the way up to her chamber
+door; and trembling with dread, and commending herself to all the
+saints, she at last threw herself on her bed once more in safety.
+But next morning, on looking for the coals, she found three golden
+rings in their stead bearing strange inscriptions, which no man
+hath been able to decipher until this day. As to those she had
+dropped at the castle gate, they were nowhere to be seen; and on
+the fourth night the ghost comes again, and scolds her for
+disobeying his orders, but admonishes her to preserve the three
+rings safely, for if she lost one, a great misfortune would fall
+upon the village, and the castle be rent violently--_item_,
+but two of her race would ever be alive at the same time; if the
+second were lost, her race would be reduced to direst poverty; and
+if the third ring were lost, the race would disappear entirely
+from the earth.
+
+After this, when her knightly spouse returned from Jerusalem, and
+she told him the wonderful story of the three rings, he had a
+costly casket made for them, in which they were safely locked,
+with a rose of Jericho placed above them, which he had himself
+brought from the Holy Land; and this wonderful treasure has been
+preserved by the Count's descendants with jealous care, even until
+this day. I have said that no man could read the inscriptions on
+the rings: they were all the same--the three as like as the leaves
+of a trefoil. They were all large enough for the largest man's
+thumb, and made of the purest crown gold: the shield was of a
+circular form, bearing in the centre the figure of a Knight
+Templar in full armour, with spur and shield, keeping watch before
+the Temple at Jerusalem; but what the characters around the figure
+signified, I leave unsaid, and many, I am thinking, will leave
+unsaid likewise. [Footnote: It is a fact, that no one up to the
+present time has been able to decipher this very remarkable
+inscription, not even Silvestre de Sacy himself, to whom it was
+sent some years ago. Dreger's reading, given in Daehnert's
+Pomeranian Library, iv. p. 295, is manifestly wrong--_Ordo
+Hierosolymitamis_. But two of the rings are forthcoming now;
+and in fulfilment of the tradition, a tremendous rent really
+followed the loss of the first in the old castle of Pansin, which
+may yet be seen in this fine ruin, whose like is not to be found
+in all Pomerania, nor, indeed, in the north of Germany. The two
+remaining rings, with the rose of Jericho, are still to be seen in
+the original casket, which is of curious and costly workmanship,
+and this casket is again enclosed in another of iron, with strong
+hoops and clasps. Should any of my readers desire to discover the
+meaning of the inscription, he will do me the highest favour by
+communicating the same to me.]
+
+_In summa_.--When Diliana arrived with these rings, the poor
+Dorothea lay again in the devil's fetters. She roared, and
+screamed, and raged horribly, and tore her bed-clothes, and foamed
+at the mouth, and even abused and reviled the beautiful young
+virgin, who took, however, no heed thereof, but with permission of
+the abbess laid the three rings upon the stomach of the sick nun,
+who immediately became quite still, and so lay for a little while,
+after which, with a loud roar, Satan went out of her, while the
+windows clattered and the glasses rang upon the table. Then she
+fell into a deep sleep, and on awakening remembered nothing of
+what had happened, but seeing Diliana prepared to set out on her
+homeward ride, asked with wonder, "Who is this strange young
+maiden, and what does she here?"
+
+After this, as I may as well briefly notice here, Dorothea became
+quite well, and by the mercy of God remained for ever after
+untouched by the demon claws of the great enemy of mankind.
+
+Meanwhile the good Diliana felt it to be her duty to descend to
+the refectory, and thank the hell-dragon for the refreshing sleep
+which her father, Jobst, had obtained by her means. But, ah! how
+does she find my dragon? Her eyes shoot fire and flame, and in an
+instant she flew at poor Diliana on the subject of marriage--
+
+"What! she wanted to marry too! She was scarcely out of school,
+and yet already was thinking about marriage!"
+
+"Good cousin," answered the other, "I have indeed no thoughts of
+marriage, and no desire for it has ever entered my heart."
+
+"What!" screamed my dragon; "you lie to me, child! The whole
+convent talks of it; and Anna Apenborg herself told me that you
+are betrothed to that beardless boy George Putkammer. Fie! a
+fellow without a beard."
+
+Hereupon she began to spit out. But George Putkammer that instant
+clattered up the steps; for the news had come to Pansin, of which
+castle Jobst Bork had made him castellan, seeing that he set much
+store by the brave young knight, and would willingly have had him
+for his son-in-law, if his fair little daughter Diliana had not
+resisted his entreaties, _bis dalo_; the news came, I say,
+now that Diliana had run away from her father, and gone to play
+the serving-wench to Sidonia. So the knight seized his good sword,
+and went forth, like another Perseus, to save his Andromeda, and
+deliver her from the dragon, even if his own life were to pay the
+cost. He knew not that the damning dragon despised the service of
+the mild, innocent girl, nor that Jobst Bork had gone to offer
+himself as a sacrifice in her place.
+
+So he clattered up the steps, dashed open the door, and finding
+Sidonia in the very act of spitting out, he drew his sword, and
+roared--
+
+"Dare to touch even a finger of that angel beside thee, and thy
+black toad's blood shall rust upon this sword."
+
+And when Sidonia started back alarmed, he continued--
+
+"O Diliana, much loved and beautiful maiden, what does my queen
+here? Where have you heard that the angels of God seek help and
+shelter from the devil, as you have done here? Return with me to
+Saatzig, and, by my faith, some other means shall make this vile
+wretch help your poor father."
+
+Sidonia now screamed with rage--
+
+"What wants this silly varlet here, this beardless young
+profligate? Ha, youngster, thou shalt pay for thy bold, saucy
+tongue!"
+
+_Ille_.--"Hold thy accursed mouth, or I will give thee such a
+blow that thou shalt never need it again, but to groan. Listen,
+cursed beast of hell, and mark my words. Since our gracious Lord
+of Stettin handles thee so gently, and lets thee heap evil upon
+evil at thine own vile will, I and another noble have sworn
+solemnly to rid the land from such a curse. Let it cost our lives
+or not, we shall avenge our country in thy blood, unless thou
+ceasest to work all thy diabolical wickedness. Now, therefore,
+hear me. Delay one instant to heal the upright Jobst and to remove
+thy accursed witch-spell from off him, and this sword shall take a
+bloody revenge; or if but a finger ache of this beautiful maiden
+here, thy death is certain. Think not to escape. Thou mayst lame
+me, like Jobst or Wedel, or murder me as others, it will not help
+thee; for my friend hath sworn, if such happen, that he will ride
+straight to Marienfliess, and run his sword through thy body
+without a word. Two horses stand, day and night, ready saddled in
+my stall, and in a quarter of an hour we are here--he or I, it
+matters not, whichever is left alive, or both together, and we
+shall hew thee from head to foot, even as I hew this jar in two
+that stands upon the table, so that human hand shall never lift it
+more."
+
+So saying, he struck the jar with his sword, when it flew into a
+thousand pieces, and the beer dashed over the hag's clothes, so
+that she raised a cry of terror, for such speech had no man ever
+yet dared to hold to her.
+
+But the brave Diliana seized hold of the young knight's sword,
+crying--
+
+"For God's sake, sir knight, what mean you? You do my good cousin
+sore injustice; I have never seen you thus before. Sidonia hath
+declined to take me for her maid, and has helped my poor father,
+of her own free will, for he was here yesterday, and now rests
+safe in Saatzig in a deep and healthful sleep; for which cause I
+come hither to thank my good cousin for her kindness. Where is
+your justice, sir knight--your honour? Bethink you how often you
+have extolled these noble virtues yourself to me!"
+
+As the knight listened, and heard that her father was already
+cured, he marvelled greatly; inquired all the particulars, but
+shook his head at the end, saying--
+
+"'A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, and figs are not
+to be gathered from thorns.' That she has helped your father, I
+take as no sign of her kindness, but of her fear; therefore my
+resolve stands good. Sidonia, thou accursed hag, touch but one
+finger of this maiden or her father, and I will hew thee in
+pieces, even as I cleft this jar. But you, fair lady, permit me to
+ride home with you to your father's castle, and see how it stands
+with the brave knight's health, and whether he has in truth been
+cured."
+
+Meanwhile Sidonia hath spat forth again, and begins running like a
+wild cat in her rage round the room, so that her kerchief falls
+off, and her two sharp, dry, ash-coloured shoulder-bones stick up
+to sight, like pegs for hanging baskets on; and she curses and
+blasphemes the young knight and his whole race, who, however,
+cares little for her wrath, but gently taking Diliana by the hand,
+said tenderly--
+
+"Come, dear lady, come from this hell-hole, and leave the old
+dragon to dance and rage at her pleasure, as much as she likes."
+
+The lady, however, withdrew her hand, saying, "Ride back alone to
+Saatzig, sir knight! It is not seemly for a young maiden to ride
+through the wood with a young man alone. Besides, I must stay a
+little, and comfort my poor cousin for all your hard words--see
+how you have vexed her!"
+
+But Sidonia paused, and laughed loud and long, mocking the young
+knight's disappointment; so after he had again prayed the maiden
+in vain to accompany him, he left the refectory in silence, sprang
+upon his barb, and rode on to the wood, resolving to wait there
+till Diliana came up.
+
+And in truth he had to wait long. At last, however, she appeared
+through the trees, and on seeing him she was angry, and bade him
+ride his ways. So my knight entreats for the love of God that she
+will listen to him, for he can no longer live without her. By day
+and by night her image floats before him, and wherefore should she
+be so hard and cruel-hearted towards him? Better to have let him
+die at once under the hands of the murderers in the forest, than
+to let him die daily and hourly before her eyes, of the bitter
+love-death. Was he, then, really such an object of abhorrence to
+her, such a fire in her eyes? Alas! alas! could she but know his
+torments!"
+
+"Sir knight," she answered, "you are no fire in my eyes, unless it
+be the cold fire of the moon. Have patience, sir knight; why do
+you press me for a promise when you have heard my resolve?"
+
+_Ille._--"Patience! How could he have patience longer? Ah!
+her father had long since consented, but she was but as the moon
+in the brook to the child who tries to lay hold of it, since she
+had talked of the moon."
+
+_Haec_.--"Sir knight, you compel me to a confidence."
+
+_Ille._ (riding up close to her palfrey).--"Speak! dearest
+Diliana."
+
+_Haec_ (drawing back).--"Come no nearer. What if any one saw
+us. Listen! Yesterday six weeks, my grandmother, Clara von Dewitz,
+who died, as you know, giving birth to my father, appeared to me
+in a dream. She was wrapped in a bloody shroud, and her eyes were
+starting forth horribly from her head, when I shuddered with
+terror, and the poor ghost spoke--'Diliana, I am Clara von Dewitz,
+and thou art the one selected to avenge me, provided thou dost
+keep thy virgin honour pure in thought, word, and deed!' With
+this she disappeared, and now, sir knight, judge for yourself what
+is henceforth my duty."
+
+Now the knight tried to laugh her out of her belief in this ghost
+story, said it was all fancy, the same had often happened to
+himself; not once, but a hundred times, had he seen a ghost, as he
+thought, but found out afterwards there was no ghost at all in the
+business, &c. However, his words and smiles have no effect. She
+knew what she knew, and whether she was deceived or not about this
+apparition of her grandmother, time would show, and _bis
+dalo_, she would remain obedient to her commands, and preserve
+her virgin honour pure in thought, word, and deed, even if it were
+to be for her life long, until she saw clearly what purpose God
+destined her to accomplish.
+
+Now as my poor knight began his solicitations again yet more
+earnestly, the fair maiden drew herself up gravely, and said,
+"Adieu! sir knight, ride your own path, I go mine! At present I
+shall select no spouse; but if I ever give my hand to man, you
+shall be the selected one, sir knight, and no other. Now return to
+your own castle. If you wish to see my father, come to-morrow to
+Saatzig, for I shall ride there alone now. Farewell!"
+
+And off she cantered on her palfrey, hop, hop, hop, as fast as an
+arrow from a bow, and her red feathers gleamed through the green
+leaves of the forest trees, so that my knight stood watching, her,
+filled with as much joy as sorrow, for the maiden now seemed to
+him so beautiful, and he watched her as long as a glimpse of her
+feathers could be had through the trees, and then he listened as
+long as the tramp of her palfrey could be heard (for he told me
+this himself), then he alighted, and kneeling down, prayed to God
+the Lord to bless this beautiful darling of his heart, whilst he
+sobbed like a child, for sorrow and the sweet anguish of love.
+Then he rose up, and obedient to her commands, took his way back
+to the stately castle of Pansin.
+
+But next morning early, he was at Saatzig, where the good knight
+Jobst receives him joyfully at table, quite restored to health.
+Nor has aught evil happened to the beautiful Diliana, as the
+knight feared from the spitting of Sidonia. However, he heard from
+the maiden, that after he left the refectory, Sidonia spat a
+second time, probably to remove the first witch-spell (for no
+doubt she feared the knight would hold his word, and hew her in
+pieces if aught evil happened to the fair young maiden). And for
+the rest, the knight ceased to trouble Diliana with his
+solicitations; but he made father and daughter promise to give him
+instant notice if but a finger ached, and he would instantly find
+one sure way to bind the wild beast of Marienfliess for ever,
+namely, with his good sword.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+_How my gracious Lord Bishop Franciscus and the reverend Dr.
+Joel go to the Jews' school at Old Stettin, in order to steal the
+Schem Hamphorasch, and how the enterprise finishes with a sound
+cudgelling._
+
+
+Meanwhile my gracious Duke Francis was puzzling his brain, day and
+night, how best to bind this malicious dragon, and hinder her from
+utterly destroying his whole race. He wanted to effect, by the
+agency of spirits, what George Putkammer had already effected by
+his good sword, as we have related before. So his Highness must
+needs send for Dr. Joel, in all haste, to Old Stettin, to ask him
+whether it were not possible to break the power of the evil witch
+by spiritual agency; for as to human, it was out of the question,
+since no one could be found to lay hands on her. They would as
+soon touch the bodily Satan himself.
+
+Whereupon my _magister_ answered, that he had already, to
+serve his Grace, consulted divers spirits as to what could be done
+in this sore strait, but none would undertake a contest with
+Sidonia's spirit, which was powerful and strong, and, acting in
+concert always with the spirit of old Wolde, had the might in
+himself, as it were, of two demons. For this reason they must try
+two modes of casting out the evil thing. The first was to exorcise
+the sun-spirit, according to the form in the _Clavicula
+Salomonis_, for he was the most powerful of all the astral
+spirits, and question him as to what should be done. But for this
+conjuration a pure young virgin was necessary, not merely pure in
+act, but in thought, in soul. Even her very garments must be woven
+by a virgin's hands, otherwise the holy angels, who neither marry
+nor are given in marriage, would not appear. For they obey only
+the summons of one who is as pure as themselves, in body and in
+soul. Such a being he had once possessed in his only little
+daughter, a virgin of eighteen years. All her clothes had been
+spun and woven by virgin hands, and as she had a brave spirit, she
+had often helped him to cite the astral angel _Och_. But the
+last time she had assisted at the conjuration, the angel himself
+had strangled her with his own hands, twisting her neck so
+horribly that her tongue hung out of her mouth. And thus she died
+before his very face. The cause was, as he, poor father, had heard
+afterwards, that she had suffered a young student to kiss her, and
+so the pure virginity of her soul was lost. Now if the gracious
+Prince knew of any such pure virgin, who besides must be brave and
+courageous as an amazon, matters would proceed easily, they would
+make an end of the demon Sidonia without the least difficulty. He
+had the clothes ready, all spun by virgins; _item_, all the
+necessary _instruments_.
+
+So my gracious Prince sits and thinks awhile, then shakes his
+head, and says, laughing, "Methinks such a virgin were rarer than
+a white raven. It would be easy to find one pure in form, but a
+virgin pure in soul--and then as brave as Deborah and Judith. Mag.
+Joel, such a virgin, methinks, is not to be had, and you did evil
+to put your poor little daughter to such a test. For woman-flesh
+is a weak flesh since the day of Eve, as we all know. But you
+talked of a second mode: what is it? Let me hear."
+
+Hereupon the _magister_ sighed for grief, wiped his eyes, and
+spake--"Ah, yes! you are right, my good lord. Fool that I was, I
+might have had my little daughter still, for though she only
+allowed the student to kiss her, yet by that one kiss the pure
+mirror of her soul was dimmed, and before the angels of God she
+was henceforth unholy. However, as touching the second method, it
+is the Schem Hamphorasch, through which all things are possible."
+
+_The Duke_.--"What is the Schem Hamphorasch?"
+
+_Ille_.--"The seventy names of the Most High and ever-blessed
+God, according to the seventy nations, and the seventy tongues,
+and the seventy elders of Moses, and the seventy disciples of
+Christ, and the seventy weeks of Daniel. To him who knows this
+name, the holy God will appear again as He did aforetime in the
+days of the patriarchs."
+
+_The Duke_.--"You are raving, good Joel; yet--but how can
+this be possible?"
+
+_Ille_.--"I am not raving, gracious Prince; for tell me,
+wherefore is it that the great God does not appear to men now as
+He did in times long past? I answer, because we no longer know His
+name. This name, or the Schem Hamphorasch, Adam knew in Paradise,
+and therefore spake with God, as well as with all animals and
+plants. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, &c.--all knew this name, and
+performed their wonders by it alone. But when the beastly and
+idolatrous Jews gave themselves over to covetousness and all
+uncleanness, they forgot this holy name; so, as a punishment, they
+endured a year of slavery for each of the seventy names which they
+had forgotten; and we find them, therefore, serving seventy years
+in Babylonian bonds. After this they never learned it again, and
+all miracles and wonders ceased from amongst them, until the
+ever-blessed God sent His Son into the world, to teach them once
+more the revelation of the Schem Hamphorasch; and to all who
+believed on Him He freely imparted this name, by which also they
+worked wonders; and that it might be fixed for ever in their
+hearts, He taught them the blessed Pater Noster, in which they
+were bid each day to repeat the words, 'Hallowed be Thy name.'
+Yea, even in that last glorious high-priestly prayer of His--in
+face of the bitter anguish and death that was awaiting Him, He
+says, 'Father, keep them in Thy name;' or, as Luther translates
+it, 'Keep them above Thy name.' For how easily this name is lost,
+we learn from David, who says that he spelt it over in the night,
+so that it might not pass from his mind (Psalm cxix. 55).
+_Item_, after the resurrection, He gave command to go and
+baptize all nations-not in the name of the Father, of the Son, and
+of the Holy Ghost, as Luther has falsely rendered the passage, but
+_for_, or _by_, the name-that such might always be kept
+before their eyes, and never more pass away from the knowledge of
+mankind. And the holy apostles faithfully kept it, and St. Paul
+made it known to the heathen, as we learn (Acts ix, 15). And all
+miracles that they performed were by this name. Now the knowledge
+remained also with the early Christians, and each person was
+baptized _by_ this name; and he who knew it by heart could
+work miracles likewise, as we know by Justin Martyr and others,
+who have written of the power and miraculous gifts of the early
+Church. But when the pure doctrine became corrupted, and the
+Christian Church (like the Jewish of former times) gave itself up
+to idolatry, masses, image-worship, and the like, the knowledge of
+the mystic name was withdrawn, and all miracles have ceased in the
+Church from that up to this day."
+
+While Magister Joel so spake, his Highness Duke Francis fell into
+a deep fit of musing. At last he exclaimed, "Good Joel, you are a
+fanatic, an enthusiast--surely we know the name of God; or what
+hinders us from knowing it?"
+
+_Ille_.--"You err, my gracious Prince, for this name is the
+holy and mystic _Tetragrammaton_, 'Jehovah,' which is the
+chief and highest name of God, and which truly is found written in
+the Scriptures; but of the true pronunciation of the name no man
+knoweth at this day, for the letters J H V H are wanting in all
+the old manuscripts." [Footnote: For those who are unacquainted
+with Hebrew, I shall just observe here, that, in fact, the proper
+pronunciation of the name "Jehovah" is a vexed question with the
+learned up to this hour. Ewald, one of the latest authorities, and
+who has taken much trouble in investigating the subject, says,
+that there is the highest probability that the word should be
+pronounced "Jahve," signifying, He who should come
+(hoxrcho'menos), for which reason the Baptist's disciples asked
+Christ (Matt. xi. 13), "Art Thou He who should come?"--namely, the
+Messias, Jahve, or, as we call it, Jehovah. Compare Heb. x. 37;
+Hagg. ii. 6, 7; Rev. i. 8. I must observe, next, that all the
+Theophanisms (God manifestations) recorded in the Old Testament,
+to which the theosophistic, cabalistic Dr. Joel refers, were
+considered by the earty Christian fathers as manifestations to the
+senses, not of _God_--whom no man hath seen or can see--but
+of the asarchos Christ. Even the elder rabbins understand, in
+these Theophanisms, not _God_, but the Mediator between God
+and the world--the angel Metatron. For the rest, I need scarcely
+remark that the exegesis of Dr. Joel is false throughout. The
+Bible has been so tortured to support each man's individual,
+strange, crude dogma, that it is no wonder even Protestants are
+falling back upon _tradition_ as the best and surest
+interpreter of Scripture, and the clearest light to read it by.]
+
+Magister Joel continues--"But be comforted; there were some
+faithful souls on the earth, who did not entirely lose the
+remembrance of the Schem Hamphorasch; and your Highness will
+wonder to hear, that even in this very town the secret exists, in
+the possession of an old man, who has it, really and truly, locked
+up in his trunk, though, I confess, he is as great a rogue himself
+as ever breathed."
+
+Hereupon his Grace jumped up, and embraced the _magister_.
+"Let him not spare the gold; only bring him this treasure. How
+could it be done? How did the man get it? Let him tell the whole
+story."
+
+_Ille_.--"It was a long story; but he would just give it in
+brief:--A Jew out of Anklam, named Benjamin, went on a pilgrimage
+to Jerusalem; and having suffered great hardships and distress by
+the way, was taken in and sheltered by a hermit, in the desert,
+who converted and baptized him. The Jew stayed with the old hermit
+till he died; and the old man, as a costly legacy, left him the
+Schem Hamphorasch, written on seventy palm-leaves. But as Benjamin
+could not read a word of Hebrew, he resolved to return home to
+Pomerania, where his mother's brother lived-the Rabbi Reuben Ben
+Joachai, of Stettin. However, when he presented himself, poor and
+naked as he was, at his uncle's door, the rabbi pushed him away,
+and shut the door in his face the moment he said he had a favour
+to ask of him. This treatment so afflicted Benjamin that he took
+ill on his return to the inn; but having nothing wherewith to pay
+the host, he sent a message to his uncle, the rabbi, bidding him
+come to him, as he had a secret to impart.
+
+"When the rabbi arrived, Benjamin asked, 'What he would give for
+the Schem Hamphorasch, for people told him that it was the
+greatest of all treasures?--to him, however, it was useless, since
+he could not read Hebrew.'
+
+"Hereat the rabbi's eyes sparkled; he took the palm-leaves in his
+hand, and seeing that all was correct, offered a ducat for the
+whole; this Benjamin refused. Whereupon, after many cunning
+efforts to possess himself of it, which were all in vain, the
+rabbi had to depart without the treasure. However, Benjamin,
+suspecting that he would come back for it in a little while, cut
+out two of the leaves from revenge, and when my knave of a rabbi
+returned, he sold him the incomplete copy for five ducats at last.
+
+"This same Benjamin I (the _magister_) attended afterwards in
+hospital when he was dying, and as the poor wretch had no money,
+he gave me himself, upon his death-bed, the two abstracted
+palm-leaves out of gratitude, being all he had to offer. These two
+are now in my possession, and if we could only obtain the other
+portion, your Highness would have the holy and mystic Schem
+Hamphorasch complete. But how to get it? Gold he had already
+offered in vain to the Jew, Rabbi Reuben, who even denied having
+the Schem Hamphorasch at all; but his servant, Meir, for a good
+bribe, told him in confidence that his master, the rabbi, really
+and in truth had this treasure, though the knave denied the fact
+to him. It lay in a drawer in the Jewish school, beside the book
+of the law or the _Thora_, and my magister thought they might
+manage to gain admittance some night into the Jews' school by
+bribing the man Meir well. Then they could easily possess
+themselves of the Schem Hamphorasch (which indeed was of no use to
+the old knave of a rabbi), for the drawer could be known at once
+by the tapestry which hung before it, in imitation of the veil of
+the Temple. If they once had the treasure, the angel Metatron
+would appear to them, the mightiest of all angels, and his
+Highness could not only obtain his protection against the devil's
+magic of the sorceress of Marienfliess, but also induce him to
+look graciously upon his Grace's dear spouse, whom this evil
+dragon had bewitched, as all the world saw plainly, so that she
+remained childless, as well as all the other dukes and duchesses
+of dear Pomerania land, who were rendered barren and unfruitful
+likewise by some demon spell."
+
+Hereupon his Grace cried out with joy, "True, true! I will make
+him do all that; and when I obtain the Schem Hamphorasch I will
+learn it myself by heart, and repeat it day and night like King
+David, so that it never shall go out of my head--_item_, all
+priests in the land shall learn it by heart; and I will gather
+them together three times a year at Camyn, and hear them myself,
+man by man, repeat this said Schem Hamphorasch, so that never more
+can it pass from the memory of our Church, as it did from that of
+the filthy Jews, or the impure Christians of the Papacy."
+
+_Summa_.--The rabbi's servant, Meir, is bribed, and he
+promises to admit them both next night into the Jews' school, for
+there was to be a meeting there of the elders, and his master, the
+said Rabbi Reuben Ben Joachai, was to examine a _moranu_ or
+teacher. They could conceal themselves in the women's gallery,
+where no one would discover them, and after every one had gone,
+slip down and take what they pleased out of the drawer, then make
+off, for he would leave the door open for them--that was all he
+could do--his master might come, &c.
+
+So all was done as agreed upon; the Prince and Mag. Joel crept up
+to the women's gallery, in which were little bull's-eyes, through
+which they could see clearly all that was going on; and scarcely
+were the candles lit when my knave of a rabbi enters (he was a
+long, dry carl, with a white beard, and ragged coat bound round
+the waist with a girdle); _item_, the candidate, I think he
+was called David, a little man, with curly red beard, and long red
+locks falling down at each side upon his breast; _item_,
+seven elders, and they place themselves in their great hats round
+a table. Then the Rabbi Reuben demands of the candidate to pay his
+dues first, for a knave had lately run away without paying them at
+all; the dues were ten ducats.
+
+When the candidate had reckoned down the gold, Rabbi Reuben
+commenced to question him in Hebrew; whereupon the other excused
+himself, said he knew Hebrew, but could not answer in it; prayed,
+therefore, the master would conduct the examination in German.
+Hereupon my knave of a rabbi looked grave, seemed to think that
+would be impossible, consulted with the elders, and finally asked
+them, if the candidate David paid down each of them two ducats,
+and ten to himself, would they consent to have the examination
+conducted in the language of the German sow? Would they consent to
+this, out of great charity and mercy to the candidate David?
+
+"Yea, yea--even so let it be," screamed the elders; "God is
+merciful likewise."
+
+So my David again unbuttoned his coat, and reckoned down the fine;
+whereupon the examination began in German, and I shall here note
+part of it down, that all men may know what horrible blindness and
+folly has fallen upon the Jews, by permission of the Lord God,
+since they imprecated the blood of Christ upon their own heads.
+Not even amongst the blindest of the heathen have such base, low,
+grovelling superstitions and dogmas been discovered as these
+accursed Jews have forged for themselves since the dispersion, and
+collected in the Talmud. Well may the blessed Luther say, "If a
+Christian seeks instruction in the Scripture from a Jew, what else
+is it than seeking sight from the blind, reason from the mad, life
+from the dead, grace and truth from the devil?"
+
+And this madness and blindness of the accursed race would never
+have been fully known, only that the examination was held in
+German (for in general it is conducted in Hebrew, to please the
+vain Jews), by which means the Prince and Doctor Joel heard every
+word, and wrote it all down on their return home; and when
+afterwards his Highness Duke Francis succeeded to the government,
+he banished this rabbi and the elders, with their whole forge of
+blasphemy and lies, for ever from his capital.
+
+Here, therefore, are some of the most remarkable questions; but I
+must premise that K. means my Knave, namely, the rabbi, and C. the
+_Candidates_. [Footnote: Lest my reader might think that what
+follows is a malicious invention of my own to bring the Jews into
+disrepute, I shall add the precise page of the Talmud from which
+each question is taken (from Eisenmenger's "Judaism Unveiled,"
+Koenigsberg, 1711, and other sources). The Jews, I know, endeavour
+to deny that they hold these doctrines; but it is nevertheless
+quite true that all their learned men who have been converted to
+Christianity since the time of the Reformation confessed that
+these dogmas were intimately woven into their belief, and formed
+its groundwork.]
+
+_K_.--"Which is holier, the Talmud or the Scriptures?"
+
+_C_.--"I think the Talmud."
+
+_K_.--"Wherefore, wherefore?"
+
+_C_.--"Because Raf Aschi hath said, he who goes from the
+Halacha (the Talmudical teaching) to the Scripture will have no
+more luck; [Footnote: Talmud, tract. Chagiga, fol. X. col. I. Raf
+Aschi, the author the Gemara, a portion of the Talmud.] and good
+luck we all prize dearly above all things--eh, my master?"
+
+_K._--"Right, right. Who is he like who reads only in the
+Scripture, and not in the Talmud? What say our fathers of blessed
+memory?"
+
+_C_.--"They say that he is like one who has no God."
+[Footnote: Talmud, tract. Eruvin.]
+
+_K._--"Can the holy and ever-blessed One sin? What is the
+greatest sin He has committed?"
+
+_C._--"First; He made the moon smaller than the sun."
+
+_K._--"Our rabbis of blessed memory are doubtful upon this
+point, as Jonathan, the son of Usiel, says, in the Targum of
+Moses. [Footnote: The ancient Chaldee paraphrase of the Old
+Testament is called Targum by the Jews. It is split into the
+Jerusalemitan, and the Babylonian Targum.] But which is the
+greatest sin of all that the holy and ever-blessed One committed?"
+
+_C._--"I think it was when He forswore himself. [Footnote:
+Talmud, tract. Sanhedrin.] For He first swore, saith Rabbi
+Eliaser, that the children of Israel, who were wandering in the
+desert, should have no part in eternal life; and then His oath lay
+heavy on Him, so that He got the angel Mi to absolve Him
+therefrom."
+
+_K._--"It was, in truth, a great sin, but a greater,
+methinks, was, that He created the accursed Nazarene--the
+Jesu--the idol of the children of Edom. I mean the Christ."
+
+_C._--"Rabbi, that is not in the Talmud."
+
+_K._--"Fool! it is the same. _I_ have said it, therefore
+it is true. Knowest thou not, when a rabbi says, 'This thy right
+hand is thy left, and this thy left hand is thy right,' thou must
+believe it, or thou wilt be dammed?" [Footnote: Targum upon Deut.
+xvii. 11.]
+
+Here all the elders cried out--
+
+"Yea, yea; the word of a rabbi is more to be esteemed than the
+words of the law, and their words are more beautiful than the
+words of the prophets, for they are words of the living God."
+[Footnote: Talmud, tract. Sanhedrin.]
+
+_K._--"Now answer--what says the Talmud of that Adam Belial,
+that Jesu, that crucified, of whom the Christians say that he was
+God?"
+
+_C._--"That he was the son of an evil woman, who learned
+sorcery in Egypt, and he hid the sorcery in his flesh, in a wound
+which he made therein, and with the magic he deceived the people,
+and turned them from God. He practised idolatry with a baked
+stone, and prostrated himself before his own idol; and finally, as
+a fit punishment, he was first stoned to death, upon the eve of
+the passover, and then hung up upon a cross made of a
+cabbage-stalk, after which, Onkelos, the fallen Titus' sister's
+son, conjured him up out of hell." [Footnote: Although the Jews
+deny that Christ is named in the Talmud, saying that another Jesus
+is meant, yet Eisenmenger has fully proved the contrary, on the
+most convincing grounds.]
+
+_K_.--"Is it possible to find more detestable Gojim than
+these impure and dumb children of Talvus--these Christian swine?"
+[Footnote: Children of Edom, children of harlots, swine, dogs,
+abominations, worshippers of the crucified, idolaters, are titles
+of honour freely given to Christians by the rabbis.--See
+Eisenmenger.]
+
+_C_.--"No; that were impossible."
+
+_K_.--"It permitted us to deceive them and spoil them of
+their goods."
+
+_C_.--"Eh? Wherefore are we the selected people, if we could
+not spoil the children of Edom? They are our slaves, for we have
+gold and they have none."
+
+_K_.--"Good, good; but where is it written that we may spoil
+the swine and take their goods?"
+
+_C_.--"The Talmud says, it is permitted to deceive a Goi, and
+take his goods." [Footnote: Tract. Bava Mezia.]
+
+_K_.--"Forget not the principal passage, Tract. Megilla, fol.
+13--'What, is it then permitted to the just to deal deceitfully?
+And he answered, Yea, for it is written, With the pure thou shalt
+be pure, and with the froward thou shalt learn frowardness.'
+[Footnote: 2 Sam. xxii. 27; a specimen of how the Talmudists
+interpret the Bible.] _Item_, it is written expressly in the
+_Parascha Bereschith_, 'It is permitted to the just to deal
+deceitfully, even as Jacob dealt;' and if our fathers of blessed
+memory acted thus, we were fools indeed not to skin the Christian
+dogs and flog them to the death. (Spitting out.) Curse on the
+unclean swine!"
+
+_C._--"I will be no such fool, rabbi, and if they compel me
+to take an oath, I will do as Rabbi Akkiva of blessed memory."
+
+_K._--"Right, my son; pity thou canst not speak Hebrew;
+methinks then thou wouldst have been a light in Israel. Speak--how
+hath the Rabbi Akkiva sworn?"
+
+_C._--"The Talmud says, 'Hereupon the Rabbi Akkiva took the
+oath with his lips, but in his heart he abjured it." [Footnote:
+Talmud, tract. Calla.]
+
+_K._--"The Rabbi Akkiva, of blessed memory, was but a sorry
+liver. Canst thou, too, defend the violation of the marriage vow?"
+
+_C._--"With the wives of the unclean Christian dogs,
+wherefore not? For Moses saith (Lev. xx. 10), 'He who committeth
+adultery with his _neighbour's_ wife shall be put to death;'
+so saith the Talmud, the wives of _others_ are excepted; and
+Rabbi Solomon expressly says on this passage, that under the word
+'others' the wives of Gojim, or the Christian dogs, are meant."
+[Footnote: Eisenmenger quotes a prayer-book of the Jews on this
+subject, called _The Great Tephilla_.]
+
+_K._--"Yea, cursed be they and their whole race. Dost thou
+curse them daily, as is thy duty?"
+
+_C._--"My duty is to curse them once; I curse them thrice."
+[Footnote: Talmud, tract. Sanhedrin.]
+
+_K._--"Then wilt thou be recompensed threefold when Messias
+comes, and the fine dishes and the fine clothes will grow out of
+the blessed earth of themselves, that it will be a pleasure to see
+them. [Footnote: Talmud, tract. Kethuvoth.] Speak--what saith the
+Talmud? How large will the grapes then be?"
+
+_C._--"So large that a man will put a single grape in the
+corner of his house, and tap it as if it were a beer-barrel. Is
+not that almost too large, master!"
+
+_K_.--"Look at my pert wisehead! Knowest thou not, that he
+who mocks the words of the wise goes straight to hell, as happened
+to that disciple who laughed at the Rabbi Jochanan when he said
+that precious stones should be set in the gates of Jerusalem,
+three ells long and three ells broad? [Footnote: Talmud, tract
+Bava Bathra.] _Item_, hast thou not read how Rabbi Jacob Ben
+Dosethai went one morning from Lud to Ono for three miles in pure
+honey, or how Rabbi Ben Levi saw grapes in the land of Canaan so
+large that he mistook them for fatted calves. What, then, will it
+not be when Messias comes? [Footnote: In tractat Kethuvoth] But
+who will _not_ partake these blessings?"
+
+_C._--"The accursed swine, the Christians." [Footnote:
+Eisenmenger ii. 777, &c. On this point he brings forward numerous
+quotations from the later rabbinical writings; for it is certain
+that on _this_ subject the Talmud judges more mildly.]
+
+_K_.--"Wherefore not?"
+
+_C._--"Because they cat swine's flesh, and believe on the
+Talvus, who deceived the people through his sorceries."
+
+_K_.--"All true; but when the Talmud says that the impure
+Nazarene brought all his sorceries out of Egypt, what say our
+rabbis of blessed memory against that?"
+
+_C._--"That he secretly stole the Schem Hamphorasch out of
+the Temple, and stitched it into his flesh." [Footnote: An extract
+from the horrible book of curses against the Saviour, the
+_Toledotk Jeschu_, is given in Eisenmenger; the entire is
+printed in Dr. Wagenseil's _Tela Ignea Satanae_]
+
+_K_.--"What is the Schem Hamphorasch?"
+
+_C._--"God's wonder, His greatest! the seventy names of the
+holy and ever-blessed God; and to him who knows them will the
+angel Metatron appear, as he appeared to our forefathers, and all
+stones can he turn to diamonds, and all loam to gold."
+
+_K_.--"Dost thou know, my son, that I myself possess this
+Schem Hamphorasch?"
+
+_C_ (clasping his hands).--"Wonder of God! can it be? And
+have you all these riches?"
+
+_K_.--"One of the accursed Christian dogs deceived me, and
+kept back two of the leaves (may God plague him in eternity for
+it), but still it effects much. I sell the holy Schem in little
+pieces, as a cure for all diseases; yea, even bits no larger than
+a grain will bring three ducats; _item_, I sell bits of it to
+the dying to lay upon their stomachs, that so they may gain
+eternal blessedness. Wilt thou buy a little grain too--eh? Ask the
+elders here if ever better physic were found than the least grain
+of dust from the holy Schem Hamphorasch?"
+
+So the elders swore as my knave bid them, and said that no better
+physic could be, and told of the various diseases which it had
+cured in their own persons; _item_, that no Jew in the whole
+town was without a morsel, be it large or small, to lay on his
+stomach when dying; "but the greater the piece," said the rabbi,
+"the greater the blessedness."
+
+Now as the red-haired disciple seemed much inclined to purchase a
+bit, the rabbi went over to the drawer, withdrew the tapestry, and
+lifting up the golden jad, [Footnote: The jad--a gold or silver
+hand with which a priest pointed out each line to the reader of
+the Tora.] pointed smilingly to the palm-leaves therein with it.
+"This," he said to the disciple, "was the ever-blessed Schem
+Hamphorasch itself, if he had not already believed his words."
+
+Meanwhile the aforesaid Meir, the rabbi's servant, crept forth
+from under the women's gallery, and spake--"Now may ye stick two
+Christian dogs dead, who are hiding here to steal the blessed
+golden treasure from my master the rabbi: the clock has struck
+eleven, and the Christian swine are snoring in all quarters of the
+city. Up to the women's gallery! up to the women's gallery! There
+they sit! Their six ducats I have safe: kill the dumb
+uncircumcised dogs! strike them dead! For a ducat I will fling
+them into the Oder. Come, come! here are knives! here are knives."
+
+When the Duke and Doctor Joel heard all this, and saw all through
+the little bulls'-eyes, they jumped up and clattered down the
+stairs, the Duke drawing his dagger, which by good luck he had
+brought with him. But the Jews are already on them, and the rabbi
+strikes the Duke on the face with the golden jad, screaming--
+
+"Accursed dog! there is one golden blow for thee, and a second
+golden blow for thee, and a third golden blow for thee; put them
+out to interest, and thou wilt have enough to buy the Schem
+Hamphorasch." And the others fell upon the doctor, beating him
+till their fists were bloody, and sticking him with their knives.
+So my _magister_ roared, "Oh, gracious lord! tell your name,
+I beseech you, or in truth they will murder us--they will beat us
+to death!"
+
+But the Duke had hit the rabbi such a blow with his dagger across
+the hand, that the golden jad fell to the ground, and the Duke,
+leaning his back against a pillar, hewed right and left, and kept
+them all at bay.
+
+But this did not help, for the traitor knave, Meir, creeping along
+on his knees, got hold of the Duke's foot, and lifting it up
+suddenly in the air, made him lose his balance, and my gracious
+Prince stumbled forward, and the dagger fell far from his hand,
+upon which he cried out, "Listen, ye cursed Jewish brood! I am
+your Prince, the Duke of Pomerania! My brother shall make ye pay
+for this: your flesh shall be torn from the bones, and flung to
+dogs by to-morrow, if you do not instantly give free passage to me
+and my attendant." Then taking his signet from his finger, he held
+it up, and cried, "Look here, ye cursed brood; here are my
+arms--the ducal Pomeranian arms--behold! behold!"
+
+At this hearing, the rabbi turned as pale as chalk, and all the
+others started back from Dr. Joel, trembling with terror, while
+the Duke continued--"We came not here to steal the Schem
+Hamphorasch, as your traitor knave has given out, but to hear your
+accursed Satan's crew with our own ears, which also we have done."
+
+"Oh, your Highness," cried the rabbi, "it was a jest--all a mere
+innocent jest. The accursed knave is guilty of all. Come, gracious
+Prince, I will unbar the door; it was a jest--may I perish if it
+was anything more than a merry jest, all this you have heard."
+
+And scarcely had the door been closed upon the Duke and Dr. Joel,
+when they heard the Jews inside falling upon the traitorous knave
+and beating him till he roared for pain, as if in truth they had
+stuck him on a pike. But they cared little what became of him, and
+hastened back with all speed to the ducal residence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+_How the Duke Francis seeks a virgin at Marienfliess to cite the
+angel Och for him--Of Sidonia's evil plot thereupon, and the
+terrible uproar caused thereby in the convent._
+
+
+After his Highness found that to obtain the Schem Hamphorasch was
+an impossible thing, he resolved to seek throughout all Pomerania
+for a pure and brave-hearted virgin, by whose aid he could break
+Sidonia's demon spells, and preserve his whole princely race from
+fearful and certain destruction. He therefore addressed a circular
+to all the abbesses, conjecturing that if such a virgin were to be
+found, it could only be in a cloister; and this was the letter:--
+
+"FRANCISCUS, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, DUKE OF POMERANIA, STETTIN,
+CASSUBEN, AND WENDEN, BISHOP OF CAMYN, PRINCE OP RUGEN, COUNT OF
+GUTZKOW, LORD OF THE LANDS OF LAUENBURG AND BUTOW, &C.
+
+"WORTHY ABBESS, TRUSTY AND GOOD FRIEND,--Be it known to you that
+we have immediate need of the services of a pure virgin--but in
+all honour--and are diligently seeking for such throughout our
+ducal and ecclesiastical states; but understand, not alone a
+virgin in act--for they can be met with in every house--but a
+virgin in soul, pure in thought and word, for by her agency we
+mean to build up a holy and virtuous work; as Gregory Nyssensis
+says (_De Virginitate_, Opp. tom. ii. fol. 593):--'Virginity
+must be the fundamentum upon which all virtue is built up, then
+are the works of virtue noble and holy; but virginity, which is
+only of the form, and exists not in the soul, is nothing but a
+jewel of gold in a swine's snout, or a pearl which is trodden
+under foot of swine.'
+
+"Further, the said virgin must be of a brave, steadfast, and
+man-like spirit, who fears nothing, and can defy death and the
+devil, if need be.
+
+"If ye have such a virgin, upon whom, with God's help, I can build
+up my great virtuous work, send her to our court without delay,
+and know that we shall watch over such virgin with all princely
+goodness and clemency; but know also, that if on trial such virgin
+is not found pure in thought and word, great danger is in store
+for her, perchance even death.
+
+"Signatum Camyn, 1st September 1617.
+
+"FRANCISCUS, _manu sua_.
+
+"_Postscriptum._--Are the winter gloves ready? Forget not to
+send them with the beer-waggon; my canons esteem them highly."
+
+When this letter reached the abbess of Marienfliess by the
+beer-waggon of the honourable chapter of Camyn, she was much
+troubled as to how she ought to proceed. Truly there were two
+young novices lately arrived, of about fifteen or sixteen, named
+Anna Holborne and Catharina Maria von Wedel. These the abbess
+thought would assuredly suit his Highness--_item_, they were
+of a wonderful brave spirit, and had gone down at night to the
+church to chase away the martens, though they bit them cruelly,
+because they prevented the people sleeping; and, further, never
+feared any ghost-work or devil's work that might be in the church,
+but laughed over it. When these same virgins, however, heard what
+the abbess wanted, they excused themselves, and said they had not
+courage to peril their lives, though in truth they were pure
+virgins in thought and word. But they could not hold their tongue
+quiet, but must needs blab (alas, woe!) to Anna Apenborg, who runs
+off instantly to the refectory to Sidonia, whom she had appeased
+by means of some sausages, and tells her the whole story, and of
+his Grace's wonderful letter.
+
+So my hag laughed--never suspecting that she was the cause of
+all--and said, "She would soon make out if such a virgin were to
+be found in the convent; but would Anna promise secrecy?" And when
+the other asseverated that she would be as silent as a stone in
+the earth, my hag continued--
+
+"I have got a receipt from that learned man, Albertus Magnus--his
+book upon women--and we shall try it upon the nuns; but thou must
+hold thy tongue, Anna."
+
+"Oh, she would sooner have her tongue cut out than blab a word;
+but what was the receipt?"
+
+Here Sidonia answered, "She would soon see. She would give the
+sisterhood a little of her fine beer to drink, with some of it
+therein; and as she had got fresh sausages, and other good things
+in plenty by her, she would pray the abbess and the whole convent
+to dine with her on the following Monday; then the dear sister
+should see wonders."
+
+And in truth my hag was so shameless, that on Sunday, after
+church, she prayed all the virgins, saying, "Would the dear
+sisters eat their mid-day meal with her next day, to show that
+they forgave her, if she had ever been over-hasty? Ah, God! she
+loved peace above everything; but they must each bring their own
+can, for she had not cans enough for all; and her new beer was
+worth tasting-a better beer had she never brewed."
+
+_Summa_.--All the sisterhood gladly accepted her invitation,
+thinking from her Christian mildness of speech in the church that
+she indeed wished to be reconciled to them; _item_, the
+abbess promised to come, holding that compliance brings grace, but
+harshness disfavour; but here the reverse was the case.
+
+Early on this same Monday, the waggon returned laden with beer for
+the honourable chapter, and the abbess despatched an answer by it
+to his Highness the Bishop, as follows:--
+
+MOST REVEREND BISHOP AND ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE, MY FRIENDLY SERVICES
+TO YOUR GRACE.
+
+"GRACIOUS LORD,--Concerning the matter of which your Highness
+writes, I think there is no lack here of such virgins as you
+describe, but none are of steadfast enough heart to brave the
+great danger with which your Highness says they are menaced; for
+we have a nature like all women, and are weak and faint-hearted.
+But, methinks, there is one brave enough, and in all things pure,
+who would be of the service your Grace demands--I mean Diliana
+Bork, daughter of Jobst Bork of Saatzig; I counsel your Grace,
+therefore, to try her.
+
+"Now, as touching the winter gloves, I shall send some along with
+this; but Sidonia will knit no gloves, and says, 'The fat canons
+are like enough to old women already, without putting gloves on
+them;' by which your Highness may judge of her impure mouth. God
+better her.
+
+"Your princely Grace's and my reverend Bishop's humble servant and
+subject,
+
+"MAGDELENA V. PETERSDORFIN.
+
+"Marienfliess, 5th Sept. 1617."
+
+Now when twelve o'clock struck, and mid-day shone on the blessed
+land, all the nuns proceeded in their long black habits and white
+veils to Sidonia's apartment, each with her beer-can in her hand
+(woe is me! how soon they rushed back again in storm and anger).
+
+Then they sat down to the sausages and other good morsels, while
+Anna Apenborg was on tiptoe of expectation to see what would
+happen; and old Wolde was there quite well again (for ill weeds
+never die--no winter is cold enough for that). And she filled each
+of their cans with the beer which Sidonia had brewed, after a new
+formula; but, lo! no sooner had they tasted it than first Dorothea
+Stettin starts up, and Sidonia asks what ails her.
+
+To which she answers: "She is not superstitious, but there was
+surely something wrong in the beer. She felt quite strange." And
+she left the room, then another, and another--in fine, all who had
+tasted the beer started up in like manner and followed Dorothea.
+Only the abbess and some others who had not partaken of it
+remained. Anna Apenborg had disappeared amongst the first, and
+presently a terrific cry was heard from the courtyard, as if not
+alone the cloister, but the whole world was in flames. Curses,
+cries, menaces, threats, screams, all mingled together, and shouts
+of "Run for a broomstick! the accursed witch! the evil hag! let us
+punish her for this!"
+
+Whereupon the abbess jumps up, flings open the window, and beholds
+Dorothea Stettin so changed in mien, voice, gestures--in fine, in
+her whole being--that she was hardly to be recognised. She looks
+black and blue in the face, has her fists clenched, stamps with
+her feet, and screams.
+
+"For God's sake! what ails you, Dorothea?" asked the alarmed
+abbess. But no answer can she hear; for all the virgins scream,
+roar, howl, and curse in one grand chorus, as if indeed the last
+day itself were come. So she runs down the steps as quick as she
+can, while Sidonia looks out at the window, and laughing, said,
+"Eh, dear sisters, this is a strange pastime you have got; better
+come up quickly, or the pudding will be cold."
+
+At this the screeching and howling were redoubled, and Dorothea
+spat up at the window, and another flung up a broomstick, so that
+my hag got a bloody nose, and drew in her head screaming now
+likewise.
+
+Then they all wanted to rush up into the refectory, each armed
+with a broomstick to punish Sidonia, and they would not heed the
+abbess, who still vainly asked what had angered them? but the
+other sisters who were descending met them half way, and prevented
+their ascent; whereupon the abbess raised her voice and called out
+loud: "Whoever does not return instantly at my command as abbess,
+shall be imprisoned forthwith, and condemned to bread and water
+for a whole day! _Item_, whoever speaks until I address her,
+shall be kept half-a-day on bread and water. Now Dorothea,
+speak--you alone, and let every one of you descend the steps and
+return here to the courtyard." This menace availed at last, and
+with many sobs and groans, Dorothea at last told of Sidonia's
+horrible plot, as Anna Apenborg had explained to them. How she had
+invited them on purpose to disgrace them for ever in the eyes of
+the Prince and of the whole world, and the abbess could now judge
+herself, if they had not a right to be angry. But she must have
+her sub-prioret back again, out of which the scandalous witch had
+tricked her, and the abbess must forthwith despatch a messenger to
+his Highness, praying him to chase this unclean beast out of the
+convent, and into the streets again, from which they had taken
+her; for neither God nor man had peace or rest from her.
+
+Sidonia overhearing this from the window, stretched out her grey
+head again, wiped away with her hand the blood that was streaming
+from her nose, and then menacing the abbess with her bloody fist,
+screamed out, "Write if you dare! write if you dare!" So the
+curses, howls, yells, screeches, all break loose again; some pitch
+their shoes up at the windows, others let fly the broomsticks at
+the old hag, and Dorothea cried out, "Let all pure and honourable
+virgins follow me!" Yet still a great many of the sisters gathered
+round the abbess, weeping and wringing their hands, and praying
+for peace, declaring they would not leave her; but all the younger
+nuns, particularly they who had drunk of Sidonia's accursed beer,
+followed the sub-prioress, and as the discontented Roman people
+withdrew once to the Aventine mount, so the cloister malcontents
+withdrew to the Muhlenberg, howling and sobbing, and casting
+themselves on the ground from despair. In vain the abbess ran
+after them, conjuring them not to expose themselves before God and
+man: it was all useless, my virgins screamed in chorus--"No, that
+they would never do, but to the cloister they would not return
+till the princely answer arrived, expelling the dragon for ever.
+Let what would become of them, they would not return. The jewel of
+their honour was dearer to them than life."
+
+Now Sidonia was watching all this from her window, and as she
+justly feared that now in earnest the wrath and anger of the two
+Princes would fall on her, she goes straight to the abbess, who
+sits in her cell weeping and wringing her hands, menaces her again
+with her bloody fist, and says, "Will you write? will you write?
+ay, you may, but you will never live to hear the answer!" Upon
+which, murmuring to herself, she left the chamber. What can the
+poor abbess do? And the cry now comes to her, that not only the
+miller and his men, but half the town likewise, are gathered round
+the virgins. Oh, what a scandal! She wrings her hands in prayer to
+God, and at last resolves to lay down her poor life, so that she
+may fulfil her hard duty bravely as beseems her, goes then
+straight to the Muhlenberg and arranges the evil business
+thus:--Let the virgins return instantly to the cloister, and she
+would herself write to the Duke, and despatch the messenger this
+very night. But she begged for just two hours to herself, that she
+might make her will, and send for the sheriff's secretary to draw
+it up properly; also to search for her shroud which lay in her
+chest. For since her cruel children demanded her life, she would
+give it to them. The Duke's answer she would never live to hear.
+So Sidonia had prophesied just now.
+
+Then she descended the hill, chanting that beautiful hymn of Dr.
+Nicolai's, while the virgins followed, and some lifted up their
+weeping voices in unison with hers:--
+
+    'Awake! the watchers on the tower
+ Chant aloud the midnight hour;
+  Awake, thou bride Jerusalem!
+ Through the city's gloomy porches
+  See the flashing bridal torches;
+    Awake, thou bride Jerusalem!
+  Come forth, come forth, ye virgin choir,
+  Light your lamps with altar fire!
+    Hallelujah! in His pride
+    Comes the Bridegroom to His bride;
+      Awake, thou fair Jerusalem!
+
+    Zion heard the watchers singing,
+  From her couch in beauty springing,
+    She wakes, and hastens joyful out.
+  Lo! He comes in heavenly beauty,
+  Strong in love, in grace, in duty;
+    Now her heart is free from doubt.
+  Light and glory flash before Him,
+  Heaven's star is shining o'er Him,
+    On His brow the kingly crown,
+    For the Bridegroom is THE SON.
+    Hallelujah! follow all
+    To the heavenly bridal-hall,
+    There the Lamb holds festival!'
+
+But behold, as they reached the convent gates, chanting their
+heavenly melody, there stood the demon-witch, dancing and singing
+her hellish melody--
+
+   "Also kleien und also kratzen,
+   Meine Hunde und meine Katzen."
+
+And old Wolde and the cat, in his little red stockings, danced
+right and left beside her.
+
+At this horrible sight the poor virgins scampered off hither and
+thither to their cells, like doves flying to their nests, without
+uttering a word, only the abbess exclaimed--"But two hours, my
+children, in the church!" Whereupon she goes, makes her will, and
+prepares her shroud. _Item_, sends for the dairy-mother,
+gives her the shroud. _Item_, a sack of moss and hops to make
+a pillow for her coffin, for such she would like her poor corpse
+to have. Then sends for the convent carpenter, and makes him take
+her measure for a coffin; and, lastly, strengthened in God, goes
+to the church to write her own death-warrant, namely, the letter
+to his Highness. Yet many of the virgins, for fear of Sidonia,
+refused to affix their signatures thereto, among whom was Anna
+Apenborg, who, as soon as she left the church, ran up to the
+refectory to chatter over the whole business with Sidonia.
+_Item_, how the new convent-porter was to be sent that same
+midnight with the letter to his Highness.
+
+So Sidonia began now to scold, because Anna could not hold her
+tongue, and had betrayed her secret to the sisters. But the other
+said--
+
+"She thought it was all a pure jest, and had told them for fun,
+that they might have a good laugh together; for how could she know
+that they would all grow raging mad like that!"
+
+So my hag forgave her, and bid her sit down and eat some sausage
+for her supper, in return for the news she had brought her.
+Meanwhile, she would write a letter to his Highness likewise, and
+Anna should give it to the convent-porter, to take with him along
+with that of the abbess. This was the letter:--
+
+"SERENE PRINCE AND GRACIOUS LORD,--
+
+"Now will your Highness perceive, by this writing, how faithful
+and true a servant I am to your princely house, though the godless
+world has raised up an evil cry against me in your Highness's
+ears. Gracious Prince, the reverend Lord Bishop wrote to our
+worthy abbess of Marienfliess, bidding her seek out for him a
+virgin, pure in thought, word, and deed, by whose help he might
+perform some great virtue-work. Now, the abbess confided her
+perplexities on the matter to me, as sub-prioress; whereupon I
+said, 'That to serve your Highness, I would show whether such a
+virgin were in the convent, but she must keep silence;' this she
+promised. Whereon I brewed a drink, according to Albertus
+Magnus--it is at the 95th page--and bade them all to dinner, when
+I secretly put the drink into some of my best beer. Now Albertus
+states that the drink will have no effect on a pure virgin, only
+on the reverse. Your Highness, therefore, may judge what sort of
+sisterhood we have, when, no sooner had they drank, than almost
+all rose up raging mad, and rushed out of the convent into the
+courtyard, where such a _scandalum_ arose--screams, curses,
+yells, and shrieks, that your Grace may surely judge no honourable
+virgin was to be found amongst them. In fact, the worthy abbess, a
+few others, and I myself, were the only persons who remained
+unaffected by the draught. Therefore, I counsel our gracious
+Bishop to select one from amongst us, for his great virtue-work.
+I, indeed, have the strongest heart of all, and the bravest
+courage.
+
+"But, assuredly, the worst of all these light wantons was Dorothea
+Stettin, from whom I received the sub-prioret, because, as your
+Grace heard, she held unchaste discourse during her illness, and,
+therefore, is as much suited to be sub-prioress as a jewel of gold
+to a swine's snout. She, therefore, drew off all the other raging
+wantons to the Muhlenberg, declaring that they would not return
+until I, who had done this great service to my Lord Bishop, was
+turned out into the streets. Then the lewd common folk gathered
+round the sisters on the hill, who betrayed their own evil case,
+methinks, by their rage, and mocked and jeered them, till the
+abbess herself had to go forth and entreat them to return; but
+they despised her, and the sheriff must needs gallop up with his
+horsewhip, and whip them before him, but in vain; the evil is too
+strong in them. They still said, that I, unfortunate maiden, 'must
+be accused to your Highness of all this scandal,' for the silly
+abbess had betrayed what I had done; 'and that till I was turned
+out of the convent, they would not come back.' Now the poor abbess
+fell sick at such base contempt and insult to her authority, and,
+feeling her end near, she made her will, and took out the shroud
+from her trunk, and had the carpenter to measure her for her
+coffin, and at last consented to write to your Grace, because by
+no other means would these evil wantons be satisfied, or the great
+scandal and disgrace to the convent be averted. But, I think, if
+your Grace would write her a private letter, she would change her
+opinion (Ah, yes, the hag means her to receive it!) and make a far
+different resolve when your Grace sees how true and faithful I
+have acted as,
+
+"Your Highness's most humble maiden,
+
+"SIDONIA BORK,
+
+"Otto Bork's only and unfortunate orphan.
+
+"Marienfliess, 6th Sept. 1617.
+
+"P.S.--If she dies, I pray your Grace to hold me in your
+remembrance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+_Of the death of the abbess, Magdalena von Petersdorfin--Item,
+how Duke Francis makes Jobst Bork and his daughter, Diliana, come
+to Camyn, and what happens there._
+
+
+Now the messenger had hardly departed, when Sidonia arranged her
+food for three days, laid two new brooms crosswise under the
+table; _item_, had her bath carried up by old Wolde from the
+kitchen to the refectory, and lastly, locked herself up, giving
+out that she must and will pray to God to pardon her fallen
+sisters for all their sins, and that up to Friday night no one
+should disturb her.
+
+_Summa_.-The unfortunate abbess ascertained, but too well,
+that same night, what such praying betokened. She screamed out,
+like all the others, that it seemed as if a miner was in her
+breast, and hammered there, striving to raise up the bones; and
+the good dairy-mother, a pious and tender-hearted creature, not
+very old either, never left her side during all her martyrdom. For
+three days and three nights she took no rest, but watched by the
+sick abbess; lifting her from the bed to the cold floor, and from
+the cold floor to the bed, and refused a piece of gold the abbess
+offered for her trouble, begging it might be given to Lisa
+Behlken, a little gipsy maiden, whose thievish and heathenish
+parents had left her behind them in the town, but who had been
+taken in and sheltered by the poor widow, though she had enough to
+do to get her living alone.
+
+_Summa_.--On the Friday night the worthy abbess expired in
+horrible tortures; and, in consequence, such a fear and horror
+fell upon the whole convent, that they trembled and shook like
+aspen leaves, and bitterly repented now of their folly with loud
+cries and weeping, in having, with their own hands, helped to cast
+down their only stay and support.
+
+So, next morning, Sidonia summoned the whole chapter to her
+apartment, drew herself up like a black adder, as she was, menaced
+them with her dry fists, and spake--
+
+"See now, ye shameless wantons, what ye have done! Ye have
+murdered the worthy abbess, though she told you herself, it would
+be her death if ye came not down from the Muhlenberg; giving up
+your honour and the honour of our convent, ye vile crew, as a prey
+to the malicious world. In vain have I cried to God three days and
+three nights for pardon for your heavy sins, and for support for
+our dear mother; your sins are an offence to the Lord, and He
+would not hearken to me. For this morning I hear, to my great
+terror, that the good abbess, just as I feared, has been done to
+death by your vile obduracy and disobedience."
+
+As the blasphemous devil thus went on, all were silent round her.
+Even Dorothea Stettin had not a word--for, though her wrath was
+great, her fear was yet greater. Only Anna Apenborg, who had her
+eyes always about, cried out--"See there, dear sisters, there
+comes the porter back from Old Stettin. Ah, that he should find
+our good mother in her coffin, as she prophesied!"
+
+So Sidonia despatches a sister for the princely letter, and bids
+the others remain; and when the letter is brought, Sidonia breaks
+the seal, runs over the contents to herself, laughs, and then
+says, at last--
+
+"Listen to the message his Grace sends to our, alas! now dead
+mother, as a kind and just father!" Reads--
+
+"HONOURABLE MOTHER, WORTHY ABBESS,--
+
+"As our serene and gracious Prince is just setting off to hunt
+with the illustrious patricio, Philip Heinhofer of Augsburg, his
+Grace bids me say that he will visit the convent himself next
+month on his way to New Stettin, to advise with you, and
+investigate, in person, this evil business with the sisterhood. As
+to Sidonia, he reserves a different treatment for her.
+
+"Your good son and friend, "FRANCISCA BLODOW," Ducal Secretary.
+
+"Old Stettin, 8th Sept. 1617."
+
+Hereupon she stuck the letter in her pocket, clapped her hand over
+it, and continued--
+
+"That is what I call a just, good father; and if I had not
+interposed with Christian charity, who knows what heaps of vile,
+shameless wantons might not be cast forth upon the streets. But I
+remember the words of my heavenly Bridegroom--'Forgive, and it
+shall be forgiven you!' And now to end, good sisters, since our
+worthy mother is no more, we must have a ruler over this
+uproarious convent. Therefore, let us proceed at once to elect her
+successor from amongst ourselves, that so our gracious Prince may
+be able to confirm your choice on his arrival next month. Proceed,
+then, since ye are all assembled here, that the convent may know
+in whom it may place confidence. Speak, Anna Apenborg, whom dost
+thou name for an abbess, my much-loved sister?"
+
+With Sidonia's sausage still in her stomach, what else could she
+do, but bow and say--
+
+"I think no one so worthy as our good sister Sidonia."
+
+Hereat laughed my hag, and went on to ask the other virgins; and
+all those who had not been affected by the hellish drink cried out
+"Sidonia!" while those who had been were afraid to dissent, and so
+cried out too for her. In fine, "Sidonia! Sidonia!" was heard from
+all lips, and so they took her for their abbess, whom but a few
+days before they would have flung out into the streets. Even
+Dorothea Stettin consented, on condition that she received back
+the sub-prioret. Whereupon Sidonia loosed her veil with the one
+golden key, and restored it to Dorothea with the Judas kiss; then
+bid her fetch the veil of the abbess with the two golden keys, for
+this was an heirloom in the cloister. When it arrived, Sidonia
+goes to her trunk, and takes out a large regal cape that looked
+like ermine, but was only white cat's skin. She hung this upon her
+neck, and exclaimed--
+
+"Hitherto I was lady of castles and lands--now, as abbess, I am of
+princely rank, for many princesses were abbesses in the time of
+the Papacy; therefore, it is meet that I array myself as a
+princess, and I command ye all to treat me as a princess, and
+honour me as your abbess, and kiss my hand, which is the proper,
+due, and fitting reverence to be paid to my rank. The late worthy
+matron, indeed, suffered ye to treat her with little respect, and
+your late vile contempt of her on the Muhlenberg shows (God be
+good to us!) but too well what fruit her neglect of these things
+brought forth."
+
+Truly the pride of this hag was equal to her wickedness; for mark,
+already for a year and a day before this, she had made the
+convent-porter and others bring her white cats and black cats;
+these she killed and skinned, and sewed the black cats' tails on
+the white skins, to make a show withal, for ermine skin was above
+her price, I am thinking. Yet no one knew wherefore she killed the
+cats, and for what cause. Now it all came to light.
+
+No doubt these circumstances gave rise to that error which runs
+through the Pomeranian cotemporary authors, who assert all of
+them, that Sidonia was abbess of Marienfliess--though, in truth,
+she never was duly elected. [Footnote: Cramer and Mikraelius make
+the same mistake.]
+
+But let us return now to his Highness, Bishop Francis. He sent to
+Jobst Bork, bidding him come instantly to Camyn with his little
+daughter, Diliana. They knew nothing of his Grace's purpose, but
+were soon informed on entering the episcopal palace. For, after
+his Highness, with whom was Doctor Joel, desired them to be
+seated, the Doctor placed Diliana upon a stool, close to the
+window, beside which my magister had hung up a magic screen on
+purpose; and, as the blessed sun poured in through the window,
+Diliana's beautiful, delicate form was shadowed forth upon the
+pure white linen with which it was covered. Whereupon the magister
+bent down, stuck his hands on his fat sides, knit his brows, and
+contemplated the image steadily for some time; then, starting up,
+gave a loud huzzah, and cried out--
+
+"Gracious Prince, we have found it, we have found it! Here is a
+pure virgin. I know by the formation of the shadows along the
+virgin-linen that she is pure as the sun-angel--as the ascending
+morning dew."
+
+Here Jobst Bork shook his head, and the maiden blushed to her
+finger-ends, and looked down ashamed in her lap. Then his Grace
+said, laughing--
+
+"Do not wonder at our joy, for the destiny of our whole race, good
+Jobst, lies now in you and your daughter's hands. Through the
+witchcraft of Sidonia Bork, as ye know, and all the world
+testifies, our ancient race has been melted away till but a few
+dry twigs remain, and no young eyes look up to us when our old
+eyes are failing. But what Sidonia Bork has destroyed, Diliana
+Bork, by God's help, can restore. For, mark! after all human help
+had been found of no avail, this man whom ye see here, a
+_magister artium_ of Grypswald, Joel by name, inquired of the
+spirits how the great evil could be turned away from our race; but
+they declared that none knew except the sun-angel, because he saw
+all that passed upon the earth. This angel, however, being the
+greatest of all spirits, will not appear unless a brave and pure
+virgin--pure in thought, word, and work--stand within the magic
+circle; therefore, we have sent for your daughter, hearing that
+she was such an one, and the magister hath proved the truth of the
+report even now. It rests with you, therefore, much-prized
+Diliana, sister to the angels in purity, and last and only hope of
+my perishing race, to save them at my earnest petition."
+
+When he ended, Diliana remained quite silent, but Jobst wriggled
+on his chair, and at last spake--
+
+"Serene Prince, you know me for the most obedient of your
+subjects, but with the devil's work I will have nothing to do;
+besides, I see not why you must trouble spirits about my evil
+cousin, the sorceress of Marienfliess. Send to my castellan of
+Pansin, George Putkammer, he will thrust her in a sack to-night,
+and carry her to-morrow to Camyn--_that_ you may believe, my
+Lord Duke!"
+
+Then he related what the brave knight had done, and how Sidonia
+had in truth left him in peace ever since, all through fear of the
+young knight's good sword. His Grace wondered much at this. "Never
+could I have believed that so stouthearted a man was to be found
+in all Pomerania--one that would dare to touch this notorious
+witch."
+
+And he fell into deep musing, keeping his eyes upon Jobst's
+jack-boots, in which he had stuck a great hunting-knife. At last
+he spake--"But if I seize her and burn her, will it be better with
+our race? I trow not; for she can leave the evil spell on us,
+perhaps, even if she were a hundred times burned. Her magic hath
+great power. Will burning her break the spell? No; we must act
+more cunningly with the dragon. Earth cannot help us in this. And
+here you see, Jobst, why I demand your daughter's help to conjure
+the angels of God."
+
+"Then seek another virgin, my Prince," answered Jobst, "mine you
+shall never have. I have been once in the devil's claws, and I
+won't thrust myself into them again--much less my only darling
+child, whom I love a thousand times better than my life. No, no,
+her body and soul shall never be endangered by my consent."
+
+"But where is the danger?" said the Duke. "It is with an angel,
+not a devil, your daughter is to speak; and surely no evil, then,
+could happen to our dear and chaste little sister?"
+
+At last Diliana exclaimed eagerly, "Ah; can it be possible to
+speak with the blessed angels, as the evil women speak with the
+devil? In truth, I would like to see an angel."
+
+At this the Duke looked significantly at the magister, who
+immediately advanced, and began to explain the _opus magicum et
+theurgicum_ to the maiden, as follows:--
+
+"You know, fair young virgin, that our Saviour saith of the
+innocent children, 'Their angels always see the face of My Father
+which is in heaven' (Matt xviii.). _Item/_, St. Paul (Heb.
+i.): 'Are not the angels ministering spirits, sent forth for the
+service of those who are heirs of salvation?' This is no new
+doctrine, but one as old as the world. For you know, further, that
+Adam, Noah, the holy patriarchs, the prophets, &c., talked with
+angels, because their faith was great. _Item_, you know that,
+even in the New Testament, angels were stated to have appeared and
+talked with men; but later still, during the papal times even, the
+angels of God appeared to divers persons, as was well known, and
+of their own free will. For they did not always appear of _free
+will_; and therefore, from the beginning, conjurations were
+employed to _compel/_ them, and fragments of these have come
+down to us _ex traditione_, as we magistri say, from the time
+of Shem, the son of Noah, who revealed them to his son Misraim;
+and so, from son to son, they have reached to our day, and are
+still powerful."
+
+"But," spake Diliana, "is it then possible for man to compel
+angels?"
+
+_Ille_.-"Yes, by three different modes; first, through the
+word, or the intellectual vinculum; secondly, through the heavenly
+bodies, or the astral vinculum; lastly, through the earthly
+creatures, or the elementary vinculum.
+
+"Respecting first the _word_, you know that all things were
+made by it, and without it was nothing made that is made. With God
+the Lord, therefore, _word_ and _thing_ are one and the
+same; for when He speaks it is done; He commands, and it stands
+there. Also, with our father, Adam, was the _word_
+all-powerful; for he ruled over all beasts of the field, and
+birds, and creeping things by the _name_ which he gave unto
+them, that is, by the _word_ (Gen. ii.). This power, too, the
+word of Noah possessed, and by it he drew the beasts into the ark
+(Gen. vii.); for we do not read that he _drave_ them, which
+would be necessary now, but they _went_ into the ark after
+him, two and two, _i.e._, compelled by the power of his word.
+" Next follows the _astral vinculum, i.e._, the sympathy
+between us and those heavenly bodies or stars wherein the angels
+dwell or rule. We must know their divers aspects, configurations,
+risings, settings, and the like, also the precise time, hour, and
+minute in which they exercise an influence over angel, man, and
+lower creatures, according as the ancients, and particularly the
+Chaldeans have taught us; for spirit cannot influence spirit at
+every moment, but only at particular times and under particular
+circumstances.
+
+"Lastly comes the _elementary vinculum_, or the sympathy which
+binds all earthly creatures together--men, animals, plants,
+stones, vapours and exhalations, &c., but above all, this
+cementing sympathy is strongest in pure virgins, as you,
+much-praised Diliana----"
+
+Hereupon she spake surprised: "How can all this be? Is it not
+folly to suppose that the blessed angels could be compelled by
+influences from plants and stones?"
+
+"It is no folly, dear maiden, but a great and profound truth,
+which I will demonstrate to you briefly. Everything throughout the
+universe is effected by two opposing forces, _attraction_ or
+sympathy, _repulsion_ or antipathy. All things in heaven as
+well as upon earth act on each other by means of these two
+forces."
+
+"And as all within, above, beneath, in the heaven and on the
+earth, are types insensibly repeated of one grand archetype, so we
+find that the sun himself is a magnet, and by his different poles
+repels or attracts the planets, and amongst them our earth; in
+winter he repels her, and she moves darkly and mournfully along;
+in spring he begins to draw her towards him, and she comes
+joyfully, amidst songs of the holy angels, out of night and
+darkness, like a bride into the arms of her beloved. And though no
+ear upon earth can mark this song, yet the sympathies of each
+creature are attracted and excited thereby, and man, beast, bird,
+fish, tree, flower, grass, stones, all exhale forth their
+subtlest, most spiritual, sweetest life to blend with the holy
+singers.
+
+"O maiden, maiden, this is no folly! Truly might we say that each
+thing feels, for each thing loves and hates--the animate as the
+inanimate, the earthly as the heavenly, the visible as the
+invisible. For what is love but attraction or sympathy towards
+some object, whereby we desire to blend with it? And what is hate
+but repulsion or antipathy, whereby we are forced to fly or recoil
+from it?
+
+"We, silly men, tear and tatter to pieces the rude coarse
+_materia_ of things, and think we know the nature of an
+object, because, like a child with a mirror, we break it to find
+the image. But the life of the thing--the inner, hidden mystic
+life of _sympathies_--of this we know nothing, and yet we
+call ourselves wise!
+
+"But what is the signification of this widespread law of love and
+hate which rules the universe as far as we know? Nothing else than
+the dark signature of _faith_ impressed upon every creature.
+For what the thing loves, that is its God; and what the thing
+hates, that is its devil. So when the upright and perfect soul
+ascends to God, the source of all attraction, God descends to it
+in sympathy, and blends with it, as Christ says, 'Whoso loves Me,
+and keeps My word, My Father will love him, and we will come and
+take up our abode with him.' But if the perverted soul descends to
+the source of all repulsion, which is the devil, God will turn
+away from him, and he will hate God and love the devil, as our
+blessed Saviour says (Matt. vi.), 'No man can serve two masters,
+he will _hate_ one and _love_ the other; ye cannot serve
+God and the devil.' Such will be the law of the universe until the
+desire of all creatures is fulfilled, until the living Word again
+descends from heaven, and says, 'Let there be light!' and the new
+light will fall upon the soul. Then will the old serpent be cast
+out of the new heaven and the new earth. Hate and repulsion will
+exist no longer, but as Esaias saith, 'The wolf and the lamb, the
+leopard and the kid, will lie down together, and the child may
+play fearlessly upon the den of the adder.' Hallelujah! Then will
+creation be free! then will it pass from the bondage of corruption
+into the lordly freedom of the children of God (Rom. viii.), and
+
+                   Sun,
+               Moon, stars,
+            Earth, angels, men,
+           Beasts, plants, stones,
+           The living as the dead,
+           The great as the small,
+          The visible as the invisible,
+              Will find at last
+          The source of all attraction
+    Which they have ever ardently desired--
+      Round which they will ever circle
+        Day on day, night on night,
+Century on century, millennium on millennium,
+      Lost in the infinite and eternal abyss
+                Of all love--
+                   GOD!"
+
+ [Footnote: Almost with the last words of this sketch, the second
+part of _Kosmos_, by Alexander von Humboldt, came to my hand.
+Evidently the great author (who so well deserves immortality for
+his contributions to science) views the world also as a whole; and
+wherever in ancient or modern times, even a glimpse of this
+doctrine can be found, he quotes it and brings it to light. But
+yet, in a most incomprehensible manner, he has passed over those
+very systems in which, above all others, this idea finds ample
+room; namely, the new platonism of the ancients (the Theurgic
+Philosophy), and the later Cabalistic, Alchymical, Mystic
+Philosophy (White Magic), from which system the deductions of
+Magister Joel are borrowed; but above all, we must name
+_Plotinus_, as the father of the new Platonists, to whom
+nature is throughout but one vast unity, one divine totality, one
+power united with one life. In later times, we find that Albertus
+Magnus, Cornelius Agrippa, and Theophrastus Paracelsus held the
+same view. The latter uses the above word "attraction" in the
+sense of sympathy. And the systems of these philosophers, which
+are in many places full of profound truths, are based upon this
+idea.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+_Jobst Bork takes away his daughter by force from the Duke and
+Dr. Joel; also is strengthened in his unbelief by Dr.
+Cramer--Item, how my gracious Prince arrives at Marienfliess, and
+there vehemently menaces Sidonia._
+
+
+When Dr. Joel had ended his discourse, the fair young virgin's
+eyes overflowed with tears; and clasping her hands, she sprang up,
+and seizing my magister by the hand, exclaimed, "O sir, let us see
+the blessed angels! Let me talk with them."
+
+But her father, who was dry and brief in speech, tore her away,
+saying sourly, "Have done, child; you must not dare to do it!"
+Then they all prayed him to consent--the Duke, and the magister,
+and Diliana herself; and the magister said, that in a few days the
+sun would be in Libra, which would be the fitting and best time;
+if they delayed, then a whole year must pass over without
+obtaining any help, for he had already demonstrated that each
+spirit had its particular time of influence. And so my magister
+went on. But all was in vain. So Diliana stroked her father's
+beard with her little hands and said, "Think, dear papa, on
+grandmamma--her poor ghost; and that I can avenge her if I keep my
+virgin honour pure in thought, word, and deed! Is it not strange
+that my gracious Prince should just now come and demand the proof
+of my purity? Let me pass the trial, and then I can avenge the
+poor ghost, and calm the fears of his Highness all at once; for
+assuredly he has cause to fear Sidonia." So the Duke and Magister
+Joel inquired eagerly what she meant by the ghost; and when they
+heard, they rejoiced, and said the finger of God was in it. "Would
+the knight still strive against God?"
+
+"No," he answered, "but against the devil; for Luther says, 'Such
+ghost-work must be of the devil, since the departed soul must
+either be in heaven or in hell; if in heaven, it would have rest,'
+therefore he feared the ghost of his poor mother had nothing good
+about it, and he would take care and keep his child from the claws
+of the devil."
+
+Thus the argument and strife went on, till Jobst at last cried out
+sharply, "Diliana, dost thou esteem the fifth commandment? If so,
+come with me." Whereupon the pious virgin threw herself upon his
+neck, exclaiming, "Father, I come!"
+
+But my magister took her by the hand, to draw her from her father,
+whereat Jobst seized the hunting-knife that he had stuck in his
+jack-boots, and brandishing it, cried out, "Hands off, fellow, or
+I'll paint a red sign upon thee! My Lord Duke, in the name of the
+three devils, seek out another virgin; but my virgin, your
+Highness shall never have." Then seizing his little daughter by
+the waist, he rushed out of the room with her, growling like a
+bear with his cub, and down the stairs, and through the streets,
+never stopping or staying till he reached the inn, nor even once
+looking behind him or heeding his Grace, who screamed out after
+him, "Good Jobst, only one word; only one word, dear Jobst!"
+
+And when my Jobst reached the inn, he roared for the coachman, bid
+him follow him with all speed to the road, paid down his reckoning
+to mine host, and was off, and already out of the town, just as
+the Duke and Dr. Joel reached the inn, to try and get him back
+again. So they return raging and swearing, while Jobst crouches
+down behind a thorn-bush with his little daughter, till the coach
+comes up. And they have scarcely mounted it, when Dr. Cramer, of
+Old Stettin, drives up; for he was on his way to induct a rector
+(I know not whom) into his parish, as the ecclesiastical
+superintendent lay sick in his bed. This meeting rejoiced the
+knight's heart mightily; and after he had peered out of the coach
+windows, to see if the Duke or the doctor were on his track, and
+making sure that he was not pursued, he prayed Dr. Cramer to bide
+a while, and discourse him on a matter that lay heavy on his
+conscience. The doctor having consented, they all alighted, and
+seated themselves in a hollow, where the coachman could not
+overhear their discourse. Then Jobst related all that had
+happened, and asked had he acted rightly?
+
+"In all things you have done well, brave knight," answered my
+excellent godfather, "for though, doubtless, spirits can and do
+appear, yet is there always great danger to body and soul in
+practising these conjurations; and no one can say with security
+whether such apparition be angel or devil; because St. Paul says
+(2 Cor. xi. 14), that 'Satan often changes himself into an angel
+of light;' and respecting the ghost of your mother, in my opinion,
+it was a devil sent to tempt your dear little daughter; for it is
+written (Wisdom xxxi.), 'The just are in the hand of God, and no
+evil troubles them.'"
+
+He is going on with his quotations, when Diliana calls out,
+"Godfather, here is a coach coming as fast as it can drive; and
+surely two men are therein!"
+
+"Adieu! adieu!" cried the knight, springing up, and dragging his
+daughter into the coach as quick as he could. Then he bid the
+coachman drive for life and death; and when they reached the wood,
+to take the first shortest cut to the left.
+
+Meanwhile, the Duke and Dr. Joel come up with my worthy godfather,
+stop him, and ask what the knight, Jobst Bork, was saying to him?
+for they had seen them both together, sitting in the hollow, along
+with Diliana.
+
+On this, the dry sheep's cough got into my worthy godfather's
+throat from pure fright, for a lie had never passed his lips in
+all his life; therefore he told the whole story truly and
+honestly.
+
+Meanwhile, the other coach drove on rapidly through the wood; and
+the coachman did as he was desired, and took the first path to the
+left, where they soon came on a fine thick hazel grove. Here Jobst
+stopped to listen, and truly they could hear the other coach
+distinctly crushing the fallen leaves, and the voice of the Duke
+screaming, "Jobst, dost thou hear?--Jobst, may the devil take
+thee, wilt thou stop?"
+
+"Ay, my Lord Duke," thought Jobst to himself, "I will stop as you
+wish, but I trust the devil will neither take me nor my daughter."
+Then he lifted the fair Diliana himself out of the coach, and laid
+her on the green grass, under the thick nut trees, saying, "Where
+shall we fly to, my daughter? What thinkest thou?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Why, to thy good castle of Saatzig, my father."
+
+_Ille_.--"Marry, I'll take good care I won't--to fly from one
+danger to another; for will he not hunt us there--ay, till his
+spurs are red, and shouting all the way after me till his lungs
+burst like an old wind-bag."
+
+_Illa_.--"Whither, then, my father?"
+
+_Ille_.--"To Stramehl, methinks, to my cousin Bastien, where
+we shall remain until the time is passed in which he can question
+the spirits; for, if I remember rightly, the sun will enter Libra
+in a few days."
+
+_Illa_.--"But, dear father, is it not cruel thus to torment
+the good Prince? Oh! it must be so beautiful to talk to an angel!"
+
+_Ille_.--"Do not anger me, my heart's daughter, do not anger
+me. Better be George Putkammer's good loving wife; turn thy
+thoughts that way, my daughter, and in a year there will be
+something better worth looking at in the cradle than a spirit."
+
+_Illa_ blushes and plucks the nuts over her head.
+
+_Ille_.--"What sayest thou? Art thou for ever to put off
+these marriage thoughts?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Ah! my heart's dear father, what would my poor
+grandmother say in eternity? It is impossible that, without God's
+will, the Duke and the poor ghost should have come upon the same
+thoughts about me."
+
+_Ille_.--"Anger me not, child; thou art a silly,
+superstitious thing; without God's will, it may well be, but not
+without the devil's will. Thou hast heard what Luther says of
+ghosts, and we must believe him. Eh?"
+
+_Illa_.--"But my Lord Duke and Dr. Joel say quite
+differently. Ah, father, let me see the blessed angels! Dr. Joel
+surely has seen them often, and yet no danger befell him."
+
+_Ille_.--"Anger me not, daughter, I say, for the third time.
+It is written, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God;' and is not
+this tempting Him--setting heaven and hell in an uproar all about
+a wicked old hag of a witch? Wherefore is the Duke such a goose?
+But I will give him no child of mine to run a race with to hell.
+Now rise, child, and follow me to the coach!"
+
+_Illa_.--"But you must make me one promise" (weeping).
+
+_Ille_.--"What then?"
+
+_Illa_.--"Speak no more of marriage to me till I say,
+'Father, now let the marriage be.'"
+
+_Ille_.--"With the young knight, George?"
+
+_Illa_.-"I have no objection to offer to him; but the young
+man is not to come before my eyes until then."
+
+_Ille_.--"Ah, thou art as obstinate as the Ruegen geese! Well,
+have it thy own way, child. And now to Stramehl!"
+
+Still the Duke was hunting after them, through thick and thin, and
+roaring for the knight at the top of his voice, till the wood
+re-echoed; and though some squires, who came up through the
+forest, declared that no carriage had passed their way, yet he
+continued his chase, feeling certain that no matter what bypath
+the knave had taken, yet he would assuredly come up with him at
+Saatzig.
+
+So the next day he reached the castle, for it lay but ten miles
+from Camyn, but no knight was there. The Duke waited for two days,
+still no sign of him. So he amused the time by fishing, and making
+inquiries amongst all the neighbouring people about Sidonia, and
+so strange were the tales repeated by the simple, superstitious
+folk, that his Highness resolved to make a detour home by
+Marienfliess, just to get a passing glimpse of this devil's
+residence. Here he met a shepherd, who told many strange things,
+and swore that he had seen her many times flying out of the
+chimney on her broomstick; and, as the convent lay right before
+them, his Grace asked which was Sidonia's chimney, and the carl
+pointed out the chimney with his hand--it was the fourth from the
+church there, where the smoke was rising. Whereupon my Lord Duke
+shuddered, and went his way as quick as he could up the Vossberg.
+He knew not that upon that very day his brother, Duke Philip, had
+arrived at Marienfliess from Old Stettin, on his way to the diet
+at New Stettin. The herald had been despatched by his Highness,
+some days before, to inform Sheriff Eggert Sparling of his
+approach, and that his Highness and suite would arrive about noon.
+He was also to say the same to the nuns, particularly to Sidonia
+Bork.
+
+So at mid-day my sheriff set off to the cloister, with the steward
+and the secretaries, and waited there in the nuns' courtyard for
+the arrival of the Duke, and a boy was placed in the mill to wave
+his cap the moment his Highness came in sight. Yet my Eggert was
+suffering terrible anguish all the time in his mind, for he
+thought that the Duke might bid him seize the devil's witch.
+
+Soon the cry rose that the Duke was coming--his six coaches had
+just come in sight. Then the convent gate opened, and my hag
+appeared at the head of the entire sisterhood, all in their black
+robes and white veils; she the same, except that she wore the
+abbess veil whereon two golden keys were embroidered. _Item_,
+the white cats'-skin cape, which I have noticed before, was
+displayed upon her shoulders. Thus she came forth from the convent
+gate with all the sisters, two and two, and she threw up her eyes,
+and raised the hymn of St. Ambrose, just as the Duke and his six
+coaches drove into the courtyard, and the whole convent joining,
+they advanced thus singing to meet his Highness.
+
+Now, his Highness was a meek man and seldom angry, but his brow
+grew black with wrath, when Sidonia, stepping up to the coach,
+bowed low, and in her cats' tippet--herself a cat in cunning and
+deceit--threw up her eyes hypocritically to heaven.
+
+"How now," cried his Grace; "who the devil hath suffered you,
+Sidonia, to play the abbess over these virgins?"
+
+To which my hag replied--
+
+"Gracious Prince, ask these virgins here if they have not selected
+me as their abbess of their own free will, and they are now come
+to entreat your Highness to confirm the choice of their hearts."
+
+"Marry," quoth the Duke, "I have heard enough of your doings from
+the neighbouring nobles and others. I know well how you made the
+poor abbess Magdalena bite the dust; _item_, how you forced
+these poor virgins to elect you abbess through mortal and deadly
+fear. Speak, dear sisters, fear nothing--I, your Prince, command
+you: have ye not elected this piece of sin and vanity to be your
+abbess simply through fear of your lives?"
+
+But the virgins looked down upon the ground, were silent and
+trembled, while my sheriff plunged his hand into his wide boots
+for the kerchief to wipe his face, for he saw well how it would
+end, and the sweat of anguish was dripping from his brow. A second
+time his Grace asked--"Was it from fear?" When at last one
+answered, named Agnes Kleist, not the stout Dinnies' sister, but
+another--
+
+"In truth, gracious Prince, it was from pure bodily fear alone
+that we elected Sidonia as our abbess."
+
+Her courage pleased the Duke so much that he inquired her name,
+and hearing it, said--
+
+"Ay, I thought you must be a Kleist; and now, for your truth and
+courage, I make you abbess of Marienfliess; _item_, Dorothea
+Stettin sub-prioress. And mark me, Sidonia Bork--it is for the
+last time--if you attempt to dispute my will, or make the least
+disturbance in the convent in consequence of my decision, you
+shall be sent over the frontier. I have tried kindness long enough
+by you--now for justice!"
+
+"Sparling, I command you by your duty to me as your Prince, if
+this evil and notorious hag should make the least disturbance or
+strife in the convent, seize her that instant, either yourself or
+by means of your bailiffs, and chase her over the frontiers.
+_Item_, you are not to permit her to leave the convent, to
+alarm or intimidate the neighbouring nobles, as she hath hitherto
+done. Therefore I command the new abbess to replace the heavy
+padlock on the gate from this day forth. Do you hear this,
+Sidonia? These poor maidens shall have peace at last. Too long
+they have been your sport and mockery, but it shall end."
+
+So the new abbess answered--"Your Highness shall be obeyed!"
+
+But my sheriff could not utter a word from horror, and seemed
+stifling with a thick, husky cough in his throat. But when Sidonia
+crept up close to him, and menaced him privately with her dry,
+clenched hand, he forgot himself entirely, and made a spring that
+brought him clean over the churchyard wall, while his sword
+clattered after him, and his plumed beaver dropt from his head to
+the ground. All the lacqueys laughed loud at the sight, even his
+Grace laughed. But my sheriff makes the best of it, and calls
+out--
+
+"Ah, see, my Lord Duke, how the little boys have stolen the
+flowers that I myself planted on the grave of the blessed abbess.
+I'll make them pay for it, the thieving brats!"
+
+Hereat his Grace asked why the abbess was not buried within the
+church, but in the graveyard. And they answered, she had so
+commanded. Whereupon he said mildly--
+
+"The good mother is worthy of a prayer; I shall go and say a
+paternoster upon her grave, and see if the youngsters have left me
+a flower to carry away for memory."
+
+So he alighted, made Eggert show him the grave, removed his hat,
+and prayed, while all his suite in the six coaches uncovered their
+heads likewise. Lastly, he made the sign of the cross, and bent
+over the grave to pluck a flower. But just then a warm heavy wind
+blew across the graves, and all the flowers drooped, faded, and
+turned yellow as it passed. Yea, even a yellow stripe seemed to
+mark its passage straight across all the graves over the court, up
+to the spot where the thrice-accursed witch stood upon the convent
+wall, and people afterwards remarked that all plants, grass,
+flowers, and shrubs within that same stripe turned pale and faded,
+only some poison plants, as hemlock, nightshade, and the like,
+stood up green and stiff along that livid line. When the Duke
+observed this, he shook his head, but made no remark, stepped
+hastily, however, into his carriage, after again earnestly
+admonishing Sidonia; _item_, the sheriff to remember his
+commands. He ordered the procession to start, and proceeded on his
+way to the Diet.
+
+It may be easily believed that no one ventured to put the commands
+of his Grace into execution; therefore, Sidonia remained abbess as
+heretofore. Agnes Kleist, indeed, that same day, had the great
+padlock put upon the gate; but my hag no sooner sees it than she
+calls for the convent servant, saying she must go forth to drive,
+then takes her hatchet, and with it hews away at the padlock,
+until it falls to the ground. Whereupon, laughing scornfully, she
+went her way out into the road; and the new abbess could not
+remonstrate, for on Sidonia's return home (I forgot to say that,
+latterly, she had gone much about amongst the neighbouring nobles,
+even as his Highness observed, frightening them to death with her
+visits) she shut herself up again; and Anna Apenborg soon brings
+the news from Wolde, "The lady is praying;" and Anna, having
+privately slid under the window, found that it was even so.
+
+So the whole convent shuddered; but no one dared to say a word,
+though each sister judged for herself what the praying betokened,
+without venturing to speak her surmise. But this time she did not
+pray for three days and three nights, only once in the week, when
+her bath-day came; by which, people suspected that his Highness
+was destined to a slower death than the other victims of her
+demoniac malice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+_Of the fearful death of his Highness, Duke Philip II. of
+Pomerania, and of his melancholy but sumptuous burial._
+
+
+After the before-mentioned festival of the jubilee, it happened
+that one day Anna Apenborg went to the brew-house, which lay
+inside the convent walls (it was one of Sidonia's praying days),
+and there she saw a strange apparition of a three-legged hare. She
+runs and calls the other sisters; whereupon they all scamper out
+of their cells, and down the steps, to see the miracle, and
+behold, there sits the three-legged hare; but when Agnes Kleist
+took off her slipper, and threw it at the devil's sprite, my hare
+is off, and never a trace of him could be found again in the whole
+brew-house or in the whole convent court. Hereat the nuns
+shuddered, and each virgin has her opinion on the matter, but
+speaks it not; for just then, too, comes Sidonia forth, with old
+Wolde and the cat, and the three begin their devil's dance, while
+the cat squalls and wails, and the old witch-hag screams her usual
+hell psalm:--
+
+   "Also kleien und also kratzen,
+   Meine Hunde und meine Katzen."
+
+Next day, however, the poor virgins heard, to their deep sorrow,
+what the three-legged hare betokened even as they had suspected;
+for the cry came to the convent that his Grace, good Duke Philip,
+was dead, and the tidings ran like a signal-fire through the
+people, that this kind, wise, just Prince had been bewitched to
+death. (Ah! where in Pomerania land--yea, in all German
+fatherland--was such a wise, pious, and learned Prince to be
+found? No other fault had he but one, and that was not having,
+long before, burned this devil's witch, this accursed sorceress,
+with fire and faggot.)
+
+And now I must tell how his Grace had scarcely left Marienfliess
+and reached Saatzig (they were but a mile from each other) when he
+felt suddenly weak. He wondered much to find that his dear lord
+brother, Duke Francis, had only left the castle two hours before.
+_Item_, that Jobst Bork had not arrived there, and no man
+knew whither the knight had flown. Here the Duke grew so much
+worse, that his ministers earnestly entreated him to postpone the
+diet at New Stettin, and return home; for how could it please the
+knights and burgesses to see their beloved Prince in this sad
+extremity of suffering?
+
+Hereupon his Highness replied with the beautiful Latin words,
+"_Officio mihi officio_." (And after his death, these words
+were stamped on the burial-medals. _Item_, a rose, half-eaten
+by a worm, with the inscription, "_Ut rosa rodimur omnes;_"
+whereby many think allusion is made to the livid breath that
+passed over the flowers at Marienfliess, but I leave these things
+undecided.)
+
+_Summa_.--His Highness proceeded to New Stettin, and decided
+all the boundary disputes amongst the nobles, &c., returned then
+to his court at Old Stettin, to hold the evangelical jubilee; but,
+by that time, all the doctors from far and near could do naught to
+help him; and though he lingered some months, yet, from the first,
+he knew that death was on him; for nothing could appease the
+tortures he suffered in his breast, even as all the others whom
+Sidonia had murdered, and finally, on the 3rd day of February
+1618, at ten of the clock, he expired--his age being forty-four
+years, six months, and six days. And the corpse presented the same
+signature of Satan, though his Grace's sickness had differed in
+some particulars from that of Sidonia's other victims. To this
+appearance of the princely corpse I myself can testify, for I
+beheld it, along with many others, when it lay in state in the
+great hall.
+
+On the 19th of March following, the princely ceremony of interment
+took place. Let me see if my tears will permit me to describe
+it:--
+
+After the deputies from the three honourable estates had
+assembled--the Stettin, the Wolgastian, and the ecclesiastical--in
+the castle church, with the Princes of the blood, the nobles,
+knights, and magnates of the land, three cannons were fired; and
+at nine of the clock in the evening, the princely corpse was
+carried first into the count's chamber, then to the knights'
+chamber, from thence to the grand state-hall, by torchlight, by
+twenty-four nobles, and from that to the castle square, which was
+entirely covered with black cloth. Here it was laid down, and
+sixty students from the university of Grypswald, and forty boys
+from the town-school, sung the burial psalms from their books;
+while, at intervals, the priests chanted the appointed portions of
+the liturgy; after which all the bells of the town began to toll,
+and the swan song was raised, "Now in joy I pass from earth."
+Whereupon the nobles lifted up the bier again, and the procession
+moved forwards. And could my gracious Prince have looked out
+through the little window above his head, he would have seen not
+only the blessed cross, but also his dear town, from street to
+tower, covered with weeping human faces: for the procession passed
+on through the main street, across the coal market, through castle
+street, into the crane court--all which streets were lined with
+the princely soldatesca, who also, each man, carried a torch in
+his hand, besides the group of regular torch-bearers in the
+procession--and windows, roofs, towers, presented one living mass
+of human heads all along the way. And the order was thus:--
+
+1. The song-master, _cum choro-item_, the rector, paedagogis,
+with his collegis.
+
+2. The honourable ministerium from all the three states.
+
+3. The Duke's trumpeters and drummers, with instruments reversed,
+and drums covered with crape.
+
+4. The rector magnificus, and the four deacons of the university
+of Grypswald, among whom came Dr. Joel.
+
+5. The land-marshal, with his black marshal's staff, alone; then
+the pages, three and three, in mourning cloaks, and faces covered
+with black taffety up to their noses.
+
+6. The court-marshal, and the marshals of the three
+states--_item_, the ambassadors, and other high officials of
+foreign princes, &c.
+
+7. Twelve knights, in full armour, upon twelve horses; each knight
+bearing his standard, and each horse covered entirely with black
+cloth, and having the arms of his rider embroidered on the
+forehead-piece, and on the two sides was led by a noble on foot.
+
+The supreme court-marshal followed these, his drawn sword covered
+with crape, in his hand, the point to the ground.
+
+Next the chancellor, with the seals covered with crape, and laid
+upon a black velvet cushion.
+
+The princely corpse, borne by twenty-four nobles, on a bier
+covered with black velvet, and beneath a bluish-velvet canopy
+embroidered on all sides with the arms of his Grace's illustrious
+ancestors, with all their helmets, shields, devices, and
+quarterings, gorgeously represented in gold and silver.
+_Item_, on each side, twelve nobles, with lighted wax
+torches, from which streamers of black crape floated, and twelve
+halberdiers, with halberds reversed.
+
+The last poor faded trefoil of our dear fatherland, namely, the
+serene and illustrious Princes, Dukes, and Lords--Francis, Ulrich,
+and Bogislaff, the princely brothers of Pomerania--all in long
+velvet mantles, and their faces covered with black crape up to the
+eyes. [Footnote: Note of Duke Bogislaff XIV.-The three accompanied
+him to the grave; but who will walk mourner beside my bier? Ah!
+that long ere this I had lain calmly in my coffin, and looked up
+from the little window to my Lord, and rested in the God of my
+salvation! Amen.]
+
+His princely Highness, Duke Philip Julius of Wolgast--the last of
+his name--and, like his cousins, wearing crape over his face to
+the eyes.
+
+The honourable chapter of Camyn.
+
+The councillors, _medici_, and other officers.
+
+The chamberlain, knights, and pages of the princely widow's
+household.
+
+The princely widow herself, with all her ladies, in long black
+silk mantles, their faces covered with black taffety up to the
+eyes, and accompanied by their Graces the Elector of Brandenburg
+and the Duke of Mechlenburg.
+
+The princely widow, Hedwig, the bereaved spouse of Ernest Ludovic
+of blessed memory--who was doomed to follow her whole illustrious
+race to the grave--conducted by Duke William of Courland, and
+Henry of Mangerson, ambassador from Brunswick.
+
+The Countess von Eberstein, and Baroness von Putbus, with the
+ladies in waiting to her princely Highness.
+
+The noble ladies and maids of honour, amongst whom came Diliana
+Bork.
+
+Burgomasters, sheriffs, and council of the good town of Old
+Stettin.
+
+Trumpeters and drummers, as before, and another songmaster _cum
+choro_, as at the beginning; and so closed the procession.
+
+And how can I ever forget the lamentations that broke forth from
+all the people, as the princely bier approached--men, women,
+children, all sobbed and wept, as if indeed their own father lay
+there, and turned their torches down to view the blessed body
+better, from the windows and the towers (for mostly all the people
+carried torches). Then arose such a lamentation and cry as if no
+comfort more was left for them upon earth, only in heaven must
+they look for it; and as I stood in the coal-market, leaning my
+shoulder against a post, and heard this great cry of a whole
+people, and saw the flashing torches all bent upon this one point
+in the dark midnight, behold the bright gold crucifix on the
+coffin glittered as if in the clear light of the sun; and the
+blaze of the torches was reflected from the black concave of
+heaven, so that a glory seemed to rest around and above the bier,
+and all shone and glittered in that radiant circle, so that it was
+a pleasure and a wonder to gaze upon.
+
+  "Thus through sin and sorrow loometh,
+  Light of light from God that cometh,
+    Shining o'er life's saddest night.
+  For His glory ever stayeth,
+  On the soul that weeps and prayeth;
+  May the words that Jesu sayeth
+    Guide us onward towards that light!
+                                      Amen!"
+
+The procession now returned again to the castle square, and from
+thence to the chapel.
+
+Now when the coffin was laid down before the altar, and all the
+twelve knights with their standard gathered round it, my esteemed
+godfather, Dr. Cramer, advanced up the nave to the altar, chanting
+the Kyrie Eleison, and all the twelve knights lowered their
+standards upon the coffin, and beat their breasts, crying
+out--"Kyrie Eleison!" which cry was caught up by the whole
+congregation, and they likewise--nobles, priests, people, prince,
+peasant, men, women, children--all smote their breasts and cried
+out, "Kyrie Eleison!" so that my blessed godfather, his voice
+failed through weeping, and three times in vain he tried to speak.
+
+After the sermon, the coffin was lifted up and lowered into the
+vault, and the signet-ring of his Highness broken by the
+land-marshal, and flung upon the coffin. But the twelve standards
+were set down by the altar, and the marshal presented his staff to
+Bishop Francis, now the serene and illustrious reigning Duke of
+Pomerania; and the supreme court-marshal delivered up the sword,
+and the chancellor the seals to his Serene Highness, and so this
+mournful ceremony terminated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+_How Joist Bork and his little daughter are forced at last into
+the "Opus Magicum"--Item, how his Highness, Duke Francis, appoints
+Christian Ludecke, his attorney-general, to be witch-commissioner
+of Pomerania._
+
+
+Now my Jobst, guessing well what was in store for him if he
+remained at the ducal court, ordered his horses to be ready
+harnessed by four of the clock, on the morning after the funeral,
+that he might get clear off with his daughter before my lord Duke
+knew anything of the matter. But his Highness knew better than
+that, for just as the knight and his daughter were stepping into
+the coach, four of the Duke's equerries sprang forth and seized
+the horses' heads, while four pages rushed down the castle steps,
+and informed the knight that he must accompany them with his
+daughter back to the castle, and up to the private apartment of
+his Grace, for that the Duke had a word to say to him before his
+departure. What could my Jobst do? He must take his Diliana out of
+the coach again, and follow the pages through the castle up to the
+Duke's quarters, which were filled with all beautiful things,
+statues and paintings, &c., from Italy; and his private room was
+decorated with the finest pieces of sculpture. So here they find
+his Grace and Dr. Joel seated at a table, with the wine-can before
+them, for they had sat up all night discoursing.
+
+And when my Jobst enters with his sour face, holding his daughter
+by the hand, the Duke calls out--
+
+"Marry, brave vassal, why so sour? _I_ might well look sour,
+since you and your little daughter lately chose to play
+blind-man's-buff with your lawful Prince, making a mock of him.
+But I pardon you, and hope you have come to your senses since.
+Come, sit down; drink my health in the wine cup. I trow this wine
+will please your palate."
+
+But Jobst excused himself: "He never drank so early." Whereupon
+the Duke continued--
+
+"Well, as you please; but, good Jobst, you must be harder than a
+stone, if you refuse now to assist me in binding this accursed
+witch of Marienfliess, when you see this last evil which she has
+done, and how all the weeping land mourns for its Prince. Will you
+and your little daughter, this virgin, not deliver me and my
+ancient race from so great and terrible a foe? What say ye, brave
+Jobst? Come, sit down beside your afflicted Prince, you and your
+little daughter, and tell me what help and comfort ye mean to
+bring me in my sore grief and sorrow. Speak, Jobst; ah! say was
+ever Prince like unto this Prince--and yet childless, childless,
+as we are all! Have pity on my noble ancient race, or, even as he
+lamented on his death-bed, 'Pomerania will pass in a little while
+into stranger hands!'"
+
+Now, my Jobst, who had sat down with his daughter on a couch near
+the table, got the dry sheep's cough in his throat again, and, in
+his embarrassment, snuffed out the candle; but, making a great
+effort, at last said--
+
+"His Grace must be resigned: who could withstand the will of God?
+Yet he must say, in all honesty, that he had talked to many
+persons about the matter, and some said it was folly and nonsense,
+and there could be no reason in it. Others, amongst whom was Dr.
+Cramer, said, if not folly, yet it was a dangerous business to
+body and soul, and ought not to be attempted."
+
+But my Jobst grows disturbed, and at last says, "Well, then, I
+must speak out the truth. My child is not the pure virgin whom ye
+seek. I mean in her thoughts, for she has already been betrothed
+to a bridegroom."
+
+At this the Duke clapped his hand to his forehead and sighed-"Then
+my last hope has perished!" _Item_, the magister was quite
+thunderstruck. But Diliana, who blushed to her finger-ends while
+her father spoke, started from the couch, seized the hand of my
+gracious Lord, and exclaimed--
+
+"Be calm, my Lord Duke, my father hath said this but to free me,
+as he thinks, from this dungeon business. But even against him I
+must defend my honour, for in truth my soul has been ever pure
+from all vain or sinful lusts, even as it is written (Tobias
+iii.). And though my father has proposed a bridegroom to me, yet
+up to this day I have constantly rejected him, partly for the sake
+of my poor grandmother, whose ghost admonished me, and partly that
+I might serve your gracious Highness as a pure and honourable
+virgin." This hearing so rejoiced the Duke, that he kissed her
+hand; but the fair young virgin, when she saw her father rise up
+and walk hither and thither in great agitation, began to weep, and
+ran to throw herself on his neck, sobbing forth, "Comfort
+yourself, dear father, it could not be otherwise, for when you
+uttered such hard words of your daughter, what could I do but
+defend my honour, even against my own earthly father? Ah, dear
+father! it was the cruellest word your little daughter ever heard
+from you in her life--but one little kiss, and all will be right
+again!"
+
+The poor knight now fairly sobs like a child, and at last stammers
+out, "Well then, you must let me be present; if the devil takes my
+child, let him take me too along with him. I would rather be with
+my little daughter in hell, than without her in heaven."
+
+"Good knight," answered Joel, "that may not be; only three can be
+present, the Duke, your daughter, and myself. I handle the
+intellectual vinculum or the conjuration. Diliana takes the
+elementary vinculum, as dove's blood, the blood of the
+field-mouse, virgin wax, and the censer, in her pure hands, and
+the Duke holds the astral vinculum, and questions the spirit."
+
+Still my Jobst answers, "It may not be, unless I am present." And
+the strife continued in this wise for a good space, until it was
+at last agreed upon that the knight should keep watch before the
+door with his drawn sword during the conjuration, and that in
+autumn, when the sun entered Libra, they would begin the great
+work.
+
+Jobst now rose to take his leave, but his little daughter,
+Diliana, stood awhile silent, then blushed, looked upon the
+ground, and spoke at last--
+
+"My Lord Duke, will your Grace make my father promise, upon his
+knightly word, never to bring the young noble, George Putkammer,
+whom he has destined for my husband, into my presence from this
+day forth until after I have questioned the spirit. For I have a
+liking for the young knight, and I am but a poor, weak thing, like
+our mother Eve and all other women: who knows what thoughts might
+rise in my heart, if I beheld his face or listened to his
+entreaties? and then the whole good work would come to nought, or
+perchance I might repent it my life long. I would therefore now
+rather go to Stramehl, where I can pray and become strong in
+spirit, so that perchance I shall find favour in the sight of the
+angel of God, as Hagar the handmaid of Abraham in the desert."
+
+Then the beautiful child folded her hands, and looked up to heaven
+with such trust and innocence, that all were moved, and the knight
+pledged his word to the Duke; after which he pressed his little
+lamb to his heart, and then both of them left the chamber of his
+Highness.
+
+Now the Duke at last was joyful, for he had hope in the great
+work, and fell upon his knees with the magister to pray God for
+mercy upon himself, his race, and the young virgin. _Item_,
+promised by his honour to seek out and burn all the witches in the
+land, that so the kingdom of God might be built up, and the
+kingdom of the prince of this world sink to ruin and utter
+destruction. And on the following morning, he sent for Christian
+Ludecke (brother to the priest who had been bewitched to death),
+appointed him special witch-commissioner of the kingdom, and bade
+him search throughout the length and breadth of the land, and
+wherever he found one of these evil and accursed sorceresses, to
+burn her for the honour and glory of God. [Footnote: An equally
+notorious witch-finder was one Hopkins of England. See Sir Walter
+Scott's "Letters upon Demonology and Witchcraft."]
+
+"Let him show no mercy towards this hell-brood of Satan, for the
+devil lately had become so powerful everywhere, but especially in
+dear Pomerania-land, that, if not prevented, he would soon pervert
+the whole people, and turn them away from the pure and blessed
+evangelical doctrine. Still he must have them all tried fairly
+before the sheriff's court ere he tortured or burned. His brother
+of blessed memory had too long delayed the burning, therefore he
+must now be the more diligent; and, by next autumn, he trusted,
+with the help of God, to be able to burn Sidonia herself."
+
+Hereupon, my Ludecke wondered much that his Grace should be so
+confident about burning Sidonia, but answered bravely, "All should
+be done as his Highness wished; for since the cruel death of his
+poor brother, the priest, his motto was--'Torture! burn! kill!'
+But would to God that his Highness could bind Sidonia's familiar
+first, for he was a powerful spirit, every one said; and could not
+this learned magister exorcise him? The rumour went that he meant
+so to do." But his Grace rebuked such curiosity, and answered
+coldly, "He could not tell how the magister meant to proceed; but
+his (Ludecke's) duty lay clear before him, let him do it."
+
+Hereupon, my Ludecke looked rather confused, and took his leave.
+And soon after, the witch-burnings began in such fearful rise
+through the land, that in many parishes six or seven poor women,
+young or old, innocent or guilty, it was all the same--yea, even
+children of ten to twelve years were yearly burned to powder; and
+by the wonderful providence of God, it happened that the burnings
+began first in Marienfliess, and truly with one of Sidonia's
+friends, the old pugnosed hag of Uchtenhagen, whom I have
+mentioned before, and that she visited Sidonia frequently; and
+this was the way of it:--One day, Sidonia beat this same Pug-nose
+most unmercifully with the broomstick, and chased her out into the
+convent square, still striking at her, which sight, however, the
+nuns little heeded, for this _spectaculum_ was now so common
+that they only thanked their stars it was not their turn, and
+passed on. But Anna Apenborg met her by the well, and as the
+horrible old Pug-nose was screeching and roaring at the top of her
+voice, and cursing Sidonia, she asked, "What now?--what ailed
+her?--what had she and the Lady Sidonia been quarrelling about?"
+And some others came up, principally the wenches from the kitchen,
+to hear what all the roaring was for. Whereupon, Pug-nose told her
+story: "The cursed lady-witch had bid her lately go to the holy
+sacrament, and when she received the blessed wafer, to take the
+same out of her mouth privately, and bring it to her at
+Marienfliess, wherewith to feed her familiar, whom she kept in the
+form of a toad. At this blasphemy she (Pug-nose) remained silent,
+for she feared the hag and her anger; but on the Sunday she
+swallowed the bread, as other Christian people; whereupon Sidonia
+sends for her, pretending she had spinning to give her, but no
+sooner had she entered the room, than the terrible she-devil asked
+for the wafer; so she confessed she had swallowed it. How could
+she commit such a horrible sacrilege? At this, the accursed witch
+ran at her with the broomstick, and beat her all the way down into
+the court."
+
+This story soon spread over the convent, and the priest's wife
+told it to the fish-seller, who came up there that day, bidding
+him run to her brother-in-law, Christian Ludecke, with the news of
+the last sorcery going on in the convent.
+
+This was a fine hearing to the witch commissioner, who resolved
+instantly to seize Pug-nose, and begin the burnings in the parish
+of Marienfliess, to frighten Sidonia, and keep her in check until
+autumn. So he took the executioner, with all the torture
+instruments, and a scriba along with him in the carriage, and set
+off for Uchtenhagen, where the old hag dwelt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+_How Christian Ludecke begins the witch-burnings in
+Marienfliess, and lets the poor dairy-mother die horribly on the
+rack._
+
+
+Now it happened about this time in Marienfliess that the
+dairy-mother (I have tried to remember her name, but in vain, she
+was daughter to Trina Bergen I know, as is noticed _libro
+secundo_) sold a kid to the bailiff, Brose [Footnote:
+Ambrosius.] Bucher, grandson of that Zabel Bucher who was going to
+burn old Wolde years before, which kid soon grew sick and died.
+_Item_, the bailiff's wife had quarrelled with the
+dairy-mother (ah, if I could remember her name) about the price;
+the said wife assured her husband the bailiff that the
+dairy-mother had bewitched the kid to death out of spite, because
+she would not give her as much as she asked for it. This he easily
+credited, and talked of it to the country people, and now the old
+hag must be an evil witch, her mother indeed he knew had been in
+bad repute likewise, for how but by witchcraft could the poor
+little kid have died off all of a sudden. So all the malicious
+women's tongues were set going with their spinning-wheels, and
+this poor worthy dairy-mother, whose piety, charity, and kindness
+I have noticed already, was in a few days the common talk of the
+parish.
+
+About this time, Beatus Schact, the convent chaplain, was summoned
+to baptize a shepherd's dying child, and he had just packed up his
+book, when he observed through the window a waggon, drawn by four
+horses, coming down the Stargard street, with the sound of singing
+from the persons within. Foremost on the waggon sit three
+official-looking personages, in scarlet mantles, and one of them
+bears a red banner, with a black cross thereon, in his hand.
+Behind them are three women bound, and the psalm which they chant
+is the death-psalm--"Now pray we to the Holy Ghost." As the priest
+looks upon this strange sight, _bis dato_, never seen in
+Pomerania-land, the waggon halts close by the church wall, and one
+of the men with the red mantles sounded a trumpet, so that all the
+people run to see what was going forward, and the priest runs
+likewise. _Item_, all the nuns gather thick at the convent
+gate, and peep over other's shoulders; for people think it must be
+pickleherring, or some such strolling mummers, come to exhibit to
+the folk during the evening.
+
+Meanwhile, a peasant observes that his own sister, Ussel, wife to
+a peasant at Pegelow, was one of the three poor wretches who sat
+there with bound hands. Whereupon he springs to the waggon, and
+asks with wonder, "Ussel, what brings thee here?" But for answer
+she only pours forth tears and lamentations. However, commissioner
+Ludecke (for you may well guess it was he with his witch-waggon)
+would not let them discourse further; but bid the peasant stand
+back, unless he wished the executioner to seize him and tear his
+hide for him; then speaks--
+
+"Know, good people, that our serene and gracious Prince and Lord,
+the illustrious and eminent Duke Francis George of Stettin,
+Pomerania, having heard that the devil is loose in our dear
+fatherland, and carries on his demon work, especially amongst the
+women folk, tempting them into all horrible sorceries, filthiness,
+and ungodly deeds, has appointed me, Christian Ludecke (brother of
+your late pastor), to be witch-commissioner for the whole kingdom,
+that so I may purge the land by fire, bringing these devil's hags
+to their just punishment, for the great glory of God, and terror
+of all godless sorceresses, witches, and others in this or any
+other place. Ye are also to name me the honourable
+attorney-general, which also I am."
+
+Here the peasant cried out--
+
+"But his sister Ussel, who sat there bound upon the cart, was no
+witch, and every one knew that. His worship might take pity on her
+tears and let her free. She had a husband, and four innocent
+little children likewise; who would take care of them now?"
+
+"No, no," shouted Ludecke; "true sign that she is a witch since
+she howls! Had she a good conscience wherefore should she do it?
+He came to know whether there was a witch, perchance, also in
+Marienfliess?"
+
+Here the bailiff's wife nudged her husband in the side with her
+elbow, and whispers--"The dairy-mother," but the carl would not
+utter a word. So she screamed out herself--
+
+"Ay, there is the dairy-mother of the parish, a horrible old
+witch, as all the town knows."
+
+And here I have just bethought me of the name of the dairy-mother.
+It was Benigna Ficht; she was widow of old Ficht, the peasant.
+
+At this several voices cried out, "No, no;" but she screamed out--
+
+"Yea, yea! it was true; and her mother before her had been an evil
+witch, and had let witches sit in her cellar, so that she must be
+a witch herself." [Footnote: This idea runs through all the witch
+trials. Woe to the woman whose mother had been accused of
+witchcraft, she seldom got off with her life.]
+
+This pleased the bloodthirsty attorney-general, and he asked if
+the bailiff were present. And when my Brose stepped forward with a
+profound bow, Ludecke went on--
+
+"Was this the case about the dairy-mother? Was she, in truth, an
+evil witch?"
+
+Whereupon his malicious wife nudged him again with her elbows in
+the side, till he answered--"Ay, the people say so."
+
+Ludecke continued--"Were there more witches in the place beside
+the dairy-mother?"
+
+The fellow was silent and seemed disturbed, until being menaced by
+the commissioner with all temporal and eternal punishment if he
+spoke not the truth, my Brose stepped up upon the wheel, and
+whispered in his ear, while he cast a frightened glance at the
+convent gate--
+
+"Ay, there is another, one of the convent sisters called Sidonia
+Bork, she is the very devil itself."
+
+But Ludecke seemed as though he could not believe him--
+
+"It was impossible; he had always heard that this lady was a model
+of all goodness, piety, and wisdom, who had healed the sheriff
+himself of some great sickness;" but he squinted all the time over
+at the convent gate, where the black robes were crowding, and then
+whispered the bailiff--"Is Sidonia amongst them, think you?"
+
+My carl squinted likewise at the gate, then whispered back again
+in his ear--"No, Sidonia is not there, as far as I can see."
+
+Meanwhile the _pastor loci_, a simple, timid little man, as I
+have said, got up all his courage, and feeling it to be his duty
+to defend his parishioner, the poor dairy-mother, advanced to the
+waggon, saying--
+
+"Would his worship the lord attorney-general permit him a few
+words? He was the priest of the parish, had married the widow of
+his late brother, as no doubt his worship had heard by letters
+from his dear spouse. His duty compelled him to take the part of
+this poor dairy-woman, whose character evil tongues had blackened
+to his worship, for she was the most pious person in all the
+parish, and every evening brought her spinning along with other
+pious women to his house, to hear the blessed Word of God, and be
+examined in the catechism--any one who knew her pious honest life
+could not believe this of her."
+
+"So much the more likely she is a witch," cried Ludecke; "they are
+all hypocrites. Look at that pious and honest trio in the cart,
+how they cast down their eyes and look so innocent, and yet they
+were three of the vilest witches; for what made them look down, if
+it were not their evil conscience?"
+
+Now it happened that just then old Wolde came limping by, with a
+new broom which she had bought in the town for Sidonia, no doubt
+to lay under the table, as she was wont; so Brose whispered--
+
+"Yea, yea, there was one hobbling by with the broom, and she was
+the worst of all, Sidonia's servant, old Wolde." Whereupon the
+commissioner thought within himself, how could he terrify Sidonia
+more than by seizing her maid, and sending her to the rack and the
+stake. So he bid the executioner lay hold on that lame hag with
+the broom, and fling her into the cart along with the others. This
+was soon done; for, though old Wolde made some resistance, and
+screeched and roared, yet she was thrown down upon the ground,
+bound, and flung into the nest in spite of all.
+
+Anna Apenborg saw all this from the convent gate, and, to make
+friends with Sidonia, she ran to the refectory with the news of
+Ludecke's doings. Whereupon Sidonia, who knew the coward knave
+well, seized her broomstick and ran down the steps, beating the
+nuns right and left about the ears, who were gathered thick and
+black around the gate, so that they all flew screaming away, and
+then presented herself, glowing with fury, and brandishing her
+broomstick, to the eyes of the terrified Ludecke, whereat all the
+four hags cried out from the waggon--
+
+"Help us, O Lady Prioress! Help us, O Lady Prioress!"
+
+And Sidonia screamed in answer, "I come, I come!" swung her
+broomstick and called out--"Wait, thou accursed quill-driver,
+wait!"
+
+But my Ludecke no sooner saw her rushing at him, with her thin
+white hair flying about her face, than he jumped from the cart,
+and took to his heels so fast that nothing could be seen of him
+through the dust he raised but the bright nails of his shoes, as
+he scampered away to the furze bushes. _Item_, followed the
+scriba, and lastly the executioner, to the great amusement of the
+common folk, who stood round the waggon, and now laughed and gibed
+at the authorities. Then the afore-mentioned peasant jumped upon
+the cart, and cut the cords that bound his sister, Ussel, and the
+others. Whereat they likewise took to their heels and went hither
+and thither, to hide themselves in the wood, while old Wolde
+returned calmly with Sidonia to the convent, and two of the hags
+got clear off, and were fed by their kinsfolk, I take it, for
+months in the pits and hollow trees where they had sheltered
+themselves, for never a trace could Ludecke get of them more,
+though he searched day and night in every village, and house, and
+nook, and corner. But Pug-nose, who was half-blind with fright, in
+place of running away, ran straight up into the very mouth of the
+executioner, who was crouching with the clerk his master behind a
+thorn-bush.
+
+Eh, how she roared when Master Hansen stretched out his arm and
+caught hold of her by the coat! Then he bound her again, and so
+she was carried to the sheriff's house, for Ludecke had set up his
+quarters with Sheriff Sparling, and that same day he resolved to
+open the criminal commission _nomine serenissim_a with
+Pug-nose.
+
+_Summa_.--The hag confessed upon the rack to Sidonia being a
+witch, and named several other women besides. So my Ludecke has to
+write off for another executioner and seven bailiffs, fearing his
+own would have more work on their hands than they could do. And
+every day messengers were despatched to Stargard with bundles of
+indictments and writs. And in the sheriff's court, day after day,
+there was nothing but trying witches and condemning them, and
+torturings, and burnings. And though many saved themselves by
+flight, and others got off with only a sharp reprimand, yet in
+four weeks no less than four wretched women were burned close by
+Sidonia's window, so that she might see them smoking to powder.
+
+And Pug-nose was the first whom the bloodthirsty knave ordered to
+be burned (I say nothing against that, for it is all right and
+according to law), but the bloodhound went rather beyond the law
+sometimes, thinking to terrify Sidonia, for it was the custom to
+build a sort of little chamber at top of the pile within which the
+wretched victims were bound, so that they could be stifled by the
+smoke before the flames reached them. But he would allow of no
+little chamber, and had a stake erected on the summit of the pile,
+round which an iron chain was fastened, and to the end of this
+chain the miserable criminal: and truly many hearts were moved
+with pity when Pug-nose was fastened to the stake, and the pile
+was lit, seeing how she ran right and left to escape the flames,
+with the chain clattering after her, in her white death-shift,
+stitched with black, which Sidonia gave out she made for her out
+of pure Christian charity--screaming horribly all the while, till
+finally the fire blazed up over her, and she fell down a blackened
+heap.
+
+Three weeks after three more women were burned upon three separate
+piles, on the same day, and at the same hour, straight in view of
+Sidonia's window; and they likewise each one were bound to the
+chain, and their screams were heard plainly as far as Stargard.
+And for four miles round the smell of roast human flesh was
+plainly perceptible, which, as every one knows, has quite a
+different odour from any other burned flesh. Yet the death of the
+poor dairy-mother was still more horrible if possible, and though
+it may well make my tears to flow again, yet I will relate it. But
+tears here, tears there, what will it help?
+
+So to begin:--
+
+My worthy father-in-law, M. Beutzius, formerly court-chaplain, but
+who had lately been made general-superintendent by Duke Francis,
+for the reason before mentioned, went about this time to attend
+the synod, at the little town of Jacobshagen; and on his way home,
+in the morning about eleven o'clock (for he had slept at
+Stargard), while passing the court-house at Marienfliess, had his
+attention attracted by two young peasant girls, who were standing
+before a window wringing their hands, and screaming as piteously
+as if the world itself were going to be destroyed.
+
+He stopped his coach instantly, listened, and then distinctly
+heard groans proceeding from the little room; but the sound was so
+hollow and unnatural that two pigs that were rooting up the earth
+near him lifted up their snouts. As soon as they heard it, they
+started off in fright, then stopped and stood listening and
+trembling in the distance. So my worthy father-in-law called out,
+while his hair stood on end with terror, "Children, for the love
+of God, what is the matter?" But the poor girls, for their sobbing
+and weeping, could utter nothing but "Our mother! our poor
+mother!" Upon which he sprang from the coach, advanced closer, and
+asked, "What is it, poor girls? what has happened?"
+
+"Oh sir!" answered one at last, "our poor innocent mother has been
+lying two whole hours on the rack within there, and the savage
+knaves won't leave their breakfast to come and release her!"
+
+So the good man looked shudderingly through the window, and there
+beheld the unfortunate dairy-mother lying bound half naked upon a
+plank, so that her white hair swept the ground. And her hands were
+bound round her neck, and under each arm lay a coal-pan, from
+which a blue flame ascended as if sulphur were burning therein, so
+that her arms were burned quite black already.
+
+"My God! where is the executioner?" screamed my father-in-law, and
+when the girl, sobbing, pointed to the tavern, the old man ran off
+as quick as he was able the whole way to the place, where the
+executioner and his fellows sat by the beer-jug, laughing and
+making merry. And when he arrived, the old man's breath was
+well-nigh gone, and he could scarcely tell of the horrors he had
+seen and heard; but when he had ended the executioner answered he
+could not help it. "His worship the attorney-general was at
+breakfast likewise at the court-house, and had the keys. When he
+was done he would send for them." The worthy priest then ran back
+again all the way from the tavern to the court-house, as quick as
+he could, but stopping his ears the while as he came nearer, not
+to hear the groans of the poor dairy-mother, and the screams of
+her daughters, who were running hither and thither round the
+walls, as if indeed the wretched girls had quite lost their
+senses. And at last he reached the sheriff's quarter, where
+another kind of roaring saluted his ears--I mean the shouts and
+laughter of the drunken noisy crew within.
+
+For the ferocious bloodhound, Christian Ludecke, had invited
+friends over from Old Stettin, and there they all sat, Sheriff
+Sparling too amongst them, round the table like coupled hounds,
+for a fine metal wire had been passed through all their ears as
+they sat drinking, so that none could go away without having his
+ear torn by the wire. Or if one of the beastly drunken pigs
+swilled so much, that he fell under the table, and his ear tore in
+consequence, it was a source of great laughter and merriment to
+the other pigs.
+
+When the old man beheld this, he thought that between grief,
+anger, and horror, he would have fallen to the ground. And for a
+long while he stood gazing at the scene, unable to utter a word,
+whilst they roared to him to take his place, and shoved the
+wine-can over: "But he must have his ear pierced first like the
+others; for the good old laws were in force here, and he must
+drain the cup at a draught till his breath was gone, and his two
+cheeks remained full--this was the true Pomeranian draught."
+
+At this beastly proposition, the pious priest crossed himself, and
+at last got out the words--"Mercy for the criminal! mercy for the
+poor dairy-mother!"
+
+At this, the attorney-general, Christian Ludecke, clapped his hand
+upon his forehead, exclaiming, "'Fore God, it is true, I have let
+that cursed hag lie on the rack these two hours. I forgot all
+about her. Send to the executioner, and bid him release her. Let
+her rest for to-day."
+
+"And you could forget a fellow-creature thus!" exclaimed the
+priest, with indignation. "Oh! you are more savage than a heathen,
+or the very brute beasts there without, who trembled at the groans
+of the poor martyr; yea, hell itself could not be more merciless!"
+
+"What, thou cursed parson!" cried the commissioner, starting from
+his seat in fury. But just then, as he sprang up, the wire tore
+through his ear, and the red blood flowed down upon his fine white
+ruff, whereat the others burst out into a yell of laughter, which
+increased the villain's fury ten times more.
+
+"Now the damned hag should stay on the rack till night. What did
+people mean coming with begging prayers for the devil's brood? As
+well pray mercy for the devil himself--the reverend parson was
+very tender about his friends the witches." At which he laughed so
+loud that the roof rang, and all the others roared in chorus.
+
+But the priest replied gravely, "I shall repeat every word you
+have uttered to his Highness the Duke, with a statement of how I
+found ye all employed, unless this instant you give orders to
+release the dairy-mother."
+
+"Never! never!" shouted the bloodhound, and struck the table till
+the glasses rang. "What is it to thee, damned priest? I am
+witch-commissioner of Pomerania; and his Highness expressly
+charged me to show no mercy to these cursed devil's hags,
+therefore, I am ready to answer to God, the Prince, and my
+conscience, for what I do."
+
+However, my worthy father-in-law had scarcely left the room,
+sighing deeply at his unsuccessful mission, when the coward
+despatched his scriba with the keys to release the dairy-mother.
+But it was too late--the horrible agony had already killed her;
+and when the hands of the corpse were unbound, both arms fell of
+themselves to the ground, out of the sockets. [Footnote: Such
+scenes of satanic cruelty and beastly debauch, mingled together
+with the proceedings of justice, were very frequent during the
+witch-trials. How would it rejoice me if, upon contemplating this
+present age, I could exclaim with my whole heart, "What
+progression--infinite progression--in manners and humanity!" But,
+alas! our modern laws, with their womanish feebleness, and
+sentimental whimperings, sin quite as much against a lofty and
+noble justice as those of earlier times by their tyrannical and
+cannibal ferocity. And yet now, as then, _conscience_ is
+appealed to as the excuse for all. O conscience, conscience! how
+wilt thou answer for all that is laid upon thee! To-day, for
+example, it is a triumphal denial of God and thy Saviour Jesus
+Christ: a crime at which a Ludecke would have shuddered, even as
+we shudder now at his; and yet no sense of shame or disquietude
+seems to pass over thee, although by the Word of God thy crime is
+a thousandfold greater than his. Matt. xii. 31; John viii. 24;
+Ephes. v. 6.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+_What Sidonia said to these doings--Item, what our Lord God
+said; and, lastly, of the magical experiment performed upon George
+Patkammer and Diliana, in Old Stettin_.
+
+
+I think my bloodhound gained his end at last respecting Sidonia;
+for truly a terrible anguish fell upon her--a foretaste of that
+hell-anguish she would one day suffer, I take it; yet she only
+betrayed this terror by the disquietude of her bearing, and the
+uneasiness which she exhibited day and night; _item_, through
+an increase of her horrible hypocrisy, which grew more flagrant
+than ever; for now, standing or going, her eyes were turned up to
+heaven, and three or four times a day she compelled the nuns to
+attend prayers in the chapel. Yet when the news was brought her,
+that the coward knave, Christian Ludecke, had extolled her virtues
+himself to the bailiff, Brose, she concluded that he meant nothing
+serious with her. However, she continued sending Anna Apenborg
+diligently to the sheriff's house, to pick up all the gossip she
+could from the servants and others. And at length Anna brought
+word that a maid at the court-house said, the scriba said, in
+confidence, that his Grace of Stettin said, Sidonia should be
+burned next autumn.
+
+When Sidonia heard this, she turned as pale as a corpse, and her
+breath seemed stifling, but recovering herself soon, attempted to
+smile, turned up her eyes to heaven, and, sighing, said, "He that
+walketh innocently walketh surely" (Prov. x. 9), and then rang for
+the nuns to go and pray in the chapel. Yet that same day, when she
+heard of the fearful death of the dairy-mother, she turned her
+hypocritical mouth to another tune, raged, and stormed, and abused
+the bloodthirsty savage of a commissioner, who had let the most
+pious person of the whole parish die so horribly on the rack; then
+bid the whole chapter assemble in her room, to state the matter to
+his Highness, for if these evil doings went on, not even the most
+innocent amongst them was safe from a like bitter death.
+
+Whereupon Anna Apenborg, who had grown the bravest of all, since
+she found that Sidonia could not do without her, said, "But,
+gracious Lady Prioress, you yourself accused the dairy-mother of
+witchcraft when you came back from Stettin, and found the poor
+priest in his coffin!" which impertinence, however, my hag so
+resented, that she hit Anna a blow on the mouth, and exclaimed in
+great wrath, "Take that for thy impudence, thou daring peasant
+wench!" But, calming herself in a moment, added, "Ah, good Anna,
+is it not human to err?--have you never been deceived yourself?"
+
+_Summa_.--The nuns must write and sign. Whereupon my Ludecke,
+out of fear of Sidonia's revenge, withdrew to Saatzig after the
+death of the dairy-mother, from thence to Doelitz, Pyritz, and so
+on, still faithful to his motto, "Torture! burn! kill!" for he
+found as many witches as he pleased in every place; so that the
+executioner, Curt Worger, who, when he first arrived at
+Marienfliess, wore nothing but a sorry grey mantle, now appeared
+decked out like a noble, in a bright scarlet cloak; _item_, a
+hat with a red feather, a buff jerkin, and jack-boots with gilded
+spurs; neither would he sit any longer on the cart with the
+witches, but rode by the side of the commissioner, on a jet black
+horse, which carried a red flag between its ears; and his drawn
+sword rested upon his shoulder. Thus they proceeded through the
+land; and upon entering a town, the executioner always struck up a
+psalm, in which not only the attorney-general and his secretary
+frequently joined, but also the wretched witches themselves who
+sat in the cart.
+
+And though the Duke received complaints daily, not only from the
+priest Beutzius, and the convent, but from every town where the
+special commission was held, of the horrible cruelties practised
+and permitted by his Grace's officials; yet the Duke remained firm
+in his determination to root out witchcraft, by these or any
+means; for whatever the ferocious bloodhound, Ludecke, prated to
+his Highness, the Duke believed, and therefore would say nothing
+against any of his acts. But our Lord God had a great deal to say
+against them; for observe all the signs and wonders that appeared
+about this time through different parts of the land, which brought
+many a one to serious reflection.
+
+First, some women, who were cooking meal and pease at Pyritz,
+found the mess changed into blood; baked bread, likewise, the
+same. And a like miracle happened at Wriezen also, for the deacon,
+Caspar Rohten, preached a sermon on the occasion, which has since
+been printed. _Item_, at Stralsund there was a red rain--yea,
+the whole sea had the appearance as if it were turned into blood;
+and some think this was a foreshadowing of the great and real
+blood-rain at Prague, and of all the evils which afterwards fell
+upon our whole German fatherland. Next the news was brought to
+court, that, at the same hour, on the same night, strange and
+supernatural voices were heard at the following places, in
+Pomerania:--
+
+1. W-edderwill, a house, as every one knows, close to Stramehl,
+and the birthplace of Sidonia.
+
+2. E-ggesin, a town near Uckermand, at the other end of Pomerania.
+
+3. H-ohenmoeker, near Demmin.
+
+4. P-yritz, the town where the witch-burnings had raged the most
+cruelly.
+
+5. O-derkrug, close to his Grace in Stettin.
+
+6. M-arienfliess, where Sidonia defied man, and blasphemed God,
+and organised all the evil that fell upon the land.
+
+Now when the Duke read this account he was filled with horror,
+that heaven itself should cry, "Woe;" for when he placed the
+initial letters of each town together, he observed, to his dismay,
+that they read, "Weh Pom--" [Footnote: Weh is called Woe, and
+Pomerania, _Pommern_ in the original.] Yet as the last
+syllable, _mern_, was wanting, the Duke comforted himself,
+and thought, "Perhaps it is the other Pomerania, where my cousin
+Philip Julius rules, over which God has cried 'Woe.'" So he wrote
+letters; but, alas! received for answer, that in the self-same
+night the strange voices had been heard in the following places:--
+
+E-ixen, a town near Franzburg.
+
+R-appin, in Ruegen.
+
+N-etzelkow, on the island of Usedom.
+
+Thus passing directly across the land.
+
+Yet the Duke still had some little comfort remaining, for there
+was an _m_ wanting--people always wrote Pommern, not
+Pomern--therefore by this the All-merciful God showed that He
+meant to preserve one _m_, that is, a _man_, of the
+noble Pomeranian house, whereby to build it up and make it
+flourishing again. To this faith he clung in his sore grief; and
+Doctor Joel further comforted him about the angel, saying that he
+would assuredly tell him what the sign denoted, and this _m_
+in particular, which was kept back from the word Pomerania. But
+the magister knew right well--as many others, though they would
+not tell the Duke--that the Lord God had spelled the word
+correctly; for the name in the Wendisch and Polish tongues is
+_Pomorswa_, spelt with but one _m_, and means a land
+lying by the sea, and therefore many of the old people still wrote
+Pomern for Pommern. Had the Duke, however, as well as his princely
+brothers, heard of the awful appearances which accompanied the
+voices in every place, methinks they would have despaired utterly.
+For the clouds gathered themselves into forms resembling each of
+the four princely Dukes in succession, as like as if a painter had
+drawn them upon the sky; thence they were, each lying on his black
+bier, from east to west, in the clear moonlight of heaven.
+
+And his Highness, Duke Francis, was the first, lying on his bier,
+with his hair combed _a la Nazarene_, as was his custom, and
+his face turned to the moon, behind which he presently
+disappeared.
+
+Next came Duke Udalricus, and his face was so distinct that it
+seemed cut out of paper, lying there in his coffin; and he, too,
+sank behind the moon, and was seen no more.
+
+Philip Julius of Wolgast was the third, and the blessed moon shone
+bright upon his black moustache in the coffin; and, lastly--woe,
+alas! Whereupon night and darkness fell upon the sky. [Footnote:
+Latin note of Bogislaff XIV.--"Tune ego ipse, nonne? hoc nobis
+infelicibus bene taciturnitate nostrum cohibitum est; Elector
+Brandenburgiae sane omnia rapiet!" (Then I myself--is it not so?
+This was kept secret from us unfortunates. The Elector of
+Brandenburg will rob all.) Then in German he added:--"Yet the Lord
+is my light, of whom then shall I be afraid? Ah, that my poor
+soul, in truth, rested calm in heaven! For I am ready to be
+offered up like St. Paul (meaning through Wallenstein): 'Would
+that the time of my departure were at hand! '--2 Tim. iv. 6. Yea,
+come and take my heritage, George of Brandenburgh, I am weary of
+this life."]
+
+But these fearful signs were as carefully concealed from their
+Highnesses as if the whole people had conspired to keep the
+secret; besides, the figures were not observed at every place
+where the voices sounded. However, Doctor Joel himself came to the
+conclusion, in his own mind, that, after these open declarations
+from heaven, it would be quite useless to consult the angel.
+Nevertheless, to calm the mind of the Duke, he resolved to go
+through with the conjuration if possible, at least he might bind
+the hell-dragon of Marienfliess, and save others from her evil
+spells, if even the Duke and his illustrious race were already
+doomed.
+
+Now, having cast Sidonia's nativity, he found that the time in
+which alone her powerful evil spirit or familiar could be bound,
+coincided exactly with that in which the sun-angel might be made
+to appear; thus, the helpless hag could be seized at Marienfliess
+without danger or difficulty, at this precise hour and moment. So
+he determined to commence his conjuration at once by the magical
+bloodletting, and for this purpose wrote the following letter to
+Diliana, with which his Highness instantly despatched a horseman
+to Stramehl:--
+
+
+    *     *     *     *     *     *
+
+JESUS!
+
+"NOBLE AND PURE VIRGIN,--Having found, _ex namtate Sidoniae_,
+that it is possible to bind her evil spirit just at the moment in
+which we three stand within the circle to question the sun-angel,
+we must seek out a brave youth in Marienfliess whom you trust, and
+who by nature is so sympathetical with you, that he will
+experience the same sensations in his body while there, precisely
+at the same moment in which they are excited in you at Old
+Stettin. This can be accomplished only by the magic bleeding,
+performed upon you both; therefore I pray you, in the name of his
+Highness, to communicate with such an one, if so be there is a
+youth in whom you place trust, and by the next new moon come with
+him to Old Stettin, where I shall perform the magic bleeding on
+you both, that no time may be lost in commencing this mighty work,
+which, by God's help, will save the land. God keep you. Pray for
+me!
+
+"Your servant to command," M. JOEL.
+
+"Old Stettin, 19th June 1618."
+
+This letter grieved the young virgin, for she saw the magister
+would not cease his importunities. Nevertheless, to show her
+obedience to his Highness, and by the advice of her cousin
+Bastien, she consented to undertake the journey. Bastien likewise
+offered willingly to go through the magic bleeding along with her,
+but the maiden declined, and wrote privately to George Putkammer
+at Pansin the following letter:--
+
+"Be it known to you, Sir Knight, that his Highness of Stettin has
+solicited my aid in a mighty magic-work, and desired me to seek
+out a youth in whom I trust, that magister Joel of Grypswald may
+perform a magic bleeding upon us both. So I have selected you, and
+desire therefore to meet you on St. John the Baptist's day, by ten
+of the clock in the forenoon, at the castle of Old Stettin. But my
+father or Saatzig is to know nothing of the matter; and you must
+promise neither to look upon me, nor sigh, nor press my hand, nor
+speak of marriage, whether we be alone or not. In this I trust to
+your knightly honour and noble nature.
+
+"DILIANA BORK.
+
+"Stramehl, 22nd July 1618."
+
+So on the appointed day Diliana arrived at the castle of Stettin,
+and his Highness was rejoiced to see her, and bade the magister
+Joel himself to bring all sorts of dainties for her refreshment,
+in order that the lacqueys might not be coming in and out, spying
+at what was going on. And immediately after, the court marshal
+flung open the door a second time, and my young knight
+appeared--marry, how handsome he looked--dressed just like a
+bridegroom! He wore a buff doublet, with sleeves of blue satin,
+bordered with scarlet velvet; scarlet hose broidered in
+gold--_item_, Spanish boots with gold spurs, and round his
+throat a ruff of the finest lace--_item_, ruffles of the
+same. So with his long sword by his side he entered, carrying his
+plumed beaver in his hand; and truly he blushed up to his very
+ears when he beheld Diliana seated there in her pomp and beauty,
+and he stammered and cast down his eyes upon his boots when the
+Duke addressed him, so that his Highness grew provoked, and
+exclaimed--
+
+"What the devil, young man! have you an evil conscience? Can you
+not look any one straight in the face?"
+
+At this the young knight lifted his eyes boldly and fixed them
+upon his Grace, answering haughtily--"My Lord Duke, I can look the
+devil himself straight in the face, if need be; but what is this
+comedy which you are about to play with me and this young maiden?"
+
+This speech offended his Highness. "It was no mumming work they
+had in hand, but a grave and serious matter, which, as he did not
+understand, the magister would explain to him."
+
+So my magister began, and demonstrated the whole _opus
+theurgicum_; but the knight is as unbelieving as Jobst, and
+says--
+
+"But what need of the angel? Can we not do the business ourselves?
+My lord Duke, it is now eleven o'clock; give me permission, and by
+this hour to-morrow morning Sidonia shall be here in a pig-sack.
+And long ago I would have done this of myself, or stabbed her with
+my dagger for her late evil deeds, if your Grace had not forbade
+me so to do at the burial of our gracious lord, Duke Philip II.
+The devil himself must laugh at our cowardice, that we cannot
+seize an old withered hag whom a cowboy of ten years old would
+knock down with his left hand."
+
+To which his Highness answered, "You are foolhardy, young man, to
+esteem so lightly the power of her evil spirit; for know that it
+is a mighty and terrible spirit, who could strangle you as easily
+as he has murdered others, for all your defiant speeches!
+Therefore we must conquer him by other means; and for this reason
+I look with hope to the appearance of the angel, who will teach
+us, perhaps, how to remove the spell from my illustrious race,
+which Sidonia's inhuman malice has laid on them, making them to
+perish childless off the face of the earth. If even you succeeded
+in seizing her, how would this help? She would revenge herself by
+standing there deaf and mute as a corpse, and would sooner be
+burned at the stake than speak one word that would remove this
+great calamity from our house."
+
+Then the knight said, "He would never consent that Diliana should
+run the great danger of citing a spirit."
+
+Which, when the maiden heard, she grew as red as the young knight
+when he first entered, and said with a grave and haughty mien--
+
+"Sir knight, who gave you any right over my words or works? There
+may be other men in whom I place trust as well as you; and speak
+but another word of the like nature, and I will prove it to you by
+my acts."
+
+Marry, that was a slap on the mouth to my young knight, who grew
+as red as scarlet, and cast down his eyes upon his boots, while M.
+Joel began to demonstrate the magic blood-letting to them as
+follows--
+
+"See here, young knight, and you, fair virgin, here are two little
+boxes of white ivory, of the same size and weight; and see, within
+each of them is suspended a little magnet, both cut from the one
+loadstone, and round in a circle are all the letters of the
+alphabet. Now, let each of you take a little box, carry it
+delicately, and by its help you can converse with each other
+though you were a hundred miles apart. This sympathy between you
+is established by means of the magic blood-letting. I make an
+incision in each of your arms, placed together in the form of a
+cross, then touch the knight's wound with the blood of the virgin,
+and the virgin's with the blood of the knight, so will your blood
+be mingled; and then, if one of you press the wound on the arm,
+the other will feel the same pressure sympathetically on the arm
+at the same instant, though ye be ever so far removed from one
+another. Now suppose that you, fair maiden, feel a pressure
+suddenly on the wound in your arm, you place the magnet box
+thereon, and the needle will point of itself, by sympathy, to the
+letters necessary to form a word, which word will be the same as
+that found by the magnet of the knight, who will likewise have the
+box on his arm at the same moment; thus ye can read each other's
+thoughts instantaneously, and this results entirely from the laws
+of sympathy, as described by the renowned Abbot Johannes
+Trithemius, and Hercules de Sunde."
+
+To all this my knight made no answer, but seemed much disturbed.
+However, the magister ordered him to retire into the next chamber
+and remove his doublet. _Item_, he bade the young maiden
+likewise to take off her robe, seeing that the sleeves were very
+tight. It was a blue silk bodice she had on, trimmed round the
+bosom with golden fringe, and a mantle of yellow silk embroidered
+in violets and gold. Now the maiden was angry at first with the
+magister for his request, but laughed afterwards, when she thought
+of Dorothea Stettin, and her absurdities with the doctor.
+
+So she said, "Here, cut open my sleeve, it matters not. I have
+more dresses with me at my lodging." This my magister does
+immediately, and draws forth the beautiful arm white as a
+snow-flake, throws the sleeve back upon the shoulder, and places
+Diliana with her face turned towards the window, on a seat which
+his Highness, the Duke, laid for her himself, while he exclaimed
+earnestly, "Now, Diliana, guard thy soul well from any evil
+thought!"
+
+Hereupon the poor young virgin began to weep, and said, "Ah! my
+Lord Duke, I have indeed need to pray for support, but I will look
+up to the Lord my Saviour, whose strength is made perfect in my
+weakness. Now the young knight may come, but let me not see him."
+
+On this, the magister called in the young man, and sat him on the
+same seat with Diliana, but back to back. Then he stepped to one
+side, and looking at them, said, "Eh, my Lord Duke, see the
+beautiful James's head. That betokens good luck. Pity that the
+younker has no beard! Young man, you have more hair on your teeth
+than on your chin, I take it. [FOOTNOTE: Having hair on the teeth,
+means being a brave, fearless person, one who will stand up boldly
+for his own.] Why do you not scrape diligently; shall I give you a
+receipt?"
+
+But the knight made no answer, only grew red for shame. Whereupon
+my magister left off jesting; and taking the young man's arm, laid
+it upon the maiden's, in the form of a cross, then opened a vein
+in each, murmuring some words, while the blood-stream poured down
+into two silver cups which were held by his Highness, the Duke.
+
+But, woe! my knight sinks down in a dead faint off his side of the
+couch to the ground. Which, when Diliana heard, she springs up
+with her arm still bleeding, and exclaims, "The knight is dead!
+Oh, save the knight!" Then the poor child wept. "Ah, what will
+become of me? What is this you mean to do with us?"
+
+So the magister gave over the young knight to the care of his
+Highness, who held a smelling-flask to his nose, while Dr. Joel
+took some of his blood and poured it into Diliana's arm, after
+which he bound it up. And then, when the young knight began to
+recover, she hastened, weeping, out of the apartment, saying,
+"Tell the knight not to touch his arm. When there is necessity I
+shall press mine. Farewell, gracious Lord Duke, and help me day
+and night with the sixth petition in the Lord's Prayer!" And she
+would not return, though the Duke called out after her, "A word,
+one word!" _Item_, M. Joel, "Bring a shift with you that
+belonged to your grandmother! Nothing can be done unless you bring
+this with you!" She hastens on to the inn, and when the knight
+recovered sufficiently to follow after her, behold, there was her
+carriage already crossing the Oder bridge, which so afflicted him,
+that the tears poured from his eyes, and he cursed the whole world
+in his great love-agony, particularly his Grace, the magister, and
+the ghost of Clara. For to these three he imputed all the grievous
+vexations and misfortunes he endured with regard to the fair
+maiden.
+
+Yet he lived in hope that she would soon press her wounded arm,
+and thus establish a sympathy of thought between them. So he set
+spurs to his horse and rode back again to his good castle of
+Pansin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+_Of the awful and majestic appearance of the sun-angel, Och._
+
+
+At last the blessed autumn arrived, and found my Ludecke still
+torturing and burning, and Sidonia still practising her evil
+sorceries upon man and beast, of which, however, it would be
+tiresome here to notice all the particulars. And on the 11th day
+of September, Jobst and his fair daughter arrived at Old Stettin,
+where the knight again tried to remonstrate with his Highness
+about the conjuration, but without any success, as we may easily
+suppose. Thereupon the Duke and the magister commenced a
+discipline of fastings. _Item_, every day they had magic
+baths, and this continued up to the midnight of the 22nd day, when
+they at last resolved to begin the great work, for the sun entered
+Libra that year on the 23rd day of September, at twenty minutes
+after two o'clock A.M.
+
+So they all three put on garments of virgin-white linen, and
+Diliana drew over hers a shift which had belonged to her
+grandmother of blessed memory, Clara von Dewitz, for she had not
+omitted to bring one with her, having searched for it with great
+diligence. Then she said to the magister, "Much do I wish to ask
+the angel, wherefore it is that God gives such power to Satan upon
+the earth? No man hath yet answered me on this point. May I dare
+to ask the angel?"
+
+Hereupon he answered, "She might fearlessly do it, he was himself
+curious." So they conversed, and meantime placed caps on their
+heads, made likewise of virgin linen, with the Holy
+_Tetragrammaton_ [Footnote: I have observed before, this was
+the name, Jehovah, in the Hebrew.] bound thereon. Then the
+magister, taking a hazel-wand in his right hand, placed the magic
+circle upon his breast with the left, which circle was made of
+parchment, and carved all over with magic characters, and taking
+up his book, bade the Duke bear the vinculum of the heavenly
+bodies, that is, the signet of the spirit; _item_, Diliana,
+the vinculum of the earthly creature, as her own pure body, the
+blood of the white dove, of the field-mouse, incense, and
+swallow's feathers. Whereupon, he lastly made the sign of the
+cross, and led the way to the great knights' hall, which was
+already illuminated with magic lights of virgin wax, according to
+his directions.
+
+Now as they all stepped out of the door in their white robes and
+high caps, shaped like the mitre of a bishop, there stood my Jobst
+in the corridor, purple with anguish and bathed in sweat--"He
+would go with them;" and when the magister put him back, saying,
+"Impossible," the poor knight began to sob, embraced his little
+daughter, "for who could tell whether he would ever see his only
+joy upon earth alive again? Ah, into what straits had the Duke
+brought him and his dear little daughter!"
+
+However, the magister bade him be of good heart, for that no evil
+could happen to his fair daughter, seeing that she had again and
+again assured him of her pure virgin soul; but they must lose no
+time now, if the knight chose to stand outside he might do so. To
+this Jobst consented, but when the three others had entered the
+knights' hall, my magister turned round to bolt the door, on which
+the alarmed father shook the door violently--
+
+"He would never consent to have it bolted; if it were, he would
+burst it in with a noise that would waken the whole castle. He was
+a father, and if any danger were in there, he could spring in and
+save his poor little worm, or die with her if need be."
+
+So the magister consented at last not to bolt the door, but
+clapped it to, so that the knight could not peep through. He is
+not to be outwitted, however; drew off his buff doublet, took out
+a gimlet from his pocket, and bored a hole in the door, laid his
+hat upon the doublet, took his naked sword between his legs, and,
+resting both hands firmly on the hilt, bent down and placed his
+eye at the gimlet-hole, through which he could distinctly see all
+that passed in the room. And the three walked up to the centre of
+the hall, where the magic lights were burning, and the magister
+unloosed the circle from his breast and spread it out upon the
+ground, as far as it would reach, then he drew a figure with white
+chalk at each of the four corners, like interlaced triangles, and
+taking the vinculum of the heavenly creature, or the signet of the
+sun-angel, which was written with the blood of a coal-black raven
+upon virgin parchment, out of the hand of the Duke, hung it upon a
+new dagger, which no man had ever used, and fixed the same in the
+circle towards the north--
+
+"For," said he, "the spirit will come from the north: only watch
+well for the little white cloud that always precedes him, and be
+not alarmed at anything, for I have too often practised this
+conjuration to anticipate danger now."
+
+After all this was done, and the pan of perfume, with the vinculum
+of the earthly creature, had been placed in the centre, the
+magister spake--"In the name of God the Father, of the Son, and of
+the Holy Ghost. Amen!" And stepped from the north side the first
+into the circle, within which he kneeled down and repeated a
+beautiful prayer.
+
+And the two others responded "Amen." Whereupon the wise Theurgist,
+the brave priest of the grand primitive old faith, rose up, made
+the sign of the cross at the north, and began the conjuration of
+the angel with a loud voice.
+
+They were harsh and barbarous words that he uttered, which no one
+understood, and they lasted a good paternoster long; after which,
+the priest stopped and said--
+
+"Gracious Prince, lay thy left hand upon the vinculum of the
+heavenly creature;--virgin, step with thy left foot upon the
+signet of the spirit, in the north of the circle. After the third
+_pause_ he must appear."
+
+With these words he began the conjuration again; but, behold, as
+it was ended, a form appeared, not at the north but at the south,
+and glided on in a white bloody shroud, until it reached the
+centre of the circle. At this sight the magister was transfixed
+with horror, and made the sign of the cross, then said in an
+agitated voice--
+
+"All good spirits praise God the Lord!"
+
+Upon which the spirit answered--
+
+"In eternity. Amen!"
+
+Whilst Diliana exclaimed--
+
+"Grandmother! grandmother! art thou indeed her spirit?"
+
+So the spirit glided three times round the circle, with a
+plaintive wailing sound, then stopped before Diliana, and making
+the sign of the cross, said--
+
+"Daughter, take that shift of mine from off thee, it betokens
+misfortune. It is No. 7, and see, I have No. 6 for my bloody
+shroud."
+
+Whereupon it pointed to the throat, where indeed the red number 6
+was plainly discernible.
+
+Diliana spake--
+
+"Grandmother, how did these things come to pass?"
+
+But the spirit laid the forefinger on its mouth in silence.
+Whereupon she asked again--
+
+"Grandmother, art thou happy?" The spirit answered--
+
+"I hope to become so, but take off that shift, the angel must soon
+appear; it will be Sidonia's death shroud."
+
+As the spirit said these words it disappeared again towards the
+south, whereupon the knight at the gimlet-hole cried out--
+
+"There was some one here, was it the angel?"
+
+"No, no," screamed Diliana, while she quickly stepped out of the
+circle, and drew off the shift. "No, it was my poor grandmother!"
+
+"Silence," cried the magister; "for God's sake, no talking more,
+we have already lost ten seconds by that ghost. Now quick with the
+vinculum of the earthly creature! My Prince, strew the incense
+upon the burner; virgin, dip the swallow's feathers in the blood
+of the white dove, and streak my two lips with them. Now all be
+still if you value your life. Eternity is listening to us, and the
+whole apartment is full of invisible spirits."
+
+Then he repeated the conjuration for the third time, and, behold,
+at the last word, a white cloud appeared at the north, that at
+every moment became brighter and brighter, until a red pillar of
+light, about an arm's thickness, shot forth from the centre of it,
+and the most exquisite fragrance with soft tones of music were
+diffused over the whole north end of the hall; then the cloud
+seemed to rain down radiant flowers of hues and beauty, such as
+earth had never seen, after which a tremendous sound, as if a clap
+of thunder shook not only the castle to its foundation, but seemed
+to shake heaven and earth itself, and the cloud, parting in twain,
+disclosed the sun-angel in the centre. Yet the knight outside
+never heard this sound, nor did old Kruger, the Duke's
+boot-cleaner, who sat in the very next room reading the Bible; he
+merely thought that the clock had run down in the corridor, and
+sent his wife out to see, and this seems to me a very strange
+thing, but the knight, through his gimlet-hole, saw plainly that a
+chair, which they had forgotten to take out the way of the angel
+at the north side, was utterly consumed by his presence, and when
+he had passed, lay there a heap of ashes.
+
+And the angel in truth appeared in the form of a beautiful boy of
+twelve years old, and from head to foot shone with a dazzling
+light. A blue mantle, sown with silver stars, was flung around
+him, but so glittering to the eye that it seemed a portion of the
+milky way he had torn from heaven, as he passed along, and wrapped
+round his angelic form. On his feet, rosy as the first clouds of
+morning, were bound golden sandals, and on his yellow hair a
+crown; and thus surrounded by radiant flowers, odours, and the
+soft tones of heavenly music, he swept down in grace and glorious
+beauty to earth. When the Theurgist beheld this, he fell on his
+knees along with the others, and prayed--
+
+"We praise thee, we bless thee, we adore thee, O lofty spirit of
+God!--thou throne-angel of the Almighty!--that thou hast deigned
+by the word of our father Adae, by the word of our father Henoch,
+and by the word of our father Noah, to enter the darkness of this
+our second world, and appear before our eyes. Help us, blessed
+angel!--help us!"
+
+And the angel said, "What will ye?"
+
+Here the Duke took heart, and gave for answer, "Lord, an evil
+witch, a devil's sorceress, wickeder than anything yet known upon
+earth, Sidonia Bork by name----"
+
+But the angel let him continue no further, and with a glance of
+terrible anger exclaimed, "Silence, thou drunken man of blood!"
+
+Then, looking upon Diliana, murmured softly, "Speak, thou pure and
+blessed maiden!"
+
+At this the virgin took courage, and answered, "Our gracious
+Prince would know how the evil spirit of my cousin Sidonia can be
+overcome?"
+
+"Seize Wolde first," replied the angel, "then the evil spirit of
+Sidonia will become powerless. What wouldst thou know further?"
+
+Hereupon the modest virgin blushed, stammered, and looked down;
+then from awe and terror, scarcely knowing what she said, made
+answer--
+
+"Behold, thy servant would know wherefore the All-mighty and
+All-merciful God hath, since the beginning of time, allowed so
+much power to Satan over His creatures, the works of His own
+hands?"
+
+Then the angel spake--"That is a grave and serious question,
+maiden, and the answer would be above thy comprehension; yet this
+much I will explain to thee--if there were no devil and no evil,
+many attributes of the Almighty God our Lord would have remained
+for ever hid from you, children of humanity, as well as from us,
+spirits of heaven. Therefore, from the beginning, hath God
+permitted such power to the devil as might show forth these His
+attributes to the wondering universe. First, after the fall, His
+_justice_ was revealed, as you have seen displayed in the old
+covenant, and this attribute could never have been manifested
+unless evil and the devil had entered into the world. Now, thought
+the devil when he beheld the manifestation of this terrible
+attribute, the whole human race must fall for ever to perdition,
+and the Lord God must be the first to murder the work of His own
+hands. But, lo! before heaven and earth, the great God manifested
+two new attributes; namely, mercy and love, for He fulfilled His
+word given to Satan in Paradise. The serpent-treader entered into
+the world, and oh! infinite wonder! heaven and earth, which till
+then had seen God but in His goodness, now beheld His love bleed
+from the wounds of His Son on Golgotha, and the world reconciled
+to Him for ever, through Christ.
+
+"Yet Satan still thinks to regain his lost dominion over the
+world; therefore it shall come to pass that the Lord will suffer
+him to become a mock and derision to all mankind, and for the
+first time since the world was made men will doubt his existence
+and disbelieve his power, and his name will be a scorn and idle
+word to the very children, and the old wives by their
+spinning-wheels. Then will be manifested some new attribute of
+divinity, of which as yet thou, nor I, nor any creature, may have
+an opportunity to contemplate. All this has lain in the purpose of
+God, in order to increase the happiness of His creatures; for all
+the other attributes of the Almighty, such as Infinity,
+Omnipresence, Omnipotence, awaken only _awe_ in the mind of
+the finite; but those attributes which He manifests in His triumph
+over sin and Satan, are what truly awaken _love_, and through
+love, above all, is the happiness of the creature advanced. When
+God has thus manifested all His attributes by means of sin and
+Satan, to the joy of His faithful servants, men and angels, for
+all eternity, who without sin and Satan would never have known
+them, then the great day of the Lord will come, when the wine of
+His love-spirit will inspire every creature that believes on Him
+in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth! Further----"
+
+But behold, at this word of the angel, a blue ray, about the
+thickness of an arm, came up from the south into the middle of the
+circle, and blended itself, trembling and glittering, with the
+radiant cloud and flowers. When the angel beheld this, he said--
+
+"Lo! I am summoned to the ruins of Nineveh. Let me depart!"
+
+At this the Duke took heart again to speak, and began, "Lord, how
+is my ancient race----"
+
+But the angel again interrupted him with, "Silence, thou drunken
+man of blood!"
+
+And when the magister repeated the form which broke the
+conjuration, the angel disappeared as he had come, with a terrible
+clap of thunder; and clouds, light, flowers, odours, and music,
+all passed away with him, and the hall became dark and silent as
+the grave.
+
+But in a couple of seconds, just as the magister had stepped out
+of the circle with the virgin, who trembled in every limb, even as
+he did himself, my Jobst comes rushing in at the door with joyful
+mien, thanks God, sobs, embraces his little daughter twice,
+thrice--embraces her again, and at last asks, "What said the
+angel?"
+
+And they told him all--_item_, about the ghost of his poor
+mother, and what it desired. Then, for the first time, they
+observed that the Duke stood still within the circle with folded
+arms, and eyes bent upon the ground.
+
+"My Lord Duke, will you not step out of the circle?" exclaimed the
+magister.
+
+Whereupon the Duke started, sprang from the circle to the spot
+where they stood, and, seizing the magister by the throat, roared,
+"Dog of a sorcerer! this is some of thy black-art. Jobst here was
+right; thou hast raised no angel, but a devil!"
+
+At this the terrified magister first tried to release himself from
+his Grace's hold, then began to explain, but the Duke would listen
+to nothing.
+
+"It was clear as the sun this was no angel, but a devil, who, as
+St. Paul says, had transformed himself into an angel of light;
+for, first, the hellish emissary had called him a bloodhound. Now,
+what blood had he ever shed, except the blood of accursed witches?
+and this, as a just ruler, he had done upon the express command of
+God Himself (Ex. xxii. 18), where it is written:--'Thou shalt not
+suffer a witch to live.' No one, therefore, from heaven or upon
+earth, could blame him for fulfilling the commands of God, yet the
+spirit had blamed him. _Ergo_, he was not an angel, but a
+devil. Next, the knave twice called me a drunkard. Here clearly he
+showed himself no angel, but, as the Lord Jesus named him, the
+'father of lies;' for tell me, friends, was I drunk to-day? If I
+do take a sleeping draught after the fatigues of the day--tell me,
+what does that matter to this impudent devil? So I say with that
+Mecklenburgh nobleman in Dobberan:--
+
+  'Away, away, thou devil, from me,
+  I care not a single hair for thee;
+  In spite of the devil, a noble man
+  Should drain to the last his drinking-can.
+  I'll sup with the Lord and the saints the first,
+  While thou, poor devil, must ever thirst.
+  I'll drain the mead from the flowing bowl,
+  While the devil is sitting in hellish dole;
+  Therefore, away, thou devil, from me,
+  I care not a single hair for thee.
+
+ [Footnote: This inscription is still to be seen upon a tombstone
+in Dobberan.]
+
+And doth not Martinus Lutherus say--
+
+  'Who loves not wine, women, and song,
+  Remains a fool his whole life long'?
+
+Marry, the grievous devil may wait long enough before he makes me
+a fool. I am too sharp for the stuff with which he humbugs you, my
+wise chattering magister!"
+
+But the magister began to demonstrate how unlikely it was that
+Satan would give advice how to subdue himself; "For how then could
+his kingdom stand?" as the Lord said (Luke xi.). So the Duke
+listened, and grew thoughtful--at last exclaimed, "Well, come,
+we'll settle that over the wine-cup; and to spite the knave, we'll
+keep up the carouse till morning; the night is already half spent,
+and I have some glorious Muscadel in the cellar."
+
+My Jobst, however, will not remain; and Diliana asks, "What his
+Grace will do about Wolde?"
+
+This set his Grace again upon abusing the spirit--"Ay, truly, he
+must have been a devil--Master Beelzebub himself, and no good
+angel--for had he not bid him twice to hold his tongue when he
+began to ask about his old illustrious race, and what should be
+done to preserve it from utter destruction? The magister might go
+to the devil himself now, with all his magic; he saw clearly
+through the whole business."
+
+So a great strife arose between them, which ended in the Duke
+permitting the blessed maiden to press the wound in her arm, in
+order to communicate, by means of the magnetic alphabet, with the
+knight, who at that moment was keeping watch with his good sword
+in the chapel of Marienfliess. Everything, however, must be
+performed before the eyes of the Duke, else he would not believe
+it; so the young maiden, blushing for shame, pressed the wound on
+her arm; and after a brief space, cried out with wonder--"In truth
+I feel the pressure now of itself." Whereupon, at the command of
+the magister, she threw up her wide sleeve (for she still wore the
+magic robe), and placed the little box with the magnet on her arm,
+directing the magnetic needle, with a fine stick, to the letters,
+thus:--
+
+S--E--I--Z--E----W--O--L--D--E.
+
+She then retired to a chamber, to put on her own dress, and had
+scarcely finished when she feels the pressure on her arm again.
+Whereupon she calls to his Grace and the magister, who set the
+magnet immediately on her arm, when, to the great surprise of his
+Grace, the needle turns of itself to the letters--
+
+S--H--E----I--S----S--E--I--Z--E--D.
+
+This sight gave my gracious Lord fresh courage: "And after all,
+perhaps that was an angel; for surely Sidonia would have protected
+her maid, if her evil spirit had not become powerless, as the
+spirit had foretold. And now they would soon have the
+arch-sorceress herself. He would send a horseman instantly to
+Christian Ludecke, who was burning witches at Colbatz, to hasten,
+without delay, to Marienfliess."
+
+At last he permits Jobst, since he will not drink, to take his
+leave; "yet he and his fair daughter must first promise, by their
+honour, not to breathe a word of the magic conjuration, since the
+ignorant and stupid people would only make a mock of such matters;
+and why cast pearls before swine, or holy mysteries to dogs?" And
+truly they kept the secret of his Grace, so that not a word was
+known thereof until Duke Bogislaff the Fourteenth communicated the
+same to me, precisely as he had the facts from his brother, and
+gave me permission to publish them in my "History of Sidonia."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+_How old Wolde is seized, confronted with Sidonia, and finally
+burned before her window._
+
+
+Meanwhile the young knight, George Putkammer, had ridden over to
+Marienfliess on the appointed day, to Sheriff Eggert Sparling's.
+He mentioned nothing of the great magic work, as the Duke had
+forbidden him to do so, but merely said that he had orders from
+the Prince to seize Sidonia that night.
+
+At this, my sheriff shuddered: "The young knight should reflect on
+what he was about; young people were often foolhardy and
+confident, to their utter ruin. What did he want from him? If he
+got half the world for it, he would not touch even the clothes of
+the devil's hag. He had tried it once, and that would do him for
+his life."
+
+But the knight answered, "He had pledged his word to the Duke, and
+must hold by it. His worship must just give him a couple of stout
+fellows to help him."
+
+_Ille_.--"Did he really think that in the whole bailiwick a
+fellow could be got to go with him, when it was known he was going
+to seize the sorceress--the devil's night-bird? Ha! ha! ha!"
+
+_Hic_.--"Then he would do it alone. His worship must just
+give him some cords, and show him a prison where he could put the
+vile witch."
+
+_Ille_.--"Cords he should have, as many as he wished, but on
+no account must the hag be brought to the court-house. He knew her
+well, and would take care to have nothing to do with her."
+
+_Hic_.--"At least, then, his worship must lend him a horse,
+and he would bind the dragon thereon with stout cords, and carry
+her away to his good castle of Pansin, where there was a deep
+dungeon, in which he could lay her, until he knew the Duke's
+pleasure."
+
+_Ille_.--"The horse he might have, and choose one himself
+from the stall, and if it pleased him, bind the witch on its back
+there in the churchyard, under the linden-trees; but to the
+court-house the witch must not come--certainly not--or she would
+suspect him of having a hand in her capture. Yet let the knight
+think again, and give up this dangerous business, or surely they
+had beheld each other for the last time."
+
+But the knight only waited until the clock pointed to ten; then
+taking a lantern, he goes and chooses out a stout white mare (for
+such, they say, are antipathetical to witches), ties her to a
+linden in the churchyard, enters the church, lights the altar
+candles, and sits there, reading in the large Bible; until about
+the hour that the conjuration was taking place at Old Stettin,
+when a strange feeling of uneasiness came over him, and he rose up
+and walked to and fro in the church in great agitation. Suddenly
+he felt a pressure on his wounded arm, and turning up the sleeve
+of his doublet, pressed in return, after which, he laid the magnet
+upon it, and, to his surprise, read that he was to seize Wolde,
+not Sidonia. Instantly he took up the lantern and the cords, put
+his good sword under his arm, and ascended the steps up to the
+nuns' gallery, and from that, entered the convent corridor, as the
+door between always lay open; but stumbling, by chance, into Anna
+Apenborg's cell, she led him down a flight of stairs to the ground
+floor, and close to the refectory, where she pointed to a little
+chamber adjoining, whispering, "There is where the old cat
+snores;" then creeps behind a barrel, to watch, while the knight,
+holding the light before him, stepped at once into the cell,
+crying, "Stand up, old night-bird, and get on thy rags, thine hour
+hath come."
+
+A scream of horror was the answer from the hag, and she clapped
+violently at the refectory wall, calling out, "Help me! help!
+help! a fellow has seized me, Lady Prioress!" But the knight was
+resolved to make quick work of it; and hearing a stir already in
+Sidonia's apartment, threw himself upon the hag, and bound her
+hands tight with the cords, while she screamed, and struggled, and
+yelled piteously for the Lady Prioress; then dragging her up, he
+exclaimed, "Since thou didst not heed me, now thou shalt come off
+naked as thou art; better the devil should not have a rag to catch
+hold of. Come!"
+
+But a fearful-looking form just then rushed into the room--it was
+Sidonia, just as she had risen from bed, bearing a lamp in her
+hand, with her white hair flowing wildly about her face and
+shoulders, and her red glowing eyes fixed menacingly upon the
+knight. She had just begun a terrific curse, when the young man,
+seeing the cat in his red hose following, lifted his sword and
+with one blow cut him clean in two, but started back, for the
+first time, in terror, when he beheld one half, on its two legs,
+run quickly under Wolde's bed, and the other half, on the two
+other legs, make off for the refectory, through the door which had
+been left open. Even Sidonia recoiled at the sight; but soon, with
+increased ferocity, sprang at the knight, screaming and clenching
+her hands. But he cried out, "Hold! or I will cleave thee in
+twain, even as thy cat." And in truth she stopped stone-still, but
+soon began to spit and murmur. Whereupon he cried out again, "Ay,
+spit and mumble; but know that my good friend, of whom I told
+thee, stands without, and if but a finger of mine aches, now or in
+future, he hath sworn thy death."
+
+Then swinging Wolde's clothes, which lay on the bed, over her
+shoulder with the point of his sword, he exclaimed to
+Sidonia--"Away, away, or the like will be done to thee!"
+
+Whereupon, amidst the howling of the hag, and the horrible curses
+and maledictions of Sidonia, he re-crossed the gallery and the
+church, the lame she-devil still howling before him, till they
+entered the churchyard; after which my brave knight bound her feet
+upon the white mare, and rode away with her to his good castle of
+Pansin.
+
+I had forgotten to notice before, that the pastor was not buried
+within the church, as his widow first intended, but was laid
+outside in the blessed earth, because she feared that the man-wolf
+might get at him again within the church-vault and tear him.
+
+_Summa_.--That same evening the witch-commissioner, Christian
+Ludecke, arrived with his secretary at Marienfliess, according to
+the mandate of the Prince; and behind them come two waggons, on
+one of which sits the executioner with his assistants, the red
+flag floating above him, and the second is laden with the
+instruments of torture and the rack; for those belonging to the
+court-house of Marienfliess were not considered powerful enough.
+And, as usual, they enter the town chanting a sacred hymn, at
+which sound every one shudders, but my sheriff is particularly
+horror-struck; and, rushing out to meet them at the court-house,
+cried out--
+
+"What the devil! is the bloodhound back again? Did he think that
+witches grew up in the town like cabbages?" but held his peace
+instantly, when he heard that all was done by command of the
+Prince.
+
+So the lame hag was brought back again from Pansin that night, and
+the _articuli indictionales_ were drawn up against her, in
+which it was not forgotten that years before she had sat in the
+cellar of the poor dairy-woman's mother, and there bewitched the
+cocks and hens, as many old people still living could testify; and
+the bailiff's wife is by no means slack either in helping her to
+the same death as the poor dairy-mother. While the whole town and
+adjacent country rang with these proceedings, Sidonia's
+disquietude became evident. Every day she sent Anna Apenborg up to
+the court-house, and there the said Anna and the serving-maid of
+the scriba were seen with their heads together in every corner
+conversing, and each day brought less comfort to the terrible
+witch of Marienfliess. Therefore, about this time, she changed her
+demeanour to the nuns, and in place of her usual fierce and cruel
+bearing, she now became quite mild, threw up her eyes, went
+regularly to church every Sunday, and sighed deeply during the
+sermon. Day and night she was singing spiritual songs, and sent to
+Stargard to purchase prayer-books, all to make the world think
+that she had grown truly religious. _Item_, she sent her new
+maid, Anna Dorings by name, to Stargard, to purchase mercury for
+her from the apothecary; and when the maid handed the same to her,
+she heard her murmur as if to herself, while she locked up the
+poison in her press--
+
+"So now, at least, they can do nothing worse with me than behead
+me!"
+
+Then she went herself one day to Stargard, and visited a
+celebrated advocate, called Elias Pauli. "The world was now so
+hard-hearted, and the devil so active, that she feared her turn
+might come next to be tried for a witch, just for the sympathy she
+showed for the poor creatures. Alas! how Satan blinded the reason
+of men; for when were such cruelties ever heard of as were
+practised now on poor helpless women? (Weeping.) And would not my
+Elias defend her from this ferocious bloodhound, Christian
+Ludecke, who had come again to Marienfliess, and boasted loudly
+that, when he had made an end of her old maid, Wolde, he would
+seize her next; and even sworn that, to make a terrible example of
+her, her nose and ears should be torn off with red-hot pincers ere
+she was tied to the stake. And what would my Elias do for her? She
+had a few dozen gold crowns which her sister Dorothea had left her
+by will, and willingly she would give them, if he turned the base
+malice of her enemies to shame. Ah, he might take pity on her; for
+she was a good and holy virgin, and as innocent of all they
+charged her with as the child in the cradle!" (Weeps and sobs
+again.)
+
+So the cunning witch had struck the right nail on the head, for my
+Elias was a great lover of coins; and though he had a few silver
+and many copper, yet not a single gold one did he possess.
+Therefore he became thoughtful after her speech, and walked up and
+down the room for a quarter of an hour, after which he stood
+still, and answered--
+
+"Lady, you know as well as I do that your name is notorious
+throughout the whole land, and little hope can I give you if you
+are brought to trial. However, I will do what I can to delay the
+time as much as possible; perchance from your great age, and the
+bitter heart-remorse you must, no doubt, suffer, you may end your
+miserable life before they can lay violent hands on you. Pray to
+the Lord God, therefore, day by day, for your speedy death! I
+will, likewise, pray for you. Meanwhile, if any evil befall you, I
+will write petitions in your favour to all the neighbouring
+princes, to the resident nobles, and to the Duke himself in
+Stettin, for your race is one of the most illustrious in all
+Pomerania. And respecting the gold crowns which you promise, send
+them speedily; for remember from the moment they arrest you, your
+_inventorium_ is sealed."
+
+This my hag promised, and took her leave; but, woe! the first news
+she heard upon her return home was, that her maid, by a decree of
+the council at Stettin, had that day been put to the torture; and
+having on the rack confessed that she (Sidonia) was the true
+arch-sorceress, they were to be confronted with each other on the
+morrow. This news Anna Apenborg told her before she had well
+descended from the coach--_item_, many of the other nuns
+confirmed the rumour; so that the unfortunate wretch at last
+resolved, in despair, to put an end to herself. However, she had
+little inclination to taste the mercury, I think.
+
+So in the twilight she creeps out behind the brew-house, which
+stood three or four feet from the convent wall, so that no one in
+the convent could see what she was about, draws a ladder after
+her, sets it against the wall, and mounts, intending to spring
+down into the river below and drown herself.
+
+Now it happened that in the oak-wood, at the opposite side of the
+stream, my Ludecke and the sheriff were walking up and down, and
+the sheriff's teeth were chattering in his head from pure fright;
+for a courier from Stettin had arrived that very evening with an
+order from his Grace, commanding him, under pain of severe
+punishment and princely disfavour, to be present, along with Jobst
+Bork, on the following morning, when Sidonia and Wolde were
+confronted. Their eyes were suddenly attracted to a head rising
+above the opposite wall, then long white hair fluttered wildly in
+the evening breeze, and afterwards a thin black form appeared,
+until the entire figure stood upon the top of the wall, and
+extended its arms as a young stork its wings, when it essays to
+leave the nest, while the eyes were fixed on the water below.
+Instantly they both recognised Sidonia, and saw what her purpose
+was.
+
+"Let her, let her," whispered the sheriff to the other; "if she is
+dead, if she is dead, we shall all rest in peace!"
+
+But the other seized a stone, and flung it with all his might at
+the wall, crying out, "Wait, thou shameless witch; doth thy
+conscience move thee so?"
+
+Whereupon the black figure dropped down again behind the wall as
+quickly as possible. And my Ludecke, being loath to lose the fat
+morsel he had ready for the flames, resolved to place four guards
+over her in the refectory; but though the whole town was
+searched--_item_, menaced that the executioner should scourge
+them man by man, yet no one will undertake the dangerous office.
+At last four fellows are found, who promise, for a tun of beer at
+the very least, to hold watch in the convent square, so that the
+witch cannot get away out of the building, with which my
+bloodhound is obliged to be content.
+
+Next morning, at nine of the clock, Sidonia was cited to appear in
+court, but as she did not come, and mocked the messenger who was
+sent for her, Ludecke commanded the executioner to go himself, and
+if she would not come by fair means, to drag her by force. The
+fellow hesitated, however--
+
+"It was a dangerous business; but if his worship was very anxious,
+why, for a good horse from the ducal stables, he might dare it,
+since his own nag had fallen lame."
+
+So this being promised, he departed, and, in a short time, they
+beheld the carl in his red mantle dragging Sidonia up to the
+court-house; and, methinks, many within shuddered at the sight;
+for there were present sitting round the green table--Christian
+Ludecke, Eggert Sparling, Jobst Bork, and the scriba, Christopher
+Kahn.
+
+But when the executioner threw open the door, and bade the witch
+take off her shoes and enter backwards, she refused and scolded--
+
+"What? her bitterest enemies were to be her judges. The thick
+ploughman from Saatzig, who had stolen her rents from the
+farm-houses at Zachow; _item_, the arch-cheat Sparling, who
+robbed his Prince every day--such rabble--burgher carls--secretary
+fellows, and the like--no; she would never enter. She was the lady
+of castles and lands; besides, her advocate was not here, and she
+had engaged one at Stargard;" finally she pushed the door to with
+her foot.
+
+"Master," cried the bloodhound within, "seize the witch in the
+name of the Prince!"
+
+Whereupon the door was again thrown open, and my hag, sobbing
+loudly, was forced into the court in her socks, and backwards.
+[Footnote: Because the judges on witch-trials feared the evil
+influence of the glances of the accused.]
+
+"And what did they want with her?" she asked, still sobbing.
+
+Whereupon the commissioner made a sign to the executioner, who
+instantly admitted old Wolde Albrecht by the same door. She
+entered barefoot, and in the black shift worn upon the rack, upon
+which the red blood lay in deep fresh stains. When Sidonia beheld
+this she shuddered. But Ludecke rose up and admonished Wolde to
+speak the truth without fear, and to remember that, on the morrow
+morning, at that very hour, she would stand before the throne of
+God--there was yet time to save her poor soul.
+
+So the old lame hag began to sob likewise, and lament, and says at
+last--
+
+"O Lady Prioress, I must save my poor soul! I would not betray you
+else."
+
+Then she spoke out, and told bravely all she knew about Sidonia,
+and her evil spirit Chim; and how Chim used to help her own
+familiar, whose name was Jurgen, to get rid of Sidonia's enemies;
+_item_, that the devil Chim sometimes took the form of a man,
+for she had seen him frequently in Sidonia's chamber.
+
+At this Sidonia raged and scolded, and flew at Wolde to seize her
+by the hair, but Ludecke interposed, and threatened, if she were
+not quiet, to give her up to Master Hansen for a few turns or so
+for trial; upon which she remained silent from terror apace, but
+soon began again to sob, and exclaimed--
+
+"Yes, yes; she must think of her blessed Saviour, who likewise was
+betrayed and trodden under foot by one who had broken bread with
+Him! She had not only given bread to this wretch, but twice had
+given her life. Oh, woe, woe to the shameless creature, who could
+step before the throne of God with such a lie in her mouth!"
+
+At which the other wept, and answered with loud sobs--
+
+"Ah, gracious Lady Prioress, if I had not my poor soul to save, I
+would betray you never!"
+
+Then by desire of the court, she confirmed by oath her previous
+statements. Whereupon Sidonia was led back to her cell in the
+convent by the executioner, and forbidden, upon pain of death, to
+leave it without permission. Whereupon her rage knew no bounds;
+she scolded, stamped, menaced, and finally cursed her cousin
+Jobst, as well as the commissioner, jailers, and hangmen, as they
+were.
+
+The third day the pile is erected again by the executioner, there
+where the others stood, that is, not far from the window of
+Sidonia, and as it was necessary for one of the criminal judges to
+be present at the burning of a witch, Jobst Bork proceeded thither
+with a great concourse of people, for my Eggert had excused
+himself, saying he was sick, though, methinks, I know what
+sickness he had--namely, the hare's sickness; and Jobst admonished
+the witch, who hobbled along in her white shift and black cap,
+leaning on a crutch, not to accuse his poor cousin falsely, for
+let her think where she would stand in a few moments. There was
+the pile before her eyes, an image of the eternal hell-fire. But
+she held by her first confession, and even after the executioner
+made her ascend the ladder, she turned round at the third step,
+and cried--
+
+"Give her shoulder as good a wrench as ye gave mine, and she will
+soon confess, I warrant."
+
+But behold, when the executioner, by desire of the upright Jobst,
+had bound her fast with wet cords, in order soon to make an end of
+her, and lit the pile up round about, the flames were still blown
+away from the stake by the wind, and would not touch the hag, so
+that many saw in it a miracle of Satan, and wondered, till an old
+peasant stepped forth from the crowd, and cried, "Ha, ha, I will
+soon settle her." Then seizing her crutch, which she had dropped
+at the foot of the pile, he stepped up the ladder, and pitched off
+her black cap with his stick, whereupon a black raven flew out,
+with loud croakings, and disappeared towards the north, and
+instantly after the flames blazed up around her, covering her all
+over like a yellow mantle, with such rapidity that the people only
+heard her shriek once.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+_How Diliana Bork and George Putkammer are at length
+betrothed--Item, how Sidonia is degraded from her conventual
+dignities and carried to the witches' tower of Saatzig in
+chains._
+
+
+When Jobst returned home to Saatzig from the execution, he seemed
+much disturbed in his mind, which was unusual to him, and sat by
+the stove plunged in deep thought. At length he calls his little
+daughter Diliana from the spinning wheel where she sat.
+
+"Ah, the Prince had set his life in great peril, but more than the
+Prince himself did she, his little daughter, plague him by showing
+herself so cold to the brave young knight. She ought to leave off
+this prudery, else he feared by the next time the sun was in the
+propitious position, that his Highness would send for her again to
+question the devil--there was nothing such a fanatic would not do;
+but if she would only press her arm now, and bid the young knight
+come. Where could she meet with a braver husband?"
+
+At this the young maiden blushed up to her very eyes, and asked
+earnestly--
+
+"Father, think you the good knight stays away because I have not
+summoned him?"
+
+_Ille_.--"Of course, my child. Thou forbadst him to approach
+thee until summoned; and now where could be a greater proof of his
+love than in having obeyed thee?"
+
+_Haec_.--"Ah me, I have wondered so, father, why he never
+sought me. I never meant that; you surely misunderstood me. But,
+father, if you wish--shall I summon him by the magnetic sign?"
+
+_Ille_ nods his head, laughing.
+
+Whereupon Diliana, blushing yet more, pressed her arm, and feeling
+a pressure in return almost immediately, pushed up her sleeve, set
+the magic box thereon, and with her golden breastpin directed the
+magnetic needle to the letters--
+
+C--O--M--E---D--E--A--R--E--S--T.
+
+Whilst my Jobst looked over her shoulder, so that his long grey
+beard fell upon her neck, and when he read the letters he embraced
+and kissed her, telling her that a better kisser would soon come
+and save him the trouble--meaning the knight; and truly scarce
+half-an-hour had passed, when the cloud of dust could be seen
+through the trees, which was raised as he rode along, and, panting
+and agitated, he sprang into the room, exclaiming to my
+Jobst--"Where is Diliana?" But she sits mute in the corner, red as
+a rose, and looks down upon the ground.
+
+So my Jobst laughed, and pointed to the blushing rose in the
+corner, whereupon the young knight, George, in a moment is by her
+side, and had her hand in his, and asks--
+
+"If his loved Rachel will not end his weary years of serving now,
+and be his for evermore?"
+
+"Yes," she murmured through her soft tears. "I will be yours now
+for evermore;" and she extended her two arms towards him.
+
+Marry, how soon my young knight took the trouble off the old
+father; so that Jobst danced for joy at the sight, and clapped his
+hands, and swore that such a wedding should be held at Saatzig,
+that people would talk about it for fifty years.
+
+But, alas! the wedding must wait for a year and a day! for, in two
+days the young knight is laid upon a sick bed, and brought so low
+that at one time his life was despaired of. However, he comforted
+himself by pressing his wounded arm three times a day, and thus
+corresponding with his betrothed by means of the magnet. So they
+told their grief and their love to each other daily in these few
+words. And many think that his sickness was a devil's work of
+Sidonia, or of old Wolde's planning; but he himself rather judged
+it arose from the wild ride to his young bride on the morning she
+bade him come. This matter, therefore, I leave undecided.
+
+Yet no one can surely fathom all the cunning wiles of Satan; for
+though many said Sidonia's power is now broken by Wolde's death,
+and indeed the poor sheriff was the only one who still played the
+hare, and kept the roaring ox safe up in the stall--still, so
+strange a thing happened at this time to the knight, Ewald von
+Mellenthin, that the criminal court thought proper to take
+cognisance of the matter, and so we find it noted down in the
+records of the trial. For, mark! This same knight, being summoned
+to give evidence, deposed to Sidonia having in his presence flung
+a hatchet at his dear bride, Ambrosia von Guntersberg, who had
+been now a long while his well-beloved spouse, which hatchet had
+wounded her in the foot. Then turning to the hag, he exclaimed
+wrathfully--
+
+"Ha! thou devil's witch, hast thou found thy recompense at last?"
+
+Whereupon Sidonia made a face at him after her fashion, and
+menaced him with the vengeance of her friends.
+
+But what friend had she but Satan, who avenged her on this wise.
+For, as some days after, the knight Ewald was driving with his
+cousin Detloff, between Schlotenitz and Schellin, such an awful
+roaring, and raging, and storming was heard in the air over their
+heads, that the two foremost horses took fright, broke their
+traces, threw the coachman, who was nearly killed, and dashed off
+across the field through thick and thin, and never stopped till
+they reached Stargard, trembling, panting, and exhausted, about
+evening time.
+
+The knight laid all this evidence before the criminal commission,
+and my hare grew so frightened thereupon, that next day, while
+listening to the depositions of more witnesses, seeing a shadow
+hop along his paper, he started up in horror, screaming, "There
+are the toad-shadows again! O God, keep me! There are the
+toad-shadows again!" But the special commissioner, who had also
+observed the shadow, and got up to look out at the window, now
+called out, laughing heartily, "Marry, good Sparling, the shadow
+belongs to one of your worship's brothers--a poor little sparrow,
+who is hopping there on the house-top. Go out and see, if you
+don't believe me." Whereupon the whole court burst out into a loud
+fit of laughter, to the great annoyance of my hare.
+
+Whilst Ludecke is drawing up his _articulus inquisitionalis_,
+Sidonia's advocate, Dr. Elias Pauli, was not idle. And first he
+stirred up the whole race of the Borks in her favour, letting it
+come to the Duke's ears through his grand chamberlain, Matzke
+Bork, that if Sidonia were treated with gentleness, and thereby
+brought to make confession, assuredly there was great hope that
+for this grace and indulgence she would untie the magic knots of
+the girdle wherewith she had bewitched the whole princely race,
+and laid the spell of barrenness upon them. But if extreme
+measures were resorted to, never would she do this for his
+Highness.
+
+So the Duke was half moved to consent, and bade his
+superintendent, Mag. Reutzius, come to him, and he should
+instantly repair to Marienfliess, visit the sorceress in her
+apartment, where she was _bis dato_, guarded a close
+prisoner. Let him read out the seventy-four articles of the
+indictment to her himself, admonish her to confess, and in his
+(the Duke's) name, offer her pardon if she would untie the knots
+of the girdle. Did she refuse, however, let her be brought the
+following Sunday to the convent-chapel, there, in the presence of
+the whole congregation, before the altar he was again to admonish
+her. If she still persisted in her lies and wickedness, then let
+him summon the executioner to strip her of her cloister habit
+before the eyes of all the people. When he had further pronounced
+her degradation from all her conventual dignities, she was to be
+put in fetters and carried to the witches' tower at Saatzig.
+
+My worthy father-in-law offered many objections against this
+public degradation, but his Highness was resolved, and would
+listen to no reasons, his wrath was so great against the hag.
+
+Now it may be easily conjectured what crowds of people gathered in
+the chapel when the blessed Sabbath bell rang, and the news ran
+from mouth to mouth, that the witch was to be denounced and
+degraded that day before the altar. Never had so many folk been
+seen within the walls. And when the church was so full that not a
+soul more could squeeze in at the doors, the people broke in the
+windows, and setting ladders against them, clambered through, and
+swung themselves right and left on the balustrades, and above and
+below, and on all sides, there was not a spot without a human
+face. Yea, four younkers crowded under the baldaquin of the
+pulpit, and another carl got on the altar behind the crucifix, and
+would have knocked it down, but my worthy father-in-law, seeing it
+shake, caught hold of the carl by the tail of his coat, and
+dragged him forth. _Item_, the whole criminal commission is
+present; _item_, all the nuns in their gallery, with the
+exception of the sub-prioress, Dorothea Stettin, who, along with
+two other women, had devoted themselves to a fearful act of
+vengeance (which I would hardly have believed of them), but it
+will be related presently.
+
+As to Sidonia, she had been brought in already, and placed on the
+penitential stool before the altar, after which the organ struck
+up that terrible hymn,
+
+"Eternity, thou thunder word!"
+
+Yet, as it happened that the congregation had not got this hymn in
+their Psalm-books, seeing that it was quite a new one (which
+circumstance had been overlooked in the general agitation), they
+were obliged to sing that other, beginning,
+
+"Now the awful hour has come."
+
+Then the reverend priest, M. Reutzius, advanced to the altar,
+having first chanted the litany, and there, to obey the Duke's
+behests as nearly as possible, opened his sermon with some verses
+from the afore-mentioned hymn, which I shall set down here for the
+sake of the curious reader:--
+
+  "Eternity, thou thunder word!
+Piercing the soul like sharpest sword,
+   Beginning without ending!
+Eternity! Time without Time,
+I know not in my grief and crime
+   Whereto my soul is tending.
+The fainting heart recoils in fear
+To see thy shadow drawing near.
+
+In all the world there is no grief
+To which Time brings not some relief,
+   Though sorrow wildest rages;
+But thou, Eternity, can bring
+No balm to lessen hell's fierce sting,
+   Through never-ending ages.
+For even Christ Himself hath said,
+'There's no repentance for the dead.'
+
+So long as God in Heaven reigns,
+So long shall last the sinner's pains,
+   In hell's fierce tortures lying.
+Eternal fires will plague the soul,
+Thirst, hunger, horror, fear, and dole,
+   The soul itself undying.
+For hell's dark shades will never flee,
+Till God Himself hath ceased to be!"
+
+After which he read out the words of his text to the criminal,
+telling her how his Serene Highness had selected the same himself
+out of paternal clemency and in all uprightness. Then he explained
+it, admonishing her yet once more to save her poor soul and not
+plunge it into eternal perdition. After this, he kneeled down
+along with the whole congregation, and prayed to the Holy Spirit
+for her conversion, so that every one in the church wept and
+trembled and sobbed. Then he rose up again and spake: "I ask you,
+for the last time, Sidonia von Bork, do you confess yourself
+guilty or not?"
+
+And while every one held their breath suspended, the terrible
+sorceress rose up and spake out with bold defiance--
+
+"I am innocent. Curse upon the bloodthirsty Prince, who has
+brought me to this shame; my blood be upon him and upon his race!"
+
+"No!" cried the priest from the altar; "he hath saved his soul;
+thy blood be upon thyself, and thy perdition upon thine own head!"
+
+Then he lifted his right hand as a signal to the executioner,
+whereupon Master Worger stepped forward in his red mantle with six
+assistants. And first he draws forth a pair of scissors from
+beneath his cloak, and cuts off her nun's veil (for by command of
+the criminal judge, she had only a simple veil on to-day), and he
+and his assistants trampled it beneath their feet. Then he cuts a
+slit in her black robe, just beneath the chin, and tore it down
+from head to foot, as a draper tears linen, and at this sight, and
+the harsh sound in the silence of the church, many amongst the
+nuns fainted. When all this had been done, and Sidonia now stood
+there in her white under-garment, Master Worger, by command of the
+court, put fetters on her, and riveted them tightly. So that at
+the terrible sound of the hammering and clanking, and the
+thundering reverberation through the vaulted church, so great a
+horror and fear fell upon every one present, that all the nuns who
+had not fainted rushed out of the gallery; _item_, a crowd of
+people from the nave, and even the priest holding his hands before
+his eyes, hastened after them.
+
+She was soon lifted up by the executioner and his assistants, and
+thrown into the cart over which the red flag waved; then driven
+off without delay to Saatzig, a great crowd of people trotting
+along with her. And even in Saatzig the whole town ran together
+when the cart with the criminal was seen emerging from the wood,
+and the executioner blew his trumpet to give notice to the warder
+on the tower of their approach, as had been agreed upon.
+
+Amongst the crowd, however, my Jobst is not to be seen; yet when
+the cart stops, the beautiful form of Diliana is seen pressing
+forward. She is dressed in a deep mourning mantle, and bears a
+golden beaker of wine in her hand--weeps, and says mildly--
+
+"Here, dear cousin, drink! You shall have everything as good as I
+can make it for you, and eat what I and my father eat. Ah! cousin,
+cousin, wherefore did you not make full confession?"
+
+Herewith she reached out the beaker to the cart, but the evil
+witch screamed out--
+
+"Confess! What should I confess, you fool? Away with your stuff; I
+will not be fed by your charity!"
+
+Whereupon she dashed aside the beaker so fiercely that it fell to
+the ground, and the wine splashed all over the young maiden's
+robe. Then, clenching her withered hand, she shook it at the
+window--
+
+"Ha! the thick ploughman. Where hath the devil hid him? the thief
+that stole my rents from Zachow! This is my reward for having
+cured him! But wait, I will make him repent it yet," &c.
+
+And she would have gone on much longer with her curses, but the
+executioner gave her another blow with his fist, which made her
+hold her tongue. Then he and his fellows lifted her from the cart,
+and as she was unable to walk from shame, and despair, and wrath,
+they carried her up the winding stairs to the witches' tower; and
+she glowered into the little chamber which she had occupied fifty
+years before, at the time she murdered poor Clara von Dewitz, for
+they had to pass by it to reach the witches' tower, which lay two
+flights of stairs higher up.
+
+And when Master Worger laid her down in the damp dark hole, and
+shook out some straw for her to lie on, the knave grinned and
+said--"What would she do now for company? The devil would scarcely
+come; still a companion would be pleasant."
+
+The witch, however, made no answer, only looked down upon the
+ground, muttering to herself. Whereupon the knave laughed again
+and cried, "Eh, wait, I have got a companion for you!"
+
+And opening a sack he had brought with him, took out a blackened
+human head, and then two long, black, half-burned bones; placed
+the bones crosswise on the ground, and set the head atop of them,
+then said, "So, now you have right merry company. That is Wolde's
+head, as you may perceive; and now ye may conjure the devil
+together as ye were wont." Then, grinning maliciously, he went
+out, locking the prison door upon the unfortunate wretch and the
+death's-head.
+
+Meanwhile, my Jobst and his fair daughter are plunged in great
+perplexity and despair at the Duke's cruel order to have Sidonia
+sent to their castle of Saatzig. Therefore, the indignant knight
+sat down and wrote an earnest remonstrance to his Highness the
+Duke, and prayed his Grace, therefore, to remove this millstone
+from his neck, or he would resign the post of Governor of Saatzig,
+and withdraw to his own good castle of Pansin. This letter he
+despatched by a running courier to Old Stettin, and it produced a
+good effect upon the Duke; for, in three days, an order arrived
+for Sidonia's removal to Oderburg; and the crowds gathered round
+the cart, from all parts, to see her as she passed along--as thick
+as if it had been the time of the annual fair.
+
+God be thanked, I have now got her as far as the Odenburg! For as
+concerning her long imprisonment there, her frequent examinations,
+and, finally, the question by torture, what need for me to relate
+them here, seeing that your Highness and your illustrious brothers
+were present during all behind the green screen? I, too, Doctor
+Theodore Plonnies, assisted at the trial as high-sheriff, Anton
+Petersdorf was _protonotarius_ to the criminal court, and
+Johann Caude, the _notarius_, conducted the
+_protocollum_. Besides, when I look back and think of her
+shrieks, and how the dry withered limbs writhed and cracked upon
+the wheel, till the black blood poured forth from her nails and
+teeth, my head swims and the sight leaves my eyes--therefore, away
+with it! This only will I notice, that her advocate, Doctor Elias
+Pauli, preserved her in truth for a year and a day from the rack
+and a bitter death, by his keen and cunning devices, thinking that
+she would make away with herself some way or other, by mercury or
+else, to escape the stake. But no such thing: she was as afraid of
+death as a cat of hot broth; so at last he had to suffer justice
+to take its course. Whereupon this Satan's hag, on the 28th July
+1620, at four o'clock in the afternoon, pursuant to a decree of
+the electoral-court of judges of Magdeburg in Saxony, was brought
+into the great hall at Oderburg. and there stretched upon the
+rack, as I have above mentioned, to force her to a confession upon
+seventeen _artlculos inquisitionales_, many of which I have
+noticed here and there through the preceding chapters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+_Of the execution of Sidonia and the wedding of Diliana._
+
+
+After the torture, the poor malicious old wretch became so weak
+that she thought herself like to die, and therefore bade my worthy
+godfather, Doctor Cramer, to be brought to her that she might make
+full confession at last. And her repentance, in truth, seemed
+earnest and real now; for after the communion she bade them bring
+her coffin--then sat up, and looking at it for a long while in
+silence, at last said--
+
+"I shall soon rest there in peace; meantime, carry it out again
+till I am dead."
+
+But such a hunger for the blessed sacrament was caused by her
+death fears, and not by holy repentance; for as she did not die,
+but rather after some days grew strong again (probably because the
+Lord God chose to spare her yet longer, for a more fearful and
+terrible warning to all sinners), she returned, "like a sow, to
+her wallowing in the mire." And more particularly did she spit
+forth her poisonous curses upon the whole princely race, when the
+court-painter, Matthias Eller, arrived at the prison with an order
+from his Highness, to paint her portrait, now in her hideous old
+age, behind that which he had seen at Wolgast, representing her in
+the prime of youthful beauty. Long did she weep and groan when she
+looked upon the portrait of what she had been sixty years before;
+then clenched her fists, and cursed to all eternity the princely
+race which had first brought her to public dishonour--she so young
+and innocent--and not content with that, now thirsted to see her
+noble blood flow from the gallows.
+
+"Ah, that was indeed the portrait of her youth! for her princely
+bridegroom had got it painted secretly, because of his haughty
+arrogant mother, by a painter in Wolgast; but she had revenged
+herself on the proud old woman at last. The golden chain was her
+own, but the gold hair-band and the sable collar had been a
+present from her young bridegroom, And now, what was left of all
+her pomp and magnificence! See what these accursed princes had
+brought her to with their envy, arrogance, and savage
+vengeance--she that was the richest lady in the land was now the
+poorest beggar, and had not wherewithal even to purchase a
+death-shift."
+
+Meanwhile the report spread throughout all Pomerania land that
+Sidonia was dead, and had been privately buried. The cause was
+this,--when the executioner and his fellows carried out her coffin
+after she had seen it, they told the eager and curious rabble, who
+gathered round and had been roaring out for her death, that she
+was dead already and lay within, and so they would lose the fun of
+seeing her burned; and this they said in jest, to disappoint the
+filthy and savage mob. So the news spread through the land and
+reached Saatzig, where it was confirmed by an honourable knight
+from Old Stettin, who answered them on oath that he had seen her
+coffin carried out with his own eyes. So my Jobst and his fair
+daughter are glad, and thank God that one of their noble race had
+been spared the disgrace of falling by the hands of the hangman;
+the young Diliana, in especial, rejoices, and when her lover
+arrived from Pansin in the afternoon (for he was grown well and
+strong again), she threw herself on his bosom, rapturously
+exclaiming--
+
+"Dearest George, our poor cousin is dead; now may the wedding
+be--now may the banns be published!"
+
+However, the news soon came how the mistake had happened, and that
+Sidonia was still alive. But as the banns had been already
+published and the wedding fixed for the 18th of July, Diliana at
+length consented to abide by the arrangement, particularly as they
+heard also that the execution would be delayed for some time, in
+consequence of the Elector of Saxony having sent in his protest
+against it to the Ducal Court of Stettin. Indeed, so many powerful
+princes protested against this public disgrace, by reason of
+Sidonia's high rank, that many thought she would be allowed to go
+away perfectly free.
+
+_Summa_.--Already, by the evening of the 17th, the noble
+guests had gathered at Saatzig, and of the Borks, almost the whole
+illustrious race is present; among whom were particularly
+noticeable the Honourable Aulic Councillors, and Councillors of
+Administration, Just, Andreas, and Henning. _Item_, all the
+Putkammers, among whom came the old burgomaster Wolff, with his
+sons, Benedictus, Asso, Gerson, Matthias, Wolfgang, &c. So that by
+midnight the castle rang with merriment and revelry; and old Jobst
+Bork was so beside himself with joy, that he flung the empty
+flasks, as he drained them, up at the monks' heads which were
+carved round the capitals of the pillars in the great knights'
+hall, crying out, "That is for thee, monk!"
+
+But the festive night hath a sad morning, without talking of all
+the drinkers who snored till mid-day. However, all were ready at
+last to go to the bridal, only waiting for Matzke Bork, the
+princely chamberlain, who had promised, if possible, to be present
+at the marriage, along with his Serene Highness himself, Duke
+Francis. So they watched from the windows, and they watched from
+the towers, but never a one of them is to be seen; and the guests
+impatiently pace up and down the great hall, which is all wreathed
+and decorated with flowers and banners. But the young bridegroom
+is the most impatient of all. He paced up and down the hall,
+arm-in-arm, with his betrothed, when at last a carriage was heard
+approaching, and every eye was turned to the window, but Matzke
+Bork sits in it alone. He enters disturbed and mournful, and when
+the knight of Saatzig asks him where he has left his Highness the
+Duke, he answers--
+
+"The Duke will drink blood in place of wine to-day! Listen, good
+cousins, to what the Duke hath resolved concerning our kinswoman
+Sidonia. Her sentence hath been pronounced, and this very day will
+be carried into effect: first, her nose and ears are to be torn up
+with red-hot irons, at three different quarters of the town, by
+the public hangman, and afterwards she is to be burned alive at a
+slow fire."
+
+When he ended, all the Borks present screamed with horror, and
+gathered round him: "And was it not possible yet to change this
+sentence?"
+
+But Matzke answered, "He had tried all entreaties, but in vain;
+even three times he had cast himself on his knees before his
+Highness, yet could obtain no mitigation; for his Grace was
+incensed against the witch, because of her arrogant defiance, and
+her stubborn refusal to remove the spell from the princely race,
+and sent orders to the executioner to build the pile by eight of
+the clock on the following morning, and burn her alive thereon."
+
+When he ceased speaking, the uproar in the hall rose to the
+highest. Some of Sidonia's kin, amongst whom was Jobst, swore the
+devil's hag deserved it all; and how could her death bring
+dishonour upon them? But some thought evil of the insult offered
+to their race, and cursed his Highness, and would spring to their
+saddles and ride to Stettin on the instant.
+
+Matzke, however, lifted his voice, and bade them have reason.
+"They must endure what could not be altered. Jobst was right: was
+the proud oak the worse because a rotten branch was lopped off?
+Were they to come before his Highness with such mien and gesture,
+why, he would straight order them all to be clapped into prison,
+and then, indeed, would disgrace rest on their illustrious name.
+No, no; for God's sake, let them rest here. His Grace was too full
+of wrath now to listen even to his preachers, the ministers of
+God. How, then, would he hear them? Let them rather rest in peace,
+and forget the fate of their evil cousin in the festivities of the
+bridal."
+
+"Ay, good cousins and guests," quoth the bridegroom, "let us to
+the bridal, and the Word of God will calm us, and bring us upon
+other thoughts. But where is my beloved Diliana?"
+
+They sought her in the hall--in vain! They ran all through the
+castle--in vain! Diliana is away, and no one knows whither she has
+gone.
+
+
+But the maiden hath a brave spirit, and hath wrapped a black
+mantle belonging to her mourning robes over her bridal dress, and
+drawn the hood over her myrtle wreath; then taking the shift of
+her grandmother, Clara, in her hand, which she had kept ready by
+her for such a case, she descended to the stables, where there
+were only two grooms to be seen, all the others having joined the
+crowd round the church to catch a sight of the bridal procession,
+had the best palfrey saddled, took one groom with her, pressed
+some money into the hand of the other, and bade him not tell, for
+three hours, that she had gone to Old Stettin. Then rode away,
+striking, however, into a bypath, to deceive the guests, in case
+they should attempt to follow her. And her journey ended all
+safely; for in four hours she was in Old Stettin, without having
+been pursued. And reaching the ducal residence, she alighted,
+hastened up the stairs, bowed proudly to the princely official
+without uttering a word, and proceeded straight to the apartment
+of the Duke. There threw off her travelling hood and mantle, and
+knocked bravely at the door.
+
+"Enter!" exclaimed the voice of his Highness. Upon which the
+beautiful maiden in her bridal robes, and the myrtle wreath on her
+hair, stepped in. At which sight his Grace, who was reclining on a
+couch, started up, took her hand smiling, and asked--"For the love
+of Heaven, what brought her hither upon her festal-day?"
+
+So she began: "This was no festal-day, but a day of shame to her
+and her whole race, because of the horrible and incredible tidings
+brought to them by Matzke Bork, respecting their old kinswoman,
+Sidonia; therefore she had left bridegroom, bridal, and festival,
+and ridden away alone, to see if she could not turn away such a
+disgrace from her noble race, and such horrible torture from her
+poor old kinswoman. Had she not freely perilled her life for his
+Grace? If they had not succeeded, at least it was no fault of
+hers. Let him recall the terrible decree, and if her cousin
+deserved death, as she doubted not, command her to be beheaded, as
+had at first been agreed upon. This, at least, was a more
+honourable and less painful death. His Grace must grant her
+prayer, for she would not move from the spot until he did so."
+
+But his Grace is inexorable, and recapitulates all the sins of the
+demon hag; "how she had defied him, and made a mock of the holy
+sacrament; and wherefore did he bear the sword from God, if it
+were not as a just Prince, to set her forth a terrible warning and
+example to all; for witchcraft was increasing day by day in the
+land, and witches were almost as plenty as flies."
+
+His Grace then paced up and down a long while in silence. At last
+spake--
+
+"Now, for thy sake, the first decree shall hold good, although
+never was one so unworthy of my favour as this hag."
+
+Whereat the young virgin was so moved with gratitude, that she
+fell down on her knees before his Grace, and bedewed his hand with
+her tears.
+
+Just then some one knocked, and the jailer entered--
+
+"The witch had taken another fit of conversion, and prayed for a
+priest. _Item_, for a fresh shift, for she had not changed
+her linen for four weeks, and no one would give her a fresh
+shift."
+
+When Diliana heard this she wondered much over the dark providence
+of God, and said--"Wait, I will give thee a shift for her;"
+stepped out into the gallery and took Clara's, No. 7, which she
+had brought with her, out of her travelling mantle, and, in truth,
+this was the very shift in which the murderess was carried to her
+death.
+
+_Summa_.--The jailer hath scarcely got the said shift under
+his arm, when the clatter of footsteps is heard upon the stairs,
+and then another knock at the Duke's apartment, and this was my
+knight George Putkamraer, who rushed in, arrayed in his wedding
+finery, but all covered over with dust, since he had not given
+himself time to fling a cloak over his dress. He clasped his young
+bride to his heart, and half scolded her for leaving him privately
+before the bridal. But when he heard of her noble courage, and
+what she had accomplished, he was glad again, and kissed the hand
+of his Grace, and he must now grant them one favour more, and
+return with them to the wedding. "The distance was only five
+miles, and he had the finest Malmsey that ever was drunk to
+present to his Highness."
+
+At this hearing his Grace exclaimed--
+
+"Eh, George, where have you got the Malmsey? Ha! younker, hast
+thou a cup of Malmsey? I will go with thee right heartily to
+Saatzig!"
+
+And his Grace wanted to order carriages instantly to carry them
+all off, that so they might arrive that same evening at the
+castle, but Diliana objected--
+
+"No, she would stand by her word, and never hold bridal in Saatzig
+until her poor cousin lay at rest in her grave. This night she
+would remain in the town, and not leave it until she had seen the
+last of her poor cousin."
+
+A long strife now ensued, but Diliana remained firm to her
+resolve. So his Highness said, at last, that he would play the
+messenger himself, and journey off to the wedding the moment he
+had given orders to his chancellor respecting the change of
+Sidonia's sentence. He was better pleased not to be in the place
+when she was executed. Diliana could stay the night in the castle
+with his dear spouse, the Duchess, and the knight might look after
+a place for himself. He would desire all the wedding-guests to be
+ready to-morrow at midday for the bridal, and if Diliana and the
+knight disliked riding, let them order a carriage from the marshal
+of his stables, with fresh Frisian horses, and in a couple of
+hours they would be at Saatzig.
+
+However, Diliana would not remain the night in the castle, but
+went to her cousin, the lady of Matzke Bork, because her house
+stood not far from the place of execution, although the place
+itself was not visible, and my younker went down sorrowfully to
+the inn to pass the night there, but betimes in the morning was up
+and off to his dear little bride. He finds her in the second
+story, but no longer in her bridal magnificence; a black mourning
+garment covered her entire person; and when the knight started in
+dismay at her appearance, she said--
+
+"That no other robes beseemed a Bork when one of their race was
+going to her death; and she heard that the procession to the
+scaffold was to come that way from the Otterburg, and would pass
+in half-an-hour, therefore she was prepared to behold it. It was
+well that the scaffold itself was hidden from their sight; but
+would her dear George just go over and bid some one hoist a flag
+when the head of her cousin fell."
+
+So the knight did her will, but when he returned said--
+
+"Diliana, if thou givest me so many nuts to crack when we are
+married, methinks it will be an evil thing."
+
+To which she answered mildly--
+
+"No, dear George, after marriage it is the wife who cracks all the
+hard nuts, but to-day, dearest, it is thy office. I know not why,
+but I have a feeling over me to-day as if the soul of my poor
+grandmother would be at rest after this execution, and that
+Sidonia herself will be, in some sense, pardoned through the means
+of that death-shift, No. 7; yet wherefore I think this I know
+not."
+
+Just then a dull, hoarse, murmuring sound was heard in the
+distance, like the heaving of the waves when thunder is in the
+air, and the Lady Matzke's maid rushed in exclaiming--"She's
+coming! she's coming!" Then Diliana trembled and turned pale, but
+still advanced to the balcony with her cousin and the young
+knight.
+
+At length the terrible sorceress herself appears in sight,
+accompanied by the school, chanting the death-psalm. She wore a
+white robe seamed with black, and Diliana recognises, with a
+shudder, that this is indeed Clara's shift, for she had herself
+thus stitched the seams in order to know it; but besides, the No.
+7 was plainly discernible on the neck. She walked barefoot, and
+round her head was bound a black fillet flowered with gold, from
+beneath which her long white hair fluttered in the wind.
+
+Diliana contemplates all this awhile shudderingly, then covers her
+face with both hands, and sobs and weeps, so that the tears pour
+down through the delicate little fingers, and my younker hath
+enough to do to comfort her. But when the procession disappears
+she dries her eyes, re-enters the chamber, and folding her hands
+across her bosom, walks up and down, praying earnestly, until the
+red Danish flag shoots up. Then she sighed deeply, and drying her
+beautiful eyes again said softly--
+
+"May God have mercy upon her soul, now her tortures are over!"
+
+Scarcely are the words uttered ere a dense cloud of smoke ascends
+above the fisher's house, rising higher and higher, like a lofty
+black tower in the air, so that they all conjectured--"Now she is
+burning on the pile," and shuddered, yet are content withal that
+at last her fearful life has ended.
+
+Then they all knelt down and repeated the Lord's Prayer; then
+rising, addressed themselves in earnest for their homeward
+journey.
+
+And here, with the death of Sidonia, I might justly close my book,
+merely stating in addition, that her ashes were laid in the burial
+ground for the poor, and that some time after the gentle Diliana
+caused a tombstone to be erected over them, out of Christian
+charity and forgiveness. But as some say his Highness the Duke got
+his death at the wedding of Diliana, I shall briefly narrate the
+facts here, to please the curious reader.
+
+For the said Duke was so much taken with the Malmsey wine, that he
+sat up drinking the whole night, and next morning his legs were
+swelled to that degree that his boots had to be cut oft with
+knives. So that when the bridal pair arrived, his Grace had to
+receive them in slippers, yet rejoiced much at hearing that all
+was over; and then, scarcely giving Diliana time to recover
+herself, despatched the whole company off to the church. Not,
+however, without giving serious admonitions, both to the priest
+and the knight, George, not to let the ring drop. For if Dr.
+Luther, the thoughtless lubberhead, had not let the ring fall at
+the wedding of his grandfather in Forgau, it would have been
+better with him and his whole race, as his grandmother of blessed
+memory had always said, and now indeed he saw she had spoken
+wisely.
+
+Now my Jobst in the confusion of voices, hearing only the word
+"monk," thought his Grace was speaking of the monks' heads on the
+capitals of the pillars in the hall. So seeing two empty flasks,
+shouted, "Ay, that is for thee, monk!" and pitched them crash!
+crash! with such force up at the monks, that the pieces flew about
+the ears of the musicians who were to play before the bridal pair
+going to church, and a loud peal of laughter rang through the
+hall--after which they all set off for the wedding at last. And in
+truth this was a blessed marriage.
+
+But respecting the illustrious and princely race of Pomerania,
+they perished each and all without leaving behind one single
+inheritor of their name or possessions. Not, methinks, because of
+the spell which the demoniac sorceress laid on them, but because
+He loved this race so well, that He withdrew them from this evil
+world before the dreadful strifes, wars, and calamities came upon
+them, which our poor fatherland now endures. For before these
+storms broke over our heads, He called them one by one from this
+vale of tears, and truly, the first was his Highness Duke Francis,
+for in a few months after Sidonia's execution, after a brief
+illness, on the 27th December 1620, he fell asleep in God, aged 43
+years, 8 months, and 3 days, without leaving children. The next
+was Bishop Udalricus, who likewise became suddenly ill at
+Pribbernow, near Stepnitz, with swollen body and limbs, and had to
+lie there until his death, on the 31st October 1622, when, to the
+great grief and consternation of the whole land, his young life
+closed at the early age of 34 years, and he too left no children,
+though he had a young and beautiful spouse. The next who died was
+Duke Philip Julius of Wolgast, the only son of Ernest Ludovicus
+and his spouse Hedwig. He was a wise and just ruler, but followed
+the others soon, on the 16th February 1625, aged only 40 years, 1
+month, and 28 days--likewise, as all the rest, left no children.
+
+But our Lord God hath not withdrawn so many and noble princes from
+the world without sending forth strange and wonderful signs to
+forewarn the land; for, without speaking of the great thunderclap
+which was heard all of a sudden in the middle of clear fine
+weather, the winter after Sidonia's death, and the numberless mock
+suns that appeared in different places, or of that strange rain,
+when a sulphureous matter, like starch in appearance, fell from
+the air (_item_, a snow-white pike was caught at Colzow in
+Wellin, seven quarters long, and half an ell broad, with red round
+eyes, and red fins), a stranger wonder than all was seen at
+Wolgast; for suddenly, during a review held there, one of the
+soldier's muskets went off without a finger being laid on it, and
+the ball went right through the princely Pomeranian standard with
+such precision, that the arms seemed to have been cut out all
+round with a sharp knife. At Stettin also, in the castle-chapel,
+one of the crowns suspended over the stalls fell down of itself;
+but still more awful was what happened respecting Bogislaus XIII.,
+last father of all the Pomeranian princes. For all along, by the
+pillars of the aisle, there are figures in armour representing the
+deceased dukes. And during the sermon one Sunday, the sword fell
+clanging to the ground from the hand of the armed figure
+representing Bogislaus XIII., though no human hand ever touched
+it. At this sight every one was troubled in spirit, but woe, alas!
+we now see what all these supernatural signs and wonders denoted!
+Yet still we have one noble prince remaining with the ancient
+blood of Pomerania in his veins. May the Lord God spare him long
+to us, and bless him, like Abraham, with a son in his old age.
+Such an Isaac would be a blessed sight to me; for when the last
+branch falls, I know that my poor heart will break also!
+
+DR. THEODORUS PLOeNNIES.
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+_Mournful destiny of the last princely Pomeranian remains--My
+visit to the ducal Pomeranian vault in Wolgast, on the 6th May
+1840._
+
+
+Bogislaf XIV., who as a truth-loving, amicable, and pious
+glossator, has annotated so many places in our text, found this
+"last and happy hour," which he had so long desired, on the 10th
+March 1637. When he had attained the age of fifty-seven years, his
+death occurred at a period of unexampled misery, the like of which
+before or since was never seen in our whole German fatherland. Yet
+the destiny of the Zantalides which followed the princely
+Pomeranian house, seemed in no way propitiated even by their
+death. No; it raged, and rages still, against the last poor
+remains of their mouldering clay. Bogislaff, during the horrors of
+the thirty years' war, remained for _seventeen_ years
+unburied, because none of the princes who fought for the
+possession of Pomerania' would consent to bear the expense of the
+burial, and the land was too poor to take the cost upon itself.
+Yet his corpse suffered no further indignities like those of his
+princely kinsfolk of Wolgast. For after ninety-four years we find
+him still lying calmly in his coffin, looking upward to his God
+through the little window which he so often sighed after. We shall
+first take a look at him before we descend into the Wolgast vault
+to contemplate the disgusting sacrilege which has been perpetrated
+and permitted there. Every reader of sensibility will feel
+interested in the following details, which are taken from
+Oelrich's valuable work, "Memorials of the Pomeranian Dukes," p.
+87:--
+
+"On the 19th of April 1731, a royal commission opened the vault in
+the castle-church of Stettin, wherein many of the noble princes of
+Pomerania lay buried, and the coffin of Duke Bogislaff was broken
+open by especial command. The body was found quite perfect. Even
+the face was tolerably preserved, though the eyes had fallen in;
+for the skin had dried over the features, and the beard was long
+and somewhat red; the coffin was lined throughout with violet
+velvet (some say black), bordered with stones which had the
+appearance of turquoise. The corpse was dressed in a surplice,
+similar in form to that worn by priests at the present day, but
+fringed with silver, and likewise ornamented with turquoise. Upon
+the left hand there was a diamond ring and another. The diamond
+was quite pale, and the right hand was lying close to the side, as
+if going to seize the dagger. Farther, they found a long and
+massive gold chain suspended round the neck, and upon the breast a
+silver plate, like the bottom of a silver beaker, upon which the
+Pomeranian arms were engraved.
+
+"Beneath the coffin of this last Duke of Pomerania lay the ducal
+flag, but the pole was broken in two, either from design or in
+consequence of decay; and above the coffin were remains of crape
+and mouldered fragments of velvet. _Lave anima pia!_
+
+"But the princely remains of Wolgast had indeed a mournful
+destiny. True; they were not left unburied for a number of years,
+but they were plundered and outraged, in such a disgraceful and
+revolting manner, by church-robbers, that it is impossible even to
+read the account of it in the Swedish protocol of 21st June 1688,
+from which Heller gives extracts in his 'Chronicle of the Town of
+Wolgast,' p. 346, without as much pain as emotion.
+[Footnote: Only one of these robbers was seized-he was whipped
+and banished; the second hanged himself, and the other escaped.
+One was a Jew; the other two were the sexton and gravedigger of
+the church.]
+
+"Yet the Swedish Government seemed content to rest with the simple
+investigation, and took no trouble about, or showed the least
+respect for, the ashes of those to whom they were indebted for
+land and people. For the coffins lay there just as the robbers
+left them--broken open with axes and hatchets, or wrenched asunder
+with crowbars, and still lie in this state. However the vault was
+closed up, and no one was permitted to enter it unless in the
+presence of one of the reigning family; for this reason very few
+ever beheld these mournful remains. I myself would probably never
+have had an opportunity of so doing, only that the Prussian
+Government resolved on building some additions to the Wolgast
+church; and, at the same time, desired the foundation to be
+evened, for it had sunk in various places, and afterwards to wall
+up the princely vault for ever. In order to work at the
+foundation, it was necessary to remove the great stone which
+covered the entrance to the vault, and many along with myself
+availed themselves of this last opportunity to visit the interior.
+Therefore, on the day named above, I descended with deep emotion
+the steps that led to it. I found the vault was divided into two
+compartments, having vaulted roofs of about seven or eight feet
+high. In the first partition no coffin whatever was to be seen,
+but I could distinguish already the glitter of the tin coffins in
+the second compartment, which was reached by a further descent of
+a few steps, and lit up by the torches and lanterns of numerous
+visitors who had preceded me. The coffins were nine in number, and
+mostly covered with tin; each lay on a tressel of mason-work, and
+bore the marks, more or less, of the violence that had been
+employed to wrench them open.
+
+"The strong Philip I. began the mournful range. A gentleman handed
+me his skull, in which scarcely a tooth was wanting. Then I
+searched in the adjoining coffin for that of his spouse Maria, 'my
+gracious Lady of Wolgast,' of Doctor Theodore's History. I found
+it, took it in the other hand, and cannot describe the strange
+feeling which came over me.
+
+"When I had indulged some time in strange and deep emotions, I
+laid down the honourable relics again in their coffins, and
+stepped to that of Ernest Ludovic, the unfortunate lover of the
+still more unfortunate Sidonia. According to the protocol of 1688,
+which I held in my hand, there was to be seen there a violet
+velvet mantle, and a cap without anything inside. There they
+were--nothing more to find--all fallen in dust, the weak head as
+the weak heart! Close to him lay his unfortunate wife, Sophia
+Hedwig of Brunswick, both the most beautiful persons of their
+time.
+
+"But my interest was excited most by the contemplation of Philip
+Julius, the last Duke of Pommern-Wolgast, who has only received a
+passing notice in this book, but who was one of the most gifted,
+and probably the most lamented Prince of his thousand-year-old
+race. His coffin was of far costlier workmanship than the others,
+and decorated with a row of gilded angels' heads; near it stood
+the black wooden tressel, upon which it had originally been
+placed, and which looked as fresh as if it had been only just
+placed there, instead of having lain in the vault for two hundred
+and fifteen years. A strange sensation crept over me! We were both
+silent, till at last the gentleman began to search with his hand
+in the grey mouldering dust, and along with some rags of velvet,
+he brought up a damp, discoloured scrap of paper, which he
+carelessly tore; but I instantly seized it, and joined the pieces
+together again, for the signification of such little notes in the
+coffins of old times was not unknown to me.
+
+"And, in fact, I found what I sought; there was not only marked on
+it the date of the Duke's burial, the 6th of May, which had a
+mystic significance to me, since it was on the very 6th of May
+that I was now standing to contemplate these mute yet eloquent
+graves, but also there was noted down the text from which the
+funeral sermon had been preached (2 Tim. iv. 7), as well as the
+list of the psalms sung on the occasion, among which the closing
+psalm--'When sorrow assails thee,' is still to be found in most
+hymn-books. But my poor old Pomeranian heart could bear no more: I
+placed the paper again in the coffin; and, while the tears poured
+from my eyes as I ascended the steps, those beautiful old verses
+came into my head, and I could not help reciting them aloud:--
+
+'So must human pomp and stat
+In the grave lie desolate.
+He who wore the kingly crown,
+With the base worm lieth down:
+Ermined robe, and purple pall,
+Leaveth he at death's weird call.
+
+Fleeting, cheating human life,
+Souls are perilled in thy strife;
+Yet the pomps in which we trust,
+All must perish!--dust to dust.
+God alone will ever be;
+Who serves Him reigns eternally!'"
+
+
+
+
+MARY SCHWEIDLER
+
+
+
+THE AMBER WITCH
+
+
+
+THE MOST INTERESTING TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT EVER KNOWN
+
+PRINTED FROM AN IMPERFECT MANUSCRIPT BY HER FATHER ABRAHAM
+SCHWEIDLER, THE PASTOR OP COSEROW IN THE ISLAND OF USEDOM
+
+EDITED BY
+
+WILLIAM MEINHOLD DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
+
+LADY DUFF GORDON
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+In laying before the public this deeply affecting and romantic
+trial, which I have not without reason called on the title-page
+the most interesting of all trials for witchcraft ever known, I
+will first give some account of the history of the manuscript.
+
+At Coserow, in the island of Usedom, my former cure, the same
+which was held by our worthy author some two hundred years ago,
+there existed under a seat in the choir of the church a sort of
+niche, nearly on a level with the floor. I had, indeed, often seen
+a heap of various writings in this recess; but owing to my short
+sight, and the darkness of the place, I had taken them for
+antiquated hymn-books, which were lying about in great numbers.
+But one day, while I was teaching in the church, I looked for a
+paper mark in the Catechism of one of the boys, which I could not
+immediately find; and my old sexton, who was past eighty (and who,
+although called Appelmann, was thoroughly unlike his namesake in
+our story, being a very worthy, although a most ignorant man),
+stooped down to the said niche, and took from it a folio volume
+which I had never before observed, out of which he, without the
+slightest hesitation, tore a strip of paper suited to my purpose,
+and reached it to me. I immediately seized upon the book, and,
+after a few minutes' perusal, I know not which was greater, my
+astonishment or my vexation at this costly prize. The manuscript,
+which was bound in vellum, was not only defective both at the
+beginning and at the end, but several leaves had even been torn
+out here and there in the middle. I scolded the old man as I had
+never done during the whole course of my life; but he excused
+himself, saying that one of my predecessors had given him the
+manuscript for waste paper, as it had lain about there ever since
+the memory of man, and he had often been in want of paper to twist
+round the altar-candles, &c. The aged and half-blind pastor had
+mistaken the folio for old parochial accounts which could be of no
+more use to any one.
+
+ [Footnote: The original manuscript does indeed contain several
+accounts which at first sight may have led to this mistake;
+besides, the handwriting is extremely difficult to read, and in
+several places the paper is discoloured and decayed.]
+
+
+No sooner had I reached home than I fell to work upon my new
+acquisition, and after reading a bit here and there with
+considerable trouble, my interest was powerfully excited by the
+contents.
+
+I soon felt the necessity of making myself better acquainted with
+the nature and conduct of these witch trials, with the
+proceedings, nay, even with the history of the whole period in
+which these events occur. But the more I read of these
+extraordinary stories, the more was I confounded; and neither the
+trivial Beeker (_Die bezauberte Welt_, "The Enchanted
+World"), nor the more careful Horst (_Zauberbibliothek_, "The
+Library of Magic"), to which, as well as to several other works on
+the same subject, I had flown for information, could resolve my
+doubts, but rather served to increase them.
+
+Not alone is the demoniacal character, which pervades nearly all
+these fearful stories, so deeply marked, as to fill the attentive
+reader with feelings of alternate horror and dismay, but the
+eternal and unchangeable laws of human feeling and action are
+often arrested in a manner so violent and unforeseen, that the
+understanding is entirely baffled. For instance, one of the
+original trials which a friend of mine, a lawyer, discovered in
+our province, contains the account of a mother, who, after she had
+suffered the torture, and received the holy Sacrament, and was on
+the point of going to the stake, so utterly lost all maternal
+feeling, that her conscience obliged her to accuse as a witch her
+only dearly loved daughter, a girl of fifteen, against whom no one
+had ever entertained a suspicion, in order, as she said, to save
+her poor soul. The court, justly amazed at an event which probably
+has never since been paralleled, caused the state of the mother's
+mind to be examined both by clergymen and physicians, whose
+original testimonies are still appended to the records, and are
+all highly favourable to her soundness of mind. The unfortunate
+daughter, whose name was Elizabeth Hegel, was actually executed on
+the strength of her mother's accusation. [Footnote: It is my
+intention to publish this trial also, as it possesses very great
+psychological interest.]
+
+The explanation commonly received at the present day, that these
+phenomena were produced by means of animal magnetism, is utterly
+insufficient. How, for instance, could this account for the deeply
+demoniacal nature of old Lizzie Kolken as exhibited in the
+following pages? It is utterly incomprehensible, and perfectly
+explains why the old pastor, notwithstanding the horrible deceits
+practised on him in the person of his daughter, retained as firm a
+faith in the truth of witchcraft as in that of the Gospel.
+
+During the earlier centuries of the Middle Ages little was known
+of witchcraft. The crime of magic, when it did occur, was
+leniently punished. For instance, the council of Ancyra (314)
+ordained the whole punishment of witches to consist in expulsion
+from the Christian community. The Visigoths punished them with
+stripes, and Charlemagne, by advice of his bishops, confined them
+in prison until such time as they should sincerely repent.
+[Footnote: Horst, _Zauberbibliothek_, vi. p. 231.] It was not
+until very soon before the Reformation, that Innocent VIII.
+lamented that the complaints of universal Christendom against the
+evil practices of these women had become so general and so loud,
+that the most vigorous measures must be taken against them; and
+towards the end of the year 1489, he caused the notorious Hammer
+for Witches (_Malleus Malleficarurn_) to be published,
+according to which proceedings were set on foot with the most
+fanatical zeal, not only in Catholic, but, strange to say, even in
+Protestant Christendom, which in other respects abhorred
+everything belonging to Catholicism. Indeed, the Protestants far
+outdid the Catholics in cruelty, until, among the latter, the
+nobleminded Jesuit, J. Spee, and among the former, but not until
+seventy years later, the excellent Thomasius, by degrees put a
+stop to these horrors.
+
+After careful examination into the nature and characteristics of
+witchcraft, I soon perceived that among all these strange and
+often romantic stories, not one surpassed my "amber witch" in
+lively interest; and I determined to throw her adventures into the
+form of a romance. Fortunately, however, I was soon convinced that
+her story was already in itself the most interesting of all
+romances; and that I should do far better to leave it in its
+original antiquated form, omitting whatever would be uninteresting
+to modern readers, or so universally known as to need no
+repetition. I have therefore attempted, not indeed to supply what
+is missing at the beginning and end, but to restore those leaves
+which have been torn out of the middle, imitating, as accurately
+as I was able, the language and manner of the old biographer, in
+order that the difference between the original narrative, and my
+own interpolations, might not be too evident.
+
+This I have done with much trouble, and after many ineffectual
+attempts; but I refrain from pointing out the particular passages
+which I have supplied, so as not to disturb the historical
+interest of the greater part of my readers. For modern criticism,
+which has now attained to a degree of acuteness never before
+equalled, such a confession would be entirely superfluous, as
+critics will easily distinguish the passages where Pastor
+Schweidler speaks from those written by Pastor Meinhold.
+
+I am, nevertheless, bound to give the public some account of what
+I have omitted, namely--
+
+1st. Such long prayers as were not very remarkable for Christian
+unction.
+
+2d. Well-known stories out of the Thirty Years' War.
+
+3d. Signs and wonders in the heavens, which were seen here and
+there, and which are recorded by other Pomeranian writers of these
+fearful times; for instance, by Micraelius. [Footnote: Vom Alten
+Pommerlande (Of Old Pomerania), book v.] But when these events
+formed part of the tale itself, as, for instance, the cross on the
+Streckelberg, I, of course, allowed them to stand.
+
+4th. The specification of the whole income of the church at
+Coserow, before and during the terrible times of the Thirty Years'
+War.
+
+5th. The enumeration of the dwellings left standing, after the
+devastations made by the enemy in every village throughout the
+parish.
+
+6th. The names of the districts to which this or that member of
+the congregation had emigrated.
+
+7th. A ground plan and description of the old manse.
+
+I have likewise here and there ventured to make a few changes in
+the language, as my author is not always consistent in the use of
+his words or in his orthography. The latter I have, however, with
+very few exceptions, retained.
+
+And thus I lay before the gracious reader a work, glowing with the
+fire of heaven, as well as with that of hell.
+
+MEINHOLD.
+
+
+
+
+THE AMBER WITCH
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+The origin of our biographer cannot be traced with any degree of
+certainty, owing to the loss of the first part of his manuscript.
+It is, however, pretty clear that he was not a Pomeranian, as he
+says he was in Silesia in his youth, and mentions relations
+scattered far and wide, not only at Hamburg and Cologne, but even
+at Antwerp; above all, his South-German language betrays a foreign
+origin, and he makes use of words, which are, I believe, peculiar
+to Swabia. He must, however, have been living for a long time in
+Pomerania at the time he wrote, as he even more frequently uses
+Low-German expressions, such as occur in contemporary native
+Pomeranian writers.
+
+Since he sprang from an ancient noble family, as he says on
+several occasions, it is possible that some particulars relating
+to the Schweidlers might be discovered in the family records of
+the seventeenth century, which would give a clue to his native
+country; but I have sought for that name in all the sources of
+information accessible to me in vain, and am led to suspect that
+our author, like many of his contemporaries, laid aside his
+nobility and changed his name when he took holy orders.
+
+I will not, however, venture on any further conjectures; the
+manuscript, of which six chapters are missing, begins with the
+words "Imperialists plundered," and evidently the previous pages
+must have contained an account of the breaking out of the Thirty
+Years' War in the island of Usedom. It goes on as follows:--
+
+"Coffers, chests, and closets were all plundered and broken to
+pieces, and my surplice also was torn, so that I remained in great
+distress and tribulation. But my poor little daughter they did not
+find, seeing that I had hidden her in the stable, which was dark,
+without which I doubt not they would have made my heart heavy
+indeed. The lewd dogs would even have been rude to my old maid
+Ilse, a woman hard upon fifty, if an old cornet had not forbidden
+them. Wherefore I gave thanks to my Maker when the wild guests
+were gone, that I had first saved my child from their clutches,
+although not one dust of flour, nor one grain of corn, nor one
+morsel of meat even of a finger's length was left, and I knew not
+how I should any longer support my own life, and my poor child's.
+_Item_, I thanked God that I had likewise secured the _vasa
+sacra_, which I had forthwith buried in the church in front of
+the altar, in presence of the two churchwardens, Hienrich Seden
+and Claus Bulken, of Uekeritze, commending them to the care of
+God. And now because, as I have already said, I was suffering the
+pangs of hunger, I wrote to his lordship the Sheriff Wittich v.
+Appelmann, at Pudgla [Footnote: A castle in Usedom, formerly a
+celebrated convent.], that for the love of God and His holy Gospel
+he should send me that which his Highness' Grace Philippus Julius
+had allowed me as _praestanda_ from the convent at Pudgla, to
+wit, thirty bushels of barley and twenty-five marks of silver,
+which howbeit his lordship had always withheld from me hitherto
+(for he was a very hard inhuman man, inasmuch as he despised the
+holy Gospel and the preaching of the Word, and openly, without
+shame, reviled the servants of God, saying that they were useless
+feeders, and that Luther had but half cleansed the pig-stye of the
+Church--God mend it!). But he answered me nothing, and I should
+have perished for want if Hinrich Seden had not begged for me in
+the parish. May God reward the honest fellow for it in eternity!
+Moreover, he was then growing old, and was sorely plagued by his
+wicked wife Lizzie Kolken. Methought when I married them that it
+would not turn out over well, seeing that she was in common report
+of having long lived in unchastity with Wittich Appelmann, who had
+ever been an arch-rogue, and especially an arrant whoremaster, and
+such the Lord never blesses. This same Seden now brought me five
+loaves, two sausages, and a goose, which old goodwife Paal, at
+Loddin, had given him; also a flitch of bacon from the farmer Jack
+Tewert. But he said I must shield him from his wife, who would
+have had half for herself, and when he denied her she cursed him,
+and wished him gout in his head, whereupon he straightway felt a
+pain in his right cheek, and it was quite hard and heavy already.
+At such shocking news I was affrighted, as became a good pastor,
+and asked whether peradventure he believed that she stood in evil
+communication with Satan, and could bewitch folks? But he said
+nothing, and shrugged his shoulders. So I sent for old Lizzie to
+come to me, who was a tall, meagre woman of about sixty, with
+squinting eyes, so that she could not look any one in the face;
+likewise with quite red hair, and indeed her goodman had the same.
+But though I diligently admonished her out of God's Word, she made
+no answer, until at last I said, 'Wilt thou unbewitch thy goodman
+(for I saw from the window how that he was raving in the street
+like a madman), or wilt thou that I should inform the magistrate
+of thy deeds?' Then, indeed, she gave in, and promised that he
+should soon be better (and so he was); moreover she begged that I
+would give her some bread and some bacon, inasmuch as it was three
+days since she had had a bit of anything to put between her lips,
+saving always her tongue. So my daughter gave her half a loaf, and
+a piece of bacon about two hands-breadths large; but she did not
+think it enough, and muttered between her teeth; whereupon my
+daughter said, 'If thou art not content, thou old witch, go thy
+ways and help thy goodman; see how he has laid his head on Zabel's
+fence, and stamps with his feet for pain.' Whereupon she went
+away, but still kept muttering between her teeth, 'Yea, forsooth,
+I will help him and thee too.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+_How the Imperialists robbed me of all that was left, and
+likewise broke into the church and stole the Vasa Sacra; also what
+more befell us._
+
+
+After a few days, when we had eaten almost all our food, my last
+cow fell down dead (the wolves had already devoured the others, as
+mentioned above), not without a strong suspicion that Lizzie had a
+hand in it, seeing that the poor beast had eaten heartily the day
+before; but I leave that to a higher judge, seeing that I would
+not willingly calumniate any one; and it may have been the will of
+God, whose wrath I have well deserved. _Summa_, I was once
+more in great need, and my daughter Mary pierced my heart with her
+sighs, when the cry was raised that another troop of Imperialists
+was come to Uekeritze, and was marauding there more cruelly than
+ever, and, moreover, had burnt half the village. Wherefore I no
+longer thought myself safe in my cottage; and after I had
+commended everything to the Lord in a fervent prayer, I went up
+with my daughter and old Ilse into the Streckelberg, [Footnote: A
+considerable mountain close to the sea near Coserow.] where I
+already had looked out for ourselves a hole like a cavern, well
+grown over with brambles, against the time when the troubles
+should drive us thither. We therefore took with us all we had left
+to us for the support of our bodies, and fled into the woods,
+sighing and weeping, whither we soon were followed by the old men,
+and the women and children; these raised a great cry of hunger
+when they saw my daughter sitting on a log and eating a bit of
+bread and meat, and the little things came with their tiny hands
+stretched out and cried, "Have some too, have some too." Therefore
+being justly moved by such great distress, I hindered not my
+daughter from sharing all the bread and meat that remained among
+the hungry children. But first I made them pray--"The eyes of all
+wait upon Thee;" [Footnote: Ps. cxlv. 15, 16.] upon which words I
+then spake comfortably to the people, telling them that the Lord,
+who had now fed their little children, would find means to fill
+their own bellies, and that they must not be weary of trusting in
+Him.
+
+This comfort did not, however, last long; for after we had rested
+within and around the cavern for about two hours, the bells in the
+village began to ring so dolefully, that it went nigh to break all
+our hearts, the more as loud firing was heard between whiles;
+_item_, the cries of men and the barking of dogs resounded,
+so that we could easily guess that the enemy was in the village. I
+had enough to do to keep the women quiet, that they might not by
+their senseless lamentations betray our hiding-place to the cruel
+enemy; and more still when it began to smell smoky, and presently
+the bright flames gleamed through the trees. I therefore sent old
+Paasch up to the top of the hill, that he might look around and
+see how matters stood, but told him to take good care that they
+did not see him from the village, seeing that the twilight had but
+just begun.
+
+This he promised, and soon returned with the news that about
+twenty horsemen had galloped out of the village towards the
+Damerow, but that half the village was in flames. _Item, he told
+us that by a wonderful dispensation of God a great number of birds
+had appeared in the juniper-bushes and elsewhere, and that if we
+could catch them they would be excellent food for us. I therefore
+climbed up the hill myself, and having found everything as he had
+said, and also perceived that the fire had, by the help of God's
+mercy, abated in the village; _item_, that my cottage was
+left standing, far beyond my merits and deserts; I came down again
+and comforted the people, saying, "The Lord hath given us a sign,
+and He will feed us, as He fed the people of Israel in the
+wilderness; for He has sent us a fine flight of fieldfares across
+the barren sea, so that they whirr out of every bush as ye come
+near it. Who will now run down into the village, and cut off the
+mane and tail of my dead cow which lies out behind on the common?"
+(for there was no horsehair in all the village, seeing that the
+enemy had long since carried off or stabbed all the horses). But
+no one would go, for fear was stronger even than hunger, till my
+old Ilse spoke, and said, "I will go, for I fear nothing, when I
+walk in the ways of God; only give me a good stick." When old
+Paasch had lent her his staff, she began to sing, "God the Father
+be with us," and soon out of sight among the bushes. Meanwhile I
+exhorted the people to set to work directly, and to cut little
+wands for syringes, and to gather berries while the moon still
+shone; there were a great quantity of mountain-ash and
+elder-bushes all about the mountain. I myself and my daughter Mary
+stayed to guard the little children, because it was not safe there
+from wolves. We therefore made a blazing fire, sat ourselves
+around it, and heard the little folks say the Ten Commandments,
+when there was a rustling and crackling behind us, and my daughter
+jumped up and ran into the cavern, crying, "_Proh dolor
+hostis!_" [Our author afterwards explains the learned education
+of the maiden.] But it was only some of the able-bodied men who
+had stayed behind in the village, and who now came to bring us
+word how things stood there. I therefore called to her directly,
+"_Emergas amici_," whereupon she came skipping joyously out,
+and sat down again by the fire, and forthwith my warden Hinrich
+Seden related all that had happened, and how his life had only
+been saved by means of his wife Lizzie Kolken; but that Jurgen
+Flatow, Chim Burse, Claus Peer, and Chim Seideritz were killed,
+and the last named of them left lying on the church steps. The
+wicked incendiaries had burned down twelve sheds, and it was not
+their fault that the whole village was not destroyed, but only in
+consequence of the wind not being in the quarter that suited their
+purpose. Meanwhile they tolled the bells in mockery and scorn, to
+see whether any one would come and quench the fire; and that when
+he and the three other young fellows came forward they fired off
+their muskets at them, but, by God's help, none of them were hit.
+Hereupon his three comrades jumped over the paling and escaped;
+but him they caught, and had already taken aim at him with their
+firelocks, when his wife Lizzie Kolken came out of the church with
+another troop and beckoned to them to leave him in peace. But they
+stabbed Lene Hebers as she lay in childbed, speared the child, and
+flung it over Claus Peer's hedge among the nettles, where it was
+yet lying when they came away. There was not a living soul left in
+the village, and still less a morsel of bread, so that unless the
+Lord took pity on their need they must all die miserably of
+hunger.
+
+(Now who is to believe that such people can call themselves
+Christians?)
+
+I next inquired, when he had done speaking (but with many sighs,
+as any one may guess), after my cottage; but of that they knew
+naught save that it was still standing. I thanked the Lord
+therefore with a quiet sigh; and having asked old Seden what his
+wife had been doing in the church, I thought I should have died
+for grief when I heard that the villains came out of it with both
+the chalices and patens in their hands. I therefore spoke very
+sharply to old Lizzie, who now came slinking through the bushes;
+but she answered insolently, that the strange soldiers had forced
+her to open the church, as her goodman had crept behind the hedge,
+and nobody else was there; that they had gone straight up to the
+altar, and seeing that one of the stones was not well fitted
+(which, truly, was an arch lie), had begun to dig with their
+swords till they found the chalices and patens; or somebody else
+might have betrayed the spot to them, so I need not always to lay
+the blame on her, and rate her so hardly.
+
+Meanwhile the old men and the women came with a good store of
+berries; _item_, my old maid, with the cow's tail and mane,
+who brought word that the whole house was turned upside down, the
+windows all broken, and the books and writings trampled in the
+dirt in the midst of the street, and the doors torn off their
+hinges. This, however, was a less sorrow to me than the chalices;
+and I only bade the people make springes and snares, in order next
+morning to begin our fowling, with the help of Almighty God. I
+therefore scraped the rods myself until near midnight; and when we
+had made ready a good quantity, I told old Seden to repeat the
+evening blessing, which we all heard on our knees; after which I
+wound up with a prayer, and then admonished the people to creep in
+under the bushes to keep them from the cold (seeing that it was
+now about the end of September, and the wind blew very fresh from
+the sea), the men apart, and the women also apart by themselves. I
+myself went up with my daughter and my maid into the cavern, where
+I had not slept long before I heard old Seden moaning bitterly,
+because, as he said, he was seized with the colic. I therefore got
+up and gave him my place, and sat down again by the fire to cut
+springes, till I fell asleep for half-an-hour; and then morning
+broke, and by that time he had got better, and I woke the people
+to morning prayer. This time old Paasch had to say it, but could
+not get through with it properly, so that I had to help him.
+Whether he had forgot it, or whether he was frightened, I cannot
+say. _Summa_.--After we had all prayed most devoutly, we
+presently set to work, wedging the springes into the trees, and
+hanging berries all around them; while my daughter took care of
+the children, and looked for blackberries for their breakfast. Now
+we wedged the snares right across the wood along the road to
+Uekeritze; and mark what a wondrous act of mercy befell from
+gracious God! As I stepped into the road with the hatchet in my
+hand (it was Seden his hatchet, which he had fetched out of the
+village early in the morning), I caught sight of a loaf as long as
+my arm which a raven was pecking, and which doubtless one of the
+Imperial troopers had dropped out of his knapsack the day before,
+for there were fresh hoof-marks in the sand by it. So I secretly
+buttoned the breast of my coat over it, so that none should
+perceive anything, although the aforesaid Paasch was close behind
+me; _item_, all the rest followed at no great distance. Now,
+having set the springes so very early, towards noon we found such
+a great number of birds taken in them, that Katy Berow, who went
+beside me while I took them out, scarce could hold them all in her
+apron; and at the other end old Pagels pulled nearly as many out
+of his doublet and coat-pockets. My daughter then sat down with
+the rest of the womankind to pluck the birds; and as there was no
+salt (indeed it was long since most of us had tasted any), she
+desired two men to go down to the sea, and to fetch a little salt
+water in an iron pot borrowed from Staffer Zuter; and so they did.
+In this water we first dipped the birds, and then roasted them at
+a large fire, while our mouths watered only at the sweet savour of
+them, seeing it was so long since we had tasted any food.
+
+And now when all was ready, and the people seated on the earth, I
+said, "Behold how the Lord still feeds His people Israel in the
+wilderness with fresh quails: if now He did yet more, and sent us
+a piece of manna bread from heaven, what think ye? Would ye then
+ever weary of believing in Him, and not rather willingly endure
+all want, tribulation, hunger and thirst, which He may hereafter
+lay upon you according to His gracious will?" Whereupon they all
+answered and said, "Yea, surely!" _Ego_: "Will you then
+promise me this in truth?" And they said again, "Yea, that will
+we!" Then with tears I drew forth the loaf from my breast, held it
+on high, and cried, "Behold then, thou poor believing little
+flock, how sweet a manna loaf your faithful Redeemer hath sent ye
+through me!" Whereupon they all wept, sobbed and groaned; and the
+little children again came running up and held out their hands,
+crying, "See, bread, bread!" But as I myself could not pray for
+heaviness of soul, I bade Paasch his little girl say the
+_Gratias_ the while my Mary cut up the loaf and gave to each
+his share. And now we all joyfully began to eat our meat from God
+in the wilderness.
+
+Meanwhile I had to tell in what manner I had found the blessed
+manna bread, wherein I neglected not again to exhort them to lay
+to heart this great sign and wonder, how that God in His mercy had
+done to them as of old to the prophet Elijah, to whom a raven
+brought bread in his great need in the wilderness; as likewise
+this bread had been given to me by means of a raven, which showed
+it to me, when otherwise I might have passed it by in my heaviness
+without ever seeing it.
+
+When we were satisfied with food, I said the thanksgiving from
+Luke xii. 24, where the Lord saith, "Consider the ravens: for they
+neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and
+God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?" But
+our sins stank before the Lord. For old Lizzie, as I afterwards
+heard, would not eat her birds because she thought them unsavoury,
+but threw them among the juniper bushes; whereupon the wrath of
+the Lord was kindled against us as of old against the people of
+Israel, and at night we found but seven birds in the snares, and
+next morning but two. Neither did any raven come again to give us
+bread. Wherefore I rebuked old Lizzie, and admonished the people
+to take upon themselves willingly the righteous chastisement of
+the Most High God, to pray without ceasing, to return to their
+desolate dwellings, and to see whether the all-merciful God would
+peradventure give them more on the sea. That I also would call
+upon Him with prayer night and day, remaining for a time in the
+cavern with my daughter and the maid to watch the springes, and
+see whether His wrath might be turned from us. That they should,
+meanwhile put my manse to rights to the best of their power,
+seeing that the cold was become very irksome to me. This they
+promised me, and departed with many sighs. What a little flock! I
+counted but twenty-five souls where there used to be above eighty;
+all the rest had been slain by hunger, pestilence, or the sword.
+[Footnote: This took place in the year 1628, and the horrors of
+the Thirty Years' War were spread most fearfully over this island;
+pity that the description of the old vicar, which he doubtless
+gave in the preceding pages, has been lost.] I then abode awhile
+alone and sorrowing in the cave, praying to God, and sent my
+daughter with the maid into the village to see how things stood at
+the manse; _item_, to gather together the books and papers,
+and also to bring me word whether Hinze the carpenter, whom I had
+straightway sent back to the village, had knocked together some
+coffins for the poor corpses, so that I might bury them next day.
+I then went to look at the springes, but found only one single
+little bird, whereby I saw that the wrath of God had not yet
+passed away. Howbeit, I found a fine blackberry bush, from which I
+gathered nearly a pint of berries, and put them, together with the
+bird, in Staffer Zuter his pot, which the honest fellow had left
+with us for a while, and set them on the fire for supper against
+my child and the maid should return. It was not long before they
+came through the coppice, and told me of the fearful devastation
+which Satan had made in the village and manse by the permission of
+all-righteous God. My child had gathered together a few books,
+which she brought with her, above all, a _Virgilius_ and a
+Greek Bible. And after she had told me that the carpenter would
+not have done till next day, and we had satisfied the cravings of
+hunger, I made her read to me again, for the greater strengthening
+of my faith, the _locus_ about the blessed raven from the
+Greek of Luke, at the twelfth chapter; also, the beautiful
+_locus parallelus_, Matt. vi. After which the maid said the
+evening blessing, and we all went into the cave to rest for the
+night. When I awoke next morning, just as the blessed sun rose out
+the sea and peeped over the mountain, I heard my poor hungry
+child, already standing outside the cave, reciting the beautiful
+verses about the joys of paradise which St. Augustine wrote and I
+had taught her. [Footnote: This is an error. The following verses
+are written by the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, Peter Damianus (d.
+23d Feb. 1072), after Augustine's prose.] She sobbed for grief as
+she spoke the words:--
+
+  "Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriae
+  Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant
+  Non _sacietas_ fastidit, neque fames cruciat
+  Inhiantes semper edunt, et edentes inhiant
+  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 poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum
+  Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum
+  Agnus est fcelicis urbis lumen inocciduum."
+
+ [Footnote:  The following version is from the pen of a
+friend.--_Trans_.
+
+  "In that far land the citizens all share one equal bread,
+  And keep desire and hunger still, although to fulness fed:
+  Unwearied by satiety, unracked by hunger's strife,
+  The air they breathe is nourishment, and spiritual life!
+  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!"
+
+At these words my own heart was melted; and when she ceased from
+speaking, I asked, "What art thou doing, my child?" Whereupon she
+answered, "Father, I am eating." Thereat my tears now indeed began
+to flow, and I praised her for feeding her soul, as she had no
+meat for her body. I had not, however, spoken long, before she
+cried to me to come and look at the great wonder that had risen
+out of the sea, and already appeared over the cave. For behold a
+cloud, in shape just like a cross, came over us, and let great
+heavy drops, as big or bigger than large peas, fall on our heads,
+after which it sank behind the coppice. I presently arose, and ran
+up the mountain with my daughter to look after it. It floated on
+towards the Achterwater, [Footnote: A wash formed by the river
+Peene in the neighbourhood.] where it spread itself out into a
+long blue streak, whereon the sun shone so brightly that it seemed
+like a golden bridge, on which, as my child said, the blessed
+angels danced. I fell on my knees with her, and thanked the Lord
+that our cross had passed away from us; but, alas! our cross was
+yet to come, as will be told hereafter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+_How our need waxed sorer and sorer, and how I sent old Ilse
+with another letter to Pudgla, and how heavy a misfortune this
+brought upon me_.
+
+
+Next day, when I had buried the poor corpses amid the lamentations
+of the whole village (by the same token that they were all buried
+under where the lime-tree overhangs the wall [Footnote: This
+exists no longer.]), I heard with many sighs that neither the sea
+nor the Achterwater would yield anything. It was now ten days
+since the poor people had caught a single fish. I therefore went
+out into the field, musing how the wrath of the just God might be
+turned from us, seeing that the cruel winter was now at hand, and
+neither corn, apples, fish nor flesh, to be found in the village,
+nor even throughout all the parish. There was indeed plenty of
+game in the forests of Coserow and Uekeritze; but the old forest
+ranger, Zabel Nehring, had died last year of the plague, and there
+was no new one in his place. Nor was there a musket nor a grain of
+powder to be found in all the parish; the enemy had robbed and
+broken everything: we were therefore forced, day after day, to see
+how the stags and the roes, the hares and the wild boars, &c., ran
+past us, when we would so gladly have had them in our bellies, but
+had no means of getting at them: for they were too cunning to let
+themselves be caught in pit-falls. Nevertheless, Claus Peer
+succeeded in trapping a roe, and gave me a piece of it, for which
+may God reward him. _Item_, of domestic cattle there was not
+a head left; neither was there a dog nor a cat, which the people
+had not either eaten in their extreme hunger, or knocked on the
+head, or drowned long since. Albeit old farmer Paasch still owned
+two cows; _item_, an old man in Uekeritze was said to have
+one little pig--this was all. Thus, then, nearly all the people
+lived on blackberries and other wild fruits; the which also soon
+grew to be scarce, as may easily be guessed. Besides all this, a
+boy of fourteen was missing (old Labahn his son), and was never
+more heard of, so that I shrewdly think that the wolves devoured
+him.
+
+And now let any Christian judge by his own heart in what sorrow
+and heaviness I took my staff in my hand, seeing that my child
+fell away like a shadow from pinching hunger; although I myself,
+being old, did not, by the help of God's mercy, find any great
+failing in my strength. While I thus went continually weeping
+before the Lord, on the way to Uekeritze, I fell in with an old
+beggar with his wallet, sitting on a stone, and eating a piece of
+God's rare gift, to wit, a bit of bread. Then truly did my poor
+mouth so fill with water, that I was forced to bow my head and let
+it run upon the earth before I could ask, "Who art thou? and
+whence comest thou, seeing that thou hast bread?" Whereupon he
+answered that he was a poor man of Bannemin, from whom the enemy
+had taken all; and as he had heard that the Lieper Winkel
+[Footnote: A remote part of the island of Usedom.] had long been
+in peace, he had travelled thither to beg. I straightway answered
+him, "Oh, poor beggar man, spare to me, a sorrowful servant of
+Christ, who is poorer even than thyself, one little slice of bread
+for his wretched child; for thou must know that I am the pastor of
+this village, and that my daughter is dying of hunger. I beseech
+thee, by the living God, not to let me depart without taking pity
+on me, as pity also hath been shown to thee!" But the beggar man
+would give me none, saying that he himself had a wife and four
+children, who were likewise staggering towards death's door under
+the bitter pangs of hunger; that the famine was sorer far in
+Bannemin than here, where we still had berries; whether I had not
+heard that but a few days ago a woman (he told me her name, but
+horror made me forget it) had there killed her own child, and
+devoured it from hunger? [Footnote: Micraslius also mentions this
+horrible event in his History of Pomerania.] That he could not
+therefore help me, and I might go to the Lieper Winkel myself.
+
+I was horror-stricken at his tale, as is easy to guess, for we in
+our own trouble had not yet heard of it, there being little or no
+traffic between one village and another; and thinking on
+Jerusalem, [Footnote: Where, according to Josephus, the same thing
+occurred.] and sheer despairing because the Lord had visited us,
+as of old that ungodly city, although we had not betrayed or
+crucified Him, I almost forgot all my necessities, and took my
+staff in my hand to depart. But I had not gone more than a few
+yards when the beggar called me to stop, and when I turned myself
+round he came towards me with a good hunch of bread which he had
+taken out of his wallet, and said, "There! but pray for me also,
+so that I may reach my home; for if on the road they smell that I
+have bread, my own brother would strike me dead, I believe." This
+I promised with joy, and instantly turned back to take to my child
+the gift hidden in my pocket. And behold, when I came to the road
+which leads to Loddin, I could scarce trust my eyes (before I had
+overlooked it in my distress) when I saw my glebe, which could
+produce seven bushels, ploughed, sown, and in stalk; the blessed
+crop of rye had already shot lustily out of the earth a finger's
+length in height. I could not choose but think that the evil one
+had deceived me with a false show, yet, however hard I rubbed my
+eyes, rye it was, and rye it remained. And seeing that old Paasch
+his piece of land which joined mine was in like manner sown, and
+that the blades had shot up to the same height, I soon guessed
+that the good fellow had done this deed, seeing that all the other
+land lay waste. Wherefore, I readily forgave him for not knowing
+the morning prayer; and thanking the Lord for so much love from my
+flock, and earnestly beseeching Him to grant me strength and faith
+to bear with them, steadfastly and patiently, all the troubles and
+adversities which it might please Him henceforward to lay upon us,
+according to His divine pleasure, I ran rather than walked back
+into the village to old Paasch his farm, where I found him just
+about to kill his cow, which he was slaughtering from grim hunger.
+"God bless thee," said I, "worthy friend, for sowing my field, how
+shall I reward thee?" But the old man answered, "Let that be, and
+do you pray for us;" and when I gladly promised this, and asked
+him how he had kept his corn safe from the savage enemy, he told
+me that he had hidden it secretly in the caves of the
+Streckelberg, but that now all his store was used up. Meanwhile he
+cut a fine large piece of meat from the top of the loin, and said,
+"There is something for you, and when that is gone you can come
+again for more." As I was then about to go with many thanks, his
+little Mary, a child nearly seven years old, the same who had said
+the _Gratlas_ on the Streckelberg, seized me by the hand, and
+wanted to go to school to my daughter; for since my _Custos_,
+as above mentioned, departed this life in the plague, she had to
+teach the few little ones there were in the village; this,
+however, had long been abandoned. I could not, therefore, deny
+her, although I feared that my child would share her bread with
+her, seeing that she dearly loved the little maid, who was her
+godchild; and so indeed it happened; for when the child saw me
+take out the bread, she shrieked for joy, and began to scramble up
+on the bench. Thus she also got a piece of the slice, our maid got
+another, and my child put the third piece into her own mouth, as I
+wished for none, but said that I felt no signs of hunger, and
+would wait until the meat was boiled, the which I now threw upon
+the bench. It was a goodly sight to see the joy which my poor
+child felt, when I then also told her about the rye. She fell upon
+my neck, wept, sobbed, then took the little one up in her arms,
+danced about the room with her, and recited, as she was wont, all
+manner of Latin _versus_, which she knew by heart. Then she
+would prepare a right good supper for us, as a little salt was
+still left in the bottom of a barrel of meat which the
+Imperialists had broken up. I let her take her own way, and having
+scraped some soot from the chimney and mixed it with water, I tore
+a blank leaf out of _Virgillus_, and wrote to the _Pastor
+Liepensts_, his reverence Abraham Tiburtius, praying that for
+God His sake he would take our necessities to heart, and would
+exhort his parishioners to save us from dying of grim hunger, and
+charitably to spare to us some meat and drink, according as the
+all-merciful God had still left some to them, seeing that a beggar
+had told me that they had long been in peace from the terrible
+enemy. I knew not, however, wherewithal to seal the letter, until
+I found in the church a little wax still sticking to a wooden
+altar-candlestick, which the Imperialists had not thought it worth
+their while to steal, for they had only taken the brass ones. I
+sent three fellows in a boat with Hinrich Seden, the churchwarden,
+with this letter to Liepe.
+
+First, however, I asked my old Ilse, who was born in Liepe,
+whether she would not rather return home, seeing how matters
+stood, and that I, for the present at least, could not give her a
+stiver of her wages (mark that she had already saved up a small
+sum, seeing that she had lived in my service above twenty years,
+but the soldiers had taken it all). Howbeit, I could nowise
+persuade her to this, but she wept bitterly, and besought me only
+to let her stay with the good damsel whom she had rocked in her
+cradle. She would cheerfully hunger with us if it needs must be,
+so that she were not turned away. Whereupon, I yielded to her, and
+the others went alone.
+
+Meanwhile the broth was ready, but scarce had we said the
+_Gratias_, and were about to begin our meal, when all the
+children of the village, seven in number, came to the door, and
+wanted bread, as they had heard we had some from my daughter her
+little godchild. Her heart again melted, and notwithstanding I
+besought her to harden herself against them, she comforted me with
+the message to Liepe, and poured out for each child a portion of
+broth on a wooden platter (for these also had been despised by the
+enemy), and put into their little hands a bit of meat, so that all
+our store was eaten up at once. We were, therefore, left fasting
+next morning, till towards midday, when the whole village gathered
+together in a meadow on the banks of the river to see the boat
+return. But, God be merciful to us, we had cherished vain hopes!
+six loaves and a sheep, _item_, a quarter of apples, was all
+they had brought. His reverence Abraham Tiburtius wrote to me that
+after the cry of their wealth had spread throughout the island, so
+many beggars had flocked thither that it was impossible to be just
+to all, seeing that they themselves did not know how it might fare
+with them in these heavy troublous times. Meanwhile he would see
+whether he could raise any more. I therefore with many sighs had
+the small pittance carried to the manse, and though two loaves
+were, as _Pastor Liepensis_ said in his letter, for me alone,
+I gave them up to be shared among all alike, whereat all were
+content save Seden his squint-eyed wife, who would have had
+somewhat extra on the score of her husband's journey, which,
+however, as may be easily guessed, she did not get; wherefore she
+again muttered certain words between her teeth as she went away,
+which, however, no one understood. Truly she was an ill woman, and
+not to be moved by the Word of God.
+
+Any one may judge for himself that such a store could not last
+long; and as all my parishioners felt an ardent longing after
+spiritual food, and as I and the churchwardens could only get
+together about sixteen farthings in the whole parish, which was
+not enough to buy bread and wine, the thought struck me once more
+to inform my lord the sheriff of our need. With how heavy a heart
+I did this may be easily guessed, but necessity knows no law. I
+therefore tore the last blank leaf out of _Virgilius_, and
+begged that, for the sake of the Holy Trinity, his lordship would
+mercifully consider mine own distress and that of the whole
+parish, and bestow a little money to enable me to administer the
+Holy Sacrament for the comfort of afflicted souls; also, if
+possible, to buy a cup, were it only of tin, since the enemy had
+plundered us of ours, and I should otherwise be forced to
+consecrate the sacred elements in an earthen vessel. _Item_,
+I besought him to have pity on our bodily wants, and at last to
+send me the first-fruits which had stood over for so many years.
+That I did not want it for myself alone, but would willingly share
+it with my parishioners, until such time as God in His mercy
+should give us more.
+
+Here a huge blot fell upon my paper; for the windows being boarded
+up, the room was dark, and but little light came through two small
+panes of glass, which I had broken out of the church, and stuck in
+between the boards: this, perhaps, was the reason why I did not
+see better. However, as I could not anywhere get another piece of
+paper, I let it pass, and ordered the maid, whom I sent with the
+letter to Pudgla, to excuse the same to his lordship the sheriff,
+the which she promised to do; seeing that I could not add a word
+more on the paper, as it was written all over. I then sealed it as
+I had done before.
+
+But the poor creature came back trembling for fear, and bitterly
+weeping, and said that his lordship had kicked her out of the
+castle-gate, and had threatened to set her in the stocks if she
+ever came before him again. "Did the parson think that he was as
+free with his money as I seemed to be with my ink? I surely had
+water enough to celebrate the Lord's Supper wherewithal. For if
+the Son of God had once changed the water into wine, He could
+surely do the like again. If I had no cup, I might water my flock
+out of a bucket, as he did himself;" with many more blasphemies,
+such as he afterwards wrote to me, and by which, as may easily be
+guessed, I was filled with horror. Touching the first-fruits, as
+she told me, he said nothing at all. In such great spiritual and
+bodily need the blessed Sunday came round, when nearly all the
+congregation would have come to the Lord's table, but could not. I
+therefore spoke on the words of St. Augustine, _crede et
+manducasti_, and represented that the blame was not mine, and
+truly told what had happened to my poor maid at Pudgla, passing
+over much in silence, and only praying God to awaken the hearts of
+magistrates for our good. Peradventure I may have spoken more
+harshly than I meant. I know not; only that I spoke that which was
+in my heart. At the end I made all the congregation stay on their
+knees for nearly an hour, and call upon the Lord for His holy
+Sacrament; _item_, for the relief of their bodily wants, as
+had been done every Sunday, and at all the daily prayers I had
+been used to read ever since the heavy time of the plague. Last of
+all, I led the glorious hymn, "When in greatest need we be," which
+was no sooner finished than my new churchwarden, Claus Bulk of
+Uekeritze, who had formerly been a groom with his lordship, and
+whom he had now put into a farm, ran off to Pudgla, and told him
+all that had taken place in the church. Whereat his lordship was
+greatly angered, insomuch that he summoned the whole parish, which
+still numbered about 150 souls, without counting the children, and
+dictated _ad protocollum_ whatsoever they could remember of
+the sermon, seeing that he meant to inform his princely Grace the
+Duke of Pomerania of the blasphemous lies which I had vomited
+against him, and which must sorely offend every Christian heart.
+_Item_, what an avaricious wretch I must be to be always
+wanting something of him, and to be daily, so to say, pestering
+him in these hard times with my filthy letters, when he had not
+enough to eat himself. This, he said, should break the parson his
+neck, since his princely Grace did all that he asked of him; and
+that no one in the parish need give me anything more, but only let
+me go my ways. He would soon take care that they should have quite
+a different sort of parson from what I was.
+
+(Now I would like to see the man who could make up his mind to
+come into the midst of such wretchedness at all.)
+
+This news was brought to me in the self-same night, and gave me a
+great fright, as I now saw that I should not have a gracious
+master in his lordship, but should all the time of my miserable
+life, even if I could anyhow support it, find in him an ungracious
+lord. But I soon felt some comfort, when Chim Krueger, from
+Uekeritze, who brought me the news, took a little bit of his
+sucking-pig out of his pocket and gave it to me. Meanwhile old
+Paasch came in and said the same, and likewise brought me a piece
+of his old cow; _item_, my other warden, Hinrich Seden, with
+a slice of bread, and a fish which he had taken in his net; all
+saying they wished for no better priest than me, and that I was
+only to pray to the merciful Lord to bestow more upon them,
+whereupon I should want for nothing. Meanwhile I must be quiet,
+and not betray them. All this I promised; and my daughter Mary
+took the blessed gifts of God off the table and carried them into
+the inner chamber. But, alas! next morning, when she would have
+put the meat into the cauldron, it was all gone. I know not who
+prepared this new sorrow for me, but much believe it was Hinrich
+Seden his wicked wife, seeing he can never hold his tongue, and
+most likely told her everything. Moreover, Paasch his little
+daughter saw that she had meat in her pot next day; _item_,
+that she had quarrelled with her husband, and had flung the
+fish-board at him, whereon some fresh fish-scales were sticking:
+she had, however, presently recollected herself when she saw the
+child. (Shame on thee, thou old witch, it is true enough, I dare
+say!) Hereupon naught was left us but to feed our poor souls with
+the Word of God. But even our souls were so cast down that they
+could receive naught, any more than our bellies; my poor child,
+especially, from day to day grew paler, greyer, and yellower, and
+always threw up all her food, seeing she ate it without salt or
+bread. I had long wondered that the bread from Liepe was not yet
+done, but that every day at dinner I still had a morsel. I had
+often asked, "Whence comes all this blessed bread? I believe,
+after all, you save the whole for me, and take none for yourself
+or the maid." But they both then lifted to their mouths a piece of
+fir-tree bark, which they had cut to look like bread, and laid by
+their plates; and as the room was dark, I did not find out their
+deceit, but thought that they too were eating bread. But at last
+the maid told me of it, so that I should allow it no longer, as my
+daughter would not listen to her. It is not hard to guess how my
+heart was wrung when I saw my poor child lying on her bed of moss
+struggling with grim hunger. But things were to go yet harder with
+me, for the Lord in His anger would break me in pieces like a
+potter's vessel. For behold, on the evening of the same day, old
+Paasch came running to me, complaining that all his and my corn in
+the field had been pulled up and miserably destroyed, and that it
+must have been done by Satan himself, as there was not a trace
+either of oxen or horses. At these words my poor child screamed
+aloud and fainted. I would have run to help her, but could not
+reach her bed, and fell on the ground myself for bitter grief. The
+loud cries of the maid and old Paasch soon brought us both to our
+senses. But I could not rise from the ground alone, for the Lord
+had bruised all my bones. I besought them, therefore, when they
+would have helped me, to leave me where I was; and when they would
+not, I cried out that I must again fall on the ground to pray, and
+begged them all save my daughter to depart out of the room. This
+they did, but the prayer would not come. I fell into heavy
+doubting and despair, and murmured against the Lord that He
+plagued me more sorely than Lazarus or Job. Wretch that I was, I
+cried, "Thou didst leave to Lazarus at least the crumbs and the
+pitiful dogs, but to me Thou hast left nothing, and I myself am
+less in Thy sight even than a dog; and Job Thou didst not afflict
+until Thou hadst mercifully taken away his children, but to me
+Thou hast left my poor little daughter, that her torments may
+increase mine own a thousandfold. Behold, then, I can only pray
+that Thou wilt take her from the earth, so that my grey head may
+gladly follow her to the grave! Woe is me, ruthless father, what
+have I done? I have eaten bread, and suffered my child to hunger!
+O Lord Jesu, who hast said, 'What man is there of you, whom if his
+son ask bread will he give him a stone?' Behold, I am that
+man!--behold, I am that ruthless father! I have eaten bread, and
+have given wood to my child! Punish me; I will bear it and lie
+still. O righteous Jesu, I have eaten bread, and have given wood
+to my child!" As I did not speak, but rather shrieked these words,
+wringing my hands the while, my child fell upon my neck, sobbing,
+and chide me for murmuring against the Lord, seeing that even she,
+a weak and frail woman, had never doubted His mercy; so that with
+shame and repentance I presently came to myself, and humbled
+myself before the Lord for such heavy sin.
+
+Meanwhile the maid had run into the village with loud cries to see
+if she could get anything for her poor young mistress, but the
+people had already eaten their noontide meal, and most of them
+were gone to sea to seek their blessed supper; thus she could find
+nothing, seeing that old wife Seden, who alone had any victuals,
+would give her none, although she prayed her by Jesu's wounds.
+
+She was telling us this when we heard a noise in the chamber, and
+presently Lizzie her worthy old husband, who had got in at the
+window by stealth, brought us a pot of good broth, which he had
+taken off the fire whilst his wife was gone for a moment into the
+garden. He well knew that his wife would make him pay for it, but
+that he did not mind, so the young mistress would but drink it,
+and she would find it salted and all. He would make haste out of
+the window again, and see that he got home before his wife, that
+she might not find out where he had been. But my daughter would
+not touch the broth, which sorely vexed him, so that he set it
+down on the ground cursing, and ran out of the room. It was not
+long before his squint-eyed wife came in at the front door, and
+when she saw the pot still steaming on the ground, she cried out,
+"Thou thief, thou cursed thieving carcass!" and would have flown
+at the face of my maid. But I threatened her, and told her all
+that had happened, and that if she would not believe me, she might
+go into the chamber and look out of the window, whence she might
+still, belike, see her goodman running home. This she did, and
+presently we heard her calling after him, "Wait, and the devil
+shall tear off thine arms, only wait till thou art home again!"
+After this she came back, and, muttering something, took the pot
+off the ground. I begged her, for the love of God, to spare a
+little to my child; but she mocked at me and said, "You can preach
+to her, as you did to me," and walked towards the door with the
+pot. My child indeed besought me to let her go, but I could not
+help calling after her, "For the love of God, one good sup, or my
+poor child must give up the ghost: wilt thou that at the day of
+judgment God should have mercy on thee, so show mercy this day to
+me and mine!" But she scoffed at us again, and cried out, "Let her
+cook herself some bacon," and went out at the door. I then sent
+the maid after her with the hour-glass which stood before me on
+the table, to offer it to her for a good sup out of the pot; but
+the maid brought it back, saying that she would not have it. Alas,
+how I wept and sobbed, as my poor dying child with a loud sigh
+buried her head again in the moss! Yet the merciful God was more
+gracious to me than my unbelief had deserved; for when the
+hard-hearted woman bestowed a little broth on her neighbour, old
+Paasch, he presently brought it to my child, having heard from the
+maid how it stood with her; and I believe that this broth, under
+God, alone saved her life, for she raised her head as soon as she
+had supped it, and was able to go about the house again in an
+hour. May God reward the good fellow for it! Thus I had some joy
+in the midst of my trouble. But while I sat by the fireside in the
+evening musing on my fate, my grief again broke forth, and I made
+up my mind to leave my house, and even my cure, and to wander
+through the wide world with my daughter as a beggar. God knows I
+had cause enough for it; for now that all my hopes were dashed,
+seeing that my field was quite ruined, and that the sheriff had
+become my bitter enemy, moreover that it was five years since I
+had had a wedding, _item_, but two christenings during the
+past year, I saw my own and my daughter's death staring me in the
+face, and no prospect of better times at hand. Our want was
+increased by the great fears of the congregation; for although by
+God's wondrous mercy they had already begun to take good draughts
+of fish both in the sea and the Achterwater, and many of the
+people in the other villages had already gotten bread, salt,
+oatmeal, &c., from the Pokers and Quatzners of Anklam and Lassan
+[Footnote: These people still go about the Achterwater every day
+in small boats called Polten and Quatzen, and buy from the boors
+any fish they may have caught.] in exchange for their fish;
+nevertheless, they brought me nothing, fearing lest it might be
+told at Pudgla, and make his lordship ungracious to them. I
+therefore beckoned my daughter to me, and told her what was in my
+thoughts, saying that God, in His mercy, could any day bestow on
+me another cure if I was found worthy in His sight of such a
+favour, seeing that these terrible days of pestilence and war had
+called away many of the servants of His Word, and that I had not
+fled like a hireling from His flock, but, on the contrary, till
+_datum_ shared sorrow and death with it. Whether she were
+able to walk five or ten miles a day; for that then we would beg
+our way to Hamburg, to my departed wife her stepbrother, Martin
+Behring, who is a great merchant in that city.
+
+This at first sounded strange to her, seeing that she had very
+seldom been out of our parish, and that her departed mother and
+her little brother lay in our churchyard. She asked, "Who was to
+make up their graves and plant flowers on them? _Item_, as
+the Lord had given her a smooth face, what I should do if in these
+wild and cruel times she were attacked on the highways by
+marauding soldiers or other villains, seeing that I was a weak old
+man and unable to defend her; _item_, wherewithal should we
+shield ourselves from the frost, as the winter was setting in, and
+the enemy had robbed us of our clothes, so that we had scarce
+enough left to cover our nakedness?" All this I had not
+considered, and was forced to own that she was right; so after
+much discussion we determined to leave it this night to the Lord,
+and to do whatever He should put into our hearts next morning. At
+any rate, we saw that we could in nowise keep the old maid any
+longer; I therefore called her out of the kitchen, and told her
+she had better go early next morning to Liepe, as there still was
+food there, whereas here she must starve, seeing that perhaps we
+ourselves might leave the parish and the country to-morrow. I
+thanked her for the love and faith she had shown us, and begged
+her at last, amid the loud sobs of my poor daughter, to depart
+forthwith privately, and not to make our hearts still heavier by
+leave-taking; that old Paasch was going a-fishing to-night on the
+Achterwater, as he had told me, and no doubt would readily set her
+on shore at Grussow, where she had friends, and could eat her fill
+even to-day. She could not say a word for weeping, but when she
+saw that I was really in earnest she went out of the room. Not
+long after we heard the house-door shut to, whereupon my daughter
+moaned, "She is gone already," and ran straight to the window to
+look after her. "Yes," cried, she, as she saw her through the
+little panes, "she is really gone;" and she wrung her hands and
+would not be comforted. At last, however, she was quieted when I
+spoke of the maid Hagar, whom Abraham had likewise cast off, but
+on whom the Lord had nevertheless shown mercy in the wilderness;
+and hereupon we commended ourselves to the Lord, and stretched
+ourselves on our couches of moss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+_How the old maid-servant humbled me by her faith, and the Lord
+yet blessed me His unworthy servant_.
+
+
+"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His
+holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His
+benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy
+diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth
+thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies" (Ps. ciii.).
+
+Alas! wretched man that I am, how shall I understand all the
+benefits and mercies which the Lord bestowed upon me the very next
+day? I now wept for joy as of late I had done for sorrow; and my
+child danced about the room like a young roe, and would not go to
+bed, but only cry and dance, and between whiles repeat the 103rd
+Psalm, then dance and cry again until morning broke. But as she
+was still very weak, I rebuked her presumption, seeing that this
+was tempting the Lord; and now mark what had happened.
+
+After we had both woke in the morning with deep sighs, and called
+upon the Lord to manifest to us, in our hearts, what we should do,
+we still could not make up our minds. I therefore called to my
+child, if she felt strong enough, to leave her bed and light a
+fire in the stove herself, as our maid was gone; that we would
+then consider the matter further. She accordingly got up, but came
+back in an instant with cries of joy, because the maid had
+privately stolen back into the house, and had already made a fire.
+Hereupon I sent for her to my bedside, and wondered at her
+disobedience, and asked what she now wanted here, but to torment
+me and my daughter still more, and why she did not go yesterday
+with old Paasch? But she lamented and wept so sore that she scarce
+could speak, and I understood only thus much: that she had eaten
+with us, and would likewise starve with us, for that she could
+never part from her young mistress, whom she had known from her
+cradle. Such faithful love moved me so, that I said almost with
+tears, "But hast thou not heard that my daughter and I have
+determined to wander as beggars about the country; where, then,
+wilt thou remain?" To this she answered that neither would she
+stay behind, seeing it was more fitting for her to beg than for
+us; but that she could not yet see why I wished to go out into the
+wide world; whether I had already forgotten that I had said, in my
+induction sermon, that I would abide with my flock in affliction
+and in death? That I should stay yet a little longer where I was,
+and send her to Liepe, as she hoped to get something worth having
+for us there, from her friends and others. These words, especially
+those about my induction sermon, fell heavy on my conscience, and
+I was ashamed of my want of faith, since, not my daughter only,
+but yet more, even my maid, had stronger faith than I, who,
+nevertheless, professed to be a servant of God's Word. I believed
+that the Lord, to keep me, poor fearful hireling, and at the same
+time to humble me, had awakened the spirit of this poor
+maid-servant to prove me, as the maid in the palace of the
+high-priest had also proved the fearful St. Peter. Wherefore I
+turned my face towards the wall, like Hezekiah, and humbled myself
+before the Lord; which scarce had I done before my child ran into
+the room again with a cry of joy. For behold some Christian heart
+had stolen quietly into the house in the night, and had laid in
+the chamber two loaves, a good piece of meat, a bag of oatmeal,
+_item_, a bag of salt, holding near a pint. Any one may guess
+what shouts of joy we all raised. Neither was I ashamed to confess
+my sins before my maid; and in our common morning prayer, which we
+said on our knees, I made fresh vows to the Lord of obedience and
+faith. Thus we had that morning a grand breakfast, and sent
+something to old Paasch besides; _item_, my daughter again
+sent for all the little children to come, and kindly fed them with
+our store, before they said their tasks; and when in my heart of
+little faith I sighed thereat, although I said naught, she smiled,
+and said, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the
+morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." [Footnote:
+Matt. vi. 34.]
+
+The Holy Ghost spoke by her, as I cannot but believe, nor thou
+either, beloved reader: for, mark what happened. In the afternoon,
+she (I mean my child) went up the Streckelberg to seek for
+blackberries, as old Paasch had told her through the maid that a
+few bushes were still left. The maid was chopping wood in the
+yard, to which end she had borrowed old Paasch his axe, for the
+Imperialist thieves had thrown away mine, so that it could nowhere
+be found; and I myself was pacing up and down in the room,
+meditating my sermon; when my child, with her apron full, came
+quickly in at the door, quite red and with beaming eyes, and
+scarce able for joy to say more than "Father, father, what have I
+got?" "Well," quoth I, "what hast thou got, my child?" Whereupon
+she opened her apron, and I scarce trusted my eyes when I saw,
+instead of the blackberries which she had gone to seek, two
+shining pieces of amber, each nearly as big as a man's head, not
+to mention the small pieces, some of which were as large as my
+hand, and that, God knows, is no small one. "Child of my heart,"
+cried I, "how cam'st thou by this blessing from God?" As soon as
+she could fetch her breath, she told me as follows:
+
+That while she was seeking for blackberries in a dell near the
+shore, she saw somewhat glistening in the sun, and on coming near,
+she found this wondrous godsend, seeing that the wind had blown
+the sand away from off a black vein of amber. [Footnote: This
+happens frequently even now, and has occurred to the editor
+himself. The small dark vein held indeed a few pieces of amber,
+mixed with charcoal, a sure proof of its vegetable origin, of
+which we may observe in passing there is now scarce any doubt,
+since whole trees of amber have been found in Prussia, and are
+preserved in the museum at Konigsberg.] That she straightway had
+broken off these pieces with a stick, and that there was plenty
+more to be got, seeing that it rattled about under the stick when
+she thrust it into the sand, neither could she force it farther
+than, at most, a foot deep into the ground; _item_, she told
+me that she had covered the place all over again with sand, and
+swept it smooth with her apron so as to leave no traces.
+
+Moreover, that no stranger was at all likely to go thither, seeing
+that no blackberries grew very near, and she had gone to the spot,
+moved by curiosity and a wish to look upon the sea, rather than
+from any need; but that she could easily find the place again
+herself, inasmuch as she had marked it with three little stones.
+What was our first act after the all-merciful God had rescued us
+out of such misery, nay, even as it seemed, endowed us with great
+riches, any one may guess. When we at length got up off our knees
+my child would straightway have run to tell the maid our joyful
+news. But I forbade her, seeing that we could not be sure that the
+maid might not tell it again to her friends, albeit in all other
+things she was a faithful woman, and feared God; but that if she
+did that, the sheriff would be sure to hear of it, and to seize
+upon our treasure for his princely Highness the Duke, that is to
+say, for himself; and that naught would be left to us but the
+sight thereof, and our want would begin all over again; that we
+therefore would say, when folks asked about the luck that had
+befallen us, that my deceased brother, who was a councillor at
+Rotterdam, had left us a good lump of money; and indeed it was
+true that I had inherited near 200 florins from him a year ago,
+which, however, the soldiery (as mentioned above) cruelly robbed
+me of; _item_, that I would go to Wolgast myself next day,
+and sell the little bits as best I might, saying that thou hadst
+picked them up by the seaside; thou mayst tell the maid the same
+if thou wilt, but show the larger pieces to no one, and I will
+send them to thy uncle at Hamburg, to be turned into money for us;
+perchance I may be able to sell one of them at Wolgast, if I find
+occasion, so as to buy clothes enough for the winter, for thee and
+for me, wherefore thou too mayst go with me. We will take the few
+farthings which the congregation have brought together to pay the
+ferry, and thou canst order the maid to wait for us till eventide
+at the water-side to carry home the victuals. She agreed to all
+this, but said we had better first break off some more amber, so
+that we might get a good round sum for it at Hamburg; and I
+thought so too, wherefore we stopped at home next day, seeing that
+we did not want for food, and that my child, as well as myself,
+both wished to refresh ourselves a little before we set out on our
+journey; _item_, we likewise bethought us that old Master
+Rothoog, of Loddin, who is a cabinet-maker, might knock together a
+little box for us, to put the amber in, wherefore I sent the maid
+to him in the afternoon. Meanwhile we ourselves went up the
+Streckelberg, where I cut a young fir-tree with my pocket knife,
+which I had saved from the enemy, and shaped it like a spade, so
+that I might be better able to dig deep therewith. First, however,
+we looked about us well on the mountain, and seeing nobody, my
+daughter walked on to the place, which she straightway found
+again. Great God! what a mass of amber, was there! The vein was
+hard upon twenty feet long, as near as I could feel, and the depth
+of it I could not sound. Nevertheless, save four good-sized
+pieces, none, however, so big as those of yesterday, we this day
+only broke out little splinters, such as the apothecaries bruise
+for incense. After we had most carefully covered and smoothed over
+the place, a great mishap was very near befalling us; for we met
+Witthan her little girl, who was seeking blackberries, and she
+asked what my daughter carried in her apron, who straightway grew
+red, and stammered so that our secret would have been betrayed if
+I had not presently said, "What is that to thee? she has got
+fir-apples, for firing," which the child believed. Wherefore we
+resolved in future only to go up the mountain at night by
+moonlight, and we went home and got there before the maid, and hid
+our treasure in the bedstead, so that she should not see it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+_How we journeyed to Wolgast, and made good barter there._
+
+
+Two days after, so says my daughter, but old Ilse thinks it was
+three (and I myself know not which is true), we at last went to
+the town, seeing that Master Rothoog had not got the box ready
+before. My daughter covered it over with a piece of my departed
+wife her wedding gown, which the Imperialists had indeed torn to
+pieces, but as they had left it lying outside, the wind had blown
+it into the orchard, where we found it. It was very shabby before,
+otherwise I doubt not they would have carried it off with them. On
+account of the box we took old Ilse with us, who had to carry it,
+and as amber is very light ware, she readily believed that the box
+held nothing but eatables. At daybreak, then, we took our staves
+in our hands, and set out with God. Near Zitze, [Footnote: A
+village half way between Coserow and Wolgast, now called
+Zinnowitz.] a hare ran across the road before us, which they say
+bodes no good. Well-a-day!--When we came near Bannemin I asked a
+fellow if it was true that here a mother had slaughtered her own
+child, from hunger, as I had heard. He said it was, and that the
+old woman's name was Zisse; but that God had been wroth at such a
+horrid deed, and she had got no good by it, seeing that she
+vomited so much upon eating it that she forthwith gave up the
+ghost. On the whole, he thought things were already going rather
+better with the parish, as Almighty God had richly blessed them
+with fish, both out of the sea and the Achterwater. Nevertheless a
+great number of people had died of hunger here also. He told us
+that their vicar, his reverence Johannes Lampius, [Footnote: The
+present parish archives contain several short and incomplete
+notices of his sufferings during these dreadful wars.] had had his
+house burnt down by the Imperialists, and was lying in a hovel
+near the church. I sent him my greeting, desiring that he would
+soon come to visit me (which the fellow promised he would take
+care to deliver to him), for the reverend Johannes is a pious and
+learned man, and has also composed sundry Latin
+_Chronosticha_ on these wretched times, in _metrum
+heroicum_, which, I must say, pleased me greatly. [Footnote:
+The old vicar has introduced them among the still existing
+parochial accounts, and we will here give a specimen of them:--
+
+  For 1620.
+  VsqVe qVo Do MIne IrasCerls, sIs nobIs pater!
+
+  For 1628.
+  InqVe tVa DeXtra fer operaM tV ChrIste benIgne!]
+
+When we had crossed the ferry we went in at Sehms his house, on
+the castle green, who keeps an ale-house; he told us that the
+pestilence had not yet altogether ceased in the town; whereat I
+was much afraid, more especially as he described to us so many
+other horrors and miseries of these fearful times, both here and
+in other places, _e.g._, of the great famine in the island of
+Ruegen, where a number of people had grown as black as Moors from
+hunger; a wondrous thing if it be true, and one might almost
+gather therefrom how the first blackamoors came about. [Footnote:
+Micraelius also, in his "Ancient Pomerania" (vol. Ixxi. 2),
+mentions this circumstance, but only says:--"Those who came over
+to Stralsund were quite black from the hunger they had suffered."
+This accounts for the strange exaggeration of mine host, and the
+still stranger conclusion of our author.] But be that as it may.
+_Summa_. When Master Sehms had told us all the news he had
+heard, and we had thus learnt to our great comfort that the Lord
+had not visited us only in these times of heavy need, I called him
+aside into a chamber and asked him whether I could not here find
+means to get money for a piece of amber, which my daughter had
+found by the sea. At first he said "No;" but then recollecting, he
+began, "Stay, let me see, at Nicolas Graeke's, the inn at the
+castle, there are two great Dutch merchants, Dieterich von Pehnen
+and Jacob Kiekebusch, who are come to buy pitch and boards,
+_item_, timber for ships and beams; perchance they may like
+to cheapen your amber too; but you had better go up to the castle
+yourself, for I do not know for certain whether they still are
+there." This I did, although I had not yet eaten anything in the
+man's house, seeing that I wanted to know first what sort of
+bargain I might make, and to save the farthings belonging to the
+church until then. So I went into the castle yard. Gracious God!
+what a desert had even his princely Highness' house become within
+a short time! The Danes had ruined the stables and hunting-lodge,
+anno 1628; _item_, destroyed several rooms in the castle; and
+in the _locamentum_ of his princely Highness Duke Philippus,
+where, anno 22, he so graciously entertained me and my child, as
+will be told further on, now dwelt the innkeeper Nicolas Graeke;
+and all the fair tapestries, whereon was represented the
+pilgrimage to Jerusalem of his princely Highness Bogislaus X.,
+were torn down, and the walls left grey and bare. [Footnote:
+Compare Heller's "Chronicle of the Town of Wolgast," p. 42, &c.
+The riots were caused by the successor of Philippus Julius (d. 6th
+Feb. 1625), who was also the last Duke of Pomerania, Bogislaus
+XIV., choosing to reside in Stettin. At the present time the
+castle is a mere ruin, and only several large vaulted cellars
+remain, wherein some of the tradesmen of the present day keep
+their shops.] At this sight my heart was sorely grieved; but I
+presently inquired for the merchants, who sat at the table
+drinking their parting cup, with their travelling equipments
+already lying by them, seeing that they were just going to set out
+on their way to Stettin; straightway one of them jumped up from
+his liquor, a little fellow with a right noble paunch, and a black
+plaster on his nose, and asked me what I would of them? I took him
+aside into a window, and told him I had some fine amber, if he had
+a mind to buy it of me, which he straightway agreed to do. And
+when he had whispered somewhat into the ear of his fellow, he
+began to look very pleasant, and reached me the pitcher before we
+went to my inn. I drank to him right heartily, seeing that, as I
+have already said, I was still fasting, so that I felt my very
+heart warmed by it in an instant. (Gracious God! what can go
+beyond a good draught of wine taken within measure!) After this we
+went to my inn, and told the maid to carry the box on one side
+into a small chamber. I had scarce opened it and taken away the
+gown, when the man (whose name was Dieterich von Pehnen, as he had
+told me by the way), held up both hands for joy, and said he had
+never seen such wealth of amber, and how had I come by it? I
+answered that my child had found it on the sea-shore; whereat he
+wondered greatly that we had so much amber here, and offered me
+300 florins for the whole box. I was quite beside myself for joy
+at such an offer, but took care not to let him see it, and
+bargained with him till I got 500 florins, and I was to go with
+him to the castle, and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I
+ordered mine host to make ready at once a mug of beer, and a good
+dinner for my child, and went back to the castle with the man, and
+the maid who carried the box, begging him, in order to avoid
+common talk, to say nothing of my good fortune to mine host, nor
+indeed to any one else in the town, and to count out the money to
+me privately, seeing that I could not be sure that the thieves
+might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they heard of it.
+And this the man did; for he whispered something into the ear of
+his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat,
+_item_, his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a
+well-filled purse which he gave to him. _Summa_.--Before long
+I had my riches in my pocket, and, moreover, the man begged me to
+write to him at Amsterdam whenever I found any more amber, the
+which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow, as I have since
+heard, died of the plague at Stettin, together with his
+companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. [Footnote:
+Micraelius mentions these Dutch merchants, p. 171, but asserts that
+the cause of their death was doubtful, and that the town
+physician, Dr. Laurentius Eichstadius, in Stettin, had written a
+special medical paper on the subject. However, he calls one of
+them Kiekepost, instead of Kiekebusch.] Shortly after, I was very
+near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing
+to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I
+should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of
+the castle stairs, and entered into a small chamber, where I
+humbled myself before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke,
+followed me, thinking I was a thief, and would have stopped me, so
+that I knew not how to excuse myself but by saying that I had been
+made drunken by the wine which the strange merchants had given to
+me (for he had seen what a good pull I had made at it), seeing I
+had not broken my fast that morning, and that I was looking for a
+chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he believed (if
+in truth it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though not with
+wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly he
+let me go.
+
+But I must now tell my story of his princely Highness, as I
+promised above. Anno 22, as I chanced to walk with my daughter,
+who was then a child of about twelve years old, in the castle
+garden at Wolgast, and was showing her the beautiful flowers that
+grew there, it chanced that as we came round from behind some
+bushes we espied my gracious lord the Duke Philippus Julius, with
+his princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff, who lay here on a visit,
+standing on a mount and conversing, wherefore we were about to
+return. But as my gracious lords presently walked on towards the
+drawbridge, we went to look at the mount where they had stood; of
+a sudden my little girl shouted loudly for joy, seeing that she
+found on the earth a costly signet-ring, which one of their
+princely Highnesses doubtless had dropped. I therefore said,
+"Come, and we will follow our gracious lords with all speed, and
+thou shalt say to them in Latin: _Serenissimi principes, quis
+vestrum hunc annulum deperdidit_? (for, as I have mentioned
+above, I had instructed her in the Latin tongue ever since her
+seventh year), and if one of them says _Ego_, give to him the
+ring. _Item_, should he ask thee in Latin to whom thou
+belongest, be not abashed, and say: _Ego sum filia pastoris
+Coserowiensis_; for thou wilt thus find favour in the eyes of
+their princely Highnesses, for they are both gracious gentlemen,
+more especially the taller one, who is our gracious ruler
+Philippus Julius himself." This she promised to do; but as she
+trembled sorely as she went, I encouraged her yet more and
+promised her a new gown if she did it, seeing that even as a
+little child she would have given a great deal for fine clothes.
+As soon, then, as we were come into the courtyard, I stood by the
+statue of his princely Highness Ernest Ludewig, [Footnote: The
+father of Philippus Julius, died at Wolgast 17th June 1592.] and
+whispered her to run boldly after them, as their princely
+Highnesses were only a few steps before us, and had already turned
+toward the great entrance. This she did, but of a sudden she stood
+still, and would have turned back, because she was frightened by
+the spurs of their princely Highnesses, as she afterwards told me,
+seeing that they rattled and jingled very loudly.
+
+But my gracious lady the Duchess Agnes saw her from the open
+window wherein she lay, and called to his princely Highness, "My
+lord, there is a little maiden behind you, who, it seems, would
+speak with you," whereupon his princely Highness straightway
+turned him round, smiling pleasantly, so that my little maid
+presently took courage, and, holding up the ring, spoke in Latin
+as I had told her. Hereat both the princes wondered beyond
+measure, and after my gracious Duke Philippus had felt his finger,
+he answered, "_Dulcissima puella, ego perdidi_;" whereupon
+she gave it to him. Then he patted her cheek, and again asked,
+"_Sed quoenam es, et unde venis_?" whereupon she boldly gave
+her answer, and at the same time pointed with her finger to where
+I stood by the statue; whereupon his princely Highness motioned me
+to draw near. My gracious lady saw all that passed from the
+window, but all at once she left it. She, however, came back to it
+again before I had time even humbly to draw near to my gracious
+lord, and beckoned to my child, and held a cake out of the window
+for her. On my telling her she ran up to the window, but her
+princely Highness could not reach so low nor she so high above her
+as to take it, wherefore my gracious lady commanded her to come up
+into the castle, and as she looked anxiously round after me,
+motioned me also, as did my gracious lord himself, who presently
+took the timid little maid by the hand and went up with his
+princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff. My gracious lady came to
+meet us at the door, and caressed and embraced my little daughter,
+so that she soon grew quite bold and ate the cake. When my
+gracious lord had asked me my name, _item_, why I had in so
+singular a manner taught my daughter the Latin tongue, I answered
+that I had heard much from a cousin at Cologne of Maria Schurman,
+[Footnote: Anna Maria Schurman, born at Cologne on the 5th Nov.
+1607, died at Wiewardin the 5th May 1678, was, according to the
+unanimous testimony of her contemporaries, a prodigy of learning,
+and perhaps the most learned woman that ever lived. The Frenchman
+Naude says of her, "You find in her alone all that the hand can
+fashion or the mind conceive. No one paints better, no one works
+better in brass, wax, and wood. In needlework she excels all women
+past or present. It is impossible to say in what branch of
+knowledge she is most distinguished. Not content with the European
+languages, she understands Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and writes
+Latin so well that no one who has devoted his whole life to it can
+do it better." The celebrated Netherlander Spanheim calls her a
+teacher of the Graces and the Muses; the still more celebrated
+Salmasius confesses that he knows not in which branch of learning
+to say she excels: and the Pole Rotyer calls her "The sole example
+of all wondrous works in one single learned person, and a perfect
+_monstrum_ of her sex, yet without fault or blame." For, in
+truth, with all her extraordinary knowledge she was marvellously
+humble, although she herself confesses that the immoderate praises
+of the learned even yet at times blinded her to her own defects.
+In her later years she went over to the sect of the Labadists,
+which appears to have some points in common with that of the
+Muckers. She died unmarried, as an early love affair in her
+fifteenth year with the Dutchman Caets had been broken off. It is
+related of her, as a strange fancy, that she liked to eat spiders.
+The celebrated Spanheim was the first to publish an edition of her
+works under the title of _Annae Mariae a Schurman Opuscula_.
+Leyden, 1648.] and as I had observed a very excellent
+_ingenium_ in my child, and also had time enough in my lonely
+cure, I did not hesitate to take her in hand, and teach her from
+her youth up, seeing I had no boy alive. Hereat their princely
+Highnesses marvelled greatly, and put some more questions to her
+in Latin, which she answered without any prompting from me.
+Whereupon my gracious lord Duke Philippus said in the vulgar
+tongue, "When thou art grown up and art one day to be married,
+tell it to me, and thou shalt then have another ring from me, and
+whatsoever else pertains to a bride, for thou hast this day done
+me good service, seeing that this ring is a precious jewel to me,
+as I had it from my wife." Hereupon I whispered her to kiss his
+princely Highness' hand for such a promise, and so she did.
+
+(But alas, most gracious God, it is one thing to promise and quite
+another to hold! Where is his princely Highness at this time?
+Wherefore let me ever keep in mind that "Thou only art faithful,
+and that which Thou hast promised Thou wilt surely hold." Ps.
+xxxiii. 4. Amen. [Footnote: Luther's version.]) _Item_.--When
+his princely Highness had also inquired concerning myself and my
+cure, and heard that I was of ancient and noble family, and my
+_salarium_ very small, he called from the window to his
+chancellor, D. Rungius, who stood without, looking at the
+sun-dial, and told him that I was to have an addition from the
+convent at Pudgla, _item_, from the crownlands at Ernsthoff,
+as I mentioned above; but, more's the pity, I never have received
+the same, although the _instrumentum donationis_ was sent me
+soon after by his princely Highness' chancellor.
+
+Then cakes were brought for me also, _item_, a glass of
+foreign wine in a glass painted with armorial bearings, whereupon
+I humbly took my leave, together with my daughter.
+
+However, to come back to my bargain, anybody may guess what joy my
+child felt when I showed her the fair ducats and florins I had
+gotten for the amber. To the maid, however, we said that we had
+inherited such riches from my brother in Holland, and after we had
+again given thanks to the Lord on our knees, and eaten our dinner,
+we bought in a great store of bread, salt, meat, and stock-fish:
+_item_, of clothes, seeing that I provided what was needful
+for us three throughout the winter from the cloth-merchant.
+Moreover, for my daughter I bought a hair-net and a scarlet silk
+bodice, with a black apron and white petticoat, _item_, a
+fine pair of earrings, as she begged hard for them; and as soon as
+I had ordered the needful from the cordwainer we set out on our
+way homewards, as it began to grow very dark; but we could not
+carry nearly all we had bought. Wherefore we were forced to get a
+peasant from Bannemin to help us, who likewise was come into the
+town, and as I found out from him that the fellow who gave me the
+piece of bread was a poor cotter called Pantermehl, who dwelt in
+the village by the roadside, I shoved a couple of loaves in at his
+house-door without his knowing it, and we went on our way by the
+bright moonlight, so that by the help of God we got home about ten
+o'clock at night. I likewise gave a loaf to the other fellow,
+though truly he deserved it not, seeing that he would go with us
+no further than to Zitze. But I let him go, for I, too, had not
+deserved that the Lord should so greatly bless me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+_How I fed all the congregation--Item, how I journeyed to the
+horse-fair at Guetzkow, and what befell me there._
+
+
+Next morning my daughter cut up the blessed bread, and sent to
+every one in the village a good large piece. But as we saw that
+our store would soon run low, we sent the maid with a truck, which
+we bought of Adam Lempken, to Wolgast, to buy more bread, which
+she did. _Item_, I gave notice throughout the parish that on
+Sunday next I should administer the Blessed Sacrament, and in the
+meantime I bought up all the large fish that the people of the
+village had caught. And when the blessed Sunday was come I first
+heard the confessions of the whole parish, and after that I
+preached a sermon on Matt. xv. 32, "I have compassion on the
+multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." I first applied the
+same to spiritual food only, and there arose a great sighing from
+both the men and the women, when, at the end, I pointed to the
+altar whereon stood the blessed food for the soul, and repeated
+the words, "I have compassion on the multitude ... for they have
+nothing to eat." (_N.B._ The pewter cup I had borrowed at
+Wolgast, and bought there a little earthenware plate for a paten
+till such time as Master Bloom should have made ready the silver
+cup and paten I had bespoke.) Thereupon as soon as I had
+consecrated and administered the Blessed Sacrament, _item_,
+led the closing hymn, and every one had silently prayed his "Our
+Father" before going out of church, I came out of the confessional
+again, and motioned the people to stay yet awhile, as the blessed
+Saviour would feed not only their souls, but their bodies also,
+seeing that He still had the same compassion on His people as of
+old on the people at the Sea of Galilee, as they should presently
+see. Then I went into the tower and fetched out two baskets which
+the maid had bought at Wolgast, and which I had hidden there in
+good time; set them down in front of the altar, and took off the
+napkins with which they were covered, whereupon a very loud shout
+arose, inasmuch as they saw one filled with broiled fish and the
+other with bread, which we had put into them privately. Hereupon,
+like our Saviour, I gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to the
+churchwarden, Hinrich Seden, that he might distribute it among the
+men, and to my daughter for the women. Whereupon I made
+application of the text, "I have compassion on the multitude, for
+they have nothing to eat," to the food of the body also; and
+walking up and down in the church amid great outcries from all, I
+exhorted them always to trust in God's mercy, to pray without
+ceasing, to work diligently, and to consent to no sin. What was
+left I made them gather up for their children and the old people
+who were left at home.
+
+After church, when I had scarce put off my surplice, Hinrich Seden
+his squint-eyed wife came and impudently asked for more for her
+husband's journey to Liepe; neither had she had anything for
+herself, seeing she had not come to church. This angered me sore,
+and I said to her, "Why wast thou not at church? Nevertheless, if
+thou hadst come humbly to me thou shouldst have gotten somewhat
+even now, but as thou comest impudently, I will give thee naught:
+think on what thou didst to me and to my child." But she stood at
+the door and glowered impudently about the room till my daughter
+took her by the arm and led her out, saying, "Hear'st thou, thou
+shall come back humbly before thou gett'st anything, but when thou
+comest thus, thou also shall have thy share, for we will no longer
+reckon with thee an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; let
+the Lord do that if such be His will, but we will gladly forgive
+thee!" Hereupon she at last went out at the door, muttering to
+herself as she was wont; but she spat several times in the street,
+as we saw from the window.
+
+Soon after I made up my mind to take into my service a lad, near
+upon twenty years of age, called Claus Neels, seeing that his
+father, old Neels of Loddin, begged hard that I would do so,
+besides which the lad pleased me well in manners and otherwise.
+Then, as we had a good harvest this year, I resolved to buy me a
+couple of horses forthwith, and to sow my field again; for
+although it was now late in the year, I thought that the most
+merciful God might bless the crop with increase if it seemed good
+to Him.
+
+Neither did I feel much care with respect to food for them,
+inasmuch as there was a great plenty of hay in the neighbourhood,
+seeing that all the cattle had been killed or driven away (as
+related above). I therefore made up my mind to go in God's name
+with my new ploughman to Guetzkow, whither a great many Mecklenburg
+horses were brought to the fair, seeing that times were not yet so
+bad there as with us. [Footnote: The fief of Mecklenburg was given
+by the Emperor to Wallenstein, who spared the country as much as
+he could.] Meanwhile I went a few more times up the Streckelberg
+with my daughter at night, and by moonlight, but found very
+little; so that we began to think our luck had come to an end,
+when, on the third night, we broke off some pieces of amber bigger
+even than those the two Dutchmen had bought. These I resolved to
+send to my wife's brother, Martin Behring, at Hamburg, seeing that
+the schipper Wulff of Wolgast intends, as I am told, to sail
+thither this very autumn, with pitch and wood for shipbuilding. I
+accordingly packed it all up in a strong chest, which I carried
+with me to Wolgast when I started with my man on my journey to
+Guetzkow. Of this journey I will only relate thus much, that there
+were plenty of horses, and very few buyers in the market.
+Wherefore I bought a pair of fine black horses for twenty florins
+apiece; _item_, a cart for five florins; _item_,
+twenty-five bushels of rye, which also came from Mecklenburg, at
+one florin the bushel, whereas it is hardly to be had now at
+Wolgast for love or money, and cost three florins or more the
+bushel. I might therefore have made a good bargain in rye at
+Guetzkow if it had become my office, and had I not, moreover, been
+afraid lest the robbers, who swarm in these evil times, should
+take away my corn, and ill-use, and perchance murder me into the
+bargain, as has happened to sundry people already. For, at this
+time especially, such robberies were carried on after a strange
+and frightful fashion on Strellin heath at Guetzkow; but by God's
+help it all came to light just as I journeyed thither with my
+man-servant to the fair, and I will here tell how it happened.
+Some months before a man had been broken on the wheel at Guetzkow,
+because, being tempted of Satan, he murdered a travelling workman.
+The man, however, straightway began to walk after so fearful a
+fashion, that in the evening and night-season he sprang down from
+the wheel in his gallows dress whenever a cart passed by the
+gallows, which stands hard by the road to Wolgast, and jumped up
+behind the people, who in horror and dismay flogged on their
+horses, and thereby made a great rattling on the log embankment
+which leads beside the gallows into a little wood called the
+Kraulin. And it was a strange thing that on the same night the
+travellers were almost always robbed or murdered on Strellin
+heath. Hereupon the magistrates had the man taken down from the
+wheel, and buried under the gallows, in hopes of laying his ghost.
+But it went on just as before, sitting at night snow-white on the
+wheel, so that none durst any longer travel the road to Wolgast.
+Until at last it happened that, at the time of the above-named
+fair, young Rudiger von Nienkerken of Mellenthin, in Usedom, who
+had been studying at Wittenberg and elsewhere, and was now on his
+way home, came this road by night with his carriage. Just before,
+at the inn, I myself had tried to persuade him to stop the night
+at Gutzkow on account of the ghost, and to go on his journey with
+me next morning, but he would not. Now as soon as this young lord
+drove along the road, he also espied the apparition sitting on the
+wheel, and scarcely had he passed the gallows when the ghost
+jumped down and ran after him. The driver was horribly afraid, and
+lashed on the horses as everybody else had done before, and they,
+taking fright, galloped away over the log-road with a marvellous
+clatter. Meanwhile, however, the young nobleman saw by the light
+of the moon how that the apparition flattened a ball of horse-dung
+whereon it trod, and straightway felt sure within himself that it
+was no ghost. Whereupon he called to the driver to stop; and as
+the man would not hearken to him, he sprung out of the carriage,
+drew his rapier, and hastened to attack the ghost. When the ghost
+saw this he would have turned and fled; but the young nobleman
+gave him such a blow on the head with his fist that he fell upon
+the ground with a loud wailing. _Summa:_ the young lord,
+having called back his driver, dragged the ghost into the town
+again, where he turned out to be a shoe-maker called Schwelm.
+
+I also, on seeing such a great crowd, ran thither with many
+others, to look at the fellow. He trembled like an aspen leaf; and
+when he was roughly told to make a clean breast, whereby he might
+peradventure save his own life, if it appeared that he had
+murdered no one, he confessed that he had got his wife to make him
+a gallows dress, which he had put on, and had sat on the wheel
+before the dead man, when, from the darkness and the distance, no
+one could see that the two were sitting there together; and this
+he did more especially when he knew that a cart was going from the
+town to Wolgast. When the cart came by, and he jumped down and ran
+after it, all the people were so affrighted that they no longer
+kept their eyes upon the gallows, but only on him, flogged the
+horses, and galloped with much noise and clatter over the log
+embankment. This was heard by his fellows in Strellin and
+Dammbecke (two villages which are about three-fourths on the way),
+who held themselves ready to unyoke the horses and to plunder the
+travellers when they came up with them. That after the dead man
+was buried he could play the ghost more easily still, &c. That
+this was the whole truth, and that he himself had never in his
+life robbed, still less murdered, any one; wherefore he begged to
+be forgiven: that all the robberies and murders which had happened
+had been done by his fellows alone. Ah, thou cunning knave! But I
+heard afterwards that he and his fellows were broken on the wheel
+together, as was but fair. And now to come back to my journey. The
+young nobleman abode that night with me at the inn, and early next
+morning we both set forth; and as we had grown into good
+fellowship together, I got into his coach with him as he offered
+me, so as to talk by the way, and my Claus drove behind us. I soon
+found that he was a well-bred, honest, and learned gentleman,
+seeing that he despised the wild student life, and was glad that
+he had now done with their scandalous drinking-bouts: moreover, he
+talked his Latin readily. I had therefore much pleasure with him
+in the coach. However, at Wolgast the rope of the ferry-boat
+broke, so that we were carried down the stream to Zeuzin,
+[Footnote: Now Sauzin.] and at length we only got ashore with
+great trouble. Meanwhile it grew late, and we did not get into
+Coserow till nine, when I asked the young lord to abide the night
+with me, which he agreed to do. We found my child sitting in the
+chimney corner, making a petticoat for her little god-daughter out
+of her own old clothes. She was greatly frighted, and changed
+colour when she saw the young lord come in with me, and heard that
+he was to lie there that night, seeing that as yet we had no more
+beds than we had bought for our own need from old Zabel Nering the
+forest-ranger his widow, at Uekeritze. Wherefore she took me
+aside: What was to be done? My bed was in an ill plight, her
+little godchild having lain on it that morning; and she could no
+wise put the young nobleman into hers, although she would
+willingly creep in by the maid herself. And when I asked her why
+not? she blushed scarlet, and began to cry, and would not show
+herself again the whole evening, so that the maid had to see to
+everything, even to the putting white sheets on my child's bed for
+the young lord, as she would not do it herself. I only tell this
+to show how maidens are. For next morning she came into the room
+with her red silk bodice, and the net on her hair, and the apron;
+_summa,_ dressed in all the things I had bought her at
+Wolgast, so that the young lord was amazed, and talked much with
+her over the morning meal. Whereupon he took his leave, and
+desired me to visit him at his castle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+_What further joy and sorrow befell us; item, how Wittich
+Appelmann rode to Damerow to the wolf-hunt, and what he proposed
+to my daughter._
+
+
+The Lord blessed my parish wonderfully this winter, inasmuch as
+not only a great quantity of fish were caught and sold in all the
+villages, but in Coserow they even killed four seals; _item,_
+the great storm of the 12th of December threw a goodly quantity of
+amber on the shore, so that many found amber, although no very
+large pieces, and they began to buy cows and sheep from Liepe and
+other places, as I myself also bought two cows; _item,_ my
+grain which I had sown, half on my own field and half on old
+Paasch's, sprung up bravely and gladly, as the Lord had till
+_datum_ bestowed on us an open winter; but so soon as it had
+shot up a finger's length, we found it one morning again torn up
+and ruined, and this time also by the devil's doings, since now,
+as before, not the smallest trace of oxen or of horses was to be
+seen in the field. May the righteous God, however, reward it, as
+indeed He already has done. Amen.
+
+Meanwhile, however, something uncommon happened. For one morning,
+as I have heard, when Lord Wittich saw out of the window that the
+daughter of his fisherman, a child of sixteen, whom he had
+diligently pursued, went into the coppice to gather dry sticks, he
+went thither too; wherefore, I will not say, but every one may
+guess for himself. When he had gone some way along the convent
+mound, and was come to the first bridge, where the mountain-ash
+stands, he saw two wolves coming towards him; and as he had no
+weapon with him, save a staff, he climbed up into a tree;
+whereupon the wolves trotted round it, blinked at him with their
+eyes, licked their lips, and at last jumped with their fore-paws
+up against the tree, snapping at him; he then saw that one was a
+he-wolf, a great fat brute with only one eye. Hereupon in his
+fright he began to scream, and the long-suffering of God was again
+shown to him, without, however, making him wiser; for the maiden,
+who had crept behind a juniper-bush in the field, when she saw the
+sheriff coming, ran back again to the castle and called together a
+number of people, who came and drove away the wolves, and rescued
+his lordship. He then ordered a great wolf-hunt to be held next
+day in the convent wood, and he who brought the one-eyed monster,
+dead or alive, was to have a barrel of beer for his pains. Still
+they could not catch him, albeit they that day took four wolves in
+their nets, and killed them. He therefore straightway ordered a
+wolf-hunt to be held in my parish. But when the fellow came to
+toll the bell for a wolf-hunt, he did not stop awhile, as is the
+wont for wolf-hunts, but loudly rang the bell on, _sine
+mord,_ so that all the folk thought a fire had broken out, and
+ran screaming out of their houses. My child also came running out
+(I myself had driven to visit a sick person at Zempin, seeing that
+walking began to be wearisome to me, and that I could now afford
+to be more at mine ease); but she had not stood long, and was
+asking the reason of the ringing, when the sheriff himself, on his
+grey charger, with three cart-loads of toils and nets following
+him, galloped up and ordered the people straightway to go into the
+forest and to drive the wolves with rattles. Hereupon he, with his
+hunters and a few men whom he had picked out of the crowd, were to
+ride on and spread the nets behind Damerow, seeing that the island
+is wondrous narrow there, [Footnote: The space, which is
+constantly diminishing, now scarcely measures a bow-shot across.]
+and the wolf dreads the water. When he saw my daughter he turned
+his horse round, chucked her under the chin, and graciously asked
+her who she was, and whence she came? When he had heard it, he
+said she was as fair as an angel, and that he had not known till
+now that the parson here had so beauteous a girl. He then rode
+off, looking round at her two or three times. At the first beating
+they found the one-eyed wolf, who lay in the rushes near the
+water. Hereat his lordship rejoiced greatly, and made the grooms
+drag him out of the net with long iron hooks, and hold him there
+for near an hour, while my lord slowly and cruelly tortured him to
+death, laughing heartily the while, which is a _prognosticon_
+of what he afterwards did with my poor child, for wolf or lamb is
+all one to this villain. Just God! But I will not be beforehand
+with my tale.
+
+Next day came old Seden his squint-eyed wife, limping like a lame
+dog, and put it to my daughter whether she would not go into the
+service of the sheriff; praised him as a good and pious man; and
+vowed that all the world said of him were foul lies, as she
+herself could bear witness, seeing that she had lived in his
+service for above ten years. _Item,_ she praised the good
+cheer they had there, and the handsome beer-money that the great
+lords who often lay there gave the servants which waited upon
+them; that she herself had more than once received a rose-noble
+from his princely Highness Duke Ernest Ludewig; moreover, many
+pretty fellows came there, which might make her fortune, inasmuch
+as she was a fair woman, and might take her choice of a husband;
+whereas here in Coserow, where nobody ever came, she might wait
+till she was old and ugly before she got a curch on her head, &c.
+Hereat my daughter was beyond measure angered, and answered, "Ah!
+thou old witch, and who has told thee that I wish to go into
+service, to get a curch on my head? Go thy ways, and never enter
+the house again, for I have naught to do with thee." Whereupon she
+walked away again, muttering between her teeth.
+
+Scarce had a few days passed, and I was standing in the chamber
+with the glazier, who was putting in new windows, when I heard my
+daughter scream in the kitchen. Whereupon I straightway ran in
+thither, and was shocked and affrighted when I saw the sheriff
+himself standing in the corner with his arm round my child her
+neck; he, however, presently let her go, and said, "Aha, reverend
+Abraham, what a coy little fool you have for a daughter! I wanted
+to greet her with a kiss, as I always used to do, and she
+struggled and cried out as if I had been some young fellow who had
+stolen in upon her, whereas I might be her father twice over." As
+I answered naught, he went on to say that he had done it to
+encourage her, seeing that he desired to take her into his
+service, as indeed I knew, with more excuses of the same kind
+which I have forgot. Hereupon I pressed him to come into the room,
+seeing that after all he was the ruler set over me by God, and
+humbly asked what his lordship desired of me. Whereupon he
+answered me graciously, that it was true he had just cause for
+anger against me, seeing that I had preached at him before the
+whole congregation, but that he was ready to forgive me and to
+have the complaint he had sent in _contra_ me to his princely
+Highness at Stettin, and which might easily cost me my place,
+returned to him if I would but do his will. And when I asked what
+his lordship's will might be, and excused myself as best I might
+with regard to the sermon, he answered that he stood in great need
+of a faithful housekeeper whom he could set over the other women
+folk; and as he had learnt that my daughter was a faithful and
+trustworthy person, he would that I should send her into his
+service. "See there," said he to her, and pinched her cheek the
+while. "I want to lead you to honour, though you are such a young
+creature, and yet you cry out as if I were going to bring you to
+dishonour. Fie upon you!" (My child still remembers all
+this--_verbolenus_; I myself should have forgot it a hundred
+times over in all the wretchedness I since underwent.) But she was
+offended at his words, and, jumping up from her seat, she answered
+shortly, "I thank your lordship for the honour, but will only keep
+house for my papa, which is a better honour for me;" whereupon he
+turned to me and asked what I said to that. I must own that I was
+not a little affrighted, inasmuch as I thought of the future and
+of the credit in which the sheriff stood with his princely
+Highness. I therefore answered with all humility, that I could not
+force my child, and that I loved to have her about me, seeing that
+my dear huswife had departed this life during the heavy
+pestilence, and I had no child but only her. That I hoped
+therefore his lordship would not be displeased with me that I
+could not send her into his lordship's service. This angered him
+sore, and after disputing some time longer in vain he took leave,
+not without threats that he would make me pay for it. _Item_,
+my man, who was standing in the stable, heard him say as he went
+round the corner, "I will have her yet, in spite of him!"
+
+I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday
+following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome
+fellow, and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him
+on his horse, and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a
+present, in hopes that I would think better of his offer, seeing
+that he had been ever since seeking on all sides for a housekeeper
+in vain. Moreover, that if I changed my mind about it his lordship
+would speak for me to his princely Highness, so that the dotation
+of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to me out of the princely
+_aerarium_ &c. But the young fellow got the same answer as his
+master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away with
+him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told
+him at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to
+supply me with it abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game
+in the forest, and that he often went a-hunting on the
+Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my daughter) pleased him
+uncommonly, the more because I would not do his master's will,
+who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any girl in
+peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had
+rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the
+course of three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and
+grew more and more sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal
+about his good place, and how he was in search of a good huswife,
+whence we soon guessed what quarter the wind blew from.
+_Ergo_, my daughter told him that if he was seeking for a
+huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to Coserow to
+no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there, which
+vexed him so sore that he never came again.
+
+And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the
+sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without
+more ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover,
+he promised to build him a house of his own in the forest;
+_item_, to give him pots and kettles, crockery, bedding, &c.,
+seeing that he had stood godfather to the young fellow, who,
+moreover, had ever borne himself well during seven years he had
+been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that his
+lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody
+but her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a
+huswife.
+
+This, however, did not seem to anger him, but, after he had talked
+a long time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat
+which pretends to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners,
+but she is not in earnest, and presently springs out upon it
+again. For doubtless he saw that he had set to work stupidly;
+wherefore he went away in order to begin his attack again after a
+better fashion, and Satan went with him, as whilom with Judas
+Iscariot,
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+_What more happened during the winter--Item, how in the spring
+witchcraft began in the village._
+
+
+Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the
+merciful God bestowed a great plenty of fish both from the
+Achterwater and the sea, and the parish again had good food; so
+that it might be said of us, as it is written, "For a small moment
+have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee."
+[Footnote: Isa. liv. 7.] Wherefore we were not weary of praising
+the Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church,
+buying new pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had
+stolen the old ones. _Item_, they desired to make good to me
+the money I had paid for the new cups, which, however, I would not
+take.
+
+There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who
+had not been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch
+as they had spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread.
+I therefore made an agreement with them that I would lend them the
+money for it, and that if they could not repay me this year, they
+might the next, which offer they thankfully took; and we sent
+seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg, to fetch seed-corn for
+us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin Behring, in Hamburg,
+had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had sailed home by
+Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper it with
+him!
+
+Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the
+midwife in the parish, and had also brought my child into the
+world. Of late, however, she had had but little to do, seeing that
+in this year I only baptized two children, namely, Jung his son in
+Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little daughter, the same whom the
+Imperialists afterwards speared. _Item_, it was now full five
+years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one may guess
+that I might have starved to death, had not the righteous God so
+mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to
+Him alone be all honour and glory. Amen.
+
+Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the
+sheriff had last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat
+reading with my child the second book of _Virgilus_, of the
+fearful destruction of the city of Troy, which was more terrible
+even than that of our own village, when a cry arose that our old
+neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had bought only a few days
+before, had stretched out all fours, and seemed about to die; and
+this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but half-an-hour
+before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three hairs
+from its tail and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for
+it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow
+would get better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing
+that she is the only maid in the whole village (for the others are
+still children); and the cow got better from that very hour,
+whereat all the folks were amazed. But it was not long before the
+same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst it was feeding
+heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's sake to
+take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill
+men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also; and it
+did as much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was
+_gravida_, was straightway taken in labour from the fright;
+and my child was scarce out of the pig-stye when the woman went
+into her cottage, wailing and holding by the wall, and called
+together all the women of the neighbourhood, seeing that the
+proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long
+something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women
+stooped down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like
+a bat, flew up off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room,
+and then shot out of the window with a great noise, so that the
+glass clattered down into the street. When they looked after it,
+nothing was to be found. Any one may judge for himself what a
+great noise this made in all the neighbourhood. And the whole
+village believed that it was no one but old Seden his squint-eyed
+wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat.
+
+But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her
+cow got the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too
+came lamenting, and begged my daughter to take pity on her as on
+the rest, and to cure her poor cow for the love of God. That if
+she had taken it ill of her that she had said anything about going
+into service with the sheriff, she could only say she had done it
+for the best, &c. _Summa_, she talked over my unhappy child
+to go and cure her cow.
+
+Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the
+whole congregation, praying that He would not allow the evil one
+to take from us that which His mercy had once more bestowed upon
+us after such extreme want; _item_, that he would bring to
+light the _auctor_ of such devilish works, so that he might
+receive the punishment he deserved.
+
+But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the
+mischief befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like
+all the rest, came running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly
+went with him, but could do no good, and the beast died under her
+hands.
+
+_Item_, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my
+daughter had paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor
+woman kept it like a child, and let it run about her room. This
+little pig got the mischief, like all the rest, in the twinkling
+of an eye; and when my daughter was called it grew no better, but
+also died under her hands; whereupon the poor woman made a great
+outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my child was moved to
+pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow should
+litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on,
+together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for
+His merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened
+to old wife Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running
+for my daughter with loud outcries, and although my child told her
+that she must have seen herself that nothing she could do for the
+cattle cured them any longer, she ceased not to beg and pray her,
+and to lament, till she went forth to do what she could for her
+with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose, inasmuch as
+the little pig died before she left the stye.
+
+What think you this devil's whore then did? After she had run
+screaming through the village she said that any one might see that
+my daughter was no longer a maid, else why could she now do no
+good to the cattle, whereas she had formerly cured them? She
+supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on the Streckelberg,
+whither she went so often this spring, and that God only knew who
+had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the
+whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had
+often walked on the Streckelberg this spring both with me and also
+alone, in order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed
+sea, while she recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of
+_Virgilius_ as pleased her best (for whatever she read a few
+times that she remembered).
+
+Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no
+wolves now left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been
+they always fly before a human creature in the summer season.
+Howbeit, I forbade her to dig for amber. For as it now lay deep,
+and we knew not what to do with the earth we threw up, I resolved
+to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait till my store of money
+grew very scant before we would dig any more.
+
+But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had
+promised she would, and of this her disobedience came all our
+misery. (O blessed Lord, how grave a matter is Thy holy fourth
+commandment! [Footnote: In Luther's version.]) For as his
+reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this
+spring, had told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the
+_Opp. St. Augustini_, and I had said before her that I
+desired above all things to buy that book, but had not money
+enough left; she got up in the night without my knowledge to dig
+for amber, meaning to sell it as best she might at Wolgast, in
+order secretly to present me with the _Opp. St. Augustini_ on
+my birthday, which falls on the 28th _mensis Augusti_. She
+had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir,
+whereof there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should
+perceive anything of it.
+
+Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young _nobilis_
+Ruediger of Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the
+terrible witchcraft that went on in the village. When I told him
+all about it he shook his head doubtingly, and said he believed
+that all witchcraft was nothing but lies and deceit; whereat I was
+struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had hitherto held the
+young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see that he
+was an atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile
+he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus,
+[Footnote: A Netherland physician, who, long before Spee or
+Thomasius, attacked the wicked follies of the belief in witchcraft
+prevalent in his time in the paper entitled _Confulatio
+opinionum de magorum Daemonomia_, Frankfort, 1590, and was
+therefore denounced by Bodinus and others as one of the worst
+magicians. It is curious that this liberal man had in another
+book, _De praestigiis Daemonum_, taught the method of raising
+devils, and described the whole of hell, with the names and
+surnames of its 572 princes.] who would hear nothing of
+witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were melancholy
+persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a
+_pactum_ with the devil; and that to him they seemed more
+worthy of pity than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had
+not indeed read any such book (for say, who can read all that
+fools write?), but that the appearances here and in all other
+places proved that it was a monstrous error to deny the reality of
+witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then likewise deny that there
+were such things as murder, adultery, and theft.
+
+But he called my _argumentum_ a _dilemma_, and after he
+had discoursed a great deal of the devil, all of which I have
+forgotten, seeing it savoured strangely of heresy, he said he
+would relate to me a piece of witchcraft which he himself had seen
+at Wittenberg.
+
+It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good
+charger at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the
+horse presently began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head,
+snorted, kicked, and roared not as horses use to neigh, but with a
+sound as though the voice came from a human throat, so that all
+the folks were amazed, and thought the horse bewitched. It
+presently threw the captain and crushed his head with its hoof, so
+that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set off at
+full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched
+horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died.
+That he, Riidiger, had then drawn near, together with many others,
+seeing that the colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon
+of the regiment to cut open the horse and see in what state it was
+inwardly. However, that everything was quite right, and both the
+surgeon and army physician testified that the horse was thoroughly
+sound; whereupon all the people cried out more than ever about
+witchcraft. Mean-while he himself (I mean the young
+_nobilis_) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's
+nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew
+out a match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and
+which some wicked fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a
+pin. Hereupon all thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and
+search was made for the culprit, who was presently found to be no
+other than the captain's own groom. For one day that his master
+had dusted his jacket for him he swore an oath that he would have
+his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal himself had heard as
+he chanced to be standing in the stable. _Item_, another
+soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off
+the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus,
+thought the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were
+sifted to the bottom; like as I myself had seen at Giitzkow, where
+the devil's apparition turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one
+day I should own that it was the same sort of thing here in our
+village. By reason of this speech I liked not the young nobleman
+from that hour forward, believing him to be an atheist. Though,
+indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he was in the
+right, more's the pity, for had it not been for him what would
+have become of my daughter?
+
+But I will say nothing beforehand. _Summa_: I walked about
+the room in great displeasure at his words, while the young lord
+began to argue with my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and
+now in the vulgar tongue, as the words came into his mouth, and
+wanted to hear her mind about it. But she answered that she was a
+foolish thing, and could have no opinion on the matter; but that,
+nevertheless, she believed that what happened in the village could
+not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out of the
+room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again
+my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close
+before her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off,
+whether anything had happened, which she at first denied, but
+afterwards owned that he had said to her while I was gone, that he
+knew but one person who could bewitch; and when she asked him who
+that person was, he caught hold of her hand and said, "It is
+yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell upon my heart,
+as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further, but only
+gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her
+so red.
+
+But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if
+one's back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb--
+
+"To drive a goose and watch a maid
+Needs the devil himself to aid,"
+
+is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+_How old Seden disappeared all on a sudden--Item, how the great
+Gustavus Adolphus came to Pomeranla, and took the fort at
+Peenemuende._
+
+
+We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless,
+indeed, I reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my
+orchard, and which truly were a strange thing. For the trees
+blossomed so fair and sweetly, that one day as we were walking
+under them, and praising the almighty power of the most merciful
+God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to bless us so
+abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of next
+winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise. For all in a
+moment the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars
+(great and small, and of every shape and colour), that one might
+have measured them by the bushel; and before long my poor trees
+looked like brooms; and the blessed fruit, which was so well set,
+all fell off, and was scarce good enough for the pigs. I do not
+choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own private
+thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley,
+whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up
+bravely. On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the
+malice of Satan. Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the
+parish, in part because they had sown no winter crops, and in part
+because the summer crops did not prosper. However, in all the
+villages a great supply of fish was caught by the mercy of God,
+especially herring; but they were very low in price. Moreover,
+they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself killed one as
+I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a rock
+close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled
+off my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not,
+and then struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot
+bear much on his nose), so that he tumbled over into the water;
+but he was quite stunned, and I could easily kill him outright. It
+was a fat beast, though not very large; and we melted forty pots
+of train-oil out of his fat, which we put by for a winter store.
+
+Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so
+that he wished to receive the Holy Sacrament. When I went to him,
+he could give no reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for
+fear of his old Lizzie, who was always watching him with her
+squinting eyes, and would not leave the room. However, Zuter his
+little girl, a child near twelve years old, said that a few days
+before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle under the
+garden hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife
+quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her
+teeth that he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar
+spirit, and that he would straightway go and tell it to the
+priest. Albeit this is only a child's tale, it may be true for all
+that, seeing that children and fools, they say, speak the truth.
+
+But be that as it may. _Summa:_ my old warden grew worse and
+worse; and though I visited him every morning and evening, as I
+use to do to my sick, in order to pray with him, and often
+observed that he had somewhat on his mind, nevertheless he could
+not disburthen himself of it, seeing that old Lizzie never left
+her post.
+
+This went on for a while, when at last one day about noon, he sent
+to beg me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup,
+because he had been told that he should get better if he took it
+mixed with the dung of fowls. For some time I would not consent,
+seeing that I straightway suspected that there was some devilish
+mischief behind it; but he begged and prayed, till I did as he
+would have me.
+
+And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour, so that when I
+went to pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on
+the bench with a bowl between his knees, out of which he was
+supping broth. However, he would not pray (which was strange,
+seeing that he used to pray so gladly, and often could not wait
+patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent after me two or
+three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed), but he
+told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock,
+whose dung he had taken, for my trouble, as it was a fine large
+cock, and he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner.
+And as the poultry was by this time gone to roost, he went up to
+the perch which was behind the stove, and reached down the cock,
+and put it under the arm of the maid, who was just come to call me
+away.
+
+Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I
+turned it out to breed. I went to him once more and asked whether
+I should give thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery;
+whereupon he answered that I might do as I pleased in the matter.
+Hereat I shook my head, and left the house, resolving to send for
+him as soon as ever I should hear that his old Lizzie was from
+home (for she often went to fetch flax to spin from the sheriff).
+But mark what befell within a few days! We heard an outcry that
+old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had become
+of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg,
+whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my
+daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing
+that she went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had
+not; but, woe is me, she was soon to hear enough of him. For one
+morning, before sunrise, as she came down into the wood on her way
+back from her forbidden digging after amber, she heard a
+woodpecker (which, no doubt, was old Lizzie herself), crying so
+dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the bushes to
+see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker, sitting on the
+ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what
+old Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up with
+its beak full of the hair, and slipped into a hollow tree. While
+my daughter still stood looking at this devil's work, up came old
+Paasch, who also had heard the cries of the woodpecker, as he was
+cutting roofing shingles on the mountain, with his boy, and was
+likewise struck with horror when he saw the hair on the ground. At
+first they thought a wolf must have eaten him, and searched all
+about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up they
+fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so
+they made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here,
+too, there was a great bunch of red hair, stuck to some leaves as
+if with pitch, but that it was not pitch, but something speckled
+red and white, like fish-guts; _item_, that the leaves all
+around, even where there was no hair, were stained and spotted,
+and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the lad, at his master's
+bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two below
+straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden,
+and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would
+not pray nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself
+believed the same, and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the
+congregation. But further on it will be seen that the Lord had yet
+greater cause for giving him into the hands of Satan, inasmuch as
+he had been talked over by his wicked wife to renounce his Maker,
+in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this devil's whore
+did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by whole
+handfuls when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old
+Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was
+to take care of her for the future, &c.
+
+Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and
+might, together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day
+_mensis Junii_, whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates
+of the Holy Roman Empire laid their confession before the most
+high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at Augsburg; and I preached a
+sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession of our Lord and
+Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation came to the
+Sacrament. Now towards the evening of the self-same day, as I
+walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred
+sail of ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and
+plainly heard firing, whereupon we judged forthwith that this must
+be the most high and mighty king Gustavus Adolphus, who was now
+coming, as he had promised, to the aid of poor persecuted
+Christendom. While we were still debating a boat sailed towards us
+from Oie, [Footnote: Ruden and Oie, two small islands between
+Usedom and Ruegen.] wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer
+there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that
+it really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with
+his fleet from Ruegen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at
+the time, and saw how he went ashore with his officers, and
+straightway bared his head and fell upon his knees. [Footnote: See
+also the _Theatrum Europeum_, p. 226 fl.]
+
+Thus, then, most gracious God, did I Thy unworthy servant enjoy a
+still greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I
+had done on the blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed
+not for a moment to fall on my knees with my child, and to follow
+the example of the king; and God knows I never in my life prayed
+so fervently as that evening, whereon the Lord showed such a
+wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of His poor
+Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had
+everywhere called upon Him, on their knees, for His gracious help
+against the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night
+I could not sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to
+Damerow, where something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed
+that he, too, was bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft,
+seeing that the boy had eaten something unwholesome in the forest.
+He could not tell what kind of berries they were, but the
+_malum_, which turned all his skin bright scarlet, soon
+passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly after, I
+met a messenger from Peenemuende, whom his Majesty the high and
+mighty king Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the sheriff that on
+the 29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send
+three guides to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him
+through the woods to Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped.
+_Item_, he related how his Majesty had taken the fort at
+Peenemuende yesterday (doubtless the cause of the firing we heard
+last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away as fast as
+they could, and played the bush-ranger properly, for after setting
+their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and
+part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine.
+
+Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a _carmen
+gratulatorium_ to his Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty
+God, I was to see, the which my little daughter might present to
+him. I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and
+she straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance
+about the room. But when she had considered a little, she thought
+her clothes were not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and
+that I should buy her a blue silk gown, with a yellow apron,
+seeing that these were the Swedish colours, and would please his
+Majesty right well. For a long time I would not, seeing that I
+hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her kisses and
+coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered my
+ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff.
+Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud and
+showeth mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such
+pride. For I myself felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with
+two women who were to help her to sew, and laid the stuff before
+me. Next day she set to work at sunrise to sew, and I composed my
+_carmen_ the while. I had not got very far in it when the
+young Lord Ruediger of Nienkerken came riding up, in order, as he
+said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to march
+through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter,
+_item_, informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly,
+and instructed my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day
+than I altogether liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the
+Latin, as _ratscho_ pro _ratio_, _uet_ pro
+_ut_, _schis_ pro _scis_ &c., so that she might be
+able to answer his Majesty with all due readiness. He said,
+moreover, that he had held much converse with Swedes at
+Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald, wherefore if she pleased
+they might act a short _colloquium_, wherein he would play
+the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and they
+both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially
+when I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the
+while. But say, dear reader, what was I to do?--Wherefore I went
+my ways, and let them chatter till near noon, when the young lord
+at last took leave. But he promised to come again on Tuesday when
+the king was here, and believed that the whole island would flock
+together at Coserow. As soon as he was gone, seeing that my
+_vena poetica_ (as may be easily guessed) was still stopped
+up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish,
+exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone
+by Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to
+fall on their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and
+that I knelt down; _item_, to join at once in singing the
+Ambrosian hymn of praise, which I should lead off as soon as the
+bells began to ring. This they all promised to do; and after I had
+again exhorted them to it on Sunday in church, and prayed to the
+Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my heart, we scarce
+could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+_Of the arrival of the high and mighty King Gustavus Adolphus,
+and what befell thereat._
+
+
+Meanwhile I finished my _carmen_ in _metrum elegiacum_,
+which my daughter transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is
+fairer than mine) and diligently learned, so that she might say it
+to his Majesty. _Item_, her clothes were gotten ready, and
+became her purely; and on Monday she went up to the Streckelberg,
+although the heat was such that the crows gasped on the hedges:
+for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed to
+wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening
+she came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers;
+but her hair was quite wet, and hung all matted about her
+shoulders. (My God, my God, was everything to come together to
+destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I asked, therefore, where she
+had been that her hair was so wet and matted; whereupon she
+answered that she had gathered flowers round the Koelpin,
+[Footnote: a small lake near the sea.] and from thence she had
+gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in the sea,
+seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said
+she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow
+doubly a clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked
+grave, although I said naught.
+
+Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the
+Giant's Stone, men, women, and children. _Summa_, everybody
+that was able to walk was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was
+already dressed in all her bravery, namely, a blue silken gown,
+with a yellow apron and kerchief, and a yellow hair-net, with a
+garland of blue and yellow flowers round her head. It was not long
+before my young lord arrived, finely dressed as became a nobleman.
+He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I should go up to
+the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans von
+Nienkerken, _item_, Wittich Appelmann, and the Lepels of
+Gnitze, were also going, and that there was much people on all the
+high roads, as though a fair was being held. But I straightway
+perceived that all he wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as
+he presently occupied himself about her, and began chattering with
+her in the Latin again. He made her repeat to him the
+_carmen_ to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of the
+king, answered her, "_Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae
+mihi in coloribus coeli, ut angelus Domini appares, utinam semper
+mecum esses, nunquam mihi male caderei_;" whereupon she grew
+red, as likewise did I, but from vexation, as may be easily
+guessed. I therefore begged that his lordship would but go forward
+toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter had yet to help me on
+with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered, that he would
+wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then go
+together. _Summa_: I blessed myself from this young lord; but
+what could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it
+all: and before long we went up to the Stone, where I straightway
+chose three sturdy fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the
+steeple that they might begin to ring the bells as soon as they
+should see me get up upon the Stone and wave my napkin. This they
+promised to do, and straightway departed; whereupon I sat down on
+the Stone with my daughter, thinking that the young lord would
+surely stand apart, as became his dignity; albeit he did not, but
+sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat there all alone,
+and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see my
+child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont
+to do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard
+how matters stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock, Hans
+von Nienkerken and Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old
+Nienkerken called to his son in an angry voice; and seeing that
+the young lord heard him not, he rode up to the Stone, and cried
+out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Can'st thou not
+hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Ruediger
+followed him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how
+the old lord seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him;
+but knew not what this might signify: we were to learn it soon
+enough, though, more's the pity! Soon after the two Lepels of
+Gnitze [Footnote: a peninsula in Usedom] came from the Damerow;
+and the noblemen saluted one another on the green sward close
+beside us, but without looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say
+that naught could yet be seen of his Majesty, but that the
+coast-guard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and that several
+hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was
+known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from
+the Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich,
+who had dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch
+his boy up into a tall oak-tree to look out for the king,
+straightway busied himself about my daughter again, who now sat
+all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not taken his huntsman? and
+whether she would not change her mind on the matter and have him
+now, or else come into service with him (the sheriff) himself? for
+that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it one
+day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was
+but one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would
+take so much useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all
+haste and came to where I stood under the tree, looking after the
+lad who was climbing up it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a
+great curse when my daughter turned her back upon him, and went
+straightway into the alder-grove close by the high road, where
+stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken.
+
+Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore and found it
+quite true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and
+Oie towards Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us
+that we could see the soldiers standing upon them and the flashing
+of their arms. _Item_, we heard the horses neigh and the
+soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were drumming, and on
+another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet gazed we saw
+smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great noise,
+and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water,
+which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight
+towards us. Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud
+cries, and we plainly heard the soldiery in the ships laugh
+thereat. But the ball flew up and struck into the midst of an oak
+hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two cart-loads of boughs
+fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all the road by
+which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no
+longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried
+out to us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was
+marching out of the forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the
+king was among them. Hereupon the sheriff ordered the road to be
+cleared forthwith, and this was some time a-doing, seeing that the
+thick boughs were stuck fast in the trees all around; the nobles,
+as soon as all was made ready, would have ridden to meet his
+Majesty, but stayed still on the little greensward, because we
+already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close to
+us in the forest.
+
+It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood
+with the three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of
+them was known to me (it was Stoffer Krauthahn, of Peenemuende), I
+drew near and begged him that he would tell me when the king
+should come. But he answered that he was going forward with the
+cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for a tall dark
+man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck, for
+that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great
+standard whereon was a yellow lion.
+
+Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the
+forest. And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland
+bowmen, who went clothed all in furs, although it was now the
+height of summer, whereat I greatly wondered. After these there
+came much people, but I know not what they were. Presently I
+espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way, so that I could
+not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the coppice,
+the great flag with the lion on it, and, behind that, the head of
+a very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon
+straightway I judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my
+napkin toward the steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out,
+and while the dark man rode nearer to us, I pulled off my
+skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led the Ambrosian hymn of
+praise, and all the people plucked their hats from their heads and
+knelt down on the ground all around singing after me; men, women,
+and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the
+greensward, and did not take off their hats and behave with
+attention until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It
+was a coal-black charger, and stopped with its two forefeet right
+upon my field, which I took as a sign of good fortune.) When we
+had finished, the sheriff quickly got off his horse, and would
+have approached the king with his three guides who followed after
+him; _item_, I had taken my child by the hand, and would also
+have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned away
+the sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his
+Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous
+heart, seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the
+protection and aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it
+as a sign from God that such had happened on this the highest
+festival of our poor Church, and I prayed his Majesty graciously
+to receive what my daughter desired to present to him; whereupon
+his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly. Such gracious
+bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly just
+before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath whereon lay
+the _carmen_, saying, "_Accipe hanc vilem coronam et
+haec_," whereupon she began to recite the _carmen_.
+Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more gracious, looking now on
+her and now on the _carmen_, and nodded with especial
+kindness towards the end, which was as follows:--
+
+     "Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor
+     Intrabis patriae libera regna meae;
+  Tune meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae,
+     Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam.
+  Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum
+     Auguror et res est ista futura brevi!
+  Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optlme princeps,
+  Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale!"
+
+ [Footnote:
+    Thou shall return chastier of the foe,
+    To the freed kingdoms of my native land!
+  Then shall our song with loftier cadence flow,
+    Boasting the deeds of thy heroic hand!
+  Scorn not, meanwhile, the feeble lines which thus
+    Thy future glory and success foretell.
+  Live, prince beloved! be brave, be prosperous;
+  Conquer, howe'er opposed,--and fare thee well!]
+
+As soon as she held her peace his Majesty said, "_Propius
+accedas, patria virgo, ut te osculer_;" whereupon she drew near
+to his horse, blushing deeply. I thought he would only have kissed
+her forehead, as potentates commonly use to do; but not at all, he
+kissed her lips with a loud smack, and the long feathers on his
+hat drooped over her neck, so that I was quite afraid for her
+again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off his gold
+chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my child's
+neck with these words, "_Hocce tuae pulchritudini! et si favente
+Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula
+exspecto_."
+
+Hereupon the sheriff, with his three men, again came forward and
+bowed down to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no
+Latin, _item_, no Italian nor French, I had to act as
+interpreter. For his Majesty inquired how far it was to Swine, and
+whether there was still much foreign soldiery there? And the
+sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the camp.
+Whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and, nodding
+graciously, cried "_Valete_!" And now came the rest of the
+troops, about 3000 strong, out of the coppice, which likewise had
+a valiant bearing, and attempted no fooleries, as troops are wont
+to do, when they passed by us and the women, but marched on in
+honest quietness, and we followed the train until the forest
+beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty,
+and every one went on his way home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+_How little Mary Paasch was sorely plagued of the devil, and the
+whole parish fell off from me._
+
+
+Before I proceed any further, I will first mark that the
+illustrious king Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut
+down the 300 Croats at Swine, and was thence gone by sea to
+Stettin. May God be for ever gracious to him! Amen.
+
+But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil
+now played pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun
+to think that the ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers,
+but it pleased Him to try us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few
+days after the arrival of the most illustrious king Gustavus
+Adolphus, it was bruited about that my child her little
+god-daughter was possessed of the evil one, and tumbled about most
+piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold her.
+My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but
+presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even
+to come near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that
+she should never come within his doors again, as his child had got
+the mischief from the white roll which she had given her that
+morning. It was true that my child had given her a roll, seeing
+that the maid had been, the day before, to Wolgast, and had
+brought back a napkin full of them.
+
+Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to
+old Paasch his house, to exorcise the foul fiend, and to remove
+such disgrace from my child. I found the old man standing on the
+floor by the cockloft steps, weeping; and after I had spoken "The
+peace of God," I asked him first of all, whether he really
+believed that his little Mary had been bewitched by means of the
+roll which my child had given her? He said "Yes!" And when I
+answered, That in that case I also must have been bewitched,
+_item_, Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten
+of the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I
+would not go into the room, and see for myself how matters stood.
+I then entered with "The peace of God," and found six people
+standing round little Mary her bed; her eyes were shut, and she
+was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit Wels (who was a young and
+sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one leg, and held her
+out like a hedge-stake, so that I might see how the devil plagued
+her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of
+Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was
+pitiful to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet, so that
+four strong men were scarce able to hold her; _item_, she was
+afflicted with extraordinary risings and fallings of her belly, as
+if a living creature were therein, so that at last the old witch
+Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly, whereupon the child
+seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat the
+Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who
+possessed her. [Footnote: It was imagined in those fearful times
+that when the sick person could repeat the three articles of
+belief, and especially some passages from the Bible bearing
+particular reference to the work of redemption, he was not
+possessed, since "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by
+the Holy Ghost" (I Cor, xii. 3).] She straightway grew worse than
+before, and began to gnash her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to
+strike so hard with her hands and feet that she flung her father,
+who held one of her legs, right into the middle of the room, and
+then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that the blood
+flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly, as though
+she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan
+that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a
+dog, _item_, to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass
+voice like an old man's, "I will not depart." But he should soon
+have been forced to depart out of her, had not both father and
+mother besought me, by God's holy Sacrament, to leave their poor
+child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but rather
+made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only
+admonished the parents to seek for help like the Canaanitish
+woman, in true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to
+sigh in constant faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, thou son of
+David, my daughter is grievously vexed of a devil" (Matt. xv.);
+that the heart of our Lord would then melt, so that He would have
+mercy on their child, and command Satan to depart from her.
+_Item_, I promised to pray for the little child on the
+following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to
+bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing
+that the ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise
+beyond the clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home
+sorely troubled, where I soon learned that she was somewhat
+better; thus it still is sure that Satan hates nothing so much,
+after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of the Gospel. But wait, and
+I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel" (Gen. iii.);
+naught shall avail thee.
+
+Howbeit, before the blessed Sunday came I perceived that many of
+my people went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in
+the parish, where I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went
+to Uekeritze to see young Tittelwitz, there even befell me as
+follows. Claus Pieper the peasant stood in his yard chopping wood,
+and on seeing me he flung the axe out of his hand so hastily that
+it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the pig-stye, making
+the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked why he
+thus ran from me his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also
+believed that my daughter had bewitched her little godchild?
+_Ille_. Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did.
+_Ego_. Why, then, had she been so kind to her formerly, and
+kept her like a sister, through the worst of the famine?
+_Ille_. This was not the only mischief she had done.
+_Ego_. What, then, had she done besides? _Ille_. That
+was all one to me. _Ego_. He should tell me, or I would
+complain to the magistrate. _Ille_. That I might do, if I
+pleased. Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any one may guess
+that I was not slow to inquire everywhere, what people thought my
+daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I might
+have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover, not one
+child came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and
+when I sent out the maid to ask the reason, she brought back word
+that the children were ill, or that the parents wanted them for
+their work. I thought and thought, but all to no purpose, until
+the blessed Sunday came round, when I meant to have held a great
+Sacrament, seeing that many people had made known their intention
+to come to the Lord's Table. It seemed strange to me that I saw no
+one standing, as was their wont, about the church door; I thought,
+however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I
+went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than
+six people assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the
+accursed witch no sooner saw my daughter follow me, than she made
+the sign of the cross and ran out of the door under the steeple;
+whereupon the five others, among them mine own churchwarden Claus
+Bulken (I had not appointed any one in the room of old Seden),
+followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood curdled, and I
+began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against the
+confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in
+order to spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter
+with all the people? are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came
+to myself again, and went into the churchyard to look after them.
+But all were gone save my churchwarden Claus Bulken, who stood
+under the lime-tree whistling to himself. I stepped up to him, and
+asked what had come to the people? whereupon he answered, he could
+not tell; and when I asked him again, why, then, he himself had
+left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone, seeing
+that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me
+the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the
+parish? But he answered, I should very soon find it out for
+myself; and he jumped over the wall and went into old Lizzie her
+house, which stands close by the churchyard.
+
+My child had made ready some veal broth for dinner, for which I
+mostly use to leave everything else; but I could not swallow one
+spoonful, but sat resting my head on my hand, and doubted whether
+I should tell her or no. Meanwhile the old maid came in, ready for
+a journey, and with a bundle in her hand, and begged me with tears
+to give her leave to go. My poor child turned pale as a corpse,
+and asked in amaze what had come to her? but she merely answered,
+"Nothing!" and wiped her eyes with her apron. When I recovered my
+speech, which had well-nigh left me at seeing that this faithful
+old creature was also about to forsake me, I began to question her
+why she wished to go; she who had dwelt with me so long, and who
+would not forsake us even in the great famine, but had faithfully
+borne up against it, and indeed had humbled me by her faith, and
+had exhorted me to stand out gallantly to the last, for which I
+should be grateful to her as long as I lived. Hereupon she merely
+wept and sobbed yet more, and at length brought out that she still
+had an old mother of eighty, living in Liepe, and that she wished
+to go and nurse her till her end. Hereupon my daughter jumped up,
+and answered with tears, "Alas, old Ilse, why wilt thou leave us,
+for thy mother is with thy brother! Do but tell me why thou wilt
+forsake me, and what harm have I done thee, that I may make it
+good to thee again." But she hid her face in her apron, and
+sobbed, and could not get out a single word; whereupon my child
+drew away the apron from her face, and would have stroked her
+cheeks, to make her speak. But when Ilse saw this she struck my
+poor child's hand, and cried "Ugh!" spat out before her, and
+straightway went out at the door. Such a thing she had never done
+even when my child was a little girl, and we were both so shocked
+that we could neither of us say a word.
+
+Before long my poor child gave a loud cry, and cast herself upon
+the bench, weeping and wailing, "What has happened, what has
+happened?" I therefore thought I ought to tell her what I had
+heard, namely, that she was looked upon as a witch. Whereat she
+began to smile instead of weeping any more, and ran out of the
+door to overtake the maid, who had already left the house, as we
+had seen. She returned after an hour crying out that all the
+people in the village had run away from her, when she would have
+asked them whither the maid was gone. _Item_, the little
+children, for whom she had kept school, had screamed, and had
+hidden themselves from her: also no one would answer her a single
+word, but all spat out before her, as the maid had done. On her
+way home she had seen a boat on the water, and had run as fast as
+she could to the shore, and called with might and main after old
+Ilse, who was in the boat. But she had taken no notice of her, not
+even once to look round after her, but had motioned her to be
+gone. And now she went on to weep and to sob the whole day and the
+whole night, so that I was more miserable than even in the time of
+the great famine. But the worst was yet to come, as will be shown
+in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+_How my poor child was taken up for a witch, and carried to
+Pudgla._
+
+
+The next day, Monday, the 12th July, at about eight in the
+morning, while we sat in our grief, wondering who could have
+prepared such great sorrow for us, and speedily agreed that it
+could be none other than the accursed witch Lizzie Kolken, a coach
+with four horses drove quickly up to the door, wherein sat six
+fellows, who straightway all jumped out. Two went and stood at the
+front, two at the back door, and two more, one of whom was the
+constable Jacob Knake, came into the room, and handed me a warrant
+from the sheriff for the arrest of my daughter, as in common
+repute of being a wicked witch, and for her examination before the
+criminal court. Any one may guess how my heart sunk within me when
+I read this. I dropped to the earth like a felled tree, and when I
+came to myself my child had thrown herself upon me with loud
+cries, and her hot tears ran down over my face. When she saw that
+I came to myself, she began to praise God therefore with a loud
+voice, and essayed to comfort me, saying that she was innocent,
+and should appear with a clean conscience before her judges.
+_Item_, she repeated to me the beautiful text from Matthew,
+chap. v.: "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute
+you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My
+sake."
+
+And she begged me to rise and to throw my cassock over my doublet,
+and go with her, for that without me she would not suffer herself
+to be carried before the sheriff. Meanwhile, however, all the
+village--men, women, and children--had thronged together before my
+door; but they remained quiet, and only peeped in at the windows
+as though they would have looked right through the house. When we
+had both made us ready, and the constable, who at first would not
+take me with them, had thought better of it, by reason of a good
+fee which my daughter gave him, we walked to the coach; but I was
+so helpless that I could not get up into it.
+
+Old Paasch, when he saw this, came and helped me up into the
+coach, saying, "God comfort ye! Alas, that you should ever see
+your child come to this!" and he kissed my hand to take leave.
+
+A few others came up to the coach, and would have done likewise;
+but I besought them not to make my heart still heavier, and to
+take Christian charge of my house and my affairs until I should
+return. Also to pray diligently for me and my daughter, so that
+the evil one, who had long gone about our village like a roaring
+lion, and who now threatened to devour me, might not prevail
+against us, but might be forced to depart from me and from my
+child as from our guileless Saviour in the wilderness. But to this
+none answered a word; and I heard right well, as we drove away,
+that many spat out after us, and one said (my child thought it was
+Berow her voice), "We would far sooner lay fire under thy coats
+than pray for thee." We were still sighing over such words as
+these, when we came near to the churchyard, and there sat the
+accursed witch Lizzie Kolken at the door of her house with her
+hymn-book in her lap, screeching out at the top of her voice, "God
+the Father, dwell with us," as we drove past her: the which vexed
+my poor child so sore that she swooned, and fell like one dead
+upon me. I begged the driver to stop, and called to old Lizzie to
+bring us a pitcher of water; but she did as though she had not
+heard me, and went on to sing so that it rang again. Whereupon the
+constable jumped down, and at my request ran back to my house to
+fetch a pitcher of water; and he presently came back with it, and
+the people after him, who began to say aloud that my child's bad
+conscience had stricken her, and that she had now betrayed
+herself. Wherefore I thanked God when she came to life again, and
+we could leave the village. But at Uekeritze it was just the same,
+for all the people had flocked together, and were standing on the
+green before Labahn his house when we went by.
+
+Nevertheless, they were quiet enough as we drove past, albeit some
+few cried, "How can it be, how can it be?" I heard nothing else.
+But in the forest near the watermill the miller and all his men
+ran out and shouted, laughing, "Look at the witch, look at the
+witch!" Whereupon one of the men struck at my poor child with the
+sack which he held in his hand, so that she turned quite white,
+and the flour flew all about the coach like a cloud. When I
+rebuked him, the wicked rogue laughed and said, That if no other
+smoke than that ever came under her nose, so much the better for
+her. _Item_, it was worse in Pudgla than even at the mill.
+The people stood so thick on the hill, before the castle, that we
+could scarce force our way through, and the sheriff caused the
+death-bell in the castle tower to toll as an _avisum_.
+Whereupon more and more people came running out of the ale-houses
+and cottages. Some cried out, "Is that the witch?" Others, again,
+"Look at the parson's witch! the parson's witch!" and much more,
+which for very shame I may not write. They scraped up the mud out
+of the gutter which ran from the castle kitchen and threw it upon
+us; _item_, a great stone, the which struck one of the horses
+so that it shied, and belike would have upset the coach had not a
+man sprung forward and held it in. All this happened before the
+castle gates, where the sheriff stood smiling and looking on, with
+a heron's feather stuck in his grey hat. But so soon as the horse
+was quiet again he came to the coach and mocked at my child,
+saying, "See, young maid, thou wouldest not come to me, and here
+thou art nevertheless!" Whereupon she answered, "Yea, I come; and
+may you one day come before your Judge as I come before you;"
+whereunto I said, Amen, and asked him how his lordship could
+answer before God and man for what he had done to a wretched man
+like myself and to my child? But he answered, saying, Why had I
+come with her? And when I told him of the rude people here,
+_item_, of the churlish miller's man, he said that it was not
+his fault, and threatened the people all around with his fist, for
+they were making a great noise. Thereupon he commanded my child to
+get down and to follow him, and went before her into the castle;
+motioned the constable, who would have gone with them, to stay at
+the foot of the steps, and began to mount the winding staircase to
+the upper rooms alone with my child.
+
+But she whispered me privately, "Do not leave me, father;" and I
+presently followed softly after them. Hearing by their voices in
+which chamber they were, I laid my ear against the door to listen.
+And the villain offered to her that if she would love him naught
+should harm her, saying he had power to save her from the people;
+but that if she would not, she should go before the court next
+day, and she might guess herself how it would fare with her,
+seeing that he had many witnesses to prove that she had played the
+wanton with Satan, and had suffered him to kiss her. Hereupon she
+was silent, and only sobbed, which the arch rogue took as a good
+sign, and went on, "If you have had Satan himself for a
+sweetheart, you surely may love me." And he went to her and would
+have taken her in his arms, as I perceived; for she gave a loud
+scream, and flew to the door; but he held her fast, and begged and
+threatened as the devil prompted him. I was about to go in when I
+heard her strike him in the face, saying, "Get thee behind me,
+Satan," so that he let her go. Whereupon she ran out at the door
+so suddenly that she threw me on the ground, and fell upon me with
+a loud cry. Hereat the sheriff, who had followed her, started, but
+presently cried out, "Wait, thou prying parson, I will teach thee
+to listen!" and ran out and beckoned to the constable who stood on
+the steps below. He bade him first shut me up in one dungeon,
+seeing that I was an eavesdropper, and then return and thrust my
+child into another. But he thought better of it when he had come
+half way down the winding-stair, and said he would excuse me this
+time, and that the constable might let me go, and only lock up my
+child very fast, and bring the key to him, seeing she was a
+stubborn person, as he had seen at the very first hearing which he
+had given her.
+
+Hereupon my poor child was torn from me, and I fell in a swound
+upon the steps. I know not how I got down them; but when I came to
+myself, I was in the constable his room, and his wife was throwing
+water in my face. There I passed the night sitting in a chair, and
+sorrowed more than I prayed, seeing that my faith was greatly
+shaken, and the Lord came not to strengthen it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+_Of the first trial, and what came thereof._
+
+
+Next morning, as I walked up and down in the court, seeing that I
+had many times asked the constable in vain to lead me to my child
+(he would not even tell me where she lay), and for very
+disquietude I had at last begun to wander about there; about six
+o'clock there came a coach from Uzdom, [Footnote: Or Usedom, a
+small town which gives its name to the whole island.] wherein sat
+his worship, Master Samuel Pieper, _consul dirigens_,
+_item_, the _camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel, and a
+_scriba_, whose name, indeed, I heard, but have forgotten it
+again; and my daughter forgot it too, albeit in other things she
+has an excellent memory, and, indeed, told me most of what
+follows, for my old head well-nigh burst, so that I myself could
+remember but little. I straightway went up to the coach, and
+begged that the worshipful court would suffer me to be present at
+the trial, seeing that my daughter was yet in her nonage, but
+which the sheriff, who meanwhile had stepped up to the coach from
+the terrace, whence he had seen all, had denied me. But his
+worship Master Samuel Pieper, who was a little round man, with a
+fat paunch, and a beard mingled with grey hanging down to his
+middle, reached me his hand, and condoled with me like a Christian
+in my trouble: I might come into court in God's name; and he
+wished with all his heart that all whereof my daughter was fyled
+might prove to be foul lies. Nevertheless I had still to wait full
+two hours before their worships came down the winding stair again.
+At last towards nine o'clock I heard the constable moving about
+the chairs and benches in the judgment chamber; and as I conceived
+that the time was now come, I went in and sat myself down on a
+bench. No one, however, was yet there, save the constable and his
+young daughter, who was wiping the table, and held a rosebud
+between her lips. I was fain to beg her to give it me, so that I
+might have it to smell to; and I believe that I should have been
+carried dead out of the room that day if I had not had it. God is
+thus able to preserve our lives even by means of a poor flower, if
+so He wills it!
+
+At length their worships came in and sat round the table,
+whereupon _Dom. Consul_ motioned the constable to fetch in my
+child. Meanwhile he asked the sheriff whether he had put
+_Rea_ in chains, and when he said No, he gave him such a
+reprimand that it went through my very marrow. But the sheriff
+excused himself, saying that he had not done so from regard to her
+quality, but had locked her up in so fast a dungeon, that she
+could not possibly escape therefrom. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_
+answered that much is possible to the devil, and that they would
+have to answer for it should _Rea_ escape. This angered the
+sheriff, and he replied that if the devil could convey her through
+walls seven feet thick, and through three doors, he could very
+easily break her chains too. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ said
+that hereafter he would look at the prison himself; and I think
+that the sheriff had been so kind only because he yet hoped (as,
+indeed, will hereafter be shown) to talk over my daughter to let
+him have his will of her.
+
+And now the door opened, and my poor child came in with the
+constable, but walking backwards, [Footnote: This ridiculous
+proceeding always took place at the first examination of a witch,
+as it was imagined that she would otherwise bewitch the judges
+with her looks. On this occasion indeed such an event was not
+unlikely.] and without her shoes, the which she was forced to
+leave without. The fellow had seized her by her long hair, and
+thus dragged her up to the table, when first she was to turn round
+and look upon her judges. He had a vast deal to say in the matter,
+and was in every way a bold and impudent rogue, as will soon be
+shown. After _Dom. Consul_ had heaved a deep sigh, and gazed
+at her from head to foot, he first asked her her name, and how old
+she was; _item_, if she knew why she was summoned before
+them? On the last point she answered that the sheriff had already
+told her father the reason; that she wished not to wrong any one,
+but thought that the sheriff himself had brought upon her the
+repute of a witch, in order to gain her to his wicked will.
+Hereupon she told all his ways with her, from the very first, and
+how he would by all means have had her for his housekeeper; and
+that when she would not (although he had many times come himself
+to her father his house), one day, as he went out of the door, he
+had muttered in his beard, "I will have her, despite of all!"
+which their servant Claus Neels had heard, as he stood in the
+stable; and he had also sought to gain his ends by means of an
+ungodly woman, one Lizzie Kolken, who had formerly been in his
+service; that this woman, belike, had contrived the spells which
+they laid to her charge: she herself knew nothing of witchcraft;
+_item_, she related what the sheriff had done to her the
+evening before, when she had just come, and when he for the first
+time spoke out plainly, thinking that she was then altogether in
+his power: nay, more, that he had come to her that very night
+again, in her dungeon, and had made her the same offers, saying
+that he would set her free if she would let him have his will of
+her; and that when she denied him, he had struggled with her,
+whereupon she had screamed aloud, and had scratched him across the
+nose, as might yet be seen, whereupon he had left her; wherefore
+she would not acknowledge the sheriff as her judge, and trusted in
+God to save her from the hand of her enemies, as of old He had
+saved the chaste Susannah.
+
+When she now held her peace amid loud sobs, _Dom. Consul_
+started up after he had looked, as we all did, at the sheriff's
+nose, and had in truth espied the scar upon it, and cried out in
+amaze, "Speak, for God His sake, speak, what is this that I hear
+of your lordship?" Whereupon the sheriff, without changing colour,
+answered, that although, indeed, he was not called upon to say
+anything to their worships, seeing that he was the head of the
+court, and that _Rea_, as appeared from numberless
+_indicia_, was a wicked witch, and therefore could not bear
+witness against him or any one else; he, nevertheless, would
+speak, so as to give no cause of scandal to the court; that all
+the charges brought against him by this person were foul lies; it
+was, indeed, true, that he would have hired her for a housekeeper,
+whereof he stood greatly in need, seeing that his old Dorothy was
+already growing infirm; it was also true that he had yesterday
+questioned her in private, hoping to get her to confess by fair
+means, whereby her sentence would be softened, inasmuch as he had
+pity on her great youth; but that he had not said one naughty word
+to her, nor had he been to her in the night; and that it was his
+little lap-dog, called Below, which had scratched him, while he
+played with it that very morning; that his old Dorothy could bear
+witness to this, and that the cunning witch had only made use of
+this wile to divide the court against itself, thereby, and with
+the devil's help, to gain her own advantage, inasmuch as she was a
+most cunning creature, as the court would soon find out.
+
+Hereupon I plucked up a heart, and declared that all my daughter
+had said was true, and that the evening before I myself had heard,
+through the door, how his lordship had made offers to her, and
+would have done wantonness with her; _item_, that he had
+already sought to kiss her once at Coserow; _item_, the
+troubles which his lordship had formerly brought upon me in the
+matter of the first-fruits.
+
+Howbeit the sheriff presently talked me down, saying, that if I
+had slandered him, an innocent man, in church, from the pulpit, as
+the whole congregation could bear witness, I should doubtless find
+it easy to do as much here, before the court; not to mention that
+a father could, in no case, be a witness for his own child.
+
+But _Dom. Consul_ seemed quite confounded, and was silent,
+and leaned his head on the table, as in deep thought. Meanwhile
+the impudent constable began to finger his beard from under his
+arm; and _Dom. Consul_, thinking it was a fly, struck at him
+with his hand, without even looking up; but when he felt the
+constable his hand, he jumped up and asked him what he wanted?
+whereupon the fellow answered, "Oh, only a louse was creeping
+there, and I would have caught it."
+
+At such impudence his worship was so exceeding wroth that he
+struck the constable on the mouth, and ordered him, on pain of
+heavy punishment, to leave the room.
+
+Hereupon he turned to the sheriff, and cried angrily, "Why, in the
+name of all the ten devils, is it thus your lordship keeps the
+constable in order? and truly, in this whole matter there is
+something which passes my understanding." But the sheriff
+answered, "Not so; should you not understand it all when you think
+upon the eels?"
+
+Hereat _Dom. Consul_ of a sudden turned ghastly pale, and
+began to tremble, as it appeared to me, and called the sheriff
+aside into another chamber. I have never been able to learn what
+that about the eels could mean.
+
+Meanwhile _Dominus Camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel sat biting his
+pen and looking furiously--now at me, and now at my child, but
+said not a word; neither did he answer _Scriba_, who often
+whispered somewhat into his ear, save by a growl. At length both
+their worships came back into the chamber together, and _Dom.
+Consul_, after he and the sheriff had seated themselves, began
+to reproach my poor child violently, saying that she had sought to
+make a disturbance in the worshipful court; that his lordship had
+shown him the very dog which had scratched his nose, and that,
+moreover, the fact had been sworn to by the old housekeeper.
+
+(Truly _she_ was not likely to betray him, for the old harlot
+had lived with him for years, and she had a good big boy by him,
+as will be seen hereafter.)
+
+_Item_, he said that so many _indicia_ of her guilt had
+come to light, that it was impossible to believe anything she
+might say; she was therefore to give glory to God, and openly to
+confess everything, so as to soften her punishment; whereby she
+might perchance, in pity for her youth, escape with life, &c.
+
+Hereupon he put his spectacles on his nose, and began to
+cross-question her, during near four hours, from a paper which he
+held in his hand. These were the main articles, as far as we both
+can remember:
+
+_Quaestio_. Whether she could bewitch?--_Responsio_. No;
+she knew nothing of witchcraft.
+
+_Q_. Whether she could charm?--_R_. Of that she knew as
+little.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had ever been on the Blocksberg?--_R_.
+That was too far off for her; she knew few hills save the
+Streckelberg, where she had been very often.
+
+_Q_. What had she done there?--_R_. She had looked out
+over the sea, or gathered flowers; _item_, at times carried
+home an apronful of dry brushwood.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had ever called upon the devil
+there?--_R_. That had never come into her mind.
+
+_Q_. Whether, then, the devil had appeared to her there,
+uncalled?--R. God defend her from such a thing.
+
+_Q_. So she could not bewitch?--_R_. No.
+
+_Q_. What, then, befell Kit Zuter his spotted cow, that it
+suddenly died in her presence?--_R_. She did not know; and
+that was a strange question.
+
+_Q_.. Then it would be as strange a question, why Katie Berow
+her little pig had died?--_R_. Assuredly; she wondered what
+they would lay to her charge.
+
+_Q_. Then she had not bewitched them?--_R_. No; God
+forbid it.
+
+_Q_. Why, then, if she were innocent, had she promised old
+Katie another little pig, when her sow should litter?--_R_.
+She did that out of kind-heartedness. (And hereupon she began to
+weep bitterly, and said she plainly saw that she had to thank old
+Lizzie Kolken for all this, inasmuch as she had often threatened
+her when she would not fulfil all her greedy desires, for she
+wanted everything that came in her way; moreover, that Lizzie had
+gone all about the village when the cattle were bewitched,
+persuading the people that if only a pure maid pulled a few hairs
+out of the beasts' tails they would get better. That she pitied
+them, and knowing herself to be a maid, went to help them; and
+indeed, at first it cured them, but latterly not.)
+
+_Q_. What cattle had she cured?--_R_. Zabel his red cow;
+_item_, Witthan her pig, and old Lizzie's own cow.
+
+_Q_. Why could she afterwards cure them no more?--_R_.
+She did not know, but thought-albeit she had no wish to fyle any
+one--that old Lizzie Kolken, who for many a long year had been in
+common repute as a witch, had done it all, and bewitched the cows
+in her name and then charmed them back again, as she pleased, only
+to bring her to misfortune.
+
+_Q_. Why, then, had old Lizzie bewitched her own cow,
+_item_, suffered her own pig to die, if it was she that had
+made all the disturbance in the village, and could really
+charm?--_R_. She did not know; but belike there was some one
+(and here she looked at the sheriff) who paid her double for it
+all.
+
+_Q_. It was in vain that she sought to shift the guilt from
+off herself; had she not bewitched old Paasch his crop, nay, even
+her own father's, and caused it to be trodden down by the devil,
+_item_, conjured all the caterpillars into her father's
+orchard?--_R_. The question was almost as monstrous as the
+deed would have been. There sat her father, and his worship might
+ask him whether she ever had shown herself an undutiful child to
+him. (Hereupon I would have risen to speak, but _Dom. Consul_
+suffered me not to open my mouth, but went on with his
+examination; whereupon I remained silent and downcast.)
+
+_Q_. Whether she did likewise deny that it was through her
+malice that the woman Witthan had given birth to a devil's imp,
+which straightway started up and flew out at the window, so that
+when the midwife sought for it it had disappeared?--_R_.
+Truly she did; and indeed she had all the days of her life done
+good to the people instead of harm, for during the terrible famine
+she had often taken the bread out of her own mouth to share it
+among the others, especially the little children. To this the
+whole parish must needs bear witness, if they were asked; whereas
+witches and warlocks always did evil and no good to men, as our
+Lord Jesus taught (Matt. xii.), when the Pharisees blasphemed Him,
+saying that He cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the
+devils; hence his worship might see whether she could in truth be
+a witch.
+
+_Q_. He would soon teach her to talk of blasphemies; he saw
+that her tongue was well hung; but she must answer the questions
+he asked her, and say nothing more. The question was not what good
+she had done to the poor, but _wherewithal_ she had done it?
+She must now show how she and her father had of a sudden grown so
+rich that she could go pranking about in silken raiment, whereas
+she used to be so very poor?
+
+Hereupon she looked towards me, and said, "Father, shall I tell?"
+Whereupon I answered, "Yes, my child, now thou must openly tell
+all, even though we thereby become beggars." She accordingly told
+how, when our need was sorest, she had found the amber, and how
+much we had gotten for it from the Dutch merchants.
+
+_Q_. What were the names of these merchants?--_R_.
+Dieterich von Pehnen and Jakob Kiekebusch; but, as we have heard
+from a schipper, they since died of the plague at Stettin.
+
+_Q_. Why had we said nothing of such a godsend?--_R_.
+Out of fear of our enemy the sheriff, who, as it seemed, had
+condemned us to die of hunger, inasmuch as he forbade the
+parishioners, under pain of heavy displeasure, to supply us with
+anything, saying that he would soon send them a better parson.
+
+Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the sheriff sharply in
+the face, who answered that it was true he had said this, seeing
+that the parson had preached at him in the most scandalous manner
+from the pulpit; but that he knew very well, at the time, that
+they were far enough from dying of hunger.
+
+_Q_. How came so much amber on the Streckelberg? She had best
+confess at once that the devil had brought it to her.--_R_.
+She knew nothing about that. But there was a great vein of amber
+there, as she could show to them all that very day; and she had
+broken out the amber, and covered the hole well over with
+fir-twigs, so that none should find it.
+
+_Q_. When had she gone up the Streckelberg; by day or by
+night?--_R_. Hereupon she blushed, and for a moment held her
+peace; but presently made answer, "Sometimes by day, and sometimes
+by night."
+
+_Q_. Why did she hesitate? She had better make a full
+confession of all, so that her punishment might be less heavy. Had
+she not there given over old Seden to Satan, who had carried him
+off through the air, and left only a part of his hair and brains
+sticking to the top of an oak?--_R_. She did not know whether
+that was his hair and brains at all, nor how it came there. She
+went to the tree one morning because she heard a woodpecker cry so
+dolefully. _Item_, old Paasch, who also had heard the cries,
+came up with his axe in his hand.
+
+_Q_. Whether the woodpecker was not the devil himself, who
+had carried off old Seden?--_R_. She did not know: but he
+must have been dead some time, seeing that the blood and brains
+which the lad fetched down out of the tree were quite dried up.
+
+_Q_. How and when, then, had he come by his death?--_R_.
+That Almighty God only knew. But Zuter his little girl had said
+that one day, while she gathered nettles for the cows under Seden
+his hedge, she heard the goodman threaten his squint-eyed wife
+that he would tell the parson that he now knew of a certainty that
+she had a familiar spirit; whereupon the goodman had presently
+disappeared. But that this was a child's tale, and she would fyle
+no one on the strength of it.
+
+Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the sheriff steadily in
+the face, and said, "Old Lizzie Kolken must be brought before us
+this very day:" whereto the sheriff made no answer; and he went on
+to ask--
+
+_Q_. Whether, then, she still maintained that she knew
+nothing of the devil?--_R_. She maintained it now, and would
+maintain it until her life's end.
+
+_Q_. And nevertheless, as had been seen by witnesses, she had
+been re-baptized by him in the sea in broad daylight.--Here again
+she blushed, and for a moment was silent.
+
+_Q_. Why did she blush again? She should for God His sake
+think on her salvation, and confess the truth.--_R_. She had
+bathed herself in the sea, seeing that the day was very hot; that
+was the whole truth.
+
+_Q_. What chaste maiden would ever bathe in the sea? Thou
+liest; or wilt thou even yet deny that thou didst bewitch old
+Paasch his little girl with a white roll?--_R_. Alas! alas!
+she loved the child as though it were her own little sister; not
+only had she taught her as well as all the other children without
+reward, but during the heavy famine she had often taken the bit
+from her own mouth to put it into the little child's. How then
+could she have wished to do her such grievous harm?
+
+_Q_. Wilt thou even yet deny? Reverend Abraham, how stubborn
+is your child! See here, is this no witches' salve, [Footnote: It
+was believed that the devil gave the witches a salve, by the use
+of which they made themselves invisible, changed themselves into
+animals, flew through the air, &c.] which the constable fetched
+out of thy coffer last night? Is this no witches' salve,
+eh?--_R_. It was a salve for the skin, which would make it
+soft and white, as the apothecary at Wolgast had told her, of whom
+she bought it.
+
+_Q_. Hereupon he shook his head, and went on: How! wilt thou
+then lastly deny that on this last Saturday the 10th July, at
+twelve o'clock at night, thou didst on the Streckelberg call upon
+thy paramour the devil in dreadful words, whereupon he appeared to
+thee in the shape of a great hairy giant, and clipped thee and
+toyed with thee?
+
+At these words she grew more pale than a corpse, and tottered so
+that she was forced to hold by a chair; and I, wretched man, who
+would readily have sworn away my life for her, when I saw and
+heard this, my senses forsook me, so that I fell down from the
+bench, and _Dom. Consul_ had to call in the constable to help
+me up.
+
+When I had come to myself a little, and the impudent varlet saw
+our common consternation, he cried out, grinning at the court the
+while, "Is it all out? is it all out? has she confessed?"
+Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ again showed him the door with a
+sharp rebuke, as might have been expected; and it is said that
+this knave played the pimp for the sheriff, and indeed I think he
+would not otherwise have been so bold.
+
+_Summa_: I should well-nigh have perished in my distress, but
+for the little rose, which by the help of God's mercy kept me up
+bravely; and now the whole court rose and exhorted my poor
+fainting child, by the living God, and as she would save her soul,
+to deny no longer, but in pity to herself and her father to
+confess the truth.
+
+Hereupon she heaved a deep sigh, and grew as red as she had been
+pale before, insomuch that even her hand upon the chair was like
+scarlet, and she did not raise her eyes from the ground.
+
+_R_. She would now then confess the simple truth, as she saw
+right well that wicked people had stolen after and watched her at
+nights. That she had been to seek for amber on the mountain, and
+that to drive away fear she had, as she was wont to do at her
+work, recited the Latin _carmen_ which her father had made on
+the illustrious king Gustavus Adolphus: when young Ruediger of
+Nienkerken, who had ofttimes been at her father's house and talked
+of love to her, came out of the coppice, and when she cried out
+for fear, spoke to her in Latin, and clasped her in his arms. That
+he wore a great wolf's-skin coat, so that folks should not know
+him if they met him, and tell the lord his father that he had been
+on the mountain by night.
+
+At this her confession I fell into sheer despair, and cried in
+great wrath, "O thou ungodly and undutiful child, after all, then,
+thou hast a paramour! Did not I forbid thee to go up the mountain
+by night? What didst thou want on the mountain by night?" and I
+began to moan and weep and wring my hands, so that _Dom.
+Consul_ even had pity on me, and drew near to comfort me.
+Meanwhile she herself came towards me, and began to defend
+herself, saying, with many tears, that she had gone up the
+mountain by night, against my commands, to get so much amber that
+she might secretly buy for me, against my birthday, the _Opera
+Sancti Augustini_, which the Cantor at Wolgast wanted to sell.
+That it was not her fault that the young lord lay in wait for her
+one night; and that she would swear to me, by the living God, that
+naught that was unseemly had happened between them there, and that
+she was still a maid.
+
+And herewith the first hearing was at end, for after _Dom.
+Consul_ had whispered somewhat into the ear of the sheriff, he
+called in the constable again, and bade him keep good watch over
+_Rea_; _item_, not to leave her at large in her dungeon
+any longer, but to put her in chains. These words pierced my very
+heart, and I besought his worship to consider my sacred office,
+and my ancient noble birth, and not to do me such dishonour as to
+put my daughter in chains. That I would answer for her to the
+worshipful court with my own head that she would not escape.
+Whereupon _Dom. Consul_, after he had gone to look at the
+dungeon himself, granted me my request, and commanded the
+constable to leave her as she had been hitherto.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+_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, _salva venia_,
+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 praesidium 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, Ruediger, 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+_Of the malice of the Governor and of old Lizzie--item, of the
+examination of witnesses._
+
+
+The next morning my hairs, which till _datum_ had been
+mingled with grey, were white as snow, albeit the Lord otherwise
+blessed me wondrously. For near daybreak a nightingale flew into
+the elder-bush beneath my window, and sang so sweetly that
+straightway I thought it must be a good angel. For after I had
+hearkened awhile to it, I was all at once able again to pray,
+which since last Sunday I could not do; and the spirit of our Lord
+Jesus Christ began to speak within me, "Abba, Father;" [Footnote:
+Gal. iv. 6.] and straightway I was of good cheer, trusting that
+God would once more be gracious unto me His wretched child; and
+when I had given Him thanks for such great mercy, I fell into a
+refreshing slumber, and slept so long that the blessed sun stood
+high in the heavens when I awoke.
+
+And seeing that my heart was still of good cheer, I sat up in my
+bed, and sang with a loud voice, "Be not dismayed, thou little
+flock:" whereupon Master Seep came into the room, thinking I had
+called him. But he stood reverently waiting till I had done; and
+after marvelling at my snow-white hair, he told me it was already
+seven; _item_, that half my congregation, among others, my
+ploughman, Claus Neels, were already assembled in his house to
+bear witness that day. When I heard this, I bade mine host
+forthwith send Claus to the castle, to ask when the court would
+open, and he brought word back that no one knew, seeing that
+_Dom. Consul_ was already gone that morning to Mellenthin to
+see old Nienkerken, and was not yet come back. This message gave
+me good courage, and I asked the fellow whether he also had come
+to bear witness against my poor child? To which he answered, "Nay,
+I know naught save good of her, and I would give the fellows their
+due, only----"
+
+These words surprised me, and I vehemently urged him to open his
+heart to me. But he began to weep, and at last said that he knew
+nothing. Alas! he knew but too much, and could then have saved my
+poor child if he had willed. But from fear of the torture he held
+his peace, as he since owned; and I will here relate what had
+befallen him that very morning.
+
+He had set out betimes that morning, so as to be alone with his
+sweetheart, who was to go along with him (she is Steffen of Zempin
+his daughter, not farmer Steffen, but the lame gouty Steffen), and
+had got to Pudgla about five, where he found no one in the
+ale-house save old Lizzie Kolken, who straightway hobbled up to
+the castle; and when his sweetheart was gone home again, time hung
+heavy on his hands, and he climbed over the wall into the castle
+garden, where he threw himself on his face behind a hedge to
+sleep. But before long the sheriff came with old Lizzie, and after
+they had looked all round and seen no one, they went into an
+arbour close by him, and conversed as follows:--
+
+_Ille_.--Now that they were alone together, what did she want
+of him?
+
+_Illa_.--She came to get the money for the witchcraft she had
+contrived in the village.
+
+_Ille_.--Of what use had all this witchcraft been to him? My
+child, so far from being frightened, defied him more and more; and
+he doubted whether he should ever have his will of her.
+
+_Illa_.--He should only have patience; when she was laid upon
+the rack she would soon learn to be fond.
+
+_Ille_.--That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should get
+no money.
+
+_Illa_.--What! Must she then do his cattle a mischief?
+
+_Ille_.--Yes, if she felt chilly, and wanted a burning faggot
+to warm her _podex_, she had better. Moreover, he thought
+that she had bewitched him, seeing that his desire for the
+parson's daughter was such as he had never felt before.
+
+_Illa_ (laughing).--He had said the same thing some thirty
+years ago, when he first came after her.
+
+_Ille_.--Ugh! thou old baggage, don't remind me of such
+things, but see to it that you get three witnesses, as I told you
+before, or else methinks they will rack your old joints for you
+after all.
+
+_Illa_.--She had the three witnesses ready, and would leave
+the rest to him. But that if she were racked she would reveal all
+she knew.
+
+_Ille_.--She should hold her ugly tongue, and go to the
+devil.
+
+_Illa_.--So she would, but first she must have her money.
+
+_Ille_.--She should have no money till he had had his will of
+my daughter.
+
+_Illa_.--He might at least pay her for her little pig which
+she herself had bewitched to death, in order that she might not
+get into evil repute.
+
+_Ille_.--She might choose one when his pigs were driven by,
+and say she had paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs
+were driven by, and one ran into the garden, the door being open,
+and as the swineherd followed it, they parted; but the witch
+muttered to herself, "Now help, devil, help, that I may----" but
+he heard no further.
+
+The cowardly fellow, however, hid all this from me, as I have said
+above, and only said, with tears, that he knew nothing. I believed
+him, and sat down at the window to see when _Dom. Consul_
+should return; and when I saw him I rose and went to the castle,
+where the constable, who was already there with my child, met me
+before the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked more joyful than I
+had seen her for a long time, and smiled at me with her sweet
+little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry,
+which made _Dom. Consul_ throw open the door of the
+judgment-chamber, and say, "Ha, ha! thou knowest well what news I
+have brought thee; come in, thou stubborn devil's brat!" Whereupon
+we stepped into the chamber to him, and he lift up his voice and
+spake to me, after he had sat down with the sheriff, who was by.
+
+He said that yester-even, after he had caused me to be carried
+like one dead to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my stubborn
+child had been brought to life again, he had once more adjured
+her, to the utmost of his power, no longer to lie before the face
+of the living God, but to confess the truth; whereupon she had
+borne herself very unruly, and had wrung her hands and wept and
+sobbed, and at last answered that the young _nobilis_ never
+could have said such things, but that his father must have written
+them, who hated her, as she had plainly seen when the Swedish king
+was at Coserow. That he, _Dom. Consul_, had indeed doubted
+the truth of this at the time, but as a just judge had gone that
+morning right early with the _scriba_ to Mellenthin, to
+question the young lord himself.
+
+That I might now see myself what horrible malice was in my
+daughter. For that the old knight had led him to his son's
+bedside, who still lay sick from vexation, and that he had
+confirmed all his father had written, and had cursed the
+scandalous she-devil (as he called my daughter) for seeking to rob
+him of his knightly honour. "What sayest thou now?" he continued;
+"wilt thou still deny thy great wickedness? See here the
+_protocollum_ which the young lord hath signed _manu
+propria!_" But the wretched maid had meanwhile fallen on the
+ground again, and the constable had no sooner seen this than he
+ran into the kitchen, and came back with a burning brimstone
+match, which he was about to hold under her nose.
+
+But I hindered him, and sprinkled her face with water, so that she
+opened her eyes, and raised herself up by a table. She then stood
+awhile, without saying a word or regarding my sorrow. At last she
+smiled sadly, and spake thus: That she clearly saw how true was
+that spoken by the Holy Ghost, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in
+man;" [Footnote: Jer. xvii. 5.] and that the faithlessness of the
+young lord had surely broken her poor heart if the all-merciful
+God had not graciously prevented him, and sent her a dream that
+night, which she would tell, not hoping to persuade the judges,
+but to raise up the white head of her poor father.
+
+"After I had sat and watched all the night," quoth she, "towards
+morning I heard a nightingale sing in the castle garden so sweetly
+that my eyes closed, and I slept. Then methought I was a lamb,
+grazing quietly in my meadow at Coserow. Suddenly the sheriff
+jumped over the hedge, and turned into a wolf, who seized me in
+his jaws, and ran with me towards the Streckelberg, where he had
+his lair. I, poor little lamb, trembled and bleated in vain, and
+saw death before my eyes, when he laid me down before his lair,
+where lay the she-wolf and her young. But behold a hand, like the
+hand of a man, straightway came out of the bushes, and touched the
+wolves, each one with one finger, and crushed them so that naught
+was left of them save a grey powder. Hereupon the hand took me up,
+and carried me back to my meadow."
+
+Only think, beloved reader, how I felt when I heard all this, and
+about the dear nightingale too, which no one can doubt to have
+been the servant of God. I clasped my child with many tears, and
+told her what had happened to me, and we both won such courage and
+confidence as we had never yet felt, to the wonderment of _Dom.
+Consul_, as it seemed; but the sheriff turned as pale as a
+sheet when she stepped towards their worships and said, "And now
+do with me as you will, the lamb fears not, for she is in the
+hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile _Dom. Camerarius_ came
+in with the _scriba_, but was terrified as he chanced to
+touch my daughter's apron with the skirts of his coat; and stood
+and scraped at his coat as a woman scrapes a fish. At last, after
+he had spat out thrice, he asked the court whether it would not
+begin to examine witnesses, seeing that all the people had been
+waiting some time both in the castle and at the ale-house.
+Hereunto they agreed, and the constable was ordered to guard my
+child in his room, until it should please the court to summon her.
+I therefore went with her, but we had to endure much from the
+impudent rogue, seeing he was not ashamed to lay his arm round my
+child her shoulders, and to ask for a kiss _in mea
+presentia_. But, before I could get out a word, she tore
+herself from him, and said, "Ah, thou wicked knave, must I
+complain of thee to the court; hast thou forgotten what thou hast
+already done to me?" To which he answered, laughing, "See, see!
+how coy;" and still sought to persuade her to be more willing, and
+not to forget her own interest; for that he meant as well by her
+as his master; she might believe it or not; with many other
+scandalous words besides which I have forgot; for I took my child
+upon my knees and laid my head on her neck, and we sat and wept.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+_De confrontatione testium_.
+
+
+When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was
+full of people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others
+wept; my child told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse
+was called, who sat on a bench behind, so that we had not seen
+her, the strength wherewith the Lord had gifted her was again at
+an end, and she repeated the words of our Saviour, "He that eateth
+bread with Me hath lift up his heel against Me:" and she held fast
+by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for very
+grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound
+herself about before the court, like a woman in travail. But when
+_Dom. Consul_ threatened that the constable should presently
+help her to her words, she testified that my child had very often
+got up in the night, and called aloud upon the foul fiend.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her?--_R_.
+She never had heard him at all.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had perceived that _Rea_ had a familiar
+spirit, and in what shape? She should think upon her oath, and
+speak the truth.--_R_. She had never seen one.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the
+chimney?--_R_. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the
+door.
+
+_Q_. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or
+pitchfork?--_R_. Once the broom was gone, but she had found
+it again behind the stove, and may be left it there herself by
+mistake.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had never heard _Rea_ cast a spell, or
+wish harm to this or that person?--_R_. No, never; she had
+always wished her neighbours nothing but good, and even in the
+time of bitter famine had taken the bread out of her own mouth to
+give it to others.
+
+_Q_.--Whether she did not know the salve which had been found
+in _Rea_ her coffer?--_R_. Oh, yes! her young mistress
+had brought it back from Wolgast for her skin, and had once given
+her some when she had chapped hands, and it had done her a vast
+deal of good.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had anything further to say?--_R_. No,
+nothing but good.
+
+Hereupon my man Claus Neels was called up. He also came forward in
+tears, but answered every question with a "nay," and at last
+testified that he had never seen nor heard anything bad of my
+child, and knew naught of her doings by night, seeing that he
+slept in the stable with the horses; and that he firmly believed
+that evil folks--and here he looked at old Lizzie--had brought
+this misfortune upon her, and that she was quite innocent.
+
+When it came to the turn of this old limb of Satan, who was to be
+the chief witness, my child again declared that she would not
+accept old Lizzie's testimony against her, and called upon the
+court for justice, for that she had hated her from her youth up,
+and had been longer by habit and repute a witch than she herself.
+
+But the old hag cried out, "God forgive thee thy sins; the whole
+village knows that I am a devout woman, and one serving the Lord
+in all things;" whereupon she called up old Zuter Witthahn and my
+churchwarden Claus Bulk, who bore witness hereto. But old Paasch
+stood and shook his head; nevertheless when my child said,
+"Paasch, wherefore dost thou shake thy head?" he started, and
+answered, "Oh, nothing!"
+
+Howbeit, _Dom. Consul_ likewise perceived this, and asked
+him, whether he had any charge to bring against old Lizzie; if so,
+he should give glory to God, and state the same; _item_, it
+was competent to every one so to do; indeed, the court required of
+him to speak out all he knew.
+
+But from fear of the old dragon, all were still as mice, so that
+you might have heard the flies buzz about the inkstand. I then
+stood up, wretched as I was, and stretched out my arms over my
+amazed and faint-hearted people, and spake: "Can ye thus crucify
+me together with my poor child? have I deserved this at your
+hands? Speak, then; alas, will none speak?" I heard, indeed, how
+several wept aloud, but not one spake; and hereupon my poor child
+was forced to submit.
+
+And the malice of the old hag was such that she not only accused
+my child of the most horrible witchcraft, but also reckoned to a
+day when she had given herself up to Satan to rob her of her
+maiden honour; and she said that Satan had, without doubt, then
+defiled her, when she could no longer heal the cattle, and when
+they all died. Hereupon my child said naught, save that she cast
+down her eyes and blushed deep for shame at such filthiness; and
+to the other blasphemous slander which the old hag uttered with
+many tears, namely, that my daughter had given up her (Lizzie's)
+husband, body and soul, to Satan, she answered as she had done
+before. But when the old hag came to her re-baptism in the sea,
+and gave out that while seeking for strawberries in the coppice
+she had recognised my child's voice, and stolen towards her, and
+perceived these devil's doings, my child fell in smiling, and
+answered, "Oh, thou evil woman! how couldst thou hear my voice
+speaking down by the sea, being thyself in the forest upon the
+mountain? surely thou liest, seeing that the murmur of the waves
+would make that impossible." This angered the old dragon, and
+seeking to get out of the blunder she fell still deeper into it,
+for she said, "I saw thee move thy lips, and from that I knew that
+thou didst call upon thy paramour the devil!" for my child
+straightway replied, "Oh, thou ungodly woman! thou saidst thou
+wert in the forest when thou didst hear my voice; how then up in
+the forest couldst thou see whether I, who was below by the water,
+moved my lips or not?"
+
+Such contradictions amazed even _Dom. Consul_, and he began
+to threaten the old hag with the rack if she told such lies;
+whereupon she answered and said, "List, then, whether I lie! When
+she went naked into the water she had no mark on her body, but
+when she came out again I saw that she had between her breasts a
+mark the size of a silver penny, whence I perceived that the devil
+had given it her, although I had not seen him about her, nor,
+indeed, had I seen any one, either spirit or child of man, for she
+seemed to be quite alone."
+
+Hereupon the sheriff jumped up from his seat, and cried, "Search
+must straightway be made for this mark;" whereupon _Dom.
+Consul_ answered, "Yea, but not by us, but by two women of good
+repute," for he would not hearken to what my child said, that it
+was a mole, and that she had had it from her youth up. Wherefore
+the constable his wife was sent for, and _Dom. Consul_
+muttered somewhat into her ear, and as prayers and tears were of
+no avail, my child was forced to go with her. Howbeit, she
+obtained this favour, that old Lizzie Kolken was not to follow
+her, as she would have done, but our old maid Ilse. I, too, went
+in my sorrow, seeing that I knew not what the women might do to
+her. She wept bitterly as they undressed her, and held her hands
+over her eyes for very shame.
+
+Well-a-day, her body was just as white as my departed wife's;
+although in her childhood, as I remember, she was very yellow, and
+I saw with amazement the mole between her breasts, whereof I had
+never heard aught before. But she suddenly screamed violently and
+started back, seeing that the constable his wife, when nobody
+watched her, had run a needle into the mole, so deep that the red
+blood ran down over her breasts. I was sorely angered thereat, but
+the woman said that she had done it by order of the judge,
+[Footnote: It was believed that these marks were the infallible
+sign of a witch when they were insensible, and that they were
+given by the devil; and every one suspected of witchcraft was
+invariably searched for them.] which, indeed, was true; for when
+we came back into court, and the sheriff asked how it was, she
+testified that there was a mark of the size of a silver penny, of
+a yellowish colour, but that it had feeling, seeing that
+_Rea_ had screamed aloud, when she had, unperceived, driven a
+needle therein. Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_
+suddenly rose, and stepping up to my child, drew her eyelids
+asunder and cried out, beginning to tremble, "Behold the sign
+which never fails:" [Footnote: See, among other authorities,
+Delrio, _Disquisit. magicae_, lib. v. tit. xiv. No. 28.]
+whereupon the whole court started to their feet, and looked at the
+little spot under her right eyelid, which in truth had been left
+there by a sty, but this none would believe. _Dom. Consul_
+now said, "See, Satan hath marked thee on body and soul! and thou
+dost still continue to lie unto the Holy Ghost; but it shall not
+avail thee, and thy punishment will only be the heavier. Oh, thou
+shameless woman! thou hast refused to accept the testimony of old
+Lizzie; wilt thou also refuse that of these people, who have all
+heard thee on the mountain call upon the devil thy paramour, and
+seen him appear in the likeness of a hairy giant, and kiss and
+caress thee?"
+
+Hereupon old Paasch, goodwife Witthahn, and Zuter, came forward
+and bare witness, that they had seen this happen about midnight,
+and that on this declaration they would live and die; that old
+Lizzie had awakened them one Saturday night about eleven o'clock,
+had given them a can of beer, and persuaded them to follow the
+parson's daughter privately, and to see what she did upon the
+mountain. At first they refused; but in order to get at the truth
+about the witchcraft in the village, they had at last, after a
+devout prayer, consented, and had followed her in God's name.
+
+They had soon through the bushes seen the witch in the moonshine;
+she seemed to dig, and spake in some strange tongue the while,
+whereupon the grim arch-fiend suddenly appeared, and fell upon her
+neck. Hereupon they ran away in consternation, but, by the help of
+the Almighty God, on whom from the very first they had set their
+faith, they were preserved from the power of the evil one. For,
+notwithstanding he had turned round on hearing a rustling in the
+bushes, he had had no power to harm them.
+
+Finally, it was even charged to my child as a crime, that she had
+fainted on the road from Coserow to Pudgla, and none would believe
+that this had been caused by vexation at old Lizzie her singing,
+and not from a bad conscience, as stated by the judge.
+
+When all the witnesses had been examined, _Dom. Consul_ asked
+her whether she had brewed the storm, what was the meaning of the
+frog that dropped into her lap, _item_, the hedgehog which
+lay directly in his path? To all of which she answered, that she
+had caused the one as little as she knew of the other. Whereupon
+_Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked her, last of all,
+whether she would have an advocate, or trust entirely in the good
+judgment of the court. To this she gave answer, that she would by
+all means have an advocate. Wherefore I sent my ploughman, Claus
+Neels, the next day to Wolgast to fetch the _Syndicus_
+Michelson, who is a worthy man, and in whose house I have been
+many times when I went to the town, seeing that he courteously
+invited me.
+
+I must also note here that at this time my old Ilse came back to
+live with me; for after the witnesses were gone she stayed behind
+in the chamber, and came boldly up to me, and besought me to
+suffer her once more to serve her old master and her dear young
+mistress; for that now she had saved her poor soul, and confessed
+all she knew. Wherefore she could no longer bear to see her old
+master in such woeful plight, without so much as a mouthful of
+victuals, seeing that she had heard that old wife Seep, who had
+till _datum_ prepared the food for me and my child, often let
+the porridge burn; _item_, over-salted the fish and the meat.
+Moreover that I was so weakened by age and misery, that I needed
+help and support, which she would faithfully give me, and was
+ready to sleep in the stable, if needs must be; that she wanted no
+wages for it, I was only not to turn her away. Such kindness made
+my daughter to weep, and she said to me, "Behold, father, the good
+folks come back to us again; think you, then, that the good angels
+will forsake us for ever? I thank thee, old Ilse; thou shalt
+indeed prepare my food for me, and always bring it as far as the
+prison-door, if thou mayest come no further; and mark, then, I
+pray thee, what the constable does therewith."
+
+This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her
+abode in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for
+what she then did for me and for my poor child!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+_How the Syndicus Dom. Michelson arrived, and prepared his
+defence of my poor child._
+
+
+The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., _Dom. Syndicus_
+came driving up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge
+bag full of books with him, but was not so friendly in his manner
+as was usual with him, but very grave and silent. And after he had
+saluted me in my own room, and had asked how it was possible for
+my child to have come to such misfortune, I related to him the
+whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head. On my
+asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he
+answered, "Nay;" he would rather first study the _Acta_. And
+after he had eaten of some wild duck which my old Ilse had roasted
+for him, he would tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the
+castle, whence he did not return till the following afternoon. His
+manner was not more friendly now than at his first coming, and I
+followed him with sighs when he asked me to lead him to my
+daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for the first
+time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole life
+had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for
+very grief. But she smiled and cried out to _Dom. Syndicus_,
+"Are you indeed the good angel who will cause my chains to fall
+from my hands, as was done of yore to St. Peter?" [Footnote: The
+Acts of the Apostles, xii. 7.] To which he replied, with a sigh,
+"May the Almighty God grant it;" and as, save the chair whereon my
+child sat against the wall, there was none other in the dungeon
+(which was a filthy and stinking hole, wherein were more wood-lice
+than ever I saw in my life), _Dom. Syndicus_ and I sat down
+on her bed, which had been left for her at my prayer; and he
+ordered the constable to go his ways, until he should call him
+back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her
+justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I
+perceived, from the shadow at the door, that some one must be
+standing without. I therefore went quickly to the door, which was
+half open, and found the impudent constable, who stood there to
+listen. This so angered _Dom. Syndicus_ that he snatched up
+his staff in order to hasten his going, but the arch-rogue took to
+his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took this opportunity
+to tell her worshipful _defensor_ what she had suffered from
+the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable
+might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last
+night again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked
+aloud and beaten him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had
+left her. This _Dom. Syndicus_ promised to obtain for her;
+but with regard to the _defensio_, wherewith she now went on,
+he thought it would be better to make no further mention of the
+_impetus_ which the sheriff had made on her chastity. "For,"
+said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to give
+sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm
+than good, seeing that the _praeses_ thereof is a cousin of
+the sheriff, and ofttimes goes a hunting with him. Besides, thou
+being charged with a capital crime hast no _fides_,
+especially as thou canst bring no witnesses against him. Thou
+couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst confirm the
+charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to save
+thee by my _defensio_." These reasons seemed sufficient to us
+both, and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who
+seeth in secret, and to complain of our wrongs to Him, as we might
+not complain to men. But all my daughter said about old
+Lizzie--_item_, of the good report wherein she herself had,
+till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write down, and
+add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so
+as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture.
+That she was to make herself easy and commend herself to God;
+within two days he hoped to have his _defensio_ ready and to
+read it to her. And now, when he called the constable back again,
+the fellow did not come, but sent his wife to lock the prison, and
+I took leave of my child with many tears: _Dom. Syndicus_
+told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a husband had
+done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the
+woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had
+forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue,
+and that she was to say her _defensio_ over again in Latin,
+if she was able. Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a
+quarter of an hour or more, in such wise that not only _Dom.
+Syndicus_ but I myself also was amazed, seeing that she did not
+stop for a single word, save the word "hedgehog," which we both
+had forgotten at the moment when she asked us what it was.
+_Summa.--Dom. Syndicus_ grew far more gracious when she had
+finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he
+would set to work forthwith.
+
+After this I did not see him again till the morning of the third
+day at ten o'clock, seeing that he sat at work in a room at the
+castle, which the sheriff had given him, and also ate there, as he
+sent me word by old Ilse when she carried him his breakfast next
+day.
+
+At the above-named time, he sent the new constable for me, who,
+meanwhile, had been fetched from Uzdom at his desire. For the
+sheriff was exceeding wroth when he heard that the impudent fellow
+had attempted my child in the prison, and cried out in a rage,
+"S'death and 'ouns, I'll mend thy coaxing!" Whereupon he gave him
+a sound threshing with a dog-whip he held in his hand, to make
+sure that she should be at peace from him.
+
+But, alas! the new constable was even worse than the old, as will
+be shown hereafter. His name was Master Koeppner, and he was a tall
+fellow with a grim face, and a mouth so wide that at every word he
+said the spittle ran out at the corners, and stuck in his long
+beard like soapsuds, so that my child had an especial fear and
+loathing of him. Moreover, on all occasions he seemed to laugh in
+mockery and scorn, as he did when he opened the prison-door to us,
+and saw my poor child sitting in her grief and distress. But he
+straightway left us without waiting to be told, whereupon _Dom.
+Syndicus_ drew his defence out of his pocket, and read it to
+us; we have remembered the main points thereof, and I will recount
+them here, but most of the _auctores_ we have forgotten.
+
+1. He began by saying that my daughter had ever till now stood in
+good repute, as not only the whole village, but even my servants,
+bore witness; _ergo_, she could not be a witch, inasmuch as
+the Saviour hath said, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
+neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit" (Matt. vii.).
+
+2. With regard to the witchcraft in the village, that belike was
+the contrivance of old Lizzie, seeing that she bore a great hatred
+towards _Rea_, and had long been in evil repute, for that the
+parishioners dared not to speak out, only from fear of the old
+witch; wherefore Zuter her little girl must be examined, who had
+heard old Lizzie her goodman tell her she had a familiar spirit,
+and that he would tell it to the parson; for that notwithstanding
+the above-named was but a child, still it was written in Ps.
+viii., "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained
+strength...;" and the Saviour Himself appealed (Matt. xxi.) to the
+testimony of little children.
+
+3. Furthermore, old Lizzie might have bewitched the crops; item,
+the fruit-trees, inasmuch as none could believe that _Rea_,
+who had ever shown herself a dutiful child, would have bewitched
+her own father's corn, or made caterpillars come on his trees; for
+no one, according to Scripture, can serve two masters.
+
+4. _Item_, she (old Lizzie) might very well have been the
+woodpecker that was seen by _Rea_ and old Paasch on the
+Streckelberg, and herself have given over her goodman to the evil
+one for fear of the parson, inasmuch as Spitzel, _De
+Expugnatione Orci_, asserts; _item_, the _Malleus
+Malesicarum_ [Footnote: The celebrated "Hammer for Witches" of
+Innocent VIII, which appeared 1489, and gave directions for the
+whole course of proceeding to be observed at trials for
+witchcraft.] proves beyond doubt, that the wicked children of
+Satan ofttimes change themselves into all manner of beasts, as the
+foul fiend himself likewise seduced our first parents in the shape
+of a serpent (Gen. iii).
+
+5. That old Lizzie had most likely made the wild weather when
+_Dom. Consul_ was coming home with _Rea_ from the
+Streckelberg, seeing it was impossible that _Rea_ could have
+done it, as she was sitting in the coach, whereas witches when
+they raise storms always stand in the water and throw it over
+their heads backwards; _item_, beat the stones soundly with a
+stick, as Hannold relates. Wherefore she too, may be, knew best
+about the frog and the hedgehog.
+
+6. That _Rea_ was erroneously charged with that as a
+_crimen_ which ought rather to serve as her justification,
+namely, her sudden riches. For the _Malleus Malesicarum_
+expressly says that a witch can never grow rich, seeing that
+Satan, to do dishonour to God, always buys them for a vile price,
+so that they should not betray themselves by their riches.
+[Footnote: The original words of the "Hammer for Witches," tom. i.
+quest. 18, in answer to the questions, _Cur maleficoe non
+ditentur?_ are, _Ut juxta complacentiam daemonis in
+contumeliam Creatoris, quantum possibile est, pro vilissimo pretio
+emantur, et secundo, ne in divitas notentur_.] Wherefore that as
+_Rea_ had grown rich, she could not have got her wealth from
+the foul fiend, but it must be true that she had found amber on
+the mountain; that the spells of old Lizzie might have been the
+cause why they could not find the vein of amber again, or that the
+sea might have washed away the cliff below, as often happens,
+whereupon the top had slipped down, so that only a _miraculum
+naturale_ had taken place. The proof which he brought forward
+from Scripture we have quite forgotten, seeing it was but
+middling.
+
+7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself
+that she had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about
+_Rea_, wherefore she might in truth have been only naturally
+bathing, in order to greet the King of Sweden next day, seeing
+that the weather was hot, and that bathing was not of itself
+sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that she had as
+little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of
+Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe
+herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David
+could see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan,
+inasmuch as there was feeling therein; _ergo_, it must be a
+natural mole, and it was a lie that she had it not before bathing.
+Moreover, that on this point the old harlot was nowise to be
+believed, seeing that she had fallen from one contradiction into
+another about it, as stated in the _Acta_.
+
+8. Neither was it just to accuse _Rea_ of having bewitched
+Paasch his little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out
+of the room, nay, even sat herself down on the little girl her
+belly when the pastor went to see her, it most likely was that
+wicked woman (who was known to have a great spite against
+_Rea_) that contrived the spell through the power of the foul
+fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was
+"a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John
+viii.).
+
+9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain
+in the shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest
+_gravamen_, inasmuch as not only old Lizzie, but likewise
+three trustworthy witnesses, had seen him. But who could tell
+whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had contrived this
+devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether; for
+that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as
+_Rea_ had declared it to be, it still was very likely that
+she had not lied, but had mistaken Satan for the young lord, as he
+appeared in his shape; _exemplum_, for this was to be found
+even in Scripture: for that all _Theologi_ of the whole
+Protestant Church were agreed, that the vision which the witch of
+Endor showed to King Saul was not Samuel himself, but the
+arch-fiend; nevertheless, Saul had taken it for Samuel. In like
+manner the old harlot might have conjured up the devil before
+_Rea_, who did not perceive that it was not the young lord,
+but Satan, who had put on that shape in order to seduce her; for
+as _Rea_ was a fair woman, none could wonder that the devil
+gave himself more trouble for her than for an old withered hag,
+seeing he has ever sought after fair women to lie with them.
+[Footnote: Gen. vi. 2.]
+
+Lastly, he argued that _Rea_ was in nowise marked as a witch,
+for that she neither had bleared and squinting eyes nor a hooked
+nose, whereas old Lizzie had both, which Theophrastus Paracelsus
+declares to be an unfailing mark of a witch, saying, "Nature
+marketh none thus unless by abortion, for these are the chiefest
+signs whereby witches be known whom the spirit _Asiendens_
+hath subdued unto himself."
+
+When _Dom. Syndicus_ had read his _defensio_, my
+daughter was so rejoiced thereat that she would have kissed his
+hand, but he snatched it from her and breathed upon it thrice,
+whereby we could easily see that he himself was nowise in earnest
+with his _defensio_. Soon after he took leave in an
+ill-humour, after commending her to the care of the Most High, and
+begged that I would make my farewell as short as might be, seeing
+that he purposed to return home that very day, the which, alas! I
+very unwillingly did.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+_How my poor child was sentenced to be put to the question._
+
+
+After _Acta_ had been sent to the honourable the central
+court, about fourteen days passed over before any answer was
+received. My lord the sheriff was especially gracious towards me
+the while, and allowed me to see my daughter as often as I would
+(seeing that the rest of the court were gone home), wherefore I
+was with her nearly all day. And when the constable grew impatient
+of keeping watch over me, I gave him a fee to lock me in together
+with my child. And the all-merciful God was gracious unto us, and
+caused us often and gladly to pray, for we had a steadfast hope,
+believing that the cross we had seen in the heavens would now soon
+pass away from us, and that the ravening wolf would receive his
+reward when the honourable high court had read through the
+_Acta_, and should come to the excellent _defensio_
+which _Dom. Syndicus_ had constructed for my child. Wherefore
+I began to be of good cheer again, especially when I saw my
+daughter her cheeks growing of a right lovely red. But on
+Thursday, 25th _mensis Augusti_, at noon, the worshipful
+court drove into the castle yard again as I sat in the prison with
+my child, as I was wont; and old Ilse brought us our food, but
+could not tell us the news for weeping. But the tall constable
+peeped in at the door grinning, and cried, "Oh, ho! they are come,
+they are come; now the tickling will begin:" whereat my poor child
+shuddered, but less at the news than at sight of the fellow
+himself. Scarce was he gone than he came back again to take off
+her chains and to fetch her away. So I followed her into the
+judgment-chamber, where _Dom. Consul_ read out the sentence
+of the honourable high court as follows:--That she should once
+more be questioned in kindness touching the articles contained in
+the indictment; and if she then continued stubborn she should be
+subjected to the _peine forte et dure_, for that the
+_defensio_ she had set up did not suffice, and that there
+were _indicia legitima, praegnantia et sufficientia ad torturam
+ipsam_; to wit--1. _Mala sama_.
+
+2. _Malesicum, publice commissum_.
+
+3. _Apparitio daemonis in monte_.
+
+Whereupon the most honourable central court cited about 20
+_auctores_, whereof, howbeit, we remember but little. When
+_Don. Consul_ had read out this to my child, he once more
+lift up his voice and admonished her with many words to confess of
+her own free will, for that the truth must now come to light.
+
+Hereupon she steadfastly replied, that after the _defensio_
+of _Dom. Syndicus_ she had indeed hoped for a better
+sentence; but that, as it was the will of God to try her yet more
+hardly, she resigned herself altogether into His gracious hands,
+and could not confess aught save what she had said before, namely,
+that she was innocent, and that evil men had brought this misery
+upon her. Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ motioned the constable, who
+straightway opened the door of the next room, and admitted
+_Pastor Benzensis_ [Footnote: The minister at Bentz, a
+village situated at a short distance from Pudgla.] in his
+surplice, who had been sent for by the court to admonish her still
+better out of the Word of God. He heaved a deep sigh, and said,
+"Mary, Mary, is it thus I must meet thee again?" Whereupon she
+began to weep bitterly, and to protest her innocence afresh. But
+he heeded not her distress; and as soon as he had heard her pray,
+"Our Father," "The eyes of all wait upon Thee," and "God the
+Father dwell with us," he lift up his voice and declared to her
+the hatred of the living God to all witches and warlocks, seeing
+that not only is the punishment of fire awarded to them in the Old
+Testament, but that the Holy Ghost expressly saith in the New
+Testament (Gal. v.), "That they which do such things shall not
+inherit the kingdom of God;" but "shall have their part in the
+lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second
+death" (Apocal. xxi.). Wherefore she must not be stubborn nor
+murmur against the court when she was tormented, seeing that it
+was all done out of Christian love, and to save her poor soul.
+That, for the sake of God and her salvation, she should no longer
+delay repentance, and thereby cause her body to be tormented and
+give over her wretched soul to Satan, who certainly would not
+fulfil those promises in hell which he had made her here upon
+earth; seeing that "he was a murderer from the beginning--a liar
+and the father of it" (John viii.). "Oh!" cried he, "Mary, my
+child, who so oft hast sat upon my knees, and for whom I now cry
+every morning and every night unto my God, if thou wilt have no
+pity upon thee and me, have pity at least upon thy worthy father,
+whom I cannot look upon without tears, seeing that his hairs have
+turned snow white within a few days, and save thy soul, my child,
+and confess! Behold, thy Heavenly Father grieveth over thee no
+less than thy fleshly father, and the holy angels veil their faces
+for sorrow that thou, who wert once their darling sister, art now
+become the sister and bride of the devil. Return, therefore, and
+repent! This day thy Saviour calleth thee, poor stray lamb, back
+into His flock, 'And ought not this woman, being a daughter of
+Abraham, whom Satan hath bound... be loosed from this bond?' Such
+are His merciful words (Luke xiii.); _item_, 'Return, thou
+backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause Mine
+anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful' (Jer. iii.). Return
+then, thou backsliding soul, unto the Lord thy God! He who heard
+the prayer of the idolatrous Manasseh when 'he besought the Lord
+his God and humbled himself (2 Chron. xxxiii.); who, through Paul,
+accepted the repentance of the sorcerers at Ephesus (Acts xix.),
+the same merciful God now crieth unto thee as unto the angel of
+the church of Ephesus, 'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art
+fallen and repent' (Apocal. ii.). O Mary, Mary, remember, my
+child, from whence thou art fallen, and repent!"
+
+Hereupon he held his peace, and it was some time before she could
+say a word for tears and sobs; but at last she answered, "If lies
+are no less hateful to God than witchcraft, I may not lie, but
+must rather declare, to the glory of God, as I have ever declared,
+that I am innocent."
+
+Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and frowned, and
+asked the tall constable if all was ready, _Item_, whether
+the women were at hand to undress _Rea_; whereupon he
+answered with a grin, as he was wont, "Ho, ho, I have never been
+wanting in my duty, nor will I be wanting to-day; I will tickle
+her in such wise that she shall soon confess."
+
+When he had said this, _Dom. Consul_ turned to my daughter
+and said, "Thou art a foolish thing, and knowest not the torment
+which awaits thee, and therefore is it that thou still art
+stubborn. Now then, follow me to the torture-chamber, where the
+executioner shall show thee the _instrumenta_, and thou
+mayest yet think better of it, when thou hast seen what the
+question is like."
+
+Hereupon he went into another room, and the constable followed him
+with my child. And when I would have gone after them, _Pastor
+Benzensis_ held me back, with many tears, and conjured me not
+to do so, but to tarry where I was. But I hearkened not unto him,
+and tore myself from him, and swore that so long as a single vein
+should beat in my wretched body, I would never forsake my child. I
+therefore went into the next room, and from thence down into a
+vault, where was the torture-chamber, wherein were no windows, so
+that those without might not hear the cries of the tormented. Two
+torches were already burning there when I went in, and although
+_Dom. Consul_ would at first have sent me away, after a while
+he had pity upon me, so that he suffered me to stay.
+
+And now that hell-hound the constable stepped forward, and first
+showed my poor child the ladder, saying with savage glee, "See
+here! first of all, thou wilt be laid on that, and thy hands and
+feet will be tied. Next the thumb-screw here will be put upon
+thee, which straightway will make the blood to spirt out at the
+tips of thy fingers; thou mayest see that they are still red with
+the blood of old Gussy Biehlke, who was burnt last year, and who,
+like thee, would not confess at first. If thou still wilt not
+confess, I shall next put these Spanish boots on thee, and should
+they be too large, I shall just drive in a wedge, so that the
+calf, which is now at the back of thy leg, will be driven to the
+front, and the blood will shoot out of thy feet, as when thou
+squeezest blackberries in a bag.
+
+"Again, if thou wilt not yet confess--holla!" shouted he, and
+kicked open a door behind him, so that the whole vault shook, and
+my poor child fell upon her knees for fright. Before long two
+women brought in a bubbling cauldron, full of boiling pitch and
+brimstone. This cauldron the hell-hound ordered them to set down
+on the ground, and drew forth, from under the red cloak he wore, a
+goose's wing, wherefrom he plucked five or six quills, which he
+dipped into the boiling brimstone. After he had held them awhile
+in the cauldron he threw them upon the earth, where they twisted
+about and spirted the brimstone on all sides. And then he called
+to my poor child again, "See! these quills I shall throw upon thy
+white loins, and the burning brimstone will presently eat into thy
+flesh down to the very bones, so that thou wilt thereby have a
+foretaste of the joys which await thee in hell."
+
+When he had spoken thus far, amid sneers and laughter, I was so
+overcome with rage that I sprang forth out of the corner where I
+stood leaning my trembling joints against an old barrel, and
+cried, "Oh, thou hellish dog! sayest thou this of thyself, or have
+others bidden thee?" Whereupon, however, the fellow gave me such a
+blow upon the breast that I fell backwards against the wall, and
+_Dom. Consul_ called out in great wrath, "You old fool, if
+you needs must stay here, at any rate leave the constable in
+peace, for if not I will have you thrust out of the chamber
+forthwith. The constable has said no more than is his duty; and it
+will thus happen to thy child if she confess not, and if it appear
+that the foul fiend hath given her some charm against the
+torture." [Footnote: It was believed that when witches endured
+torture with unusual patience, or even slept during the operation,
+which, strange to say, frequently occured, the devil had gifted
+them with insensibility to pain by means of an amulet which they
+concealed in some secret part of their persons.--Zedler's
+Universal Lexicon, vol. xliv., art, "Torture."] Hereupon this
+hell-hound went on to speak to my poor child, without heeding me,
+save that he laughed in my face: "Look here! when thou hast thus
+been well shorn, ho, ho, ho! I shall pull thee up by means of
+these two rings in the floor and the roof, stretch thy arms above
+thy head, and bind them fast to the ceiling; whereupon I shall
+take these two torches, and hold them under thy shoulders, till
+thy skin will presently become like the rind of a smoked ham. Then
+thy hellish paramour will help thee no longer, and thou wilt
+confess the truth. And now thou hast seen and heard all that I
+shall do to thee, in the name of God, and by order of the
+magistrates."
+
+And now _Dom. Consul_ once more came forward and admonished
+her to confess the truth. But she abode by what she had said from
+the first; whereupon he delivered her over to the two women who
+had brought in the cauldron, to strip her naked as she was born,
+and to clothe her in the black torture-shift; after which they
+were once more to lead her barefooted up the steps before the
+worshipful court. But one of these women was the sheriff his
+housekeeper (the other was the impudent constable his wife), and
+my daughter said that she would not suffer herself to be touched
+save by honest women, and assuredly not by the housekeeper, and
+begged _Dom. Consul_ to send for her maid, who was sitting in
+her prison reading the Bible, if he knew of no other decent woman
+at hand. Hereupon the housekeeper began to pour forth a wondrous
+deal of railing and ill words, but _Dom. Consul_ rebuked her,
+and answered my daughter that he would let her have her wish in
+this matter too, and bade the impudent constable his wife call the
+maid hither from out of the prison. After he had said this, he
+took me by the arm, and prayed me so long to go up with him, for
+that no harm would happen to my daughter as yet, that I did as he
+would have me.
+
+Before long she herself came up, led between the two women,
+barefooted, and in the black torture-shift, but so pale that I
+myself should scarce have known her. The hateful constable, who
+followed close behind, seized her by the hand, and led her before
+the worshipful court.
+
+Hereupon the admonitions began all over again, and _Dom.
+Consul_ bade her look upon the brown spots that were upon the
+black shift, for that they were the blood of old wife Biehlke, and
+to consider that within a few minutes it would in like manner be
+stained with her own blood. Hereupon she answered, "I have
+considered that right well, but I hope that my faithful Saviour,
+who hath laid this torment upon me, being innocent, will likewise
+help me to bear it, as He helped the holy martyrs of old; for if
+these, through God's help, overcame by faith the torments
+inflicted on them by blind heathens, I also can overcome the
+torture inflicted on me by blind heathens, who, indeed, call
+themselves Christians, but who are more cruel than those of yore;
+for the old heathens only caused the holy virgins to be torn of
+savage beasts, but ye which have received the new commandment,
+'That ye love one another; as your Saviour hath loved you, that ye
+also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are His
+disciples' (St. John xiii.); yourselves will act the part of
+savage beasts, and tear with your own hands the body of an
+innocent maiden, your sister, who has never done aught to harm
+you. Do then as ye list, but have a care how ye will answer it to
+the highest Judge of all. Again, I say, the lamb feareth naught,
+for it is in the hand of the Good Shepherd." When my matchless
+child had thus spoken, _Dom. Consul_ rose, pulled off the
+black skull-cap which he ever wore, because the top of his head
+was already bald, bowed to the court, and said, "We hereby make
+known to the worshipful court, that the question ordinary and
+extraordinary of the stubborn and blaspheming witch, Mary
+Schweidler, is about to begin, in the name of the Father, and of
+the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
+
+Hereupon all the court rose save the sheriff, who had got up
+before, and was walking uneasily up and down in the room. But of
+all that now follows, and of what I myself did, I remember not one
+word, but will relate it all as I have received it from my
+daughter and other _testes_, and they have told me as
+follows:--
+
+That when _Dom. Consul_ after these words had taken up the
+hour-glass which stood upon the table, and walked on before, I
+would go with him, whereupon _Pastor Benzensis_ first prayed
+me with many words and tears to desist from my purpose, and when
+that was of no avail my child herself stroked my cheeks, saying,
+"Father, have you ever read that the Blessed Virgin stood by when
+her guileless Son was scourged? Depart, therefore, from me. You
+shall stand by the pile whereon I am burned, that I promise you;
+for in like manner did the Blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the
+cross. But now, go; go, I pray you, for you will not be able to
+bear it, neither shall I!"
+
+And when this also failed, _Dom. Consul_ bade the constable
+seize me, and by main force lock me into another room; whereupon,
+however, I tore myself away, and fell at his feet, conjuring him
+by the wounds of Christ not to tear me from my child; that I would
+never forget his kindness and mercy, but pray for him day and
+night; nay, that at the day of judgment I would be his intercessor
+with God and the holy angels if that he would but let me go with
+my child; that I would be quite quiet, and not speak one single
+word, but that I must go with my child, &c.
+
+This so moved the worthy man that he burst into tears, and so
+trembled with pity for me that the hour-glass fell from his hands
+and rolled right before the feet of the sheriff, as though God
+Himself would signify to him that his glass was soon to run out;
+and, indeed, he understood it right well, for he grew white as any
+chalk when he picked it up, and gave it back to _Dom.
+Consul_. The latter at last gave way, saying that this day
+would make him ten years older; but he bade the impudent
+constable, who also went with us, lead me away if I made any
+_rumor_ during the torture. And hereupon the whole court went
+below, save the sheriff, who said his head ached, and that he
+believed his old _malum_, the gout, was coming upon him
+again, wherefore he went into another chamber, _item_,
+_Pastor Benzensis_ likewise departed.
+
+Down in the vault the constables first brought in tables and
+chairs, whereon the court sat, and _Dom. Consul_ also pushed
+a chair toward me, but I sat not thereon, but threw myself upon my
+knees in a corner. When this was done they began again with their
+vile admonitions, and as my child, like her guileless Saviour
+before His unrighteous judges, answered not a word, _Dom.
+Consul_ rose up and bade the tall constable lay her on the
+torture-bench.
+
+She shook like an aspen leaf when he bound her hands and feet; and
+when he was about to bind over her sweet eyes a nasty old filthy
+clout wherein my maid had seen him carry fish but the day before,
+and which was still all over shining scales, I perceived it, and
+pulled off my silken neckerchief, begging him to use that instead,
+which he did. Hereupon the thumb-screw was put on her, and she was
+once more asked whether she would confess freely, but she only
+shook her poor blinded head, and sighed with her dying Saviour,
+"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," and then in Greek, "Thee mou, thee
+mou, hiva thi me hegkatelipes." [Footnote: "My God, My God, why
+hast Thou forsaken Me?"-Matt, xxvii. 46.] Whereat _Dom.
+Consul_ started back, and made the sign of the cross (for
+inasmuch as he knew no Greek, he believed, as he afterwards said
+himself, that she was calling upon the devil to help her), and
+then called to the constable with a loud voice, "Screw!"
+
+But when I heard this I gave such a cry that the whole vault
+shook; and when my poor child, who was dying of terror and
+despair, had heard my voice, she first struggled with her bound
+hands and feet like a lamb that lies dying in the slaughter-house,
+and then cried out, "Loose me, and I will confess whatsoe'er you
+will." Hereat _Dom. Consul_ so greatly rejoiced, that while
+the constable unbound her, he fell on his knees, and thanked God
+for having spared him this anguish. But no sooner was my poor
+desperate child unbound, and had laid aside her crown of thorns (I
+mean my silken neckerchief), than she jumped off the ladder, and
+flung herself upon me, who lay for dead in the corner in a deep
+swound.
+
+This greatly angered the worshipful court, and when the constable
+had borne me away, _Rea_ was admonished to make her
+confession according to promise. But seeing she was too weak to
+stand upon her feet, _Dom. Consul_ gave her a chair to sit
+upon, although _Dom. Camerarius_ grumbled thereat, and these
+were the chief questions which were put to her by order of the
+most honourable high central court, as _Dom. Consul_ said,
+and which were registered _ad protocollum._
+
+_Q._ Whether she could bewitch?--_R._ Yes, she could
+bewitch.
+
+_Q._ Who taught her to do so?--_R._ Satan himself.
+
+_Q._ How many devils had she?--_R._ One devil was enough
+for her.
+
+_Q_. What was this devil called?--_Illa_ (considering).
+His name was _Disidaemonia_. [Footnote: Greek--Superstition.
+What an extraordinary woman!]
+
+Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered and said that that must be a
+very terrible devil indeed, for that he had never heard such a
+name before, and that she must spell it, so that _Scriba_
+might make no error; which she did, and he then went on as
+follows:--
+
+_Q_. In what shape had he appeared to her?--_R_. In the
+shape of the sheriff, and sometimes as a goat with terrible horns.
+
+_Q_. Whether Satan had re-baptized her, and where?--_R_.
+In the sea.
+
+_Q_. What name had he given her?--_R_.-------.
+[Footnote: It was impossible to decipher this name in the
+manuscript.]
+
+_Q_. Whether any of the neighbours had been by when she was
+re-baptized, and which of them?--_R_. Hereupon my matchless
+child cast up her eyes towards heaven, as though doubting whether
+she should fyle old Lizzie or not, but at last she said, No!
+
+_Q_. She must have had sponsors; who were they? and what gift
+had they given her as christening money?--_R_. There were
+none there save spirits; wherefore old Lizzie could see no one
+when she came and looked on at her re-baptism.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had ever lived with the devil?--_R_.
+She never had lived anywhere save in her father's house.
+
+_Q_. She did not choose to understand. He meant whether she
+had ever played the wanton with Satan, and known him carnally?
+Hereupon she blushed, and was so ashamed that she covered her face
+with her hands, and presently began to weep and to sob: and as,
+after many questions, she gave no answer, she was again admonished
+to speak the truth, or that the executioner should lift her up on
+the ladder again. At last she said "No!" which howbeit the
+worshipful court would not believe, and bade the executioner seize
+her again, whereupon she answered "Yes!"
+
+_Q._ Whether she had found the devil hot or cold?--_R_.
+She did not remember which.
+
+_Q_. Whether she had ever conceived by Satan, and given birth
+to a changeling, and of what shape?--_R_. No, never.
+
+_Q_. Whether the foul fiend had given her any sign or mark
+about her body, and in what part thereof?--_R_. That the mark
+had already been seen by the worshipful court.
+
+She was next charged with all the witchcraft done in the village,
+and owned to it all, save that she still said that she knew naught
+of old Seden his death, _item_, of little Paasch her
+sickness, nor, lastly, would she confess that she had, by the help
+of the foul fiend, raked up my crop or conjured the caterpillars
+into my orchard. And albeit they again threatened her with the
+question, and even ordered the executioner to lay her on the bench
+and put on the thumbscrew to frighten her; she remained firm, and
+said, "Why should you torture me, seeing that I have confessed far
+heavier crimes than these, which it will not save my life to
+deny?"
+
+Hereupon the worshipful court at last were satisfied, and suffered
+her to be lifted off the torture-bench, especially as she
+confessed the _articulus principalis_; to wit, that Satan had
+really appeared to her on the mountain in the shape of a hairy
+giant. Of the storm and the frog, item, of the hedgehog, nothing
+was said, inasmuch as the worshipful court had by this time seen
+the folly of supposing that she could have brewed a storm while
+she quietly sat in the coach. Lastly, she prayed that it might be
+granted to her to suffer death clothed in the garments which she
+had worn when she went to greet the King of Sweden; _item_,
+that they would suffer her wretched father to be driven with her
+to the stake, and to stand by while she was burned, seeing that
+she had promised him this in the presence of the worshipful court.
+
+Hereupon she was once more given into the charge of the tall
+constable, who was ordered to put her into a stronger and severer
+prison. But he had not led her out of the chamber before the
+sheriff his bastard, whom he had had by the housekeeper, came into
+the vault with a drum, and kept drumming and crying out, "Come to
+the roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereat _Dom.
+Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and ran after him, but he could
+not catch him, seeing that the young varlet knew all the ins and
+outs of the vault. Without doubt it was the Lord who sent me the
+swound, so that I should be spared this fresh grief; wherefore to
+Him alone be honour and glory. Amen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+_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, _salva
+venia_, 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.).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+_How Satan sifted me like wheat, whereas my daughter withstood
+him right bravely._
+
+
+On Monday I left my bed betimes, and as I felt in passable good
+case, I went up to the castle to see whether I might peradventure
+get to my daughter. But I could not find either constable, albeit
+I had brought a few groats with me to give them as beer-money;
+neither would the folks that I met tell me where they were;
+_item_, the impudent constable his wife, who was in the
+kitchen making brimstone matches. And when I asked her when her
+husband would come back, she said not before to-morrow morning
+early; _item_, that the other constable would not be here any
+sooner. Hereupon I begged her to lead me to my daughter herself,
+at the same time showing her the two groats; but she answered that
+she had not the keys, and knew not how to get at them: moreover,
+she said she did not know where my child was now shut up, seeing
+that I would have spoken to her through the door; _item_, the
+cook, the huntsman, and whomsoever else I met in my sorrow, said
+they knew not in what hole the witch might lie.
+
+Hereupon I went all round about the castle, and laid my ear
+against every little window that looked as though it might be her
+window, and cried, "Mary, my child, where art thou?" _Item_,
+at every grating I found I kneeled down, bowed my head, and called
+in like manner into the vault below. But all in vain; I got no
+answer anywhere. The sheriff at length saw what I was about, and
+came down out of the castle to me with a very gracious air, and
+taking me by the hand, he asked me what I sought? But when I
+answered him that I had not seen my only child since last
+Thursday, and prayed him to show pity upon me, and let me be led
+to her, he said that could not be, but that I was to come up into
+his chamber, and talk further of the matter. By the way he said,
+"Well, so the old witch told you fine things about me, but you see
+how Almighty God has sent His righteous judgment upon her. She has
+long been ripe for the fire; but my great long-suffering, wherein
+a good magistrate should ever strive to be like unto the Lord, has
+made me overlook it till _datum_, and in return for my
+goodness she raises this outcry against me." And when I replied,
+"How does your lordship know that the witch raised such an outcry
+against you?" he first began to stammer, and then said, "Why, you
+yourself charged me thereon before the judge. But I bear you no
+anger therefor, and God knows that I pity you, who are a poor weak
+old man, and would gladly help you if I were able." Meanwhile he
+led me up four or five flights of stairs, so that I, old man that
+I am, could follow him no further, and stood still gasping for
+breath. But he took me by the hand and said, "Come, I must first
+show you how matters really stand, or I fear you will not accept
+my help, but will plunge yourself into destruction." Hereupon we
+stepped out upon a terrace at the top of the castle, which looked
+toward the water; and the villain went on to say, "Reverend
+Abraham, can you see well afar off?" and when I answered that I
+once could see very well, but that the many tears I had shed had
+now peradventure dimmed my eyes, he pointed to the Streckelberg,
+and said, "Do you then see nothing there?" _Ego_. "Naught
+save a black speck, which I cannot make out." _Ille_. "Know
+then that that is the pile whereon your daughter is to burn at ten
+o'clock to-morrow morning, and which the constables are now
+raising." When this hell-hound had thus spoken, I gave a loud cry
+and swounded. O blessed Lord! I know not how I lived through such
+distress; Thou alone didst strengthen me beyond nature, in order,
+"after so much weeping and wailing, to heap joys and blessings
+upon me;" without Thee I never could have lived through such
+misery: "therefore to Thy name ever be all honour and glory, O
+Thou God of Israel!" [Footnote: Tobit iii. 22, 23, Luther's
+Version.]
+
+When I came again to myself I lay on a bed in a fine room, and
+perceived a taste in my mouth like wine. But as I saw none near me
+save the sheriff, who held a pitcher in his hand, I shuddered and
+closed mine eyes, considering what I should say or do. This he
+presently observed, and said, "Do not shudder thus; I mean well by
+you, and only wish to put a question to you, which you must answer
+me on your conscience as a priest. Say, reverend Abraham, which is
+the greater sin, to commit whoredom, or to take the lives of two
+persons?" and when I answered him, "To take the lives of two
+persons," he went on, "Well, then, is not that what your stubborn
+child is about to do? Rather than give herself up to me, who have
+ever desired to save her, and who can even yet save her, albeit
+her pile is now being raised, she will take away her own life and
+that of her wretched father, for I scarcely think that you, poor
+man, will outlive this sorrow. Wherefore do you, for God His sake,
+persuade her to think better of it while I am yet able to save
+her. For know that about ten miles from hence I have a small house
+in the midst of the forest, where no human being ever goes;
+thither will I send her this very night, and you may dwell there
+with her all the days of your life, if so it please you. You shall
+live as well as you can possibly desire, and to-morrow morning I
+will spread a report betimes that the witch and her father have
+run away together during the night, and that nobody knows whither
+they are gone." Thus spake the serpent to me, as whilom to our
+mother Eve; and, wretched sinner that I am, the tree of death
+which he showed me seemed to me also to be a tree of life, so
+pleasant was it to the eye. Nevertheless I answered, "My child
+will never save her miserable life by doing aught to peril the
+salvation of her soul." But now too the serpent was more cunning
+than all the beasts of the field (especially such an old fool as
+I), and spake thus: "Why, who would have her peril the salvation
+of her soul? Reverend Abraham, must I teach you Scripture? Did not
+our Lord Christ pardon Mary Magdalene, who lived in open whoredom?
+and did He not speak forgiveness to the poor adulteress who had
+committed a still greater _crimen_? nay more, doth not St.
+Paul expressly say that the harlot Rahab was saved, Hebrews xi.?
+_item_, St. James ii. says the same. But where have ye read
+that any one was saved who had wantonly taken her own life and
+that of her father? Wherefore, for the love of God, persuade your
+child not to give herself up, body and soul, to the devil, by her
+stubbornness, but to suffer herself to be saved while it is yet
+time. You can abide with her, and pray away all the sins she may
+commit, and likewise aid me with your prayers, who freely own that
+I am a miserable sinner, and have done you much evil, though not
+so much evil by far, reverend Abraham, as David did to Uriah, and
+he was saved, notwithstanding he put the man to a shameful death,
+and afterwards lay with his wife. Wherefore I, poor man, likewise
+hope to be saved, seeing that my desire for your daughter is still
+greater than that which this David felt for Bathsheba; and I will
+gladly make it all up to you twofold as soon as we are in my
+cottage."
+
+When the tempter had thus spoken, methought his words were sweeter
+than honey, and I answered, "Alas, my lord, I am ashamed to appear
+before her face with such a proposal." Whereupon he straightway
+said, "Then do you write it to her; come, here is pen, ink, and
+paper."
+
+And now, like Eve, I took the fruit and ate, and gave it to my
+child that she might eat also; that is to say, that I
+recapitulated on paper all that Satan had prompted, but in the
+Latin tongue, for I was ashamed to write it in mine own; and
+lastly, I conjured her not to take away her own life and mine, but
+to submit to the wondrous will of God. Neither were mine eyes
+opened when I had eaten (that is, written), nor did I perceive
+that the ink was gall instead of honey, and I translated my letter
+to the sheriff (seeing that he understood no Latin), smiling like
+a drunken man the while; whereupon he clapped me on the shoulder,
+and after I had made fast the letter with his signet, he called
+his huntsman, and gave it to him to carry to my daughter;
+_item_, he sent her pen, ink, and paper, together with his
+signet, in order that she might answer it forthwith.
+
+Meanwhile he talked with me right graciously, praising my child
+and me, and made me drink to him many times from his great
+pitcher, wherein was most goodly wine; moreover, he went to a
+cupboard and brought out cakes for me to eat, saying that I should
+now have such every day. But when the huntsman came back in about
+half-an-hour, with her answer, and I had read the same, then,
+first, were mine eyes opened, and I knew good and evil; had I had
+a fig-leaf, I should have covered them therewith for shame; but as
+it was, I held my hand over them, and wept so bitterly that the
+sheriff waxed very wroth, and cursing bade me tell him what she
+had written. Thereupon I interpreted the letter to him, the which
+I likewise place here, in order that all may see my folly, and the
+wisdom of my child. It was as follows:--
+
+IESVS!
+
+Pater infelix!
+
+Ego eras non magis pallebo rogum aspectura, et rogus non magis
+erubescet, me suspiciens, quam pallui et iterum erubescui, literas
+tuas legens. Quid? et te, pium patrem, pium servum Domini, ita
+Satanas sollicitavit, ut communionem facias cum inimicis meis, et
+non intelligas: in tali vita esse mortem, et in tali morte vitam?
+Scilicet si clementissimus Deus Marias Magdalens aliisque ignovit,
+ignovit, quia resipiscerent ob carnis debilitatem, et non iterum
+peccarent. Et ego peccarem cum quavis detestatione carnis, et non
+semel, sed iterum atque iterum sine reversione usque ad mortem?
+Quomodo clementissimus Deus hoc sceleratissima ignoscere posset?
+infelix pater! recordare quid mihi dixisti de sanctis martyribus
+et virginibus Domini, quas omnes mallent vitam quam pudicitiam
+perdere. His et ego sequar, et sponsus meus, Jesus Christus, et
+mihi miserse, ut spero, coronam asternam dabit, quamvis eum non
+minus offendi ob debilitatem carnis ut Maria, et me sontem
+declaravi, cum insons sum. Fac igitur, ut valeas et ora pro me
+apud Deum et non apud Satanam, ut et ego mox coram Deo pro te
+orare possim.
+
+MARIA S., captiva.
+
+[Footnote: It is evidently written by a female hand, and probably
+the original letter; there are, however, no traces of sealing-wax
+or wax upon it, whence I infer that it was sent open, which, from
+its being written in a foreign language, would have been perfectly
+safe. I have purposely left the few grammatical errors it
+contains, as the smallest alteration of this gem would appear to
+me in the light of a treason against the character of this
+incomparable woman.
+
+Translation.
+
+
+JESUS!
+
+Unhappy Father!
+
+I shall not to-morrow grow more pale at sight of the pile, nor
+will the pile grow more red on receiving me, than I grew pale and
+then red while reading thy letter. How? and hath Satan so tempted
+thee, pious father, pious servant of the Lord, that thou hast made
+common cause with mine enemies, and that thou understandest not
+that in such life is death, and in such death is life? For if the
+all-merciful God forgave Mary Magdalene and other sinners, He
+forgave them because they repented of the weakness of their flesh,
+and sinned not again. And shall I sin with so great abhorrence of
+the flesh, and that not once but again and again without return
+even until death? How could the all-merciful God forgive this to
+the vilest of women? Unhappy father! remember what thou hast told
+me of the holy martyrs, and of the virgins of the Lord, who all
+lost their lives rather than lose their chastity. These will I
+follow, hoping that my spouse Jesus Christ will also give to
+wretched me a crown of eternal glory, although, indeed, I have not
+less offended through the weakness of the flesh than Mary,
+declaring myself to be guilty, whereas I am innocent. Be strong,
+therefore, and pray for me unto God, and not unto the devil, so
+that I may soon pray for thee before the face of God.
+
+MARY S., a Prisoner.]
+
+When the sheriff heard this he flung the pitcher which he held in
+his hand to the ground, so that it flew in pieces, and cried, "The
+cursed devil's whore! the constable shall make her squeak for this
+a good hour longer;" with many more such things beside, which he
+said in his malice, and which I have now forgotten; but he soon
+became quite gracious again, and said, "She is foolish; do you go
+to her and see whether you cannot persuade her to her own good as
+well as yours; the huntsman shall let you in, and should the
+fellow listen, give him a good box on the ears in my name; do you
+hear, reverend Abraham? Go now forthwith and bring me back an
+answer as quickly as possible!" I therefore followed the huntsman,
+who led me into a vault where was no light save what fell through
+a hole no bigger than a crown-piece; and here my daughter sat upon
+her bed and wept. Any one may guess that I straightway began to
+weep too, and was no better able to speak than she. We thus lay
+mute in each other's arms for a long time, until I at last begged
+her to forgive me for my letter, but of the sheriff his message I
+said naught, although I had purposed so to do. But before long we
+heard the sheriff himself call down into the vault from above,
+"What (and here he gave me a heavy curse) are you doing there so
+long? Come up this moment, reverend Johannes!" Thus I had scarce
+time to give her one kiss before the huntsman came back with the
+keys and forced us to part; albeit we had as yet scarcely spoken,
+save that I had told her in a few words what had happened with old
+Lizzie. It would be hard to believe into what grievous anger the
+sheriff fell when I told him that my daughter remained firm and
+would not hearken unto him; he struck me on the breast, and said,
+"Go to the devil then, thou infamous parson!" and when I turned
+myself away and would have gone, he pulled me back, and said, "If
+thou breathest but one word of all that has passed, I will have
+thee burnt too, thou grey-headed old father of a witch; so look to
+it!" Hereupon I plucked up a heart, and answered that that would
+be the greatest joy to me, especially if I could be burnt
+to-morrow with my child. Hereunto he made no answer, but clapped
+to the door behind me. Well, clap the door as thou wilt, I greatly
+fear that the just God will one day clap the doors of heaven in
+thy face!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI,
+
+_How I received the Holy Sacrament with my daughter and the old
+maid-servant, and how she was then led for the last time before
+the court, with the drawn sword and the outcry, to receive
+sentence._
+
+
+Now any one would think that during that heavy Tuesday night I
+should not have been able to close mine eyes; but know, dear
+reader, that the Lord can do more than we can ask or understand,
+and that His mercy is new every morning. For toward daybreak I
+fell asleep as quietly as though I had had no care upon my heart;
+and when I awoke I was able to pray more heartily than I had done
+for a long time; so that, in the midst of my tribulation, I wept
+for joy at such great mercy from the Lord. But I prayed for naught
+save that He would endow my child with strength and courage to
+suffer the martyrdom He had laid upon her with Christian patience,
+and to send His angel to me, woeful man, so to pierce my heart
+with grief when I should see my child burn, that it might
+straightway cease to beat, and I might presently follow her. And
+thus I still prayed when the maid came in all dressed in black,
+and with the silken raiment of my sweet lamb hanging over her arm;
+and she told me, with many tears, that the dead-bell had already
+tolled from the castle tower, for the first time, and that my
+child had sent for her to dress her, seeing that the court was
+already come from Usedom, and that in about two hours she was to
+set out on her last journey. Moreover, she had sent her word that
+she was to take her some blue and yellow flowers for a garland;
+wherefore she asked me what flowers she should take; and seeing
+that a jar, filled with fine lilies and forget-me-nots, stood in
+my window, which she had placed there yesterday, I said, "Thou
+canst gather no better flowers for her than these, wherefore do
+thou carry them to her, and tell her that I will follow thee in
+about half-an-hour, in order to receive the sacrament with her."
+Hereupon the faithful old creature prayed me to suffer her to go
+to the sacrament with us, the which I promised her. And scarce had
+I dressed myself and put on my surplice when _Pastor
+Benzensis_ came in at the door and fell upon my neck, weeping,
+and as mute as a fish. As soon as he came to his speech again he
+told me of the great _miraculum_ (_daemonis_ I mean)
+which had befallen at the burial of old Lizzie. For that, just as
+the bearers were about to lower the coffin into the grave, a noise
+was heard therein as though of a carpenter boring through a deal
+board; wherefore they thought the old hag must be come to life
+again, and opened the coffin. But there she lay as before, all
+black and blue in the face and as cold as ice; but her eyes had
+started wide open, so that all were horror-stricken, and expected
+some devilish apparition; and, indeed, a live rat presently jumped
+out of the coffin and ran into a skull which lay beside the grave.
+Thereupon they all ran away, seeing that old Lizzie had ever been
+in evil repute as a witch. Howbeit at last he himself went near
+the grave again, whereupon the rat disappeared, and all the others
+took courage and followed him. This the man told me, and any one
+may guess that this was in fact Satan, who had flown down the hag
+her throat as an insect, whereas his proper shape was that of a
+rat: albeit I wonder what he could so long have been about in the
+carrion; unless indeed it were that the evil spirits are as fond
+of all that is loathsome as the angels of God are of all that is
+fair and lovely. Be that as it may. _Summa_: I was not a
+little shocked at what he told me, and asked him what he now
+thought of the sheriff? whereupon he shrugged his shoulders, and
+said, that he had indeed been a wicked fellow as long as he could
+remember him, and that it was full ten years since he had given
+him any first-fruits; but that he did not believe that he was a
+warlock, as old Lizzie had said. For although he had indeed never
+been to the table of the Lord in his church, he had heard that he
+often went, at Stettin, with his princely Highness the Duke, and
+that the pastor at the castle church had shown him the entry in
+his communion-book. Wherefore he likewise could not believe that
+he had brought this misery upon my daughter, if she were innocent,
+as the hag had said; besides, that my daughter had freely
+confessed herself a witch. Hereupon I answered, that she had done
+that for fear of the torture; but that she was not afraid of
+death; whereupon I told him, with many sighs, how the sheriff had
+yesterday tempted me, miserable and unfaithful servant, to evil,
+insomuch that I had been willing to sell my only child to him and
+to Satan, and was not worthy to receive the sacrament to-day.
+Likewise how much more steadfast a faith my daughter had than I,
+as he might see from her letter, which I still carried in my
+pocket; herewith I gave it into his hand, and when he had read it,
+he sighed as though he had been himself a father, and said, "Were
+this true, I should sink into the earth for sorrow; but come,
+brother, come, that I may prove her faith myself."
+
+Hereupon we went up to the castle, and on our way we found the
+greensward before the hunting-lodge, _item_, the whole space
+in front of the castle, already crowded with people, who,
+nevertheless, were quite quiet as we went by: we gave our names
+again to the huntsman. (I have never been able to remember his
+name, seeing that he was a Polak; he was not, however, the same
+fellow who wooed my child, and whom the sheriff had therefore
+turned off.) The man presently ushered us into a fine large room,
+whither my child had been led when taken out of her prison. The
+maid had already dressed her, and she looked lovely as an angel.
+She wore the chain of gold with the effigy round her neck again,
+_item_, the garland in her hair, and she smiled as we
+entered, saying, "I am ready!" Whereat the reverend Martinus was
+sorely angered and shocked, saying, "Ah, thou ungodly woman, let
+no one tell me further of thine innocence! Thou art about to go to
+the Holy Sacrament, and from thence to death, and thou flauntest
+as a child of this world about to go to the dancing-room."
+Whereupon she answered and said, "Be not wroth with me, dear
+godfather, because that I would go into the presence of my good
+King of Heaven in the same garments wherein I appeared some time
+since before the good King of Sweden. For it strengthens my weak
+and trembling flesh, seeing I hope that my righteous Saviour will
+in like manner take me to His heart, and will also hang His effigy
+upon my neck when I stretch out my hands to Him in all humility,
+and recite my _carmen_, saying, 'O Lamb of God, innocently
+slain upon the cross, give me Thy peace, O Jesu!'" These words
+softened my dear gossip, and he spoke, saying, "Ah, child, child,
+I thought to have reproached thee, but thou hast constrained me to
+weep with thee: art thou then indeed innocent?" "Verily," said
+she, "to you, my honoured god-father, I may now own that I am
+innocent, as truly as I trust that God will aid me in my last hour
+through Jesus Christ. Amen."
+
+When the maid heard this, she made such outcries that I repented
+that I had suffered her to be present, and we all had enough to do
+to comfort her from the Word of God till she became somewhat more
+tranquil; and when this was done my dear gossip thus spake to my
+child: "If, indeed, thou dost so steadfastly maintain thine
+innocence, it is my duty, according to my conscience as a priest,
+to inform the worshipful court thereof;" and he was about to leave
+the room. But she withheld him, and fell upon the ground and
+clasped his knees, saying, "I beseech you, by the wounds of Jesus,
+to be silent. They would stretch me on the rack again, and uncover
+my nakedness, and I, wretched weak woman, would in such torture
+confess all that they would have me, especially if my father again
+be there, whereby both my soul and my body are tortured at once:
+wherefore stay, I pray you, stay; is it then a misfortune to die
+innocent, and is it not better to die innocent than guilty?"
+
+My good gossip at last gave way, and after standing awhile and
+praying to himself, he wiped away his tears, and then spake the
+exhortation to confession, in the words of Isa. xliii. I, 2: "But
+now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that
+formed thee, O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have
+called thee by thy name: thou art Mine. When thou passest through
+the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they
+shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou
+shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For
+I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour."
+
+And when he had ended this comfortable address, and asked her
+whether she would willingly bear until her last hour that cross
+which the most merciful God, according to His unsearchable will,
+had laid upon her, she spake such beautiful words that my gossip
+afterwards said he should not forget them so long as he should
+live, seeing that he had never witnessed a bearing at once so full
+of faith and joy, and withal so deeply sorrowful. She spake after
+this manner: "Oh, holy cross, which my Jesus hath sanctified by
+His innocent suffering; oh, dear cross, which is laid upon me by
+the hand of a merciful Father; oh, blessed cross, whereby I am
+made like unto my Lord Jesus, and am called unto eternal glory and
+blessedness: how! shall I not willingly bear thee, thou sweet
+cross of my bridegroom, of my brother?" The reverend Johannes had
+scarce given us absolution, and after this, with many tears, the
+Holy Sacrament, when we heard a loud trampling upon the floor, and
+presently the impudent constable looked into the room and asked
+whether we were ready, seeing that the worshipful court was now
+waiting for us; and when he had been told that we were ready, my
+child would have first taken leave of me, but I forbade her,
+saying, "Not so; thou knowest that which thou hast promised me;
+... 'and whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I
+will lodge: ...where thou diest will I die ...'; [Footnote: Ruth
+i. 16,] if that the Lord, as I hope, will hear the ardent sighs of
+my poor soul." Hereupon she let me go, and embraced only the old
+maid-servant, thanking her for all the kindness she had shown her
+from her youth up, and begging her not to go with her to make her
+death yet more bitter by her cries. The faithful old creature was
+unable for a long time to say a word for tears. Howbeit at last
+she begged forgiveness of my child, for that she had unwittingly
+accused her, and said, that out of her wages she had bought five
+pounds' weight of flax to hasten her death; that the shepherd of
+Pudgla had that very morning taken it with him to Coserow, and
+that she should wind it closely round her body; for that she had
+seen how old wife Schurne, who was burnt in Liepe, had suffered
+great torments before she came to her death, by reason of the damp
+wood.
+
+But ere my child could thank her for this, the dreadful outcry of
+blood began in the judgment-chamber; for a voice cried as loudly
+as might be, "Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler,
+because that she hath fallen off from the living God!" Then all
+the folk without cried, "Woe upon the accursed witch!" When I
+heard this I fell back against the wall, but my sweet child
+stroked my cheeks with her darling hands, and said, "Father,
+father, do but remember that the people likewise cried out against
+the innocent Jesus, 'Crucify Him, crucify Him!' Shall not we then
+drink of the cup which our heavenly Father hath prepared for us?"
+
+Hereupon the door opened, and the constable walked in, amid a
+great tumult among the people, holding a drawn sword in his hand
+which he bowed thrice before my child and cried, "Woe upon the
+accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath fallen off
+from the living God!" and all the folks in the hall and without
+the castle cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon the accursed
+witch!"
+
+Hereupon he said, "Mary Schweidler, come before the high and
+worshipful court, to hear sentence of death passed upon thee!"
+Whereupon she followed him with us two miserable men (for
+_Pastor Benzensis_ was no less cast down than myself). As for
+the old maid-servant, she lay on the ground for dead.
+
+After we had with great pains pushed our way through all the
+people, the constable stood still before the open
+judgment-chamber, and once more bowed his sword before my child,
+and cried for the third time, "Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary
+Schweidler, because that she hath fallen off from the living God!"
+And all the people, as well as the cruel judges themselves, cried
+as loud as they could, "Woe upon the accursed witch!"
+
+When we had entered the room, _Dom. Consul_ first asked my
+worthy gossip whether the witch had abode by her free avowal in
+confession; whereupon, after considering a short time, he
+answered, that he had best ask herself, for there she stood.
+Accordingly, taking up a paper which lay before him on the table,
+he spake as follows--"Mary Schweidler, now that thou hast
+confessed, and received the holy and most honourable sacrament of
+the Lord's Supper, answer me once again these following
+questions:--
+
+1. Is it true that thou hast fallen off from the living God and
+given thyself up to Satan?
+
+2. Is it true that thou hadst a spirit called _Disidaemonia,_
+who re-baptized thee and carnally knew thee?
+
+3. Is it true that thou hast done all manner of mischief to the
+cattle?
+
+4. Is it true that Satan appeared to thee on the Streckelberg in
+the likeness of a hairy giant?"
+
+When she had with many sighs said "Yes" to all these questions, he
+rose, took a wand in one hand and a second paper in the other, put
+his spectacles on his nose, and said, "Now, then, hear thy
+sentence." (This sentence I since copied: he would not let me see
+the other _Acta_, but pretended that they were at Wolgast.
+The sentence, however, was word for word as follows.)
+
+"We, the sheriff and the justices appointed to serve the high and
+worshipful criminal court. Inasmuch as Mary Schweidler, the
+daughter of Abraham Schweidlerus, the pastor of Coserow, hath,
+after the appointed inquisition, repeatedly made free confession,
+that she hath a devil named _Disidaemonia_, the which did
+re-baptize her in the sea, and did also know her carnally;
+_item_, that she by his help did mischief to the cattle; that
+he also appeared to her on the Streckelberg in the likeness of a
+hairy giant. We do therefore by these presents make known and
+direct, that _Rea_ be first duly torn four times on each
+breast with red-hot iron pincers, and after that be burned to
+death by fire, as a rightful punishment to herself and a warning
+to others. Nevertheless, we, in pity for her youth, are pleased of
+our mercy to spare her the tearing with red-hot pincers, so that
+she shall only suffer death by the simple punishment of fire.
+Wherefore she is hereby condemned and judged accordingly on the
+part of the criminal court.
+
+"_Publicatum_ at the castle of Pudgla, the 30th day _mensis
+Augusti, anno Salutis_ 1630." [Footnote: Readers who are
+unacquainted with the atrocious administration of justice in those
+days, will be surprised at this rapid and arbitrary mode of
+proceeding. But I have seen authentic witch-trials wherein a mere
+notary condemned the accused to the torture and to death without
+the smallest hesitation; and it may be considered as a mark of
+humanity whenever the acts on which judgment was given were sent
+to an university, or to some other tribunal. For the sentence of
+death appears to have been almost invariably passed by the
+inferior courts, and no appeal seems to have been possible; indeed
+in these affairs their worships, as in this case, usually made
+incredible haste, which, it must beadmitted, is perhaps the only
+good quality which the modern courts of justice might borrow from
+the old ones.]
+
+As he spake the last word he brake his wand in two and threw the
+pieces before the feet of my innocent lamb, saying to the
+constable, "Now, do your duty!" But so many folks, both men and
+women, threw themselves on the ground to seize the pieces of the
+wand (seeing they are said to be good for the gout in the joints,
+item, for cattle when troubled with lice), that the constable fell
+to the earth over a woman who was on her knees before him, and his
+approaching death was thus foreshadowed to him by the righteous
+God. Something of the same sort likewise befell the sheriff now
+for the second time; for when the worshipful court rose, throwing
+down tables, stools, and benches, a table, under which two boys
+were fighting for the pieces of the wand, fell right upon his
+foot, whereupon he flew into a violent rage, and threatened the
+people with his fist, saying that they should have fifty right
+good lashes apiece, both men and women, if they were not quiet
+forthwith, and did not depart peaceably out of the room. This
+frighted them, and after the people were gone out into the street,
+the constable took a rope out of his pocket, wherewith he bound my
+lamb her hands so tightly behind her back that she cried aloud;
+but when she saw how this wrung my heart, she straightway
+constrained herself and said, "O father, remember that it fared no
+better with the blessed Saviour!" Howbeit, when my dear gossip,
+who stood behind her, saw that her little hands, and more
+especially her nails, had turned black and blue, he spoke for her
+to the worshipful court, whereupon the abominable sheriff only
+said, "Oh, let her be; let her feel what it is to fall off from
+the living God." But _Dom. Consul_ was more merciful,
+inasmuch as, after feeling the cords, he bade the constable bind
+her hands less cruelly and slacken the rope a little, which
+accordingly he was forced to do. But my dear gossip was not
+content herewith, and begged that she might sit in the cart
+without being bound, so that she should be able to hold her
+hymn-book, for he had summoned the school to sing a hymn by the
+way for her comfort, and he was ready to answer for it with his
+own head that she should not escape out of the cart. Moreover, it
+is the custom for fellows with pitchforks always to go with the
+carts wherein condemned criminals, and more especially witches,
+are carried to execution. But this the cruel sheriff would not
+suffer, and the rope was left upon her hands, and the impudent
+constable seized her by the arm and led her from the
+judgment-chamber. But in the hall we saw a great _scandalum_,
+which again pierced my very heart. For the housekeeper and the
+impudent constable his wife were fighting for my child her bed,
+and her linen, and wearing apparel, which the housekeeper had
+taken for herself, and which the other woman wanted to have. The
+latter now called to her husband to help her, whereupon he
+straightway let go my daughter and struck the housekeeper on her
+mouth with his fist, so that the blood ran out therefrom, and she
+shrieked and wailed fearfully to the sheriff, who followed us with
+the court. He threatened them both in vain, and said that when he
+came back he would inquire into the matter and give to each her
+due share. But they would not hearken to this, until my daughter
+asked _Dom. Consul_ whether every dying person, even a
+condemned criminal, had power to leave his goods and chattels to
+whomsoever he would? And when he answered, "Yes, all but the
+clothes, which belong of right to the executioner," she said,
+"Well, then, the constable may take my clothes, but none shall
+have my bed save my faithful old maid-servant Ilse!" Hereupon the
+housekeeper began to curse and revile my child loudly, who heeded
+her not, but stepped out at the door toward the cart, where there
+stood so many people that naught could be seen save head against
+head. The folks crowded about us so tumultuously that the sheriff,
+who, meanwhile, had mounted his grey horse, constantly smote them
+right and left across their eyes with his riding-whip, but they
+nevertheless would scarce fall back. Howbeit, at length he cleared
+the way, and when about ten fellows with long pitchforks, who for
+the most part also had rapiers at their sides, had placed
+themselves round about our cart, the constable lifted my daughter
+up into it, and bound her fast to the rail. Old Paasch, who stood
+by, lifted me up, and my dear gossip was likewise forced to be
+lifted in, so weak had he become from all the distress. He
+motioned his sexton, Master Krekow, to walk before the cart with
+the school, and bade him from time to time lead a verse of the
+goodly hymn, "On God alone I rest my fate," which he promised to
+do. And here I will also note, that I myself sat down upon the
+straw by my daughter, and that our dear confessor the reverend
+Martinus sat backwards. The constable was perched up behind with
+his drawn sword. When all this was done, _item_, the court
+mounted up into another carriage, the sheriff gave the order to
+set out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+_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 irae,
+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 tremendae 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+_How my daughter was at length saved by the help of the
+all-merciful, yea, of the all-merciful God._
+
+
+Meanwhile, by reason of my unbelief, wherewith Satan again tempted
+me, I had become so weak that I was forced to lean my back against
+the constable his knees, and expected not to live even till we
+should come to the mountain; for the last hope I had cherished was
+now gone, and I saw that my innocent lamb was in the same plight.
+Moreover, the reverend Martinus began to upbraid her, saying that
+he, too, now saw that all her oaths were lies, and that she really
+could brew storms. Hereupon she answered, with a smile, although,
+indeed, she was as white as a sheet, "Alas, reverend godfather, do
+you then really believe that the weather and the storms no longer
+obey our Lord God? Are storms, then, so rare at this season of the
+year, that none save the foul fiend can cause them? Nay, I have
+never broken the baptismal vow you once made in my name, nor will
+I ever break it, as I hope that God will be merciful to me in my
+last hour, which is now at hand." But the reverend Martinus shook
+his head doubtingly, and said, "The evil one must have promised
+thee much, seeing thou remainest so stubborn even unto thy life's
+end, and blasphemest the Lord thy God; but wait, and thou wilt
+soon learn with horror that the devil 'is a liar, and the father
+of it'" (St. John viii.). Whilst he yet spake this, and more of a
+like kind, we came to Uekeritze, where all the people, both great
+and small, rushed out of their doors, also Jacob Schwarten his
+wife, who, as we afterwards heard, had only been brought to bed
+the night before, and her goodman came running after her to fetch
+her back, in vain. She told him he was a fool, and had been one
+for many a weary day, and that if she had to crawl up the mountain
+on her bare knees, she would go to see the parson's witch burnt;
+that she had reckoned upon it for so long, and if he did not let
+her go, she would give him a thump on the chaps, &c.
+
+Thus did the coarse and foul-mouthed people riot around the cart
+wherein we sat, and as they knew not what had befallen, they ran
+so near us that the wheel went over the foot of a boy.
+Nevertheless they all crowded up again, more especially the
+lasses, and felt my daughter her clothes, and would even see her
+shoes and stockings, and asked her how she felt. _Item_, one
+fellow asked whether she would drink somewhat, with many more
+fooleries besides, till at last, when several came and asked her
+for her garland and her golden chain, she turned towards me and
+smiled, saying, "Father, I must begin to speak some Latin again,
+otherwise the folks will leave me no peace." But it was not wanted
+this time; for our guards, with the pitchforks, had now reached
+the hindmost, and, doubtless, told them what had happened, as we
+presently heard a great shouting behind us, for the love of God to
+turn back before the witch did them a mischief; and as Jacob
+Schwarten his wife heeded it not, but still plagued my child to
+give her her apron to make a christening coat for her baby, for
+that it was pity to let it be burnt, her goodman gave her such a
+thump on her back with a knotted stick which he had pulled out of
+the hedge, that she fell down with loud shrieks; and when he went
+to help her up she pulled him down by his hair, and, as reverend
+Martinus said, now executed what she had threatened; inasmuch as
+she struck him on the nose with her fist with might and main,
+until the other people came running up to them, and held her back.
+Meanwhile, however, the storm had almost passed over, and sank
+down toward the sea.
+
+And when we had gone through the little wood, we suddenly saw the
+Streckelberg before us, covered with people, and the pile and
+stake upon the top, upon the which the tall constable jumped up
+when he saw us coming, and beckoned with his cap with all his
+might. Thereat my senses left me, and my sweet lamb was not much
+better; for she bent to and fro like a reed, and stretching her
+bound hands toward heaven, she once more cried out--
+
+     "Rex tremendae majestatis!
+   Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
+   Salva me, fons pietatis!" [Footnote: Vide p. 395.]
+
+And, behold, scarce had she spoken these words, when the sun came
+out and formed a rainbow right over the mountain most pleasant to
+behold; and it is clear that this was a sign from the merciful
+God, such as He often gives us, but which we blind and unbelieving
+men do not rightly mark. Neither did my child heed it; for albeit
+she thought upon that first rainbow which shadowed forth our
+troubles, yet it seemed to her impossible that she could now be
+saved, wherefore she grew so faint, that she no longer heeded the
+blessed sign of mercy, and her head fell forwards (for she could
+no longer lean it upon me, seeing that I lay my length at the
+bottom of the cart), till her garland almost touched my worthy
+gossip his knees. Thereupon, he bade the driver stop for a moment
+and pulled out a small flask filled with wine, which he always
+carries in his pocket when witches are to be burnt, [Footnote:
+Which so often happened at that time, that in many parishes of
+Pomerania six or seven of these unhappy women were brought to the
+stake every year.] in order to comfort them therewith in their
+terror. (Henceforth, I myself will ever do the like, for this
+fashion of my dear gossip pleases me well.) He first poured some
+of this wine down my throat, and afterwards down my child's; and
+we had scarce come to ourselves again, when a fearful noise and
+tumult arose among the people behind us, and they not only cried
+out in deadly fear, "The sheriff is come back! the sheriff is come
+again!" but as they could neither run away forwards nor backwards
+(being afraid of the ghost behind and of my child before them),
+they ran on either side, some rushing into the coppice, and others
+wading into the Achterwater up to their necks. _Item_, as
+soon as _Dom. Camerarius_ saw the ghost come out of the
+coppice with a grey hat and a grey feather, such as the sheriff
+wore, riding on the grey charger, he crept under a bundle of straw
+in the cart: and _Dom. Consul_ cursed my child again, and
+bade the coachmen drive on as madly as they could, even should all
+the horses die of it, when the impudent constable behind us called
+to him, "It is not the sheriff, but the young lord of Nienkerken,
+who will surely seek to save the witch: shall I, then, cut her
+throat with my sword?" At these fearful words my child and I came
+to ourselves again, and the fellow had already lift up his naked
+sword to smite her, seeing _Dom. Consul_ had made him a sign
+with his hand, when my dear gossip, who saw it, pulled my child
+with all his strength back into his lap. (May God reward him on
+the day of judgment, for I never can.) The villain would have
+stabbed her as she lay in his lap; but the young lord was already
+there, and seeing what he was about to do, thrust the boar-spear,
+which he held in his hand, in between the constable's shoulders,
+so that he fell headlong on the earth, and his own sword, by the
+guidance of the most righteous God, went into his ribs on one
+side, and out again at the other. He lay there and bellowed, but
+the young lord heeded him not, but said to my child, "Sweet maid,
+God be praised that you are safe!" When, however, he saw her bound
+hands, he gnashed his teeth, and, cursing her judges, he jumped
+off his horse, and cut the rope with his sword, which he held in
+his right hand, took her hand in his, and said, "Alas, sweet maid,
+how have I sorrowed for you! but I could not save you, as I myself
+also lay in chains, which you may see from my looks."
+
+But my child could answer him never a word, and fell into a swound
+again for joy; howbeit, she soon came to herself again, seeing my
+dear gossip still had a little wine by him. Meanwhile the dear
+young lord did me some injustice, which, however, I freely forgive
+him; for he railed at me and called me an old woman, who could do
+naught save weep and wail. Why had I not journeyed after the
+Swedish king, or why had I not gone to Mellenthin myself to fetch
+his testimony, as I knew right well what he thought about
+witchcraft? (But, blessed God, how could I do otherwise than
+believe the judge, who had been there? Others besides old women
+would have done the same; and I never once thought of the Swedish
+king; and say, dear reader, how could I have journeyed after him,
+and left my own child? But young folks do not think of these
+things, seeing they know not what a father feels.)
+
+Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_, having heard that it
+was the young lord, had again crept out from beneath the straw;
+_Item, Dom. Consul_ had jumped down from the coach and ran
+towards us, railing at him loudly, and asking him by what power
+and authority he acted thus, seeing that he himself had heretofore
+denounced the ungodly witch? But the young lord pointed with his
+sword to his people, who now came riding out of the coppice, about
+eighteen strong, armed with sabres, pikes, and muskets, and said,
+"There is my authority, and I would let you feel it on your back
+if I did not know that you were but a stupid ass. When did you
+hear any testimony from me against this virtuous maiden? You lie
+in your throat if you say you did." And as _Dom. Consul_
+stood and straightway forswore himself, the young lord, to the
+astonishment of all, related as follows:--That as soon as he heard
+of the misfortune which had befallen me and my child, he ordered
+his horse to be saddled forthwith, in order to ride to Pudgla to
+bear witness to our innocence: this, however, his old father would
+nowise suffer, thinking that his nobility would receive a stain if
+it came to be known that his son had conversed with a reputed
+witch by night on the Streckelberg. He had caused him therefore,
+as prayers and threats were of no avail, to be bound hand and
+foot, and confined in the donjon-keep, where till _datum_ an
+old servant had watched him, who refused to let him escape,
+notwithstanding he offered him any sum of money; whereupon he fell
+into the greatest anguish and despair at the thought that innocent
+blood would be shed on his account; but that the all-righteous God
+had graciously spared him this sorrow; for his father had fallen
+sick from vexation, and lay a-bed all this time, and it so
+happened that this very morning about prayer time, the huntsman,
+in shooting at a wild duck in the moat, had by chance sorely
+wounded his father's favourite dog, called Packan, which had crept
+howling to his father's bedside, and had died there; whereupon the
+old man, who was weak, was so angered that he was presently seized
+with a fit and gave up the ghost too. Hereupon his people released
+him, and after he had closed his father's eyes and prayed an "Our
+Father" over him, he straightway set out with all the people he
+could find in the castle, in order to save the innocent maiden.
+For he testified here himself before all, on the word and honour
+of a knight, nay, more, by his hopes of salvation, that he himself
+was that devil which had appeared to the maiden on the mountain in
+the shape of a hairy giant; for having heard by common report that
+she ofttimes went thither, he greatly desired to know what she did
+there, and that from fear of his hard father he disguised himself
+in a wolf's skin, so that none might know him, and he had already
+spent two nights there, when on the third the maiden came, and he
+then saw her dig for amber on the mountain, and that she did not
+call upon Satan, but recited a Latin _carmen_ aloud to
+herself. This he would have testified at Pudgla, but, from the
+cause aforesaid, he had not been able: moreover, his father had
+laid his cousin, Glaus von Nienkerken, who was there on a visit,
+in his bed and made him bear false witness; for as _Dom.
+Consul_ had not seen him (I mean the young lord) for many a
+long year, seeing he had studied in foreign parts, his father
+thought that he might easily be deceived, which accordingly
+happened.
+
+When the worthy young lord had stated this before _Dom.
+Consul_ and all the people, which flocked together on hearing
+that the young lord was no ghost, I felt as though a millstone had
+been taken off my heart; and seeing that the people (who had
+already pulled the constable from under the cart, and crowded
+round him, like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he was dying,
+but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the
+cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to _Dom.
+Consul_ and the young lord to go with me, seeing that I could
+easily guess what he had on his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the
+blood gushed from his side like a fountain (now that they had
+drawn out the sword); he whimpered on seeing me, and said that he
+had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that old Lizzie had
+confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with the
+sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to
+frighten my poor child, and force her to play the wanton. That he
+had hidden this, seeing that the sheriff had promised him a great
+reward for so doing; but that he would now confess it freely,
+since God had brought my child her innocence to light. Wherefore
+he besought my child and myself to forgive him. And when _Dom.
+Consul_ shook his head, and asked whether he would live and die
+on the truth of this confession, he answered, "Yes!" and
+straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave up the ghost.
+
+Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain, who had
+come from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, &c., to see my child
+burnt, and they all came running down the hill in long rows like
+geese, one after the other, to see what had happened. And among
+them was my ploughman, Claus Neels. When the worthy fellow saw and
+heard what had befallen us, he began to weep aloud for joy; and
+straightway he too told what he had heard the sheriff say to old
+Lizzie in the garden, and how he had promised her a pig in the
+room of her own little pig, which she had herself bewitched to
+death in order to bring my child into evil repute. _Summa_:
+All that I have noted above, and which till _datum_ he had
+kept to himself for fear of the question. Hereat all the people
+marvelled, and greatly bewailed her misfortunes: and many came,
+among them old Paasch, and would have kissed my daughter her hands
+and feet, as also mine own, and praised us now as much as they had
+before reviled us. But thus it ever is with the people. Wherefore
+my departed father used to say,
+
+    "The people's hate is death,
+    Their love, a passing breath!"
+
+My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her in
+his lap, and weeping over her like a father (for I could not have
+wept more myself than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept not, but
+begged the young lord to send one of his horsemen to her faithful
+old maid-servant at Pudgla, to tell her what had befallen us,
+which he straightway did to please her. But the worshipful court
+(for _Dom. Camerarius_ and the _scriba_ had now plucked
+up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not yet
+satisfied, and _Dom. Consul_ began to tell the young lord
+about the bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter
+could have bewitched. Hereto the young lord gave answer that this
+was indeed a strange thing, inasmuch as his own horse had also
+broken a leg thereon, whereupon he had taken the sheriff his
+horse, which he saw tied up at the mill; but he did not think that
+this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it came
+about by natural means, as he had half discovered already,
+although he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly.
+Wherefore he besought the worshipful court and all the people,
+together with my child herself, to return back thither, where,
+with God's help, he would clear her from this suspicion also, and
+prove her perfect innocence before them all.
+
+Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord, having
+given the sheriff his grey charger to my ploughman to carry the
+corpse, which had been laid across the horse's neck, to Coserow,
+the young lord got into the cart by us, but did not seat himself
+beside my child, but backward by my dear gossip: moreover, he bade
+one of his own people drive us instead of the old coachman, and
+thus we turned back in God His name. _Custos Benzensis_, who,
+with the children, had run in among the vetches by the wayside (my
+defunct _Custos_ would not have done so, he had more
+courage), went on before again with the young folks, and by
+command of his reverence the pastor led the Ambrosian _Te
+Deum_, which deeply moved us all, more especially my child,
+insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears, and she at
+length laid it down and said, at the same time giving her hand to
+the young lord, "How can I thank God and you for that which you
+have done for me this day?" Whereupon the young lord answered,
+saying, "I have greater cause to thank God than yourself, sweet
+maid, seeing that you have suffered in your dungeon unjustly, but
+I justly, inasmuch as by my thoughtlessness I brought this misery
+upon you. Believe me that this morning when, in my donjon keep, I
+first heard the sound of the dead-bell, I thought to have died;
+and when it tolled for the third time, I should have gone
+distraught in my grief, had not the Almighty God at that moment
+taken the life of my strange father, so that your innocent life
+should be saved by me. Wherefore I have vowed a new tower, and
+whatsoe'er beside may be needful, to the blessed house of God; for
+naught more bitter could have befallen me on earth than your
+death, sweet maid, and naught more sweet than your life!"
+
+But at these words my child only wept and sighed; and when he
+looked on her, she cast down her eyes and trembled, so that I
+straightway perceived that my sorrows were not yet come to an end,
+but that another barrel of tears was just tapped for me, and so
+indeed it was. Moreover, the ass of a _Custos_, having
+finished the _Te Deum_ before we were come to the bridge,
+straightway struck up the next following hymn, which was a funeral
+one, beginning, "The body let us now inter." (God be praised that
+no harm has come of it till _datum_.) My beloved gossip rated
+him not a little, and threatened him that for his stupidity he
+should not get the money for the shoes which he had promised him
+out of the church dues. But my child comforted him, and promised
+him a pair of shoes at her own charges, seeing that peradventure a
+funeral hymn was better for her than a song of gladness.
+
+And when this vexed the young lord, and he said, "How now, sweet
+maid, you know not how enough to thank God and me for your rescue,
+and yet you speak thus?" she answered, smiling sadly, that she had
+only spoken thus to comfort the poor _Custos_. But I
+straightway saw that she was in earnest, for that she felt that
+although she had escaped one fire, she already burned in another.
+
+Meanwhile we were come to the bridge again, and all the folks
+stood still, and gazed open-mouthed, when the young lord jumped
+down from the cart, and after stabbing his horse, which still lay
+kicking on the bridge, went on his knees, and felt here and there
+with his hand. At length he called to the worshipful court to draw
+near, for that he had found out the witchcraft. But none save
+_Dom. Consul_ and a few fellows out of the crowd, among whom
+was old Paasch, would follow him; _item_, my dear gossip and
+myself. And the young lord showed us a lump of tallow about the
+size of a large walnut which lay on the ground, and wherewith the
+whole bridge had been smeared, so that it looked quite white, but
+which all the folks in their fright had taken for flour out of the
+mill; _item_, with some other _materia_, which stunk
+like fitchock's dung, but what it was we could not find out. Soon
+after a fellow found another bit of tallow, and showed it to the
+people; whereupon I cried, "Aha! none hath done this but that
+ungodly miller's man, in revenge for the stripes which the sheriff
+gave him for reviling my child." Whereupon I told what he had
+done, and _Dom. Consul_, who also had heard thereof,
+straightway sent for the miller.
+
+He, however, did as though he knew naught of the matter, and only
+said that his man had left his service about an hour ago. But a
+young lass, the miller's maid-servant, said that that very
+morning, before daybreak, when she had got up to let out the
+cattle, she had seen the man scouring the bridge. But that she had
+given it no further heed, and had gone to sleep for another hour:
+and she pretended to know no more than the miller whither the
+rascal was gone. When the young lord had heard this news, he got
+up into the cart, and began to address the people, seeking to
+persuade them no longer to believe in witchcraft, now that they
+had seen what it really was. When I heard this, I was
+horror-stricken (as was but right) in my conscience, as a priest,
+and I got upon the cart-wheel, and whispered into his ear, for God
+His sake, to leave this _materia_, seeing that if the people
+no longer feared the devil, neither would they fear our Lord God.
+[Footnote: Maybe a profound truth.]
+
+The dear young lord forthwith did as I would have him, and only
+asked the people whether they now held my child to be perfectly
+innocent? And when they had answered, Yes! he begged them to go
+quietly home, and to thank God that he had saved innocent blood.
+That he, too, would now return home, and that he hoped that none
+would molest me and my child if he let us return to Coserow alone.
+Hereupon he turned hastily towards her, took her hand, and said,
+"Farewell, sweet maid; I trust that I shall soon clear your honour
+before the world, but do you thank God therefore, not me." He then
+did the like to me and to my dear gossip, whereupon he jumped down
+from the cart, and went and sat beside _Dom. Consul_ in his
+coach. The latter also spake a few words to the people, and
+likewise begged my child and me to forgive him (and I must say it
+to his honour, that the tears ran down his cheeks the while), but
+he was so hurried by the young lord that he brake short his
+discourse, and they drove off over the little bridge, without so
+much as looking back. Only _Dom. Consul_ looked round once,
+and called out to me, that in his hurry he had forgotten to tell
+the executioner that no one was to be burned to-day: I was
+therefore to send the churchwarden of Uekeritze up the mountain,
+to say so in his name; the which I did. And the bloodhound was
+still on the mountain, albeit he had long since heard what had
+befallen; and when the bailiff gave him the orders of the
+worshipful court, he began to curse so fearfully that it might
+have awakened the dead; moreover, he plucked off his cap and
+trampled it under foot, so that any one might have guessed what he
+felt.
+
+But to return to ourselves: my child sat as still and as white as
+a pillar of salt, after the young lord had left her so suddenly
+and so unawares, but she was somewhat comforted when the old
+maid-servant came running with her coats tucked up to her knees,
+and carrying her shoes and stockings in her hand. We heard her
+afar off, as the mill had stopped, blubbering for joy, and she
+fell at least three times on the bridge, but at last she got over
+safe, and kissed now mine and now my child her hands and feet;
+begging us only not to turn her away, but to keep her until her
+life's end; the which we promised to do. She had to climb up
+behind where the impudent constable had sat, seeing that my dear
+gossip would not leave me until I should be back in mine own
+manse. And as the young lord his servant had got up behind the
+coach, old Paasch drove us home, and all the folks who had waited
+till _datum_ ran beside the cart, praising and pitying as
+much as they had before scorned and reviled us. Scarce, however,
+had we passed through Uekeritze, when we again heard cries of
+"Here comes the young lord, here comes the young lord!" so that my
+child started up for joy, and became as red as a rose, but some of
+the folks ran into the buckwheat by the road, again thinking it
+was another ghost. It was, however, in truth the young lord, who
+galloped up on a black horse, calling out as he drew near us,
+"Notwithstanding the haste I am in, sweet maid, I must return and
+give you safe conduct home, seeing that I have just heard that the
+filthy people reviled you by the way, and I know not whether you
+are yet safe." Hereupon he urged old Paasch to mend his pace, and
+as his kicking and trampling did not even make the horses trot,
+the young lord struck the saddle horse from time to time with the
+flat of his sword, so that we soon reached the village and the
+manse. Howbeit, when I prayed him to dismount awhile, he would
+not, but excused himself, saying that he must still ride through
+Uzedom to Anclam, but charged old Paasch, who was our bailiff, to
+watch over my child as the apple of his eye, and should anything
+unusual happen, he was straightway to inform the town clerk at
+Pudgla or _Dom. Consul_ at Uzedom thereof, and when Paasch
+had promised to do this, he waved his hand to us, and galloped off
+as fast as he could.
+
+But before he got round the corner by Pagel his house, he turned
+back for the third time: and when we wondered thereat he said we
+must forgive him, seeing his thoughts wandered to-day.
+
+That I had formerly told him that I still had my patent of
+nobility, the which he begged me to lend him for a time. Hereupon
+I answered that I must first seek for it, and that he had best
+dismount the while. But he would not, and again excused himself,
+saying he had no time. He therefore stayed without the door, until
+I brought him the patent, whereupon he thanked me and said, "Do
+not wonder hereat, you will soon see what my purpose is."
+Whereupon he struck his spurs into his horse's sides, and did not
+come back again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+_Of our next great sorrow, and final joy._
+
+
+And now might we have been at rest, and have thanked God on our
+knees by day and night. For, besides mercifully saving us out of
+such great tribulation, He turned the hearts of my beloved flock,
+so that they knew not how to do enough for us. Every day they
+brought us fish, meat, eggs, sausages, and whatsoe'er besides they
+could give me, and which I have since forgotten. Moreover, they,
+every one of them, came to church the next Sunday, great and small
+(except goodwife Kliene of Zempin, who had just got a boy, and
+still kept her bed), and I preached a thanksgiving sermon on Job
+v., 17th, 18th, and 19th verses, "Behold, happy is the man whom
+God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the
+Almighty: for He maketh sore, and bindeth up; and His hands make
+whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there
+shall no evil touch thee." And during my sermon I was ofttimes
+forced to stop by reason of all the weeping, and to let them blow
+their noses. And I might truly have compared myself to Job, after
+that the Lord had mercifully released him from his troubles, had
+it not been for my child, who prepared much fresh grief for me.
+
+She had wept when the young lord would not dismount, and now that
+he came not again, she grew more uneasy from day to day. She sat
+and read first the Bible, then the hymnbook, _item_, the
+history of Dido in _Virgilius_, or she climbed up the
+mountain to fetch flowers (likewise sought after the vein of amber
+there, but found it not, which shows the cunning and malice of
+Satan). I saw this for awhile with many sighs, but spake not a
+word (for, dear reader, what could I say?) until it grew worse and
+worse; and as she now recited her _carmina_ more than ever
+both at home and abroad, I feared lest the people should again
+repute her a witch, and one day I followed her up the mountain.
+Well-a-day, she sat on the pile which still stood there, but with
+her face turned towards the sea, reciting the _versus_ where
+Dido mounts the funeral pile in order to stab herself for love of
+Aeneas--
+
+   "At trepida et coeptis immanibus effera Dido
+   Sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementes
+   Interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura
+   Interiora domus irrumpit limina et altos
+   Conscendit furibunda rogos..."
+
+ [Footnote:
+  "But furious Dido, with dark thoughts involv'd,
+   Shook at the mighty mischief she resolv'd.
+   With livid spots distinguish'd was her face,
+   Red were her rolling eyes, and discompos'd her pace;
+
+   Ghastly she gazed, with pain she drew her breath,
+   And nature shiver'd at approaching death.
+   Then swiftly to the fatal place she pass'd,
+   And mounts the funeral pile with furious haste."
+
+--DRYDEN'S _Virgil._]
+
+When I saw this, and heard how things really stood with her, I was
+affrighted beyond measure, and cried, "Mary, my child, what art
+thou doing?" She started when she heard my voice, but sat still on
+the pile, and answered, as she covered her face with her apron,
+"Father, I am burning my heart." I drew near to her and pulled the
+apron from her face, saying, "Wilt thou then again kill me with
+grief?" Whereupon she covered her face with her hands, and moaned,
+"Alas, father, wherefore was I not burned here? My torment would
+then have endured but for a moment, but now it will last as long
+as I live?" I still did as though I had seen naught, and said,
+"Wherefore, dear child, dost thou suffer such torment?" Whereupon
+she answered, "I have long been ashamed to tell you; for the young
+lord, the young lord, my father, do I suffer this torment! He no
+longer thinks of me; and albeit he saved my life he scorns me, or
+he would surely have dismounted and come in awhile; but we are of
+far too low degree for him!" Hereupon I indeed began to comfort
+her and to persuade her to think no more of the young lord, but
+the more I comforted her the worse she grew. Nevertheless I saw
+that she did yet in secret cherish a strong hope by reason of the
+patent of nobility which he had made me give him. I would not take
+this hope from her, seeing that I felt the same myself, and to
+comfort her I flattered her hopes, whereupon she was more quiet
+for some days, and did not go up the mountain, the which I had
+forbidden her. Moreover, she began again to teach little Paasch,
+her god-daughter, out of whom, by the help of the all-righteous
+God, Satan was now altogether departed. But she still pined, and
+was as white as a sheet; and when soon after a report came that
+none in the castle at Mellenthin knew what was become of the young
+lord, and that they thought he had been killed, her grief became
+so great that I had to send my ploughman on horseback to
+Mellenthin to gain tidings of him. And she looked at least twenty
+times out of the door and over the paling to watch for his return;
+and when she saw him coming she ran out to meet him as far as the
+corner by Pagels. But, blessed God! he brought us even worse news
+than we had heard before, saying, that the people at the castle
+had told him that their young master had ridden away the self-same
+day whereon he had rescued the maiden. That he had, indeed,
+returned after three days to his father's funeral, but had
+straightway ridden off again, and that for five weeks they had
+heard nothing further of him, and knew not whither he was gone,
+but supposed that some wicked ruffians had killed him.
+
+And now my grief was greater than ever it had been before; so
+patient and resigned to the will of God as my child had shown
+herself heretofore, and no martyr could have met her last hour
+stronger in God and Christ, so impatient and despairing was she
+now. She gave up all hope, and took it into her head that in these
+heavy times of war the young lord had been killed by robbers.
+Naught availed with her, not even prayer, for when I called upon
+God with her, on my knees, she straightway began so grievously to
+bewail that the Lord had cast her off, and that she was condemned
+to naught save misfortunes in this world; that it pierced through
+my heart like a knife, and my thoughts forsook me at her words.
+She lay also at night, and "like a crane or a swallow so did she
+chatter; she did mourn like a dove; her eyes did fail with looking
+upward," [Footnote: Isa. xxxviii. 14.] because no sleep came upon
+her eyelids. I called to her from my bed, "Dear child, wilt thou
+then never cease? sleep, I pray thee!" and she answered and said,
+"Do you sleep, dearest father; I cannot sleep until I sleep the
+sleep of death. Alas, my father; that I was not burned!" But how
+could I sleep when she could not? I, indeed, said each morning
+that I had slept awhile in order to content her; but it was not
+so; but, like David, "all the night made I my bed to swim; I
+watered my couch with my tears." [Footnote: Ps. vi. 6.] Moreover,
+I again fell into heavy unbelief, so that I neither could nor
+would pray. Nevertheless the Lord "did not deal with me after my
+sins, nor reward me according to mine iniquities. For as the
+heaven is high above the earth, so great was His mercy toward" me,
+miserable sinner! [Footnote: Ps ciii. 10,11.]
+
+For mark what happened on the very next Saturday! Behold, our old
+maid-servant came running in at the door quite out of breath,
+saying that a horseman was coming over the Master's Mount, with a
+tall plume waving on his hat; and that she believed it was the
+young lord. When my child, who sat upon the bench combing her
+hair, heard this, she gave a shriek of joy, which would have moved
+a stone under the earth, and straightway ran out of the room to
+look over the paling. She presently came running in again, fell
+upon my neck, and cried without ceasing, "The young lord! the
+young lord!" whereupon she would have run out to meet him, but I
+forbade her, saying she had better first bind up her hair, which
+she then remembered, and laughing, weeping, and praying, all at
+once, she bound up her long hair. And now the young lord came
+galloping round the corner, attired in a green velvet doublet with
+red silk sleeves, and a grey hat with a heron's feather therein;
+_summa_, gaily dressed as beseems a wooer. And when we now
+ran out at the door, he called aloud to my child in the Latin,
+from afar off, "_Quomodo stat dulcissima virgo?_" Whereupon she
+gave answer, saying, "_Bene, te aspecto._" He then sprang
+smiling off his horse and gave it into the charge of my ploughman,
+who meanwhile had come up together with the maid; but he was
+affrighted when he saw my child so pale, and taking her hand spake
+in the vulgar tongue, "My God! what is it ails you, sweet maid?
+you look more pale than when about to go to the stake." Whereupon
+she answered, "I have been at the stake daily since you left us,
+good my lord, without coming into our house, or so much as sending
+us tidings of whither you were gone."
+
+This pleased him well, and he said, "Let us first of all go into
+the chamber, and you shall hear all." And when he had wiped the
+sweat from his brow, and sat down on the bench beside my child, he
+spake as follows:--That he had straightway promised her that he
+would clear her honour before the whole world, and the self-same
+day whereon he left us he made the worshipful court draw up an
+authentic record of all that had taken place, more especially the
+confession of the impudent constable, _item_, that of my
+ploughboy Claus Neels; wherewith he rode throughout the same
+night, as he had promised, to Anclam, and next day to Stettin, to
+our gracious sovereign Duke Bogislaw: who marvelled greatly when
+he heard of the wickedness of his sheriff, and of that which he
+had done to my child: moreover, he asked whether she were the
+pastor's daughter who once upon a time had found the signet-ring
+of his princely Highness Philippus Julius of most Christian memory
+in the castle garden at Wolgast? and as he did not know thereof,
+the Duke asked, whether she knew Latin? And he, the young lord,
+answered yes, that she knew the Latin better than he did himself.
+His princely Highness said, "Then indeed, it must be the same,"
+and straightway he put on his spectacles, and read the _Acta_
+himself. Hereupon, and after his princely Highness had read the
+record of the worshipful court, shaking his head the while, the
+young lord humbly besought his princely Highness to give him an
+_amende honorable_ for my child, _item, literas
+commendatitias_ for himself to our most gracious Emperor at
+Vienna, to beg for a renewal of my patent of nobility, seeing that
+he was determined to marry none other maiden than my daughter so
+long as he lived.
+
+When my child heard this, she gave a cry of joy, and fell back in
+a swound with her head against the wall. But the young lord caught
+her in his arms, and gave her three kisses (which I could not then
+deny him, seeing, as I did with joy, how matters went), and when
+she came to herself again, he asked her whether she would not have
+him, seeing that she had given such a cry at his words? Whereupon
+she said, "Whether I will not have you, my lord! Alas! I love you
+as dearly as my God and my Saviour! You first saved my life, and
+now you have snatched my heart from the stake whereon, without
+you, it would have burned all the days of my life!" Hereupon I
+wept for joy, when he drew her into his lap, and she clasped his
+neck with her little hands.
+
+They thus sat and toyed awhile, till the young lord again
+perceived me, and said, "What say you thereto? I trust it is also
+your will, reverend Abraham." Now, dear reader, what could I say,
+save my hearty good-will? seeing that I wept for very joy, as did
+my child, and I answered, how should it not be my will, seeing
+that it was the will of God? But whether the worthy, good young
+lord had likewise considered that he would stain his noble name if
+he took to wife my child, who had been habit and repute a witch,
+and had been well-nigh bound to the stake?
+
+Hereupon he said, By no means; for that he had long since
+prevented this, and he proceeded to tell us how he had done it,
+namely, his princely Highness had promised him to make ready all
+the _scripta_ which he required, within four days, when he
+hoped to be back from his father's burial. He therefore rode
+straightway back to Mellenthin, and after paying the last honour
+to my lord his father, he presently set forth on his way again,
+and found that his princely Highness had kept his word meanwhile.
+With these _scripta_ he rode to Vienna, and albeit he met
+with many pains, troubles, and dangers by the way (which he would
+relate to us at some other time), he nevertheless reached the city
+safely. There he by chance met with a Jesuit with whom he had once
+upon a time had his _locamentum_ for a few days at Prague,
+while he was yet a _studiosus_, and this man having heard his
+business, bade him be of good cheer, seeing that his Imperial
+Majesty stood sorely in need of money in these hard times of war,
+and that he, the Jesuit, would manage it all for him. This he
+really did, and his Imperial Majesty not only renewed my patent of
+nobility, but likewise confirmed the _amende honorable_ to my
+child granted by his princely Highness the Duke, so that he might
+now maintain the honour of his betrothed bride against all the
+world, as also hereafter that of his wife.
+
+Hereupon he drew forth the _Acta_ from his bosom and put them
+into my hand, saying, "And now, reverend Abraham, you must also do
+me a pleasure; to wit, to-morrow morning, when I hope to go with
+my betrothed bride to the Lord's table, you must publish the banns
+between me and your daughter, and on the day after you must marry
+us. Do not say nay thereto, for my pastor the reverend Philippus
+says that this is no uncommon custom among the nobles in
+Pomerania, and I have already given notice of the wedding for
+Monday at mine own castle, whither we will then go, and where I
+purpose to bed my bride." I should have found much to say against
+this request, more especially that in honour of the holy Trinity
+he should suffer himself to be called three times in church
+according to custom, and that he should delay awhile the
+espousals; but when I perceived that my child would gladly have
+the marriage held right soon, for she sighed and grew red as
+scarlet, I had not the heart to refuse them, but promised all they
+asked. Whereupon I exhorted them both to prayer, and when I had
+laid my hands upon their heads, I thanked the Lord more deeply
+than I had ever yet thanked Him, so that at last I could no longer
+speak for tears, seeing that they drowned my voice.
+
+Meanwhile the young lord his coach had driven up to the door,
+filled with chests and coffers: and he said, "Now, sweet maid, you
+shall see what I have brought you," and he bade them bring all the
+things into the room. Dear reader, what fine things were there,
+such as I had never seen in all my life! all that women can use
+was there, especially of clothes, to wit, bodices, plaited gowns,
+long robes, some of them bordered with fur, veils, aprons,
+_item_, the bridal shift with gold fringes, whereon the merry
+lord had laid some six or seven bunches of myrtle to make herself
+a wreath withal. _Item_, there was no end to the rings,
+neck-chains, ear-drops, &c., the which I have in part forgotten.
+Neither did the young lord leave me without a gift, seeing he had
+brought me a new surplice (the enemy had robbed me of my old one),
+also doublets, hosen, and shoes, _summa_, whatsoever
+appertains to a man's attire; wherefore I secretly besought the
+Lord not to punish us again in His sore displeasure for such pomps
+and vanities. When my child beheld all these things she was
+grieved that she could bestow upon him naught save her heart
+alone, and the chain of the Swedish king, the which she hung round
+his neck, and begged him, weeping the while, to take it as a
+bridal gift. This he at length promised to do, and likewise to
+carry it with him into the grave: but that my child must first
+wear it at her wedding, as well as the blue silken gown, for that
+this and no other should be her bridal dress, and this he made her
+promise to do.
+
+And now a merry chance befell with the old maid, the which I will
+here note. For when the faithful old soul had heard what had taken
+place, she was beside herself for joy, danced and clapped her
+hands, and at last said to my child, "Now to be sure you will not
+weep when the young lord is to lie in your bed," whereat my child
+blushed scarlet for shame, and ran out of the room; and when the
+young lord would know what she meant therewith she told him that
+he had already once slept in my child her bed when he came from
+Guetzkow with me, whereupon he bantered her all the evening after
+that she was come back again. Moreover, he promised the maid that
+as she had once made my child her bed for him, she should make it
+again, and that on the day after to-morrow, she and the ploughman
+too should go with us to Mellenthin, so that masters and servants
+should all rejoice together after such great distress.
+
+And seeing that the dear young lord would stop the night under my
+roof, I made him lie in the small closet together with me (for I
+could not know what might happen). He soon slept like a top, but
+no sleep came into my eyes for very joy, and I prayed the livelong
+blessed night, or thought over my sermon. Only near morning I
+dosed a little; and when I rose the young lord already sat in the
+next room with my child, who wore the black silken gown which he
+had brought her, and, strange to say, she looked fresher than even
+when the Swedish king came, so that I never in all my life saw her
+look fresher or fairer. _Item_, the young lord wore his black
+doublet, and picked out for her the best bits of myrtle for the
+wreath she was twisting. But when she saw me, she straightway laid
+the wreath beside her on the bench, folded her little hands, and
+said the morning prayer, as she was ever wont to do, which
+humility pleased the young lord right well, and he begged her that
+in future she would ever do the like with him, the which she
+promised.
+
+Soon after we went to the blessed church to confession, and all
+the folk stood gaping open-mouthed because the young lord led my
+child on his arm. But they wondered far more when, after the
+sermon, I first read to them in the vulgar tongue the _amende
+honorable_ to my child from his princely Highness, together
+with the confirmation of the same by his Imperial Majesty, and
+after that my patent of nobility; and, lastly, began to publish
+the banns between my child and the young lord. Dear reader, there
+arose a murmur throughout the church like the buzzing of a swarm
+of bees. (_N.B_.-These _scripta_ were burnt in the fire
+which broke out in the castle a year ago, as I shall hereafter
+relate, wherefore I cannot insert them here _in origine_.)
+
+Hereupon my dear children went together with much people to the
+Lord's table, and after church nearly all the folks crowded round
+them and wished them joy. _Item_, old Paasch came to our
+house again that afternoon, and once more besought my daughter's
+forgiveness because that he had unwittingly offended her; that he
+would gladly give her a marriage-gift, but that he now had nothing
+at all; howbeit that his wife should set one of her hens in the
+spring, and he would take the chickens to her at Mellenthin
+himself. This made us all to laugh, more especially the young
+lord, who at last said, "As thou wilt bring me a marriage-gift,
+thou must also be asked to the wedding, wherefore thou mayest come
+to-morrow with the rest."
+
+Whereupon my child said, "And your little Mary, my god-child,
+shall come too, and be my bridemaiden, if my lord allows it."
+Whereupon she began to tell the young lord all that had befallen
+the child by the malice of Satan, and how they laid it to her
+charge until such time as the all-righteous God brought her
+innocence to light; and she begged that since her dear lord had
+commanded her to wear the same garments at her wedding which she
+had worn to salute the Swedish king, and afterwards to go to the
+stake, he would likewise suffer her to take for her bridemaiden
+her little god-child, as _indicium secundum_ of her sorrows.
+
+And when he had promised her this, she told old Paasch to send
+hither his child to her, that she might fit a new gown upon her
+which she had cut out for her a week ago, and which the maid would
+finish sewing this very day. This so went to the heart of the good
+old fellow that he began to weep aloud, and at last said, she
+should not do all this for nothing, for instead of the one hen his
+wife should set three for her in the spring.
+
+When he was gone, and the young lord did naught save talk with his
+betrothed bride both in the vulgar and in the Latin tongue, I did
+better--namely, went up the mountain to pray, wherein, moreover, I
+followed my child's example, and clomb up upon the pile, there in
+loneliness to offer up my whole heart to the Lord as an offering
+of thanksgiving, seeing that with this sacrifice He is well
+pleased, as in Ps. li. 19, "The sacrifice of God is a troubled
+spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, shall Thou not
+despise."
+
+That night the young lord again lay in my room, but next morning,
+when the sun had scarce risen----------
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+Here end these interesting communications, which I do not intend
+to dilute with any additions of my own. My readers, more
+especially those of the fair sex, can picture to themselves at
+pleasure the future happiness of this excellent pair.
+
+All further historical traces of their existence, as well as that
+of the pastor, have disappeared, and nothing remains but a tablet
+fixed in the wall of the church at Mellenthin, on which the
+incomparable lord, and his yet more incomparable wife, are
+represented. On his faithful breast still hangs "the golden chain,
+with the effigy of the Swedish king." They both seem to have died
+within a short time of each other, and to have been buried in the
+same coffin. For in the vault under the church there is still a
+large double coffin, in which, according to tradition, lies a
+chain of gold of incalculable value. Some twenty years ago, the
+owner of Mellenthin, whose unequalled extravagance had reduced him
+to the verge of beggary, attempted to open the coffin in order to
+take out this precious relic, but he was not able. It appeared as
+if some powerful spell held it firmly together; and it has
+remained unopened down to the present time. May it remain so until
+the last awful day, and may the impious hand of avarice or
+curiosity never desecrate these holy ashes of holy beings!
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Sidonia the Sorceress V2, by Milliam Meinhold
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIDONIA THE SORCERESS V2 ***
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