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Sidonia The Sorceress V1

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"Ha!" she exclaimed, "the flesh and the devil have not been
destroyed in them yet, but I will soon give them something else to
think of than their lovers."

And here, as one of them laughed louder than the rest, Sidonia
gave her a blow on the mouth.

"Let that teach the peasant-girl more respect for a castle and
land dowered maiden."

When the good abbess saw and heard all this, she nearly fainted
with shame, and had to hold by a stool, or she would have fallen
to the ground. However she gained fresh courage, when, upon asking
for Sidonia's documents, she found that there were none to show.
Without more ado, therefore, she bade her leave the convent; and,
amidst the jeers and laughter of all the sisterhood, Sidonia was
obliged to mount her one-horse cart again, or the convent porter
had orders to force her out.

By this all may perceive that, in place of repenting, Sidonia had
fallen still further in the mire, wherein she wallowed yet for
many years, as if it were, indeed, her true and natural element,
like that beetle of which Albertus Magnus speaks, that died if one
covered it with rose-leaves, but came to life again when laid in
dung.

Hardly had she left the convent-gate when the old abbess bade a
carl get ready a carriage, and flew in it to Stettin herself, to
lay the whole case before my gracious Prince, and entreat him,
even on her knees, not to send such a notorious creature amongst
them; for what blessing could the convent hope to obtain if they
harboured such an infamous sinner? So his Grace wonders much over
the daring of the harlot; for he had given her no
_proebenda,_ though she was writing to him constantly
requesting one. Nor would he ever think of giving her one; for why
should he send such a hell-besom to sweep the pious convent of
Marienfliess? The good abbess might rise up, for as long as he
lived Sidonia should never enter the convent.

And his Grace held by his word, though it cost him his life, as I
shall just now relate with bitter sighs.

It happened that, A.D. 1600, there was a terribly hard winter, so
that the fresh Haff [Footnote: The river Haff] was quite frozen
over, and able to bear heavy beams. Now, as the ice was smooth and
beautiful as a mirror, my Lord of Stettin proposed to his
guests--Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg, his
brother-in-law, and old Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg, his uncle, to
go over the Haff in sleighs, and pay a visit to the princely widow
and her little son.

Their Graces were well pleased at the idea. Whereupon his Highness
of Stettin gave orders to have such a procession formed as never
had been seen in Pomerania before for magnificence and beauty, and
therefore I shall note down some particulars here.

There were a hundred sleighs, some drawn by reindeer caparisoned
like horses, and all decorated gaily. The three ducal sleighs in
particular were entirely girded and lined with sable skin; each
was drawn by four Andalusian horses; and my Lady Erdmuth, who was
a great lover of show and pomp, had hers hung with little tinkling
bells and chains of gold, so that no one to look at them could
imagine how very little of the dear gold her gracious lord and
husband had in his purse, by reason of the hardness of the times.

The adornments of the other sleighs were less costly. Upon them
came the ministers, the officials, and others pertaining to the
retinue of the three princes: _item_, the ladies-in-waiting,
and divers of the reverend clergy; last of all came the Duke's
henchman, with a pack of wolf-dogs in leash: _item,_ several
live hares and foxes; a live bear, which they purposed to let
slip, for the pleasure and pastime of their Graces. But the young
men out of the town, fifty head strong, and many of the knights,
ran along on skates, headed by Dinnies Kleist, that mighty man,
who bore in one hand the blood-banner of Pomerania, and in the
other that of Brandenburg. Barthold von Ramin ran by his side with
the Mecklenburg standard. He was a strong knight too. But ah! my
God! how my Ramin, with his ox-head, was distanced by the wild men
of Pomerania, as they ran upon the ice over the Haff! [Footnote:
The blood-standard was granted by the Emperor Maximilian II. to
Duke Johann Friedrich of Pomerania because he carried the imperial
banner during the Turkish war of 1566. It only differed from the
old banner by having a red ground--from thence its name. Both
Pomerania and Brandenburg had wild men in their escutcheon, while
Mecklenburg bore an ox's head.] Two reserve sleighs, drawn by six
Frisian horses, finished the procession; they were laden with
axes, planks, ropes, and dry garments, both for men and women.

When their Graces mounted the sleighs amidst the ringing of bells
and roaring of cannon, great was their astonishment to see their
own initials stamped into the hard ice by Dinnies Kleist, as thus:
F. U. J. E. J. F., which, however, afterwards caused much dismay
to the honest burghers, for one of them--M. Faber, _a
præceptor_--mistaking the J. for a G., read plainly upon the
ice: "Fuge, J. F."--that is, "Fly, Johann Frederick!"

Ah! truly has the gracious Prince flown from thence; but it is to
a bitter death.

During the journey, Duke Johann had much jesting with his
brother-in-law, the Elector, who was filled with wonder at the
strength of Dinnies Kleist, for he kept ahead even of the
Andalusian stallions, and waved aloft the two banners of Pomerania
and Brandenburg, while his long hair floated behind him; and
sometimes he stopped, kissed the banners, and then inclined them
to their Serene Princely Graces. Whereupon Duke Johann exclaimed,
"Ay, brother, you might well give me a thousand of your
wide-mouthed Berliners for this carl; though, methinks, if he had
his will, he would make their wide mouths still wider." At this,
his Electoral Grace looked rather vexed, and began to uphold the
men of Cologne. Upon which his Highness cut him short, saying,
"Marry, brother, you know the old proverb--

'The men of Cologne
Have no hues of their own,
But the men of Stettin
Are the true ever-green.'

For where truly could your fellows find the true green in their
sandy dust-box? Marry, cousin, one Pomerania is worth ten
Margravates; and I will show your Grace just now that my land in
winter is more productive than yours even in autumn."

His Grace here alluded to the fisheries; for along the way, for
twelve or fourteen miles, the fishermen had been ordered to set
their nets by torchlight the night before, in holes dug through
the ice, so that on the arrival of the princely party the nets
might be drawn up, and the draught exhibited to their Graces.

Now, when they entered the fresh Haff, which lay before them like
a large mirror, six miles long and four broad, his Grace of
Pomerania called out--

"See here, brother, this is my first storeroom; let us try what it
will give us to eat."

Upon which he signed to Dinnies Kleist to steer over to the first
heap of nets, which lay like a black wood in the distance. These
belonged to the Ziegenort fishermen, as the old schoolmaster,
Peter Leisticow, himself told me; and as they had taken a great
draught the day before, many people from the towns of Warp,
Stepenitz, and Uckermund were assembled there to buy up the fish,
and then retail it, as was their custom, throughout the country.
They had made a fire upon a large sheet of iron laid upon the ice,
while their horses were feeding close by upon hay, which they
shook out before them. And having taken a merry carouse together,
they all set to dancing upon the ice with the women to the
bagpipe, so that the encampment looked right jovial as their
Graces arrived.

Now when the grand train came up, the peasants roared out--

"Donnerwetter, [Note: A common oath.] look at the plötz-eaters!
See the cursed plötz-eaters! Donnerwetter, what plötz-eaters!"
[Note: Plötz-eaters was a nickname given by the Pomeranians to the
people of the Margravates. For the plötz (_Cyprinus
Exythrophthalmus_) is a very poor tasteless fish, while the
rivers of Pomerania are stocked with the very finest of all kinds.
In return, the men of the Marks called the Pomeranians
"Feather-heads," from the quantity of moor-palms (_Eriophorum
vaginatum_) which grow in their numerous rich meadows.]

And now they observed, during their shouting, that the water had
risen up to their knees; and when the ducal procession rushed up,
the abyss re-echoed with a noise like thunder, so that the foreign
princes were alarmed, but soon grew accustomed thereto. Then the
pressure of such a crowd upon the ice caused the water to spout
out of the holes to the height of a man. So that by the time they
were two bowshots from the nets, all the folk, the women and
children especially, were running, screaming, in every direction,
trying to save themselves on the firm ice, to the great amusement
of their Graces, while a peasant cried out to the sleigh drivers--

"Stop, stop! or ye'll go into the cellar!"

Hereupon his Grace of Pomerania beckoned over the Ziegenort
schoolmaster, and asked him what they had taken, to which he
answered--

"Gracious Prince, we have taken bley; the nets are all loaded;
we've taken seventy schümers, [Footnote: A schümer was a measure
which contained twelve bushels.] and your Grace ought to take one
with you for supper."

Now his Highness the Elector wished to see the nets emptied, so
they rested a space while the peasants shovelled out the fish, and
pitched them into the aforesaid schümers. But ah! woe to the
fish-thieves who had come over from Warp and other places; for the
water having risen up and become all muddy with fish-slime, they
never saw the great holes, and tumbled in, to the great amusement
of the peasants and pastime of their Graces.

How their Highnesses laughed when the poor carls in the water
tried to get hold of a net or a rope or a firm piece of ice, while
they floundered about in the water, and the peasants fished them
up with their long hooks, at the same time giving many of them a
sharp prod on the shoulder, crying out--

"Ha! will ye steal again? Take that for your pains, you robbers!"

Now when their Graces were tired laughing and looking at the fish
hauled, they prepared to depart; but the schoolmaster prayed his
Highness of Stettin yet again to take a schümer of fish for their
supper, as their Graces were going to stop for the night in
Uckermund.

"But what could I do with all the fish?" quoth the Duke.

To which the carl answered in his jargon--

"Eh! gracious master, give them to the plotz-eaters; that will be
something new for them. Never fear but they'll eat them all up!"

Hereupon his Highness the Elector grew nettled, and cried out--

"Ho! thou damned peasant, thinkest thou we have no bley?"

"Well, ye've none here," replied the man cunningly.

So their Graces laughed, and ordered a couple of bushels of the
largest to be placed upon the safety sleigh.

Now when they had gone a little farther and found the ice as
smooth as glass, the henchman let loose the bear and the wolf-dogs
after it. My stout Bruin first growls and paws the ice, then sets
himself in earnest for the race, and, on account of his sharp
claws, ran on straight for Uckermund without ever slipping, while
the hounds fell down on all sides, or tumbled on their backs,
howling with rage and disappointment.

Yet more pleasant was the hare-hunt, for hounds and hares both
tumbled down together, and the hares squeaked and the hounds
yelped; some hares indeed were killed, but only after infinite
trouble, while others ran away after the bear.

After the hunt they came to another fishery, and so on till they
reached Uckermund, passing six fisheries in succession, whereof
each draught was as large as the first, so that his Grace the
Elector marvelled much at the abundance, and seeing the nets full
of zannats at the last halting-place, cried out--

"Marry, brother, your storeroom is well furnished. I might grow
dainty here myself. Let us take a bushel of these along with us
for supper, for zannat is the fish for me!"

This greatly rejoiced his Grace of Stettin, who ordered the fish
to be laid on the sumpter sleigh, and in good time they reached
the ducal house at Uckermund, Dinnies Kleist still keeping
foremost, and waving his two banners over his head, while Barthold
Barnim and the other skaters hung weary and tired upon the backs
of the sleighs.




CHAPTER XXI.

_How Sidonia meets their Graces upon the ice--Item, how Dinnies
Kleist beheads himself, and my gracious lord of Wolgast perishes
miserably._


The next morning early the whole train set off from Uckermund in
the highest spirits, passing net after net, till the Duke of
Mecklenburg, as well as the Elector, lifted their hands in
astonishment. From the Haff they entered the Pene, and from that
the Achterwasser. [Footnote: A large bay formed by the Pene.] Here
a great crowd of people stood upon the ice, for the town of
Quilitz lay quite near; besides, more fish had been taken here
than had yet been seen upon the journey, so that people from
Wolgast, Usdom, Lassahn, and all the neighbouring towns had run
together to bid for it. But what happened?

Alas! that his Grace should have desired to halt, for scarcely had
his sleigh stopped, when a little old woman, meanly clad, with
fisher's boots, and a net filled with bley-fish in her hand,
stepped up to it and said--

"My good Lord, I am Sidonia von Bork; wherefore have you not
replied to my demand for the _proebenda_ of Barbara von
Kleist in Marienfliess?"

"How could he answer her? He knew nothing at all of her mode of
living, or where she dwelt."

_Illa._--"She had bid him lay the answer upon the altar of
St. Jacob's in Stettin. Why had he not done so?"

"That was no place for such letters, only for the words of the
Holy Spirit and the Blessed Sacrament of his Saviour; therefore,
let her say now where she dwelt."

_Illa._--"The richest maiden in Pomerania could ill say where
the poorest now dwelt," weeping.

"The richest maiden had only herself to blame if she were now the
poorest; better had she wept before. The _proebenda_ she
could never have; let her cease to think of it; but here was an
alms, and she might now go her ways."

_Illa_.--(Refuses to take it, and murmurs.) "Your Grace will
soon have bitter sorrow for this."

As she so menaced and spat out three times, the thing angered
Dinnies Kleist (who held her in abhorrence ever since the
adventure in the Uckermund forest), and as he had lost none of his
early strength, he hit her a blow with the blood-standard over the
shoulder, exclaiming, "Pack off to the devil, thou shameless hag!
What does the witch mean by her spittings? The _proebenda_ of
my sister Barbara shall thou never have!"

However, the hag stirred not from the spot, answered no word, but
spat out again; and as the illustrious party drove off she still
stood there, and spat out after them.

What this devil's sorcery denoted we shall soon see; for as they
approached Ziemitze, and the ducal house of Wolgast appeared in
sight, Dinnies Kleist started on before the safety sleigh; and as
soon as the high towers of the castle rose above the trees, he
waved the two banners above his head, and brought them together
till they kissed. Having so held them for a space, he set forward
again with giant strides, in order to be the first to
arrive--although, indeed, the town was aware of the advance of the
princely train, for the bells were ringing, and the blood-standard
waved from St. Peter's and the three other towers.

But woe, alas! Dinnies, in his impatience, never observed a
windwake direct in his path, and down he sank, while the sharp ice
cut his head clean off, as if an executioner had done it; and the
head, with the long hair, rolled hither and thither, while the
body remained fast in the hole, only one arm stuck up above the
ice--it was that which held the Brandenburg standard, but the
blood-banner of Pomerania had sunk for ever in the abyss.
[Footnote: A windwake is a hole formed by the wind in the thawing
season, and which afterwards becomes covered with a thin coating
of ice by a subsequent frost.]

When his Grace of Stettin beheld this, he was filled with more
sorrow than even at the death of his fool; and, weeping bitterly,
commanded seven sleighs to return and seize the evil hag; then
with all speed, and for a terrible example, to burn her upon the
Quilitz mountain.

But when many present assured his Grace that such-like accidents
were very common, and many skaters had perished thus, whereof even
Duke Ulrich named several instances, so that his Grace of Stettin
need not impute such natural accidents to witchcraft or the power
of the hag, he was somewhat calmed. Still he commanded the seven
sleighs to return and bring the witch bound to Wolgast, that he
might question her as to wherefore she had spat out.

So the sleighs returned, but the vile sorceress was no longer on
the ice, neither did any one know whither she had gone; whereupon
the sleighs hastened back again after the others.

Now it was the Friday before Shrove Tuesday, about mid-day, when
the princely party arrived at Wolgast; and Prince Bogislaff of
Barth was there to receive them, with his five sons--namely,
Philip, Franz, George, Ulrich, and Bogislaff. [Footnote: Marginal
note of Duke Bogislaff XIV.--"This is not true; for I had a fever
at the time, and remained at home."] And there was a great uproar
in the castle--some of the young lords playing ball in the castle
court with the young Prince, Philip Julius, others preparing for
the carnival mummeries, which were to commence next evening by a
great banquet and dance in the hall. Indeed, that same evening
their Graces had a brave carouse, to try and make Duke Johann
forget his grief about his well-beloved Dinnies Kleist: and his
Grace thus began to discourse concerning him:--

"Truly, brothers, who knows what the devil may have in store for
us? for it was a strange thing how my blood-standard sunk in the
abyss, while that of my brother of Brandenburg floated above it.
Think you that our male line will become extinct, and the heritage
of fair Pomerania descend to Brandenburg? For, in truth, it is
strange that, out of five brothers, two of us only have
heirs--Bogislaff and Ernest Ludovicus, who has left indeed but one
only son."

Then Duke Bogislaff (whom our Lord God had surely blessed for his
humility in resigning the government, and also because of his
dutiful conduct ever towards his mother, even in his youth having
brought her a tame seagull) made answer, laughingly: "Dear
brother, I think Herr Bacchus has done more to turn Frau Venus
against our race than Sidonia or any of her spells, therefore ye
need not wonder if ye have no heirs. However, if my five young
Princes listen to my warnings and shun the wine-cup, trust me the
blood-standard will be lifted up again, and our ancient name never
want a fitting representative."

Meanwhile, as they so discoursed, and the gracious ladies looked
down for shame upon the ground, young Lord Philip began a Latin
argument with the Rev. Dr. Glambecken, court chaplain at Wolgast
_de monetis;_ and pulled out of his pocket a large bag of old
coins, which had been presented to him by Doctor Chytraeus,
professor of theology at Rostock, with whom his Grace interchanged
Latin epistles. [Foonote: See the Latin letters of the talented
young Prince in Oelrich's "Contributions to the Literary History
of the Pomeranian Dukes," vol. i. p. 67. He fell a victim to
intemperance, though his death was imputed likewise to Sidonia,
and formed the subject of the sixth torture examination.]

This gave the conversation a new turn, and the ladies particularly
were much pleased examining the coins; but the devil himself
surely must have anagrammatised one of them, for over the letters,
Pomerania, figures were scratched 356412789
--thus--Pomerania--giving the terrible meaning, _rape omnia_
(rob all); and many said that this must have been the very coin
which the devil took that time he rent the oblation-table, at the
exorcism of the young Princess.

This discovery filled the Pomeranian Duke with strong
apprehensions, and young Prince Franz handed over the coin to the
Elector of Brandenburg, saying bitterly, "Yes, rob all! Doctor
Joel of Grypswald has long since told me that it would all end
this way--even as Satan himself has scratched down here--but my
lord father will not credit him, he is so proud of his five sons.
Doctor Joel, however, is a right learned man, and no one knows the
mysteries of the black art better; besides, who reads the stars
more diligently each night than he?"

And behold, while he is speaking, the fool runs into the hall,
pale, and trembling in every limb.

"Alas! Lord Franz," he exclaimed, "I have seen the manikin again
on his three-legged hare, which appeared at the death of Duke
Ernest Ludovicus."

But the young lord boxed him, crying, "Away, thou knave! must thy
chatter help to make us more melancholy?"

However Duke Bogislaff bid the fool stay, and tell them when and
where he had seen the imp.

My fool wiped his eyes, and began: "The young Lord Franz had bid
him put on his best jacket (that which had been given him as a
Christmas-box) for the carnival mummings on Shrove Tuesday; so he
went up to the garret to get it himself out of the trunk, but,
before he had quite reached the trunk, the black dwarf, with his
little red boots, rode out from behind it on his three-legged
hare--hop! hop! hop!--made a frightful face at him, and after a
little while rode back again--hop! hop! hop! behind his old boots,
which stood in a corner, and disappeared!"

What the malicious Puck denoted we shall soon see--Oh, woe! woe!

Next day all sorts of amusements were set on foot, to chase away
gloomy thoughts out of the hearts of the illustrious guests--such
as tilting with lances, dancing upon stilts, wrestling,
rope-dancing. _Item,_ pickleherring and harlequins. Amongst
these last the fool showed off to great advantage, for who could
twist his face into more laughable grimaces? _Item,_ in the
evening there was a mask of mummers, in which one fellow played
the angel, and another dressed as Satan, with a large horse's foot
and cock's plume, spat red fire from his mouth, and roared
horribly when the angel overcame him (but withal I think the
gloomy thoughts stayed there yet).

And mark what in truth soon happened! When the drums and trumpets
struck up the last mask dance in the great Ritter Hall, which
every one joins in, old and young, his Grace, Duke Johann, went to
the room of his dear cousin Hedwig, the princely widow, and prayed
her to tread the dance with him; but she refuses, and sits by the
fire and weeps.

"Let not my dear cousin fret," said the Duke, "about the chatter
of the fool."

To which she replied, "Alas! wherefore not? For surely it betokens
death to my darling little son, Philip Julius."

"No," exclaimed the Duke quickly, "it betokens mine!" and he fell
flat upon the ground.

One can easily imagine how the gracious lady screamed, so that all
ran in from the Knight's Hall in their masks and mumming-dresses,
to see indeed the mumming of the true bodily Satan; and Doctor
Pomius, who was at the mask likewise, ran in with a
smelling-bottle, but all was in vain. His Grace lingered for three
days, and then having received the Holy Sacrament from Doctor
Glambecken, died in the same chamber in which he was born, having
lived fifty-seven years, five months, twelve days, and fourteen
hours. How can I describe the lamentations of the princely
company--yea, indeed, of the whole town; for every one saw now
plainly that the anger of God rested upon this ancient and
illustrious Pomeranian race, and that He had given it over
helplessly to the power of the evil one.

_Summa._--On the 9th February the princely corse was laid in
the very sleigh which had brought it a living body, and, followed
by a grand train of princes, nobles, and knights, along with a
strong guard of the ducal soldatesca, was conveyed back to
Stettin; and there, with all due and befitting ceremonies, was
buried on Palm Sunday in the vault of the castle church.




CHAPTER XXII.

_How Barnim the Tenth succeeds to the government, and how
Sidonia meets him as she is gathering bilberries. Item, of the
unnatural witch-storm at his Grace's funeral, and how Duke Casimir
refuses, in consequence, to succeed him._


Now Barnim the Tenth succeeded to that very duchy about which he
had been so wroth the day of the Diet at Wollin, but it brought
him little good. He was, however, a pious Prince, and much beloved
at his dower of Rügenwald, where he spent his time in making a
little library of all the Lutheran hymn-books which he could
collect, and these he carried with him in his carriage wherever he
went; so that his subjects of Rügenwald shed many tears at losing
so pious a ruler.

_Item,_ the moment his Grace succeeded to the government, he
caused all the courts to be reopened, along with the treasury and
the chancery, which his deceased Grace had kept closed to the
last; and for this goodness towards his people, the states of the
kingdom promised to pay all his debts, which was done; and thus
lawlessness and robbery were crushed in the land.

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