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Sidonia The Sorceress V2

W >> William Mienhold >> Sidonia The Sorceress V2




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
propriâ!_" 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 meâ
presentiâ_. 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. magicæ_, 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 _præses_ 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.

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