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Page 34
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 whether 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. 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, inasmuch as _Dom. Consul_ thought that it was not old
Lizzie, which, nevertheless, was as clear as the sun at noonday! 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, 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
afoot 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 afoot; 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 afoot 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."
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