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Page 38
_R_. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the door.
_Q_. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or pitch-fork?
_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 nought 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 church-warden 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 nought,
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 straight-way 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?"--
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