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Page 39
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, 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": 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 stye, 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_ Michelsen, 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 masters 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_, oversalted 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 Use; thou shall
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."
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