The Amber Witch

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I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday
following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome fellow,
and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him on his horse,
and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a present, in hopes that
I would think better of his offer, seeing that he had been ever since
seeking on all sides for a housekeeper in vain. Moreover, that if I
changed my mind about it his lordship would speak for me to his Princely
Highness, so that the dotation of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to
me out of the princely _aerarium_, etc. But the young fellow got the same
answer as his master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away
with him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told him
at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to supply me with it
abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game in the forest, and that
he often went a-hunting on the Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my
daughter) pleased him uncommonly, the more because I would not do his
master's will, who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any
girl in peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had
rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the course of
three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and grew more and more
sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal about his good place, and
how he was in search of a good huswife, whence we soon guessed what
quarter the wind blew from. _Ergo_, my daughter told him that if he was
seeking for a huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to
Coserow to no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there,
which vexed him so sore that he never came again.

And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the
Sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without more
ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover, he promised
to build him a house of his own in the forest; _item_, to give him pots
and kettles, crockery, bedding, etc., seeing that he had stood god-father
to the young fellow, who, moreover, had ever borne himself well during
seven years he had been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that
his lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody but
her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a huswife.

This, however, did not seem to anger him, but after he had talked a long
time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat which pretends
to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners, but she is not in
earnest, and presently springs out upon it again. For doubtless he saw
that he had set to work stupidly; wherefore he went away in order to begin
his attack again after a better fashion, and Satan went with him, as
whilom with Judas Iscariot.

_The Thirteenth Chapter_

WHAT MORE HAPPENED DURING THE WINTER:
_ITEM_, HOW IN THE SPRING WITCHCRAFT BEGAN IN THE VILLAGE

Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the merciful
God bestowed a great plenty of fish, both from the Achterwater and the
sea, and the parish again had good food; so that it might be said of us,
as it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great
mercies will I gather thee." Wherefore we were not weary of praising the
Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church, buying new
pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had stolen the old ones.
_Item_, they desired to make good to me the money I had paid for the new
cups, which, however, I would not take.

There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who had not
been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch as they had
spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread. I therefore made an
agreement with them that I would lend them the money for it, and that if
they could not repay me this year, they might the next, which offer they
thankfully took; and we sent seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg,
to fetch seed-corn for us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin
Behring, in Hamburg, had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had
sailed home by Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper
it with him!

Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the midwife in the
parish, and had also brought my child into the world. Of late, however,
she had had but little to do, seeing that in this year I only baptized two
children, namely, Jung his son in Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little
daughter, the same whom the Imperialists afterwards speared. _Item_, it
was now full five years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one
may guess that I might have starved to death had not the righteous God so
mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to him alone
be all honour and glory. Amen.

Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the Sheriff had
last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat reading with my
child the second book of _Virgilius_ of the fearful destruction of the
city of Troy, which was more terrible even than that of our own village,
when a cry arose that our old neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had
bought only a few days before, had stretched out all-fours and seemed
about to die; and this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but
half an hour before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three
hairs from its tail, and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for
it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow would get
better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing that she is the
only maid in the whole village (for the others are still children); and
the cow got better from that very hour, whereat all the folks were amazed.
But it was not long before the same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst
it was feeding heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's
sake to take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill
men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also, and it did as
much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was _gravida_, was
straightway taken in labour from the fright; and my child was scarce out
of the pigsty when the woman went into her cottage, wailing and holding by
the wall, and called together all the woman of the neighbourhood, seeing
that the proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long
something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women stooped
down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like a bat, flew up
off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room, and then shot out of
the window with a great noise, so that the glass clattered down into the
street. When they looked after it nothing was to be found. Any one may
judge for himself what a great noise this made in all the neighbourhood;
and the whole village believed that it was no one but old Seden his
squint-eyed wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat.

But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her cow got
the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too came lamenting,
and begged my daughter to take pity on her, as on the rest, and to cure
her poor cow for the love of God. That if she had taken it ill of her that
she had said anything about going into service with the Sheriff, she could
only say she had done it for the best, etc. _Summa_, she talked over my
unhappy child to go and cure her cow.

Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the whole
congregation, praying that he would not allow the Evil One to take from us
that which his mercy had once more bestowed upon us after such extreme
want. _Item_, that he would bring to light the _auctor_ of such devilish
works, so that he might receive the punishment he deserved.

But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief
befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came
running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do
no good, and the beast died under her hands.

_Item_, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my daughter had
paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor woman kept it like a
child, and let it run about her room. This little pig got the mischief,
like all the rest, in the twinkling of an eye; and when my daughter was
called it grew no better, but also died under her hands; whereupon the
poor woman made a great outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my
child was moved to pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow
should litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on,
together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for his
merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened to old wife
Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running for my daughter
with loud outcries, and although my child told her that she must have seen
herself that nothing she could do for the cattle cured them any longer,
she ceased not to beg and pray her and to lament till she went forth to do
what she could for her with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose,
inasmuch as the little pig died before she left the sty. What think you
this devil's whore then did? After she had run screaming through the
village she said that any one might see that my daughter was no longer a
maid, else why could she now do no good to the cattle, whereas she had
formerly cured them? She supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on
the Streckelberg, whither she went so often this spring, and that God only
knew who had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the
whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had often
walked on the Streckelberg this spring, both with me and also alone, in
order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed sea, while she
recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of _Virgilius_ as pleased
her best (for whatever she read a few times, that she remembered).

Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no wolves now
left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been they always fly
before a human creature in the summer season. Howbeit, I forbade her to
dig for amber. For as it now lay deep, and we knew not what to do with the
earth we threw up, I resolved to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait
till my store of money grew very scant before we would dig any more.

But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had promised she
would, and of this her disobedience came all our misery. (Oh, blessed
Lord, how grave a matter is thy holy fourth commandment!) For as his
reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this spring, had
told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the _Opp. St.
Augustini_, and I had said before her that I desired above all things to
buy that book, but had not money enough left, she got up in the night
without my knowledge to dig for amber, meaning to sell it as best she
might at Wolgast, in order secretly to present me with the _Opp. St.
Augustini_ on my birthday, which falls on the 28th _mensis Augusti_. She
had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir, whereof
there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should perceive anything
of it.

Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young _nobilis_ Ruediger of
Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the terrible witchcraft
that went on in the village. When I had told him all about it he shook his
head doubtingly, and said he believed that all witchcraft was nothing but
lies and deceit; whereat I was struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had
hitherto held the young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see
that he was an Atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile
he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus, who
would hear nothing of witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were
melancholy persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a
_pactum_ with the devil; and that to him they seemed more worthy of pity
than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had not indeed read any
such book (for say, who can read all that fools write?), but that the
appearances here and in all other places proved that it was a monstrous
error to deny the reality of witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then
likewise deny that there were such things as murder, adultery, and theft.

But he called my _argumentum_ a _dilemma_, and after he had discoursed a
great deal of the devil, all of which I have forgotten, seeing it savoured
strangely of heresy, he said he would relate to me a piece of witchcraft
which he himself had seen at Wittenberg.

It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good charger
at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the horse presently
began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head, snorted, kicked, and
roared, not as horses used to neigh, but with a sound as though the voice
came from a human throat, so that all the folks were amazed, and thought
the horse bewitched. It presently threw the captain, and crushed his head
with its hoof, so that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set
off at full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched
horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died. That he,
Ruediger, had then drawn near, together with many others, seeing that the
colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon of the regiment to cut
open the horse and see in what state it was inwardly. However, that
everything was quite right, and both the surgeon and army physician
testified that the horse was thoroughly sound; whereupon all the people
cried out more than ever about witchcraft. Meanwhile he himself (I mean
the young _nobilis_) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's
nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew out a
match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and which some wicked
fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a pin. Hereupon all
thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and search was made for the
culprit, who was presently found to be no other than the captain's own
groom. For one day that his master had dusted his jacket for him he swore
an oath that he would have his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal
himself had heard as he chanced to be standing in the stable. _Item_,
another soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off
the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus thought
the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were sifted to the
bottom; like as I myself had seen at Guetzkow, where the devil's apparition
turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one day I should own that it was
the same sort of thing here in our village. By reason of this speech I
liked not the young nobleman from that hour forward, believing him to be
an Atheist. Though, indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he
was in the right, more's the pity; for had it not been for him what would
have become of my daughter?

But I will say nothing beforehand.--_Summa_: I walked about the room in
great displeasure at his words, while the young lord began to argue with
my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and now in the vulgar tongue,
as the words came into his mouth, and wanted to hear her mind about it.
But she answered that she was a foolish thing, and could have no opinion
on the matter; but that, nevertheless, she believed that what happened in
the village could not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out
of the room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again
my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close before
her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off, whether anything
had happened, which she at first denied, but afterwards owned that he had
said to her while I was gone that he knew but one person who could
bewitch; and when she asked him who that person was, he caught hold of her
hand and said, "It is yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell
upon my heart, as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further,
but only gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her
so red.

But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if one's
back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb

To drive a goose and watch a maid
Needs the devil himself to aid

is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity!

_The Fourteenth Chapter_

HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN:
_ITEM_, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE
FORT AT PEENEMUeNDE

We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I
reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my orchard, and which
truly were a strange thing; for the trees blossomed so fair and sweetly
that one day as we were walking under them, and praising the almighty
power of the most merciful God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to
bless us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of
next winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise; for all in a moment
the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars (great and small,
and of every shape and colour) that one might have measured them by the
bushel, and before long my poor trees looked like brooms, and the blessed
fruit--which was so well set--all fell off, and was scarce good enough for
the pigs. I do not choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own
private thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley,
whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up bravely.
On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the malice of Satan.
Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the parish--in part because
they had sown no winter crops, and in part because the summer crops did
not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was
caught by the mercy of God, especially herring; but they were very low in
price. Moreover, they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself
killed one as I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a
rock close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled off
my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not, and then
struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot bear much on his
nose), so that he tumbled over into the water; but he was quite stunned,
and I could easily kill him outright. It was a fat beast, though not very
large; and we melted forty pots of train-oil out of his fat, which we put
by for a winter store.

Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so that he
wished to receive the holy sacrament. When I went to him he could give no
reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for fear of his old Lizzie,
who was always watching him with her squinting eyes, and would not leave
the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old,
said that a few days before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle
under the garden-hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife
quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her teeth that
he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit, and that he
would straightway go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a
child's tale, it may be true for all that, seeing that children and fools,
they say, speak the truth.

But be that as it may. _Summa_, my old warden grew worse and worse; and
though I visited him every morning and evening--as I use to do to my
sick--in order to pray with him, and often observed that he had somewhat
on his mind, nevertheless he could not disburthen himself of it, seeing
that old Lizzie never left her post.

This went on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to beg
me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup, because he had
been told that he should get better if he took it mixed with the dung of
fowls. For some time I would not consent, seeing that I straightway
suspected that there was some devilish mischief behind it; but he begged
and prayed, till I did as he would have me.

And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour; so that when I went to
pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on the bench with a
bowl between his knees, out of which he was supping broth. However, he
would not pray (which was strange, seeing that he used to pray so gladly,
and often could not wait patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent
after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed);
but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock
whose dung he had taken for my trouble, as it was a fine large cock, and
he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the poultry
was by this time gone to roost, he went up to the perch which was behind
the stove, and reached down the cock, and put it under the arm of the
maid, who was just come to call me away.

Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I turned
it out to breed. I went to him once more, and asked whether I should give
thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; whereupon he answered
that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I shook my head, and
left the house, resolving to send for him as soon as ever I should hear
that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often went to fetch flax to
spin from the Sheriff). But mark what befell within a few days! We heard
an outcry that old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had
become of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg,
whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my
daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing that she
went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had not; but, woe is
me, she was soon to hear enough of him; for one morning, before sunrise,
as she came down into the wood on her way back from her forbidden digging
after amber, she heard a woodpecker (which no doubt was old Lizzie
herself) crying so dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the
bushes to see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker sitting on the
ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what old
Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up, with its beak
full of the hair and slipped into a hollow tree. While my daughter still
stood looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had heard
the cries of the woodpecker, as he was cutting roofing shingles on the
mountain, with his boy--and was likewise struck with horror when he saw
the hair on the ground. At first they thought a wolf must have eaten him,
and searched all about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up
they fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they
made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here, too, there
was a great bunch of red hair stuck to some leaves as if with pitch, but
that it was not pitch, but something speckled red and white, like
fishguts; _item_, that the leaves all around, even where there was no
hair, were stained and spotted, and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the
lad, at his master's bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two
below straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden,
and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would not pray
nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself believed the same,
and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the congregation. But further on
it will be seen that the Lord had yet greater cause for giving him into
the hands of Satan, inasmuch as he had been talked over by his wicked wife
to renounce his Maker in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this
devil's whore did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by
whole handsful when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old
Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was to take
care of her for the future, etc.

Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and might,
together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day _mensis Junii_,
whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the holy Roman Empire laid
their confession before the most high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at
Augsburg; and I preached a sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation
came to the Sacrament. Now, towards the evening of the selfsame day, as I
walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred sail of
ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and plainly heard firing,
whereupon we judged forthwith that this must be the most high and mighty
King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the aid
of poor persecuted Christendom. While we were still debating, a boat
sailed towards us from Oie wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer
there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that it
really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with his fleet
from Ruegen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at the time, and saw
how he went ashore with his officers, and straightway bared his head and
fell upon his knees.

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