The Amber Witch
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Wilhelm Meinhold >> The Amber Witch
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Thus, then, most gracious God, did I thy unworthy servant enjoy a still
greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I had done on the
blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed not for a moment to
fall on my knees with my child, and to follow the example of the king. And
God knows I never in my life prayed so fervently as that evening, whereon
the Lord showed such a wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of
his poor Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had
everywhere called upon him, on their knees, for his gracious help against
the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night I could not
sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to Damerow, where
something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed that he, too, was
bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, seeing that the boy had
eaten something unwholesome in the forest. He could not tell what kind of
berries they were; but the _malum_, which turned all his skin bright
scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly
after, I met a messenger from Peenemuende, whom his Majesty the high and
mighty King Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the Sheriff that on the
29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send three guides
to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him through the woods to
Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. _Item_, he related how his
Majesty had taken the fort at Peenemuende yesterday (doubtless the cause of
the firing we heard last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away
as fast as they could, and played the bushranger properly; for after
setting their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and
part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine.
Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a _carmen gratulatorium_ to his
Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my
little daughter might present to him.
I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and she
straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance about the
room. But when she had considered a little, she thought her clothes were
not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and that I should buy her a
blue silk gown, with a yellow apron, seeing that these were the Swedish
colours, and would please his Majesty right well. For a long time I would
not, seeing that I hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her
kisses and coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered
my ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff.
Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud, and showeth
mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such pride. For I myself
felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with two women who were to help
her to sew, and laid the stuff before me. Next day she set to work at
sunrise to sew, and I composed my _carmen_ the while. I had not got very
far in it when the young Lord Ruediger of Nienkerken came riding up, in
order, as he said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to
march through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter,
_item_ informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly, and instructed
my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day than I altogether
liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the Latin, as _ratscho_ pro _ratio,
uet_ pro _ut, schis_ pro _scis_, etc., so that she might be able to answer
his Majesty with all due readiness. He said, moreover, that he had held
much converse with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald,
wherefore if she pleased they might act a short _colloquium_, wherein he
would play the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and
they both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially when
I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the while. But say,
dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I went my ways, and let them
chatter till near noon, when the young lord at last took leave. But he
promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and believed
that the whole island would flock together at Coserow. As soon as he was
gone, seeing that my _vena poetica_ (as may be easily guessed) was still
stopped up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish,
exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone by
Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to fall on
their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and that I knelt
down; _item_, to join at once in singing the Ambrosian hymn of praise,
which I should lead off as soon as the bells began to ring. This they all
promised to do; and after I had again exhorted them to it on Sunday in
church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my
heart, we scarce could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience.
_The Fifteenth Chapter_
OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WHAT
BEFELL THEREAT
Meanwhile I finished my _carmen_ in _metrum elegiacum_, which my daughter
transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is fairer than mine) and
diligently learned, so that she might say it to his Majesty. _Item_, her
clothes were gotten ready, and became her purely; and on Monday she went
up to the Streckelberg, although the heat was such that the crows gasped
on the hedges; for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed
to wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening she
came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers; but her hair
was quite wet, and hung all matted about her shoulders. (My God, my God,
was everything to come together to destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I
asked, therefore, where she had been that her hair was so wet and matted:
whereupon she answered that she had gathered flowers round the Koelpin, and
from thence she had gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in
the sea, seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said
she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow doubly a
clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked grave, although I
said nought.
Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the Giant's
Stone, men, women, and children. _Summa_, everybody that was able to walk
was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was already dressed in all her
bravery, namely, a blue silken gown, with a yellow apron and kerchief, and
a yellow hair-net, with a garland of blue and yellow flowers round her
head. It was not long before my young lord arrived, finely dressed, as
became a nobleman. He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I
should go up to the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans
von Nienkerken, _item_ Wittich Appelmann and the Lepels of Gnitze, were
also going, and that there was much people on all the high roads, as
though a fair was being held. But I straightway perceived that all he
wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as he presently occupied himself
about her, and began chattering with her in the Latin again. He made her
repeat to him the _carmen_ to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of
the king, answered her: "_Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae mihi in
coloribus caeli, ut angelus Domini appares utinam semper mecum esses,
nunquam mihi male caderet_"; whereupon she grew red, as likewise did I,
but from vexation, as may be easily guessed. I therefore begged that his
lordship would but go forward toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter
had yet to help me on with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered
that he would wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then
go together. _Summa_, I blessed myself from this young lord; but what
could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it all; and before
long we went up to the Stone, where I straight-way chose three sturdy
fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the steeple, that they might
begin to ring the bells as soon as they should see me get up upon the
Stone and wave my napkin. This they promised to do, and straightway
departed; whereupon I sat down on the Stone with my daughter, thinking
that the young lord would surely stand apart, as became his dignity;
albeit he did not, but sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat
there all alone, and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see
my child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont to
do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard how matters
stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock Hans von Nienkerken and
Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old Nienkerken called to his son in an
angry voice: and seeing that the young lord heard him not, he rode up to
the Stone, and cried out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Canst thou
not hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Ruediger followed
him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how the old lord
seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him; but knew not what
this might signify: we were to learn it soon enough, though, more's the
pity! Soon after the two Lepels of Gnitze came from the Damerow; and the
noblemen saluted one other on the green sward close beside us, but without
looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say that nought could yet be seen of
his Majesty, but that the coastguard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and
that several hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was
known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from the
Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich, who had
dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch his boy up into a
tall oak-tree to look out for the king, straightway busied himself about
my daughter again, who now sat all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not
taken his huntsman? and whether she would not change her mind on the
matter and have him now, or else come into service with him (the Sheriff)
himself? for that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it
one day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was but
one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would take so much
useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all haste and came to
where I stood under the tree, looking after the lad who was climbing up
it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a great curse when my daughter
turned her back upon him, and went straightway into the alder-grove close
by the high road, where stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken.
Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore, and found it quite
true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and Oie towards
Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us that we could see the
soldiers standing upon them and the flashing of their arms. _Item_, we
heard the horses neigh and the soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were
drumming, and on another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet
gazed we saw smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great
noise, and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water,
which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight towards us.
Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud cries, and we plainly
heard the soldiery in the ships laugh thereat. But the ball flew up and
struck into the midst of an oak hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two
cartloads of boughs fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all
the road by which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no
longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried out to
us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was marching out of the
forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the king was among them.
Hereupon the Sheriff ordered the road to be cleared forthwith, and this
was some time a-doing, seeing that the thick boughs were stuck fast in the
trees all around; the nobles, as soon as all was made ready, would have
ridden to meet his Majesty, but stayed still on the little green sward,
because we already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close
to us in the forest.
It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood with the
three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of them was known to me
(it was Stoffer Krauthahn of Peenemuende), I drew near and begged him that
he would tell me when the king should come. But he answered that he was
going forward with the cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for
a tall dark man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck,
for that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great standard
whereon was a yellow lion.
Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the forest.
And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland bowmen, who went
clothed all in furs, although it was now the height of summer, whereat I
greatly wondered. After these there came much people, but I know not what
they were. Presently I espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way so
that I could not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the
coppice, the great flag with the lion on it, and behind that the head of a
very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon straightway I
judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my napkin toward the
steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out, and while the dark man
rode nearer to us, I pulled off my skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led
the Ambrosian hymn of praise, and all the people plucked their hats from
their heads and knelt down on the ground all around, singing after me;
men, women, and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the
green sward, and did not take off their hats and behave with attention
until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It was a coal-black
charger, and stopped with its two fore-feet right upon my field, which I
took as a sign of good fortune.) When we had finished, the Sheriff quickly
got off his horse, and would have approached the king with his three
guides, who followed after him; _item_, I had taken my child by the hand,
and would also have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned
away the Sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his
Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous heart,
seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the protection and
aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it as a sign from God that
such had happened on this the high festival of our poor church, and I
prayed his Majesty graciously to receive what my daughter desired to
present to him; whereupon his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly.
Such gracious bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly
just before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath, whereon lay the
_carmen_, saying, "_Accipe hanc vilem coronam et haec_" whereupon she
began to recite the _carmen_. Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more
gracious, looking now on her and now on the _carmen_, and nodded with
especial kindness towards the end, which was as follows:--
Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor
Intrabis patriae libera regna meae;
Tunc meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae,
Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam.
Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum
Auguror et res est ista futura brevi!
Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optime princeps,
Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale!
As soon as she held her peace, his Majesty said, "_Propius accedas, patria
virgo, ut te osculer_"; whereupon she drew near to his horse, blushing
deeply. I thought he would only have kissed her forehead, as potentates
commonly use to do, but not at all! he kissed her lips with a loud smack,
and the long feathers on his hat drooped over her neck, so that I was
quite afraid for her again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off
his gold chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my
child's neck with these words: "_Hocce tuce pulchritudim! et si favente
Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula
exspecto_."
Hereupon the Sheriff with his three men again came forward and bowed down
to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no Latin, _item_ no
Italian nor French, I had to act as interpreter. For his Majesty inquired
how far it was to Swine, and whether there was still much foreign soldiery
there: And the Sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the
camp; whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and nodding graciously,
cried "_Valete_!" And now came the rest of the troops, about 3000 strong,
out of the coppice, which likewise had a valiant bearing, and attempted no
fooleries, as troops are wont to do, when they passed by us and the women,
but marched on in honest quietness, and we followed the train until the
forest beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty,
and every one went on his way home.
_The Sixteenth Chapter_
HOW LITTLE MARY PAASCH WAS SORELY PLAGUED OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WHOLE
PARISH FELL OFF FROM ME
Before I proceed any further I will first mark that the illustrious King
Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut down the 300 Croats at
Swine, and was thence gone by sea to Stettin. May God be for ever gracious
to him! Amen.
But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil now played
pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun to think that the
ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers, but it pleased him to try
us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few days after the arrival of the
most illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus, it was bruited about that my
child her little god-daughter was possessed of the Evil One, and tumbled
about most piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold
her. My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but
presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even to come
near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that she should never
come within his doors again, as his child had got the mischief from the
white roll which she had given her that morning. It was true that my child
had given her a roll, seeing that the maid had been the day before to
Wolgast and had brought back a napkin full of them.
Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to old
Paasch his house to exorcise the foul fiend and to remove such disgrace
from my child. I found the old man standing on the floor by the cockloft
steps weeping; and after I had spoken "The peace of God," I asked him
first of all whether he really believed that his little Mary had been
bewitched by means of the roll which my child had given her? He said,
"Yes!" And when I answered that in that case I also must have been
bewitched, _item_ Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten of
the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I would not go
into the room and see for myself how matters stood. I then entered with
"The peace of God," and found six people standing round little Mary her
bed; her eyes were shut, and she was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit
Wells (who was a young and sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one
leg and held her out like a hedgestake, so that I might see how the devil
plagued her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of
Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was pitiful
to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet so that four strong men
were scarce able to hold her: _item_ she was afflicted with extraordinary
risings and fallings of her belly, as if a living creature were therein,
so that at last the old witch Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly,
whereupon the child seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat
the Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who
possessed her. She straightway grew worse than before, and began to gnash
her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to strike so hard with her hands and feet
that she flung her father, who held one of her legs, right into the middle
of the room, and then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that
the blood flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly as
though she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan
that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a dog, _item_
to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass voice, like an old man's,
"I will not depart." But he should soon have been forced to depart out of
her, had not both father and mother besought me by God's holy Sacrament to
leave their poor child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but
rather made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only
admonished the parents to seek for help, like the Canaanitish woman, in
true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to sigh in constant
faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my daughter is
grievously vexed of a devil," Matthew xv.; that the heart of our Lord
would then melt, so that he would have mercy on their child, and command
Satan to depart from her. _Item_, I promised to pray for the little child
on the following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to
bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing that the
ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise beyond the
clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home sorely troubled,
where I soon learned that she was somewhat better; thus it still is sure
that Satan hates nothing so much, after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of
the Gospel. But wait, and I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel"
(Genesis, chap, iii.); nought shall avail thee.
Howbeit before the blessed Sunday came, I perceived that many of my people
went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in the parish, where
I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went to Uekeritze to see young
Tittlewitz, there even befell me as follows:--Claus Pieper the peasant
stood in his yard chopping wood, and on seeing me he flung the axe out of
his hand so hastily that it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the
pigsty, making the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked
why he thus ran from me, his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also
believed that my daughter had bewitched her little god-child? "_Ille_.
Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did. _Ego_. Why, then, had
she been so kind to her formerly, and kept her like a sister through the
worst of the famine? _Ille_. This was not the only mischief she had done.
_Ego_. What, then, had she done besides? _Ille_. That was all one to me.
_Ego_. He should tell me, or I would complain to the magistrate. _Ille_.
That I might do, if I pleased." Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any
one may guess that I was not slow to inquire everywhere what people
thought my daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I
might have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover not one child
came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and when I sent out
the maid to ask the reason she brought back word that the children were
ill, or that the parents wanted them for their work. I thought and
thought, but all to no purpose, until the blessed Sunday came round when I
meant to have held a great Sacrament, seeing that many people had made
known their intention to come to the Lord's table. It seemed strange to me
that I saw no one standing (as was their wont) about the church door; I
thought, however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I
went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than six people
assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the accursed witch no
sooner saw my daughter follow me than she made the sign of the cross and
ran out of the door under the steeple; whereupon the five others, among
them mine own church-warden Claus Bulken (I had not appointed any one in
the room of old Seden), followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood
curdled, and I began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against
the confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in order to
spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter with all the people;
are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came to myself again and went into
the churchyard to look after them. But all were gone save my churchwarden,
Claus Bulken, who stood under the lime-tree, whistling to himself. I
stepped up to him and asked what had come to the people? Whereupon he
answered he could not tell; and when I asked him again why, then, he
himself had left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone,
seeing that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me
the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the parish?
But he answered, I should very soon find it out for myself; and he jumped
over the wall and went into old Lizzie her house, which stands close by
the churchyard.
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