The Amber Witch
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Wilhelm Meinhold >> The Amber Witch
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These words surprised me, and I vehemently urged him to open his heart to
me. But he began to weep, and at last said that he knew nothing. Alas! he
knew but too much, and could then have saved my poor child if he had
willed. But from fear of the torture he held his peace, as he since owned;
and I will here relate what had befallen him that very morning.
He had set out betimes that morning, so as to be alone with his
sweetheart, who was to go along with him (she is Steffen of Zempin his
daughter, not farmer Steffen, but the lame gouty Steffen), and had got to
Pudgla about five, where he found no one in the ale-house save old Lizzie
Kolken, who straightway hobbled up to the castle; and when his sweetheart
was gone home again, time hung heavy on his hands, and he climbed over the
wall into the castle garden, where he threw himself on his face behind a
hedge to sleep. But before long the Sheriff came with old Lizzie, and
after they had looked all round and seen no one, they went into an arbour
close by him, and conversed as follows:--
_Ille_. Now that they were alone together, what did she want of him?
_Illa_. She came to get the money for the witchcraft she had contrived in
the village.
_Ille_. Of what use had all this witchcraft been to him? My child, so far
from being frightened, defied him more and more; and he doubted whether he
should ever have his will of her.
_Illa_. He should only have patience; when she was laid upon the rack she
would soon learn to be fond.
_Ille_. That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should get no money.
_Illa_. What! Must she then do his cattle a mischief?
_Ille_. Yes, if she felt chilly, and wanted a burning fagot to warm her
_podex_, she had better. Moreover, he thought that she had bewitched him,
seeing that his desire for the parson's daughter was such as he had never
felt before.
_Illa_. (Laughing.) He had said the same thing some thirty years ago, when
he first came after her.
_Ille_. Ugh! thou old baggage, don't remind me of such things, but see to
it that you get three witnesses, as I told you before, or else methinks
they will rack your old joints for you after all.
_Illa_. She had the three witnesses ready, and would leave the rest to
him. But that if she were racked she would reveal all she knew.
_Ille_. She should hold her ugly tongue, and go to the devil.
_Illa_. So she would, but first she must have her money.
_Ille_. She should have no money till he had had his will of my daughter.
_Illa_. He might at least pay her for her little pig which she herself had
bewitched to death, in order that she might not get into evil repute.
_Ille_. She might choose one when his pigs were driven by, and say she had
paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs were driven by, and one ran
into the garden, the door being open, and as the swineherd followed it,
they parted; but the witch muttered to herself, "Now help, devil, help,
that I may--" but he heard no further.
The cowardly fellow, however, hid all this from me, as I have said above,
and only said, with tears, that he knew nothing. I believed him, and sat
down at the window to see when _Dom. Consul_ should return; and when I saw
him I rose and went to the castle, where the constable, who was already
there with my child, met me before the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked
more joyful than I had seen her for a long time, and smiled at me with her
sweet little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry,
which made _Dom. Consul_ throw open the door of the judgment-chamber, and
say, "Ha, ha! thou knowest well what news I have brought thee; come in,
thou stubborn devil's brat!" Whereupon we stepped into the chamber to him,
and he lift up his voice and spake to me, after he had sat down with the
Sheriff, who was by.
He said that yestereven, after he had caused me to be carried like one
dead to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my stubborn child had been
brought to life again, he had once more adjured her, to the utmost of his
power, no longer to lie before the face of the living God, but to confess
the truth; whereupon she had borne herself very unruly, and had wrung her
hands and wept and sobbed, and at last answered that the young _nobilis_
never could have said such things, but that his father must have written
them, who hated her, as she had plainly seen when the Swedish king was at
Coserow. That he, _Dom. Consul_, had indeed doubted the truth of this at
the time, but as a just judge had gone that morning right early with the
_scriba_ to Mellenthin, to question the young lord himself.
That I might now see myself what horrible malice was in my daughter. For
that the old knight had led him to his son's bedside, who still lay sick
from vexation, and that he had confirmed all his father had written, and
had cursed the scandalous she-devil (as he called my daughter) for seeking
to rob him of his knightly honour. "What sayest thou now?" he continued;
"wilt thou still deny thy great wickedness? See here the _protocollum_
which the young lord hath signed _manu propria_!" But the wretched maid
had meanwhile fallen on the ground again, and the constable had no sooner
seen this than he ran into the kitchen, and came back with a burning
brimstone match, which he was about to hold under her nose.
But I hindered him, and sprinkled her face with water, so that she opened
her eyes, and raised herself up by a table. She then stood a while,
without saying a word or regarding my sorrow. At last she smiled sadly,
and spake thus: That she clearly saw how true was that spoken by the Holy
Ghost, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man"; and that the
faithlessness of the young lord had surely broken her poor heart if the
all-merciful God had not graciously prevented him, and sent her a dream
that night, which she would tell, not hoping to persuade the judges, but
to raise up the white head of her poor father.
"After I had sat and watched all the night," quoth she, "towards morning I
heard a nightingale sing in the castle-garden so sweetly that my eyes
closed, and I slept. Then methought I was a lamb, grazing quietly in my
meadow at Coserow. Suddenly the Sheriff jumped over the hedge and turned
into a wolf, who seized me in his jaws, and ran with me towards the
Streckelberg, where he had his lair. I, poor little lamb, trembled and
bleated in vain, and saw death before my eyes, when he laid me down before
his lair, where lay the she-wolf and her young. But behold a hand, like
the hand of a man, straightway came out of the bushes and touched the
wolves, each one with one finger, and crushed them so that nought was left
of them save a grey powder. Hereupon the hand took me up, and carried me
back to my meadow."
Only think, beloved reader, how I felt when I heard all this, and about
the dear nightingale too, which no one can doubt to have been the servant
of God. I clasped my child with many tears, and told her what had happened
to me, and we both won such courage and confidence as we had never yet
felt, to the wonderment of _Dom. Consul_, as it seemed; but the Sheriff
turned as pale as a sheet when she stepped towards their worships and
said, "And now do with me as you will, the lamb fears not, for she is in
the hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile _Dom. Camerarius_ came in with
the _scriba_, but was terrified as he chanced to touch my daughter's apron
with the skirts of his coat; and stood and scraped at his coat as a woman
scrapes a fish. At last, after he had spat out thrice, he asked the court
whether it would not begin to examine witnesses, seeing that all the
people had been waiting some time both in the castle and at the ale-house.
Hereunto they agreed, and the constable was ordered to guard my child in
his room, until it should please the court to summon her. I therefore went
with her, but, we had to endure much from the impudent rogue, seeing he
was not ashamed to lay his arm round my child her shoulders and to ask for
a kiss _in mea presentia_. But, before I could get out a word, she tore
herself from him, and said, "Ah, thou wicked knave, must I complain of
thee to the court; hast thou forgotten what thou hast already done to me?"
To which, he answered, laughing, "See, see! how coy"; and still sought to
persuade her to be more willing, and not to forget her own interest; for
that he meant as well by her as his master; she might believe it or not;
with many other scandalous words besides which I have forgot; for I took
my child upon my knees and laid my head on her neck, and we sat and wept.
_The Twenty-first Chapter_
DE CONFRONTATIONE TESTIUM
When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was full of
people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others wept; my child
told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse was called, who sat on
a bench behind, so that we had not seen her, the strength wherewith the
Lord had gifted her was again at an end, and she repeated the words of our
Saviour, "He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me":
and she held fast by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for
very grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound
herself about before the court like a woman in travail. But when Dom.
Consul threatened that the constable should presently help her to her
words, she testified that my child had very often got up in the night and
called aloud upon the foul fiend.
_Q_. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her?
_R_. She never had heard him at all.
_Q_. Whether she had perceived that _Rea_ had a familiar spirit, and in
what shape? She should think upon her oath, and speak the truth.
_R_. She had never seen one.
_Q_. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the chimney?
_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?"--
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."
This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her abode
in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for what she then
did for me and for my poor child!
_The Twenty-second Chapter_
HOW THE _SYNDICUS DOM._ MICHELSEN ARRIVED AND PREPARED HIS DEFENCE OF MY
POOR CHILD
The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., _Dom. Syndicus_ came driving
up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge bag full of books
with him, but was not so friendly in his manner as was usual with him, but
very grave and silent. And after he had saluted me in my own room, and had
asked how it was possible for my child to have come to such misfortune, I
related to him the whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head.
On my asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he
answered, "Nay"; he would rather first study the _acta_. And after he had
eaten of some wild duck-which my old Ilse had roasted for him, he would
tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the castle, whence he did not
return till the following afternoon. His manner was not more friendly now
than at his first coming, and I followed him with sighs when he asked me
to lead him to my daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for
the first time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole
life had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for very
grief. But she smiled and cried out to _Dom. Syndicus_, "Are you indeed
the good angel who will cause my chains to fall from my hands, as was done
of yore to St. Peter?" To which he replied, with a sigh, "May the Almighty
God grant it"; and as, save the chair whereon my child sat against the
wall, there was none other in the dungeon (which was a filthy and stinking
hole, wherein were more wood-lice than ever I saw in my life), _Dom.
Syndicus_ and I sat down on her bed, which had been left for her at my
prayer; and he ordered the constable to go his ways until he should call
him back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her
justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I perceived,
from the shadow at the door, that some one must be standing without. I
therefore went quickly to the door, which was half open, and found the
impudent constable, who stood there to listen. This so angered _Dom.
Syndicus_ that he snatched up his staff in order to hasten his going, but
the arch-rogue took to his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took
this opportunity to tell her worshipful defensor what she had suffered
from the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable
might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last night
again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked aloud and beaten
him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had left her. This _Dom.
Syndicus_ promised to obtain for her; but with regard to the _defensio_,
wherewith she now went on, he thought it would be better to make no
further mention of the _impetus_ which the Sheriff had made on her
chastity. "For," said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to
give sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm than
good, seeing that the _praeses_ thereof is a cousin of the Sheriff, and
ofttimes goes a-hunting with him. Besides, thou being charged with a
capital crime hast no _fides_, especially as thou canst bring no witnesses
against him. Thou couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst
confirm the charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to
save thee by my _defensio_." These reasons seemed sufficient to us both,
and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who seeth in secret,
and to complain of our wrongs to him, as we might not complain to men. But
all my daughter said about old Lizzie--_item_, of the good report wherein
she herself had, till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write
down, and add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so
as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture. That she
was to make herself easy and commend herself to God; within two days he
hoped to have his _defensio_ ready and to read it to her. And now, when he
called the constable back again, the fellow did not come, but sent his
wife to lock the prison, and I took leave of my child with many tears:
_Dom. Syndicus_ told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a
husband had done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the
woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had
forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue, and that
she was to say her _defensio_ over again in Latin, if she was able.
Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a quarter of an hour or more,
in such wise that not only _Dom. Syndicus_ but I myself also was amazed,
seeing that she did not stop for a single word, save the word
"hedgehog," which we both had forgotten at the moment when she asked us
what it was.--_Summa. Dom. Syndicus_ grew far more gracious when she had
finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he would set
to work forthwith.
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