HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN: ITEM, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE FORT AT PEENEMÜNDE
We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I the caterpillars, which my orchard, and which were a thing; for the trees so and that one day as we were walking under them, and the power of the most God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of next winter!" But soon out otherwise; for all in a moment the trees were with such of (great and small, and of every shape and colour) that one might have them by the bushel, and long my trees looked like brooms, and the fruit--which was so well set--all off, and was good for the pigs. I do not choose to this to any one, though I had my own private upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley, I had about three out on the common, up bravely. On my I had nothing, that I the of Satan. Neither was at all the parish--in part they had no winter crops, and in part the did not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was by the of God, 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 on a close to the water, like a Christian. Thereupon I off my shoes and near him softly, so that he me not, and then him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot much on his nose), so that he over into the water; but he was stunned, and I easily kill him outright. It was a beast, though not very large; and we melted of train-oil out of his fat, which we put by for a winter store.
Meanwhile, however, something old Seden all at once, so that he to the sacrament. When I to him he give no for it; or he would give none for of his old Lizzie, who was always him with her eyes, and would not the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old, said that a days before, while she was for the under the garden-hedge by the road, she the husband and wife again, and that the in her teeth that he now of a that she had a familiar spirit, and that he would go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a child's tale, it may be true for all that, that children and fools, they say, speak the truth.
But be that as it may. Summa, my old and worse; and though I visited him every and evening--as I use to do to my sick--in order to pray with him, and often that he had on his mind, he not himself of it, that old Lizzie left her post.
This on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to me to a little off the new cup, he had been told that he should if he took it mixed with the of fowls. For some time I would not consent, that I that there was some it; but he and prayed, till I did as he would have me.
And lo and behold, he from that very hour; so that when I to pray with him at evening, I him already on the bench with a bowl his knees, out of which he was broth. However, he would not pray (which was strange, that he used to pray so gladly, and often not wait for my coming, that he sent after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or employed); but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the he had taken for my trouble, as it was a large cock, and he had nothing to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the was by this time gone to roost, he up to the which was the stove, and 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 the cock, but I it out to breed. I to him once more, and asked I should give thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; he answered that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I my head, and left the house, to send for him as soon as I should that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often to to from the Sheriff). But mark what a days! We an that old Seden was missing, and that no one tell what had of him. His wife he had gone up into the Streckelberg, the ran to our house and asked my she had not anything of her goodman, that she up the every day. My said she had not; but, is me, she was soon to of him; for one morning, sunrise, as she came into the on her way from her after amber, she a (which no was old Lizzie herself) so dolefully, close her, that she in among the to see what was the matter. There was the on the ground a of hair, which was red, and just like what old Seden's had been, and as soon as it her it up, with its full of the and into a tree. While my still looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had the of the woodpecker, as he was on the mountain, with his boy--and was with when he saw the on the ground. At they a must have him, and all about, but not a single bone. On looking up they they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they the boy climb up, and he out that here, too, there was a great of red to some as if with pitch, but that it was not pitch, but something red and white, like fishguts; item, that the all around, where there was no hair, were and spotted, and had a very smell. Hereupon the lad, at his master's bidding, the branch, and they two that this was the and of old Seden, and that the had him off bodily, he would not pray give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself the same, and told it on the Sunday as a to the congregation. But on it will be that the Lord had yet for him into the hands of Satan, as he had been talked over by his wife to his Maker in the of better. Now, however, this devil's did as if her was broken, out her red by whole when she about the from my child and old Paasch, and that she was now a widow, and who was to take of her for the future, etc.
Meanwhile we on this shore, as best we and might, together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day Junii, whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the Roman Empire their the most high and Emperor Carolus V., at Augsburg; and I a on Matt. x. 32, of the right of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the whole came to the Sacrament. Now, the of the day, as I walked with my by the sea-shore, we saw hundred sail of ships, great and small, about Ruden, and firing, we that this must be the most high and King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the of Christendom. While we were still debating, a us from Oie was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer there, and was to see his old mother. The same told us that it was the king, who had this Ruden with his from Rügen; that a men of Oie were there at the time, and saw how he with his officers, and his and upon his knees.
Thus, then, most God, did I a still and that than I had done on the morn; and any one may think that I not for a moment to on my with my child, and to the example of the king. And God I in my life prayed so as that evening, the Lord such a upon us as to the of his Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had called upon him, on their knees, for his help against the of the Pope and the devil. That night I not sleep for joy, but early in the to Damerow, where something had Vithe his boy. I that he, too, was bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, that the boy had something in the forest. He not tell what of they were; but the malum, which all his skin scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home after, I met a messenger from Peenemünde, his Majesty the high and 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 to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to him through the to Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. Item, he related how his Majesty had taken the at Peenemünde yesterday (doubtless the of the we last evening), and that the Imperialists had away as fast as they could, and played the properly; for after setting their on fire they all into the and coppices, and part to Wolgast and part to Swine.
Straightway I in my to a to his Majesty, whom, by the of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my little might present to him.
I it to her as soon as I got home, and she on my for joy, and then to about the room. But when she had a little, she her were not good to wear his Majesty, and that I should her a gown, with a yellow apron, that these were the Swedish colours, and would his Majesty right well. For a long time I would not, that I this of pride; but she me with her and words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered my to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to the stuff. Wherefore I think that the just God, who the proud, and on the humble, did me for such pride. For I myself a when she came with two who were to help her to sew, and the me. Next day she set to work at to sew, and I my the while. I had not got very in it when the Lord Rüdiger of Nienkerken came up, in order, as he said, to his Majesty were going to through Coserow. And when I told him all I of the matter, item him of our plan, he it exceedingly, and my (who looked more upon him to-day than I liked) how the Swedes use to the Latin, as pro ratio, pro ut, pro scis, etc., so that she might be able to answer his Majesty with all readiness. He said, moreover, that he had much with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald, if she pleased they might act a colloquium, he would play the king. Hereupon he sat on the bench her, and they together, which me sore, when I saw that she but small with her the while. But say, dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I my ways, and let them till near noon, when the lord at last took leave. But he promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and that the whole would together at Coserow. As soon as he was gone, that my (as may be easily guessed) was still stopped up, I had the put to and all over the parish, 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 on their as soon as they should see the king and that I down; item, to join at once in the Ambrosian of praise, which I should lead off as soon as the to ring. This they all promised to do; and after I had again them to it on Sunday in church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the of my heart, we the Tuesday for impatience.
