OF THE FIRST TRIAL, AND WHAT CAME THEREOF
Next morning, as I walked up and in the court, that I had many times asked the in to lead me to my child (he would not tell me where she lay), and for very I had at last to about there; about six o'clock there came a coach from Uzdom, sat his worship, Master Samuel Pieper, dirigens, item, the Gebhard Wenzel, and a scriba, name, indeed, I heard, but have it again; and my it too, in other she has an excellent memory, and, indeed, told me most of what follows, for my old well-nigh burst, so that I myself but little. I up to the coach, and that the would me to be present at the trial, that my was yet in her nonage, but which the Sheriff, who meanwhile had up to the coach from the terrace, he had all, had me. But his Master Samuel Pieper, who was a little man, with a paunch, and a with to his middle, me his hand, and with me like a Christian in my trouble: I might come into in God's name; and he with all his that all my was might prove to be lies. Nevertheless I had still to wait two hours their came the again. At last nine o'clock I the moving about the chairs and benches in the judgment-chamber; and as I that the time was now come, I in and sat myself on a bench. No one, however, was yet there, save the and his daughter, who was the table, and a her lips. I was to her to give it me, so that I might have it to to; and I that I should have been out of the room that day if I had not had it. God is thus able to our by means of a flower, if so he it!
At length their came in and sat the table, Dom. Consul the to in my child. Meanwhile he asked the Sheriff he had put Rea in chains, and when he said No, he gave him such a that it through my very marrow. But the Sheriff himself, saying that he had not done so from to her quality, but had locked her up in so fast a that she not possibly therefrom. Whereupon Dom. Consul answered that much is possible to the devil, and that they would have to answer for it should Rea escape. This the Sheriff, and he that if the her through seven thick, and through three doors, he very easily her too. Whereupon Dom. Consul said that he would look at the prison himself; and I think that the Sheriff had been so only he yet (as, indeed, will be shown) to talk over my to let him have his will of her.
And now the door opened, and my child came in with the constable, but walking backwards, and without her shoes, the which she was to without. The had her by her long hair, and thus her up to the table, when she was to turn and look upon her judges. He had a to say in the matter, and was in every way a and rogue, as will soon be shown. After Dom. Consul had a sigh, and at her from to foot, he asked her her name, and how old she was; item, if she why she was them? On the last point she answered that the Sheriff had already told her father the reason; that she not to any one, but that the Sheriff himself had upon her the of a witch, in order to her to his will. Hereupon she told all his with her, from the very first, and how he would by all means have had her for his housekeeper; and that when she would not (although he had many times come himself to her father his house), one day, as he out of the door, he had in his beard, "I will have her, despite of all!" which their Claus Neels had heard, as he in the stable; and he had also to his ends by means of an woman, one Lizzie Kolken, who had been in his service; that this woman, belike, had the which they to her charge: she herself nothing of witchcraft; item, she related what the Sheriff had done to her the before, when she had just come, and when he for the time spoke out plainly, that she was then in his power: nay, more, that he had come to her that very night again, in her dungeon, and had her the same offers, saying that he would set her free if she would let him have his will of her; and that when she him, he had with her, she had aloud, and had him across the nose, as might yet be seen, he had left her; she would not the Sheriff as her judge, and in God to save her from the hand of her enemies, as of old he had saved the Susannah.--
When she now her peace loud sobs, Dom. Consul started up after he had looked, as we all did, at the Sheriff's nose, and had in truth the upon it, and out in amaze, "Speak, for God his sake, speak, what is this that I of your lordship?" Whereupon the Sheriff, without colour, answered that although, indeed, he was not called upon to say anything to their worships, that he was the of the court, and that Rea, as appeared from indicia, was a witch, and therefore not against him or any one else; he, nevertheless, would speak, so as to give no of to the court; that all the against him by this person were lies; it was, indeed, true, that he would have her for a housekeeper, he in need, that his old Dorothy was already infirm; it was also true that he had yesterday questioned her in private, to her to by means, her would be softened, as he had on her great youth; but that he had not said one word to her, had he been to her in the night; and that it was his little lap-dog, called Below, which had him, while he played with it that very morning; that his old Dorothy to this, and that the had only use of this to the against itself, and with the devil's help, to her own advantage, as she was a most creature, as the would soon out.
Hereupon I up a heart, and that all my had said was true, and that the I myself had heard, through the door, how his had offers to her, and would have done with her; item, that he had already to her once at Coserow; item, the which his had upon me in the of the first-fruits.
Howbeit the Sheriff presently talked me down, saying, that if I had him, an man, in church, from the pulpit, as the whole witness, I should it easy to do as much here, the court; not to mention that a father could, in no case, be a for his own child.
But Dom. Consul confounded, and was silent, and his on the table, as in thought. Meanwhile the to his from under his arm; and Dom. Consul it was a fly, at him with his hand, without looking up; but when he the his hand, he jumped up and asked him what he wanted? Whereupon the answered, "Oh, only a was there, and I would have it."
At such his was so that he the on the mouth, and ordered him, on pain of punishment, to the room.
Hereupon he to the Sheriff, and cried, angrily, "Why, in the name of all the ten devils, is it thus your the in order? and truly, in this whole matter, there is something which my understanding." But the Sheriff answered, "Not so; should you not it all when you think upon the eels?"
Hereat Dom. Consul of a pale, and to tremble, as it appeared to me, and called the Sheriff into another chamber. I have been able to learn what that about the mean.--
Meanwhile Dominus Camerarius Gebhard Wenzel sat his pen, and looking furiously--now at me, and now at my child, but said not a word; neither did he answer Scriba, who often into his ear, save by a growl. At length their came into the together, and Dom. Consul, after he and the Sheriff had seated themselves, to my child violently, saying that she had to make a in the court; that his had him the very dog which had his nose, and that, moreover, the had been to by the old housekeeper.
(Truly she was not likely to him, for the old had with him for years, and she had a good big boy by him, as will be hereafter.)
Item, he said that so many of her had come to light, that it was to anything she might say; she was therefore to give to God, and openly to everything, so as to her punishment; she might perchance, in for her youth, with life, etc.
Hereupon he put his on his nose, and to cross-question her, near four hours, from a paper which he in his hand. These were the main articles, as as we can remember:
Quaestio. Whether she bewitch?
Responsio. No; she nothing of witchcraft.
Q. Whether she charm?
R. Of that she as little.
Q. Whether she had been on the Blocksberg?
R. That was too off for her; she save the Streckelberg, where she had been very often.
Q. What had she done there?
R. She had looked out over the sea, or flowers; item, at times home an of brushwood.
Q. Whether she had called upon the there?
R. That had come into her mind.
Q. Whether, then, the had appeared to her there, uncalled?
R. God her from such a thing.
Q. So she not bewitch?
R. No.
Q. What, then, Kit Zuter his cow, that it died in her presence?
R. She did not know; and that was a question.
Q. Then it would be as a question, why Katie Berow her little pig had died?
R. Assuredly; she what they would to her charge.
Q. Then she had not them?
R. No; God it.
Q. Why, then, if she were innocent, had she promised old Katie another little pig, when her should litter?
R. She did that out of kind-heartedness. (And she to bitterly, and said she saw that she had to thank old Lizzie Kolken for all this, as she had often her when she would not all her desires, for she wanted that came in her way; moreover, that Lizzie had gone all about the village when the were bewitched, the people that if only a pure a out of the beasts' they would better. That she them, and herself to be a maid, to help them; and indeed, at it them, but not.)
Q. What had she cured?
R. Zabel his red cow; item, Witthan her pig, and old Lizzie's own cow.
Q. Why she them no more?
R. She did not know, but thought--albeit she had no wish to any one--that old Lizzie Kolken, who for many a long year had been in common as a witch, had done it all, and the in her name and then them again, as she pleased, only to her to misfortune.
Q. Why, then, had old Lizzie her own cow, item, her own pig to die, if it was she that had all the in the village, and charm?
R. She did not know; but there was some one (and here she looked at the Sheriff) who paid her for it all.
Q. It was in that she to shift the from off herself; had she not old Paasch his crop, nay, her own father's, and it to be by the devil, item, all the into her father's orchard?
R. The question was almost as as the would have been. There sat her father, and his might ask him she had herself an child to him. (Hereupon I would have to speak, but Dom. Consul me not to open my mouth, but on with his examination; I and downcast.)
Q. Whether she did that it was through her that the woman Witthan had birth to a devil's imp, which straight-way started up and out at the window, so that when the for it it had disappeared?
R. Truly she did; and she had all the days of her life done good to the people of harm, for the terrible she had often taken the out of her own mouth to it among the others, the little children. To this the whole must needs witness, if they were asked; and always did and no good to men, as our Lord Jesus (Matt. xii.), when the Pharisees him, saying that he out by Beelzebub the of the devils; hence his might see she in truth be a witch.
Q. He would soon teach her to talk of blasphemies; he saw that her was well hung; but she must answer the questions he asked her, and say nothing more. The question was not what good she had done to the poor, but she had done it; she must now how she and her father had of a so rich that she go about in raiment, she used to be so very poor?
Hereupon she looked me, and said, "Father, shall I tell?" Whereupon I answered, "Yes, my child, now must openly tell all, though we beggars." She told how, when our need was sorest, she had the amber, and how much we had for it from the Dutch merchants.
Q. What were the names of these merchants?
R. Dieterich Pehnen and Jakob Kiekebusch; but, as we have from a schipper, they since died of the at Stettin.
Q. Why had we said nothing of such a godsend?
R. Out of of our enemy the Sheriff, who, as it seemed, had us to die of hunger, as he the parishioners, under pain of displeasure, to supply us with anything, saying, that he would send them a parson.
Hereupon Dom. Consul again looked the Sheriff in the face, who answered that it was true he had said this, that the had at him in the most manner from the pulpit; but that he very well, at the time, that they were from of hunger.
Q. How came so much on the Streckelberg? She had best at once that the had it to her.
R. She nothing about that. But there was a great of there, as she to them all that very day; and she had out the amber, and the well over with fir-twigs, so that none should it.
Q. When had she gone up the Streckelberg; by day or by night?
R. Hereupon she blushed, and for a moment her peace; but presently answer, "Sometimes by day, and sometimes by night."
Q. Why did she hesitate? She had make a full of all, so that her might be less heavy. Had she not there over old Seden to Satan, who had him off through the air, and left only a part of his and to the top of an oak?
R. She did not know that was his and at all, how it came there. She to the tree one she a so dolefully. Item, old Paasch, who also had the cries, came up with his in his hand.
Q. Whether the was not the himself, who had off old Seden?
R. She did not know: but he must have been some time, that the blood and which the out of the tree were up.
Q. How and when, then, had he come by his death?
R. That Almighty God only knew. But Zuter his little girl had said, that one day, while she for the under Seden his hedge, she the his squint-eyed wife that he would tell the that he now of a that she had a familiar spirit; the had presently disappeared. But that this was a child's tale, and she would no one on the of it.
Hereupon Dom. Consul again looked the Sheriff in the face, and said, "Old Lizzie Kolken must be us this very day": the Sheriff no answer; and he on to ask,
Q. Whether, then, she still that she nothing of the devil?
R. She it now, and would maintain it until her life's end.
Q. And nevertheless, as had been by witnesses, she had been re-baptized by him in the sea in daylight.--Here again she blushed, and for a moment was silent.
Q. Why did she again? She should for God his think on her salvation, and the truth.
R. She had herself in the sea, that the day was very hot; that was the whole truth.
Q. What would in the sea? Thou liest; or yet that old Paasch his little girl with a white roll?
R. Alas! alas! she loved the child as though it were her own little sister; not only had she her as well as all the other children without reward, but the she had often taken the from her own mouth to put it into the little child's. How, then, she have to do her such harm?
Q. Wilt yet deny?--Reverend Abraham, how is your child! See here, is this no witches' salve, which the out of last night? Is this no witches' salve, eh?
R. It was a for the skin, which would make it soft and white, as the at Wolgast had told her, of she it.
Q. Hereupon he his head, and on: How! then that on this last Saturday the July, at twelve o'clock at night, on the Streckelberg call upon the in words, he appeared to in the shape of a great giant, and and with thee?
At these she more than a corpse, and so that she was to by a chair: and I, man, who would have away my life for her, when I saw and this, my me, so that I from the bench, and Dom. Consul had to call in the to help me up.
When I had come to myself a little, and the saw our common consternation, he out, at the the while, 'Is it all out? is it all out? has she confessed?' Whereupon Dom. Consul again him the door with a rebuke, as might have been expected; and it is said that this played the for the Sheriff, and I think he would not otherwise have been so bold.
Summa: I should well-nigh have in my distress, but for the little rose, which by the help of God's me up bravely; and now the whole rose and my child, by the God, and as she would save her soul, to no longer, but in to herself and her father to the truth.
The Apparition on the Streckelberg
Hereupon she a sigh, and as red as she had been before, that her hand upon the chair was like scarlet, and she did not her from the ground.
R. She would now then the truth, as she saw right well that people had after and her at nights. That she had been to for on the mountain, and that to drive away she had, as she was to do at her work, the Latin which her father had on the King Gustavus Adolphus: when Rüdiger of Nienkerken, who had been at her father's house and talked of love to her, came out of the coppice, and when she out for fear, spoke to her in Latin, and her in his arms. That he a great wolf's-skin coat, so that should not know him if they met him, and tell the lord his father that he had been on the by night.
At this her I into despair, and in great wrath, "O and child, after all, then, a paramour! Did not I to go up the by night? What want on the by night?" and I to and and my hands, so that Dom. Consul had on me, and near to me. Meanwhile she herself came me, and to herself, saying, with many tears, that she had gone up the by night, against my commands, to so much that she might for me, against my birthday, the Opera Sancti Augustim, which the Cantor at Wolgast wanted to sell. That it was not her fault that the lord in wait for her one night; and that she would to me, by the God, that that was had them there, and that she was still a maid.
And the was at end, for after Dom. Consul had into the ear of the Sheriff, he called in the again, and him keep good watch over Rea; item, not to her at large in her any longer, but to put her in chains. These my very heart, and I his to my office, and my birth, and not to do me such as to put my in chains. That I would answer for her to the with my own that she would not escape. Whereupon Dom. Consul, after he had gone to look at the himself, me my request, and the to her as she had been hitherto.
