OF THE MALICE OF THE GOVERNOR AND OF OLD LIZZIE: ITEM, OF THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES
The next my hairs, which till had been with grey, were white as snow, the Lord otherwise me wondrously. For near a into the elder-bush my window, and sang so that I it must be a good angel. For after I had a while to it, I was all at once able again to pray, which since last Sunday I not do; and the of our Lord Jesus Christ to speak me, "Abba, Father"; and I was of good cheer, that God would once more be me his child; and when I had him thanks for such great mercy, I into a slumber, and slept so long that the sun high in the when I awoke.
And that my was still of good cheer, I sat up in my bed, and sang with a loud voice, "Be not dismayed, little flock": Master Seep came into the room, I had called him. But he waiting till I had done; and after at my snow-white hair, he told me it was already seven; item, that my congregation, among others my ploughman, Claus Neels, were already assembled in his house to that day. When I this, I mine send Claus to the castle, to ask when the would open, and he word that no one knew, that Dom. Consul was already gone that to Mellenthin to see old Nienkerken, and was not yet come back. This message gave me good courage, and I asked the he also had come to against my child? To which he answered, "Nay, I know save good of her, and I would give the their due, only--"
These me, and I him to open his to me. But he to weep, and at last said that he nothing. Alas! he but too much, and then have saved my child if he had willed. But from of the he his peace, as he since owned; and I will here relate what had him that very morning.
He had set out 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 Steffen), and had got to Pudgla about five, where he no one in the ale-house save old Lizzie Kolken, who up to the castle; and when his was gone home again, time on his hands, and he over the into the garden, where he himself on his a to sleep. But long the Sheriff came with old Lizzie, and after they had looked all and no one, they into an close by him, and as follows:--
Ille. Now that they were alone together, what did she want of him?
Illa. She came to the money for the she had in the village.
Ille. Of what use had all this been to him? My child, so from being frightened, him more and more; and he he should have his will of her.
Illa. He should only have patience; when she was upon the she would soon learn to be fond.
Ille. That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should no money.
Illa. What! Must she then do his a mischief?
Ille. Yes, if she chilly, and wanted a to warm her podex, she had better. Moreover, he that she had him, that his for the parson's was such as he had before.
Illa. (Laughing.) He had said the same thing some thirty years ago, when he came after her.
Ille. Ugh! old baggage, don't me of such things, but see to it that you three witnesses, as I told you before, or else they will your old joints for you after all.
Illa. She had the three ready, and would the to him. But that if she were she would all she knew.
Ille. She should her tongue, and go to the devil.
Illa. So she would, but 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 to death, in order that she might not into repute.
Ille. She might choose one when his pigs were by, and say she had paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs were by, and one ran into the garden, the door being open, and as the it, they parted; but the to herself, "Now help, devil, help, that I may--" but he no further.
The fellow, however, all this from me, as I have said above, and only said, with tears, that he nothing. I him, and sat at the window to see when Dom. Consul should return; and when I saw him I rose and to the castle, where the constable, who was already there with my child, met me the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked more than I had her for a long time, and at me with her sweet little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry, which Dom. Consul open the door of the judgment-chamber, and say, "Ha, ha! well what news I have thee; come in, devil's brat!" Whereupon we into the to him, and he up his voice and to me, after he had sat with the Sheriff, who was by.
He said that yestereven, after he had me to be like one to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my child had been to life again, he had once more her, to the of his power, no longer to the of the God, but to the truth; she had herself very unruly, and had her hands and and sobbed, and at last answered that the have said such things, but that his father must have them, who her, as she had when the Swedish king was at Coserow. That he, Dom. Consul, had the truth of this at the time, but as a just judge had gone that right early with the to Mellenthin, to question the lord himself.
That I might now see myself what was in my daughter. For that the old had him to his son's bedside, who still from vexation, and that he had all his father had written, and had the she-devil (as he called my daughter) for to him of his honour. "What now?" he continued; "wilt still great wickedness? See here the which the lord propriâ!" But the had meanwhile on the ground again, and the had no sooner this than he ran into the kitchen, and came with a match, which he was about to under her nose.
But I him, and her with water, so that she opened her eyes, and herself up by a table. She then a while, without saying a word or my sorrow. At last she sadly, and thus: That she saw how true was that spoken by the Holy Ghost, "Cursed be the man that in man"; and that the of the lord had surely her if the all-merciful God had not him, and sent her a that night, which she would tell, not to the judges, but to up the white of her father.
"After I had sat and all the night," she, "towards I a sing in the castle-garden so that my closed, and I slept. Then I was a lamb, in my at Coserow. Suddenly the Sheriff jumped over the and into a wolf, who me in his jaws, and ran with me the Streckelberg, where he had his lair. I, little lamb, and in vain, and saw death my eyes, when he me his lair, where the she-wolf and her young. But a hand, like the hand of a man, came out of the and touched the wolves, each one with one finger, and them so that was left of them save a powder. Hereupon the hand took me up, and me to my meadow."
Only think, reader, how I when I all this, and about the dear too, which no one can to have been the of God. I my child with many tears, and told her what had to me, and we such and as we had yet felt, to the of Dom. Consul, as it seemed; but the Sheriff as as a when she their and said, "And now do with me as you will, the not, for she is in the hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile Dom. Camerarius came in with the scriba, but was as he to touch my daughter's with the skirts of his coat; and and at his as a woman a fish. At last, after he had out thrice, he asked the it would not to witnesses, that all the people had been waiting some time in the and at the ale-house. Hereunto they agreed, and the was ordered to my child in his room, until it should the to her. I therefore with her, but, we had to much from the rogue, he was not to his arm my child her and to ask for a in meâ presentiâ. But, I out a word, she herself from him, and said, "Ah, knave, must I complain of to the court; what already done to me?" To which, he answered, laughing, "See, see! how coy"; and still to her to be more willing, and not to her own interest; for that he meant as well by her as his master; she might it or not; with many other which I have forgot; for I took my child upon my and my on her neck, and we sat and wept.
