Flemish Legends Part 35

"Yes," said he.

"Art thou hungry?" she said.

"Yes," said he.

"Well then," she said, "spread thy leathern ap.r.o.n; I will throw thee the pudding which has just been given me."

"But thou," said he, "wilt thou eat nothing?"

"No," said she, "for I have heard it said that there is supper by and by."

Smetse ate the rice pudding, and was suddenly filled with comfort, for the pudding was more succulent and delicious than the finest meats of the earth. Meanwhile his wife went off to walk about in the good Paradise, and afterwards came back to Smetse to tell him what she had seen.

"Ah," she said, "my man, 'tis a most beautiful place. Would that I could see thee within! Round about My Lord Jesus are the pure intelligences who discuss with him whatever is goodness, love, justice, knowledge, and beauty, and also the best means of governing men and making them happy. Their speech is like music. And all the while they keep throwing down to earth the seeds of beautiful, good, just and true thoughts. But men are so wicked and stupid that they tread underfoot these fair seeds or let them wither away. Farther on, established in their several places, are potters and goldsmiths, masons, painters, tanners and fullers, carpenters and s.h.i.+pbuilders, and thou shouldst see what fine work they do, each in his own trade. And when they have made some progress they cast down the seed of that also towards the earth, but 'tis lost oftentimes."

"Wife," said Smetse, "didst see no smiths?"

"Yes," said she.

"Alas," said he, "I would gladly be working alongside them, for I am ashamed to be sitting here like a leper, doing nothing and begging my bread. But listen, wife; since Master St. Peter will not let me in, go thou and ask grace for me from My Lord Jesus, who is kind and will let me in for certain."

"I go, my man," said she.

My Lord Jesus, who was in council with his doctors, saw her coming towards him. "I know thee, good wife," said he; "thou wast in thy lifetime wedded to Smetse the smith, who entreated me so well when, in the guise of a little child, I came down to earth with Master Joseph and Madam Mary. Is he not in Paradise, thy good man?"

"Alas, no, My Lord!" answered she, "my man is at the door, most sad and out of heart, because Master St. Peter will not let him in."

"Why is that?" said My Lord Jesus.

"Ah, I cannot tell," said she.

But the angel who writes down the faults of men in a record of bra.s.s, speaking suddenly, said: "Smetse cannot enter Paradise, for Smetse, delivered from the devil, kept devil's money."

"Ah," said My Lord Jesus, "that is a great sin; but has he not repented of it?"

"Yes," said the good wife, "he has repented, and, moreover, he has been all his life good, charitable, and compa.s.sionate."

"Go and find him," said My Lord Jesus, "I will question him myself."

Two or three halberdier angels ran to obey him, and brought Smetse before the Son of G.o.d, who spoke in this wise:

"Smetse, is it true that thou didst keep devil's money?"

"Yes, My Lord," answered the smith, whose knees were knocking together with fear.

"Smetse, this is not good, for a man should rather suffer every ill, pain, and anguish, than keep the money of one who is wicked, ugly, unjust, and a liar, as is the devil. But hast thou no meritorious deed to tell me, to mitigate this great sin?"

"My Lord," answered Smetse, "I fought a long while beside the men of Zeeland for freedom of conscience, and, doing this, suffered with them hunger and thirst."

"This is good, Smetse, but didst thou persist in this fair conduct?"

"Alas, no, My Lord!" said the smith, "for, to tell truth, my courage lacked constancy, and I went back to Ghent, where, like so many another, I came under the Spanish yoke."

"This is bad, Smetse," answered My Lord Jesus.

"My Lord," wept the good wife, "none was more generous than he to the poor, kind to every one, charitable to his enemies, even to the wicked Slimbroek."

"This is good, Smetse," said My Lord Jesus; "but hast thou no other merit in thy favour?"

"My Lord," said the smith, "I have always laboured with a good heart, hated idleness and melancholy, loved joy and merriment, sung gladly, and drunk with thankfulness the bruinbier which came to me from you."

"This is good, Smetse, but it is not enough."

"My Lord," answered the smith, "I thrashed as soundly as I could the wicked ghosts of Jacob Hessels, the Duke of Alva, and Philip II, King of Spain."

"Smetse," said My Lord Jesus, "this is very good. I grant thee leave to enter my Paradise."

UNIFORM WITH "FLEMISH LEGENDS"

THE LEGEND OF TYL ULENSPIEGEL

BY CHARLES DE COSTER

Translated by Geoffrey Whitworth. With 20 Woodcuts by Albert Delstanche. 7s. 6d. net

SOME PRESS OPINIONS

"Tyl Ulenspiegel is not yet, in most English households, an old friend. Yet we believe that the fellow will soon make his brave and humorous way into the friends.h.i.+p of old and young. And the twenty full-page woodcuts with which M. Albert Delstanche has ill.u.s.trated this edition will help the friends.h.i.+p on. All the heartiness, the ruggedness, the fun, and the gloom of one tragic period in the history of a homely and much-enduring people are expressed through the eye to the mind by M. Delstanche's knowledge and skill."--The Times.

"An excellent translation has brought a notable example of modern Belgian literature within the reach of readers in this country. Taking as his central figure the scampish Tyl Ulenspiegel, already in the sixteenth century a traditional personage, De Coster produced a remarkable reconstruction of Flemish life in the days of Spanish oppression and of the famous 'Beggars'."--Scotsman.

"On the large scale, the obvious work of a master, a man who knew sorrow but who loved to share the mirth and good living of his fellows, mocked impostors wherever he found them, and had a hatred of cruelty and injustice that is like lightning. It is one of the rare books, full of sad laughter and warm understanding, of the order of 'Don Quixote'."--The Nation.

"It is a happy thought which has brought out Mr. Geoffrey Whitworth's version of 'The Legend of Tyl Ulenspiegel' now ... for the description of it as the 'national epic of Flanders' has much more meaning than such phrases usually have.... And all the adventures of Tyl and his friends have this quality of reality in fairy-land, whether they are grotesque or tragic. The book has tragedy in it to balance its boisterous comedy, but the two are combined in a style whose generosity and exuberance make their union complete and satisfactory. It is a great book indeed. Mr. Whitworth is to be congratulated on his excellently easy and vivid translation; and the woodcuts of M. Albert Delstanche are all exceedingly impressive and many exceedingly beautiful."--Land and Water.

"It is hardly too much to say that De Coster's book is a work of pure genius.... At such a moment as the present no publication could be more timely than this English version of what will inevitably rank as a great epic of Belgian nationality.... For the rest, we have only to compliment the publishers, the translator, and the ill.u.s.trator upon their joint efforts to present a fine work in a worthy and acceptable form."--The Guardian.

"The ill.u.s.trator's bold and luminous drawings certainly catch the bluff spirit of Charles de Coster's quaint masterpiece, in which the transition-age between mediaevalism and modernity lives again so grimly, so shrewdly, so humorously. Here there is a suitable gift-book for all who love to travel in the highways of world-literature."--Morning Post.

"It is, of course, for adults and not for children, with its grim horrors and its full-blooded jollity. What we have learnt to call the soul of a people is in it--the spirit of Flanders. The force of De Coster's style loses nothing in Mr. Geoffrey Whitworth's translation, and there are admirable ill.u.s.trations cut on the wood by M. Albert Delstanche."--Daily Telegraph.

"A most remarkable volume."--Glasgow Herald.