Told by the Death's Head

rn into what an accursed region I had strayed. It was the noto

hes were dancing a minuet; and suddenly I heard a tumult of shrieks and yells, and looking

hung her mount by the bridle around his neck to a limb of one of the dead trees, and clapped her heels three times together before she descended to t

ich her husband had thrown on the quicksands, an

nd beat her with switches, because sh

shrieked. "I'll find him yet-he wo

dered, and pressed as closely

the next day. They would send the "Bocksritter"

obbery, they took good care not to let a single one of their victims escape alive-not even the infant in its cradle. They left no one to witness against them; and, as they fled at once to another country, it was impossible to learn an

he next day, the most hideous of the hideous c

exclaimed; "something t

being," said a second, a

exclaimed a third. "It wouldn't take me long to prepare him for a bridle"-s

but the raven on my shoulder began to flutter h

they cried as with one voice. "C

y hiding place, and in

h me, who can

s had scattered in all directions, uttering frightful yells. When I lifted my head to look after them, the wind sweeping over

n. It was in the last quarter, by which

etermined on; I would hasten to meet the caravan travelling to Antwerp, an

avoid my fellow-creatures, and rejoiced that

occur to me that I was unarmed, that I had nothing to defend myself from the wol

cut it down with my knife, and soon had a cudgel that would serve me well in an emergency

looked about for an inn. I saw smoke rising from a chimney not far distant, and made

savory stew of meat and cabbage. I asked him to give me a dish of it, but he said he could not l

seen and heard the witches on

bells announced the approach of the ca

, weavers, goldsmiths, on their way to the fair at Antwerp. They had an escort of soldiers, with red

n, a pot-bellied thread dealer, ordered everything that was to be had from kitchen and cellar, and produced from his knapsack a large

if you cannot delay until tomorrow, send a strongly armed troop in advance of your caravan, and let one guard it in the rear, f

me! No one believed me; they laughed at me, ridiculed my "witch-story," said I had dreamed it

reputable characters anywhere but in Brabant and Spain, where they lurked in sub

ir attack! Everyone of the rascals would soon find himself spitted on an honest bayonet! There was so much boasting about the

rnoon, when, as we were passing through a pi

om the earth. They were masked; their clothing was of black buffalo sk

h their swords and began a frightful butchery. The leader of the caravan tumbled from his steed before he

augh at me now,

and beyond them a stretch of undulating moorland, where, I imagined, I might effect my escape. The long yew staff I carried

m the rest by the crimson ostrich plume on his hat. "Let him go; w

dvance. It was made up of pebbles, sand and the gravelly soil of the highway, from which a narrow path led to the mound. On all sides w

s ca

the caravan were being exterminated t

completed there, the butchers

. The demons came toward me, laughing br

I too will have som

made a sling of it. Pebbles lay at my feet

uck them and their horses with a force and regularity that began to tell on t

e as a target for their muskets. One of them dismounted, lifted the musket from his shoulder, thrust the bay

ellow, or I'l

g the sling around my head. "Aft

w first," he

are the challenger;

, and mi

it struck him on the jaw

y at me without effect, but everyone

when the match is applied to the priming; if two flashes are seen, then the aim will be faulty, the ball will fly wide

s, and not one of them missed its mark. I hoped that one of the bullets whistling past my ears might hit the raven on my

f them at a time could approach my islet over the narrow path; or wade up to his horse's

band. Let no one molest him-I will talk with him myself," saying which, he got off his horse, and came toward me unarmed. "Have no fe

n the robbers, I should have to flee from country to country; I might as well fly in company with others. The desire for revenge a

e you Satan? I will not ent

cksritter. If you will join us, you shall be c

that the man who leagues himself with the 'satyrs,' binds his body to pain and death; and

gret to hear so brave a lad decide thus. T

to this world. I had no name-was nobody. I was a satyr, a foe to society. Whatever I might do thenceforth, whatever crime I might commit, no one would hear of it. The mask did not speak! The Bocksritter com

churches, whether they destroyed caravans, burned cities, desecrated conven

they committed, or at only one-or whe

us Jew who had escaped from it? or was I the one that rescued a b

exploded it? or was I the one who warned the nuns in tim

d the mask won't tell, then this entire chapter of

not become a satyr of his own free will? That he was forced to join the band under pain of death?

ir is so clear that no one will be able to say whether this valiant and pious Chri