'Reineke, true-hearted fox,' you will think, 'who hast so discreetly Buried the treasure beneath this moss, wherever thou may'st be, May good fortune ever be thine!"" Thus spoke the dis sembler. 230 Thereupon said the king in reply: "But you must go with me. How by myself shall I manage to hit on the spot? I have heard of Aachen, 'tis true, and likewise of Köln, and also of Lübeck, And of Paris, as well; but the name of Hüsterlo never Have I heard in my life, nor Krekelborn. Must I not doubt then 235 Whether you are not lying again, and these names are inventing?" Reineke did not relish this cautious speech of the monarch. "Not so far," he said, "is the journey, as if I had told you On the Jordan to search. What is it that seems 80 suspicious? Close at hand, I maintain, it may all be discover'd in Flanders. 240 Let us ask other people, for someone else may confirm it. Krekelborn! Hüsterlo! thus did I say; and such are the two names. Then he called out to Lampe, but Lampe trembled and held back. Reineke cried: "Come, be of good cheer! 'tis the king that requires you, Wishing you now, on the oath and duty you lately have tender'd, 245 Plainly the truth to speak. So declare it as far as you know it, Tell us where Hüsterlo lies and Krekelborn. Let us all hear you!" Lampe replied: "That I surely can tell. In the midst of the desert, Krekelborn close to Hüsterlo lies. 'Tis thus that the people Name the thicket where hunchback Simonet often resorted 250 Counterfeit money to coin with his abandon'd companions. Much at that very same place from hunger and frost have I suffer'd, When in great distress from Ryn, the hound, I was fleeing." Reineke thereupon said: "You can now go back to the others, Whence you came. You have given the king enough information." 255 Then the king to Reineke said: "I pray you, excuse me, That too hasty I was in doubting the story you told me. Look to it now, however, that thither you carry me quickly." Reineke said: "Good fortune indeed for myself I should deem it Could I go with the king to-day, and escort him to Flanders, But it would count as a sin for you. me, 260 However it shames Out it must come, alas! though willingly would I conceal it. belly; Almost ate up the convent-they gave him enough for six 265 people. All was too little; to me he complain'd of his hunger and trouble. When I saw him so lean and ill, I took pity upon him ; Kindly I helped him away—to me he is closely related. Thus the ban of the Pope I have brought on myself for my trouble, And without farther delay, and with your good will and permission, 270 Must set in order my soul, and in the morning at sunrise Start as a pilgrim for Rome, to seek absolution and mercy, And from there cross over the Sea.' So shall my trans gressions All be taken away, and if I ever return home, I may with honour approach you. If I to-day were to do so, 275 All men would say: Why, see how the king is again so concern'd with Reineke, whom but a short time ago he condemn'd to the gallows! And who, more than all, to the ban of the Pope is subjected.' Gracious sire, you surely will see we had better not do it." True," said the king in reply, "all this I could not be aware of. 280 As thou art banned, 'twould be a reproach that thou should'st go with me.2 Lampe or someone else to the well can easily take me. surely Good and expedient is. I give thee gracious permission Early to-morrow to start the pilgrimage will I not 285 hinder, For, as it seems to me, from evil to good you are turning. God the intention bless, and allow you to finish the journey!" 1 The Sea referred to is of course the Mediterranean, and the expression, which frequently recurs, implies a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. 2 Excommunication cut a man,off from personal intercourse with others. It was the punishment for abducting a monk from a monastery, see line 269. RE SIXTH CANTO. EINEKE thus once more the royal favour recover❜d. Then the king came forth and stood in a lofty position, Speaking down from the rock, and commanded the beasts who were present : Silence to keep in the grass, according to birth and condition, Seating themselves. By the side of the queen was Reineke standing. Then the king began to speak with much circumspection: 5 "Silence! and listen to me, ye birds and beasts in assembly; Poor and rich, attend ye to me, both the great and the little; Barons mine, and ye in Court and in house my companions. Reineke stands in my power; not long since we were proposing 10 He should be hanged; and yet to the Court so much that was secret He has reveal'd, that I trust him, and, after reflexion, my favour Grant him again. So also the queen my consort has pleaded Urgently for him, and thus I became disposed in his favour, Fully am reconciled to him, and body and life and posses sions 15 Freely allow him. My peace henceforwards guards and protects him. Therefore on pain of death be all of you hereby admonish'd, Reineke must with his wife and children be duly respected, Wheresoever by day or by night in future you meet them. Nor will I hear any farther complaints of Reineke's doings. 20 If he has done any wrong, it is past; he intends reformation, Which he will certainly make, for to-morrow betimes in the morning Wallet and staff he will take, and going to Rome as a pilgrim, Thence will pass over the sea, nor will he ever return here Till for all of his sins he has gained complete absolution." 25 Thereon Hintze, enraged, to Brown and Isegrim turn'd him: "Now is our trouble and labour lost," he lamented; "oh! were I Far away hence! For if Reineke once comes back into favour, Every art he will use to bring us three to destruction. other." 30 "Good advice is expensive, I see," responded the Brown one. Isegrim thereupon said: "The matter is strange; let us go now Straight to the king." And Brown and he, in very bad "Did you not hear me say I had taken him back into favour?" Wrathfully spoke the king, and bade his men in a moment Seize and bind and shut them up, for he thought of the charges He had from Reineke heard, and his thoughts now dwelt on their treason. Thus in an hour it occurred that Reineke's matters com pletely 40 |