Page:The Allies Fairy Book.djvu/185

 Spaniard? If thou art the soul of a ‘Beggar,’ go to Paradise; if thou art that of a Spaniard, return to the hell whence thou earnest.”

Nele said to him:

“Speak not harshly to the souls of the dead, even if they be the souls of our executioners.”

And making her will-o’-the-wisp dance on the tip of her finger:

“Will-o’-the-wisp,” she said, “dear will-o’-the-wisp, what news do you bring from the land of the spirits? How do they busy themselves there? Do they eat and drink, seeing they have no mouths?—for you have none, dear will-o’-the-wisp. Or do they take human form only when they enter into the blessed Paradise?”

“How,” said Ulenspiegel, “can you waste your time talking to that wretched flame which has neither ears to hear nor mouth to answer you?”

But Nele, heeding him not, spoke again:

“Will-o’-the-wisp, answer me by dancing, for I will question thee three times, once in the name of God, once in the name of the Blessed Virgin, and once in the name of the elemental spirits, who are the messengers between God and man.”

And this she did, and the will-o’-the-wisp danced three times.

Then Nele said to Ulenspiegel:

“Take off your clothes, and I will do likewise; here is the silver box containing the balm of sight.”

“It’s all the same to me,” said Ulenspiegel.

Then they took off their clothing, anointed their bodies with the balm of sight, and lay down side by side on the grass.

The seagulls moaned; the thunder muttered in clouds whence flashed the lightning, the moon showed the golden horns of her crescent but dimly between two clouds; and