So they stopped and called Howleglass in a great passion, inquiring what vile work he had been doing, and swore and threatened dreadfully. Just then a wagonload of straw luckily went by, and the unhappy party purchased a small quantity, with which to purify the wellbedizened chariot.

Quite enraged, the merchant cried out, “Off to the gallows,you rascal!” and soon after Howleglass saw one not far from the roadside, and driving the chariot right underneath it, he was proceeding very leisurely to unharness the horses. “What is it that you are about, villain?” said his master. “Why,” replied Howleglass, “did not you order me to drive off to the gallows? where I thought I was to set you down.”

On looking up, the priest and the merchant sure enough saw the gibbet; upon which his master, being seized with a panic, commanded him to back, and drive right away as hard as he could flog.

Hearing this, Howleglass dashed neck and nothing through the mud, so that by the horrible pulling and tearing, the vehicle came straight in two, the hinder part remaining with the merchant and the priest stuck in the mud, and the other proceeding with Howleglass and the horses just as if nothing had happened. At length with much shouting and running the merchant overtook his driver, and was beginning to inflict summary vengeance upon him, when the priest came up and prevented him; and in this fashion they contrived to accomplish their journey, and so home again.

Eat and Drink

Well! his wife inquired how the merchant had enjoyed his journey? “Oh, delightful,” cried the merchant, “now that we are safely returned.” Then he called Howie glass, saying, “Tonight eat and drink to your heart`s content, for tomorrow you quit this house. I cannot keep you, you are too great a malicious rascal for me.”

“All right, master,” said Howleglass. And in the morning when the merchant went out, he again said, “Eat and drink, take as much as you like, but do not let me find you here when 1 come home from church.” So while the family was at church, Howleglass proceeded as he had been ordered to take what he liked; and very shortly he had almost completely gutted the house.

In short, the merchant met him with a whole load of his goods in the street as he was coming from church. “Ha! my honest cook,” he cried, “what are you dressing now?” “What you commanded me to do,” replied Howleglass: “you informed me that I might take what I liked, and rid the house of me.” “Leave these things where they are,” exclaimed the merchant, “and go to the devil if you please.” Howleglass said, “I do everything that my masters order me, and yet I cannot live in peace.” So he quitted the merchant in a huff, whom he was sorry again to have met with, while the former had his goods conveyed back to the house.

Read More about The Cavalier of Toledo part 2

Away they went, and the merchant bought some pieces of roasting meat, saying on his return, “Now, Do l, remember when you put this sirloin down tomorrow, that you leave it to do coolly at a distance, so as not to catch or singe; the boiling piece you may put on a good deal earlier.”

“Very good, master,” said Howleglass, “it shall be done.” So the next morning he rose betimes and brought the meat he was to boil near the fire. But that which he intended to roast he stuck upon the spit, and placed it at a cool distance as he had been told (namely, in the cellar between two barrels of beer) from the fire.

Now, before the merchant`s guests had assembled, he went to see that all was going on well in the kitchen (for his wife was a fine lady), and he inquired whether the dinner was almost ready, to which Howleglass made answer, “Yes, everything but the roast beef.” “Everything but!” exclaimed the merchant; “and where is that?” “It is on the spit,” answered Howleglass;

“it is doing cool at a distance, as you desired, in the coolest place in the house, which is the beer cellar. You did not say when you would like to have it roasted.” While his master was discussing this point with Howleglass, the guests began to arrive, to whom he candidly related the incident, at which some looked grave and others laughed, while his lady was least of all satisfied with the joke. Indeed, she proposed an ejectment of the new cook from the premises forthwith.

Kind of Uneasiness

“My love,” said the merchant, “give yourself no kind of uneasiness about that! Tomorrow I am going to Gollai, and he must see me there; but on my return he shall be discharged.”

Then they all proceeded to dinner, and made as good cheer as they could upon what they had got. In the evening when all was over, his master called Howleglass, and said, “Dol, see that my coach is in readiness early tomorrow morning, for I and the priest are going as far as Gollai, so look that it be well cleaned and greased.”

Accordingly when the whole family were abed, Howleglass proceeded to grease the chariot well both inside and out. And in the morning our merchant and the priest mounted to drive off; but slip went the priest wherever he laid his hand or foot! And he had many a time nearly broken his neck as they drove along. “What the deuce,” he cried, “can it be that it is so thick and greasy?”

Read More about Tour Packages Balkan

Eulenspiegel and the Merchant (Anonymous: about 1500)

The earliest known version of Eulenspiegel dates from 1515, though an edition is said to have been printed in 1483. Nothing at all is known about the author. The merry pranks of Eulenspiegel, like the adventures of Reynard and his companions, formed the basis of several collections of adventures in the late Sixteenth and early Seventeenth Centuries. They were utilized in the Nineteenth Century by the Belgian Charles de Coster. The original book, in the words of Roscoe, is “a national storehouse of amusement from which each successive generation has largely drawn.” Like most of the books of its kind, it was derived from fables and popular traditions.

The present version, translated by Thomas Roscoe, is reprinted from Roscoe`s German Novelists, London, no date. It is one of the separate adventures and has only a descriptive note by way of title.

Eulenspiegel and the Merchant

From Eulertspiegel, the Merry Jester

In the town of Herdellem there resided a rich merchant, who, happening one day to be walking in one of his own fields, a short way out of the city, saw Howleglass lying on the green. He inquired who he was. To this Howleglass replied, “I am a cook without a master, and I have been a cook`s servant, otherwise a scullion; but that is now not a place for me.” The merchant said, “If you like to become my servant, I will give you good board and wages, besides your clothes; you shall have a trial, for my wife is continually bickering one after another with all her cooks.” Howleglass promised to do his best to please him; and his new master asked his name, to which our hero replied that it was Bartholomew.

“The name,” said the merchant, “is too long; you shall be called Dol.” “Sir,” said Howleglass, “just as you like best, it pleases me well.” “Then come,” added his master, “you are the sort of man I want; let us go directly into my garden to gather herbs for the young boiled chickens, as tomorrow I have a party coming, and we must make merry with the best cheer.” So they went to the house, and when the merchant`s wife saw them come in, she said, “Heyday, master mine, what kind of a servant have you brought us here? Are you afraid lest the bread should be left to grow moldy? What is he for?” “Oh, you shall see that, my dear, tomorrow. Here, Dol, take this pannier, and follow me to the shambles.”

Read More about Turks Franks Cumans and Manichaeans part 30