And in that whirlwind the oak to which Nele and Ulenspiegel were clinging rolled over on its side, and Ulenspiegel said to Nele:
“We are going to die, little one....”
These words of Ulenspiegel one of the spirits overheard, and seeing that they were mortals:
“Men!” he cried. “Men, here?”
And he dragged them from the tree to which they clung, and cast them into the very midst of the crowd. But they fell softly on the backs of the spirits, who passed them on one to another, bidding them welcome in such terms as these:
“All hail to man! All hail, worms of the earth! Who is there now would like to see a young mortal, a boy or a little girl? Poor wights that are come to pay us a visit!”
Nele and Ulenspiegel flew from one to the other, crying “Mercy!” But the spirits payed no attention to them, and they were suffered to go on flying about, legs in air, heads downwards, whirling about like feathers in a winter wind. And all the time the spirits were saying:
“Hail to the little men and little women! Come dance like us!” Now the girl-flowers desired to separate Nele from Ulenspiegel, and they would have beaten her to death had not the King of the Spring stopped the dance suddenly with a single gesture.
“Bring them to me,” he cried; “bring before me these two lice!” So they were separated the one from the other, each girl-flower doing all she could to tear Ulenspiegel from her rival, saying:
“Tyl, Tyl, wouldst not die to have me?”