IX
Lamme and Ulenspiegel, each mounted upon a donkey given him by Simon Simonsen, one of the followers of the Prince of Orange, went riding far and wide, warning the people concerning the bloodthirsty designs of King Philip, and always on the look-out for any news from Spain. They frequented all the markets and fairs of the countryside, selling vegetables and habited like peasants.
One day as they were returning from the market at Brussels, they passed a stone house on the Quai aux Briques, and there, in a room on the ground floor, they beheld a beautiful dame dressed all in satin. She had a high complexion, a lively look in her eyes, and her neck was most fair to behold. By her side was a young, fresh-looking cook, to whom she was addressing words like these:
“Clean me this saucepan, will you! No rusty sauce for me!”
“As for me,” cried Ulenspiegel, poking in his nose at the window, “any kind of soup is good enough! For a hungry man cannot afford to be particular.”
The lady turned towards him:
“And who,” she said, “who is this little man, I wonder, that must needs concern himself with my soup?”
“Alas, my lovely lady,” said Ulenspiegel, “if only you will consent to make soup in my company, I will teach you how to prepare a traveller’s relish of a sort that is quite unknown to lovely ladies who stay at home.”
And then, smacking his lips: