It was the month of January, the cruel month that freezes the calf in the womb of the cow. Snow had fallen over all the land, and then frozen hard. The boys went out to snare with bird-lime the sparrows that came to seek what nourishment they could find on the hardened snow; and whatever they took they brought back to their cottages. Against the grey, bright sky the skeletons of the trees detached themselves in motionless outline, and their branches were covered as it were with cushions of snow, and the roofs of the cottages likewise, and the tops of the walls where showed the footprints of the cats who themselves went out hunting for sparrows in the snow. Far and wide the fields were hidden under that wonderful white fleece which warms the earth against the bitter cold of winter. The smoke of houses and cottages showed black as it mounted heavenwards, and over everything there brooded a great stillness.
And Katheline and Nele lived alone in their cottage, and Katheline wagged her head, crying continually:
“Hans, my heart is yours. But you must give back those seven hundred caroluses. Put out the fire! My head is burning! Alas! Where are your kisses cold as snow?” And she stood watching at the window.
Suddenly a horseman rode past at the gallop, crying:
“Here comes the bailiff, the high bailiff of Damme!”
And he went on to the Town Hall, crying out all the time, so as to gather together the burghers and the aldermen. And thereafter in the silence that ensued Nele could hear two blasts of a trumpet, and straightway all the people of Damme came running to their doors thinking that it must be no less a personage than His Royal Majesty himself whose arrival was announced by such a fanfare. And Katheline also went to her door with Nele, and in the distance she could see a troop of splendid horsemen riding all together, and at their head a magnificent figure in a cloak of black velvet edged with sable. And she knew him at once for the high bailiff of Damme.
Now behind him there rode a company of youthful Lords clad in long cloaks, and they rode along gaily, and their coats were adorned with buttons and trimmings of gold, and their hats with long ostrich plumes waving gaily in the wind. And they seemed one and all to be good comrades and friends of the high bailiff; and conspicuous among them was a thin-faced gentleman dressed in green velvet and gold trimmings, and like the others his cloak was of black velvet and his hat also was adorned with black plumes. And his nose was like a vulture’s beak, his mouth compressed and thin, and his beard was red and his face pale, and very proud was his bearing.
While the company of gentlemen was passing before the cottage, Katheline suddenly ran forward and leapt at the bridle of the pale horseman, and cried out, mad with joy as it seemed:
“Hans! My beloved, I knew you would come back! Oh, you are beautiful like this, all clad in velvet and gold, shining like a sun against the snow! Have you brought me those seven hundred caroluses? Shall I hear you again crying like the sea-eagle?”
The high bailiff brought the cavalcade to a stand, and the pale gentleman said: