When Ulenspiegel saw what was happening he dismounted and cut off a bunch of thistles; then, mounting the ass again, he placed the bunch of thistles just in front of the animal’s nose. And in this way, leading the donkey by the nose, he arrived before long in the land of the Landgrave of Hesse.
“Friend donkey,” he said as they went along, “you, verily, go running after a bunch of thistles, the meagre fare with which I have provided you; but you leave behind the lovely road that is filled with all kinds of most delicate herbs. And thus do all men, scenting out, some of them, the bouquet called Fame which Fortune puts under their nose, others the bouquet of Gain, and yet others the bouquet that is called Love. But at the end of the journey they discover, like you, that they have been pursuing things that are of little account, and that they have left behind all that is worth anything—health, and work, repose, happiness, and home.”
In such discourse with his donkey Ulenspiegel came at last to the palace of the Landgrave.
There two Captains of Artillery were playing dice upon the steps of the palace, and one of them, a red-haired man of gigantic stature, soon noticed Ulenspiegel as he approached modestly upon his ass, gazing down upon them and their game.
“What do you want,” said the Captain, “you, fellow, with your starved pilgrim’s face?”
“I am extremely hungry,” answered Ulenspiegel, “and if I am a pilgrim, it is against my will.”
“And you are hungry,” replied the Captain, “go, eat the next gallows cord you come to, for such cords are prepared for vagabonds like you.”
“Sir Captain,” answered Ulenspiegel, “only give me the fine golden cord you wear on your hat, and I will go straightway and hang myself by the teeth from that fat ham which I see hanging over there at the cook-shop.”
The Captain asked him where he came from. Ulenspiegel told him, “From Flanders.”
“What do you want?”