“Take away that fire!” she cried. “Ah! master judges, spare his poor youth. Take away the fire!”
“The fishmonger!” cried Ulenspiegel, seeing her weakening.
“Raise Ulenspiegel a foot above the ground,” said the bailiff; “set the brazier underneath his feet and a candle under either armpit.”
The executioner obeyed. What hair was left in his armpits crackled and smoked in the flame.
Ulenspiegel cried out, and Soetkin, weeping, said:
“Take the fire away!”
The bailiff said:
“Confess the concealment and thou shalt be set at liberty. Confess for him, woman.”
And Ulenspiegel said: “Who will throw the fishmonger into the fire that burneth for ever?”
Soetkin made sign with her head that she had nothing to say. Ulenspiegel ground and gnashed his teeth, and Soetkin looked at him with haggard eyes and all in tears.