Lamme Goedzak replied:
“My father beat me on one shoulder and my mother on the other saying, ‘Avenge thyself, coward!’ But I, not willing to strike a girl, fled away.”
Suddenly Lamme grew pale and trembled all over.
And Claes saw a tall woman approaching, and by her side a little girl lean and of a fierce aspect.
“Ah!” said Lamme, taking hold of Claes by his breeches, “here be my mother and my sister coming to find me. Protect me, master coalman.”
“Here,” said Claes, “first take these seven liards for wages and let us go stoutly to meet them.”
When the two women saw Lamme, they ran to him and both were fain to beat him, the mother because she had been anxious and the sister because it was her habit.
Lamme hid behind Claes and cried:
“I have earned seven liards, I have earned seven liards, do not beat me!”
But already the mother was hugging him, while the little girl tried with might and main to open Lamme’s hands to have his money. But Lamme cried: