“Well!” said the Markgrave, “let us summon him to come hither, and bid him do us some nimblewitted turn, since our own fool has his boots stuffed with lead.”
“Let us summon him hither,” said they.
When the messenger from Antwerp came to Bois-le-Duc, they told him that the fool Pierkin had snuffed out his candle with over-much laughing, but that there was in the town another fool, a bird of passage, called Ulenspiegel. The messenger went to look for him in a tavern where he was eating a fricassee of mussels and making a petticoat for a girl with the shells.
Ulenspiegel was delighted when he knew that it was for him the courier of the commune had come all the way from Antwerp, mounted upon a fine horse of Vuern-Ambacht and leading another by the bridle.
Without setting foot to ground, the courier asked him if he knew where to find a new trick to make King Philip laugh.
“I have a mine of them under my hair,” answered Ulenspiegel.
They went away together. The two horses galloping loose-reined brought Ulenspiegel and the courier to Antwerp.
Ulenspiegel made his appearance before the Markgrave, the two burgomasters, and the officials of the commune.
“What do you intend to do?” asked the Markgrave.
“Fly in the air,” replied Ulenspiegel.