And he lay still all that night, and when that it was morning he arose, and said: “Now am I whole, and well will it be if I depart unto another country. What have I to pay thee?” And the priest was right glad to be ridden of his guest, and he took his money, when that they reckoned. And the woman-servant was glad also. Then said Owlglass unto the priest: “Wherefore hast thou revealed to another my confession? Truly will I now go unto Halberstadt before my lord the Bishop, and lay a complaint against thee, for that thou hast been unfaithful in thy office.” Then did the priest tremble, and think how he might content Owlglass that he should not complain; and he entreated him and asked what he should give him to be silent thereupon, and would he have twenty pieces to say no word more? But Owlglass said: “An if ye gave unto me one hundred pieces, would I not do this, and verily will I straightway depart thither.” And the priest humbly, and with tears, besought him to refrain, and that he would give him whatever he would have. Thereat said Owlglass: “Give then unto me thy horse, and I will say no more; but the horse will I have.” But the priest loved his beast, and desired not to give it away, and he would rather have given unto Owlglass every penny that he had; but Owlglass demanded that he should have the horse, and would hear no word. So the priest gave unto Owlglass the horse, and he departed therewith, and he came unto Wolfenbüttel, and there upon the bridge stood the duke, and beheld the coming of Owlglass. Then took the duke the coat from off his back and gave it unto him, and received the horse. And the duke rejoiced greatly over Owlglass his cunning in beguiling the priest, and made pleasant sport with the tale; and he gave unto our noble Master Owlglass another horse; and the priest was wroth at losing his horse, and he often did comfort himself by beating the maid sorely, until that she departed from him. So lost the priest both horse and maid.
The Forty and Fourth Adventure.
How that Owlglass did hire him to a smith, and what he did while with him.
And it fortuned that on a time came Owlglass unto Rostock, in the land of Mechlenburg, and hired him unto a smith there. The smith had a favourite saying, when that he would have the bellows blown: “Ha! ho! follow ye with the bellows!” Then stood Owlglass and blew, and the smith spake unto him, saying: “Ha! ho! follow ye with the bellows!” And he gat him into the court thereafter. Then came Owlglass behind him with the bellows on his back, and laid it down beside him, and said: “Master, behold I have done thy bidding! Where would you have me to put it?” Then the master looked upon him and beheld what he had done, and said: “My good man! so did I not mean it. Go thou in again and put it back where it stood.” And Owlglass did as his master bade him, and placed it again where it had been before. But the master thought within himself how he might pay him handsomely for this knavery; and he resolved that for five days he would rise every night at midnight to begin labour in the forge. And he wakened all his men, and they began to labour. Then said Owlglass his comrade unto him: “What is this thing that now we labour at midnight? Wherefore is it; of old did our master not this thing?” And Owlglass said: “Wilt thou that I shall ask of him wherefore it is?” And his fellow said: “Yea;” and then Owlglass asked him. And the smith made answer unto him, and said: “It is my rule that at first my men shall not, for eight days, lie on my bed more than half the night.” And Owlglass held his peace, and his companion dared not to speak.
And it came to pass the next night that Owlglass and his fellow were again awakened by the master; and the other man went down and fell to work. Then took up Owlglass the bed, and, with cords, bound it upon his back, and when that the iron was hot, he cometh down unto the forge, and taketh a hammer, and beginneth to smite the iron, so that the sparks flew into the bed and burned holes therein. Thereat said the smith: “What is’t thou dost? Why didst not thou leave the bed lying in that place where that it should lie?” Then answered Owlglass and spake unto the smith, saying: “Master, be not angry; my rule is it that half the night will I lie upon the bed, and the other half shall it lie upon me.” Then the master waxed wroth, and said unto Owlglass: “Go thou lay the bed where thou tookest it from;” and furthermore said he: “Marry, thou knave, get thee up out of my house, and may I never see thee more, for evil is the day in which I beheld thee.” And Owlglass said “Yea,” unto the master’s commands, and he went and laid back the bed upon its place. Then gat he a ladder, and climbed up into the garret, and he broke through the roof, and mounted up and drew the ladder after him, and so gat him up out of the house as his master told him, and thereafter descended he unto the street, and left the ladder, and so departed. And the smith heard the noise that he made, and ran up stairs, and lo! there was a great hole in the roof.
Then grew he yet more angry, and sought his pike, and departed in haste, and ran after Owlglass. But the other man held him, and said: “Nay, master, do not this thing, for behold, he did but that which thou didst command him. Thou didst say: ‘Get thee up out of my house,’ and that hath he done, for he hath departed through this hole in the roof.” And the smith was persuaded; and was not that the best thing? What booted it unto him; he could not longer lay hands upon Owlglass, for he had departed thence. So he fell to mending his roof, and the fellow of Owlglass said: “With such comrades, can but little be won. And he that knoweth not Owlglass, let him only have to do with him, he shall surely know him well in no long time.”
The Forty and Fifth Adventure.
How that Owlglass did cause all the tools, hammers, and tongs of a smith to be as one mass of iron.
Now when that Owlglass departed away from the smith, it came near unto the winter season, and the weather was very cold. And it did freeze hard, and all things soever waxed very dear, and at great price could you alone get victual, so that serving-men went with scant lining to their stomachs. Like unto many others, Owlglass was without money in his pouch, and he came unto a village, where was another smith. Now Owlglass craved not again to become a smith’s man; but great hunger and thirst and cold drave him thereto, and merciless masters be they. So went he unto the smith, but the smith would have none of him, by reason of little work which there was; yet did Owlglass beseech him, so that at last the smith took him. And Owlglass promised that he would eat whatever that the smith set before him. Now the smith was a knave, and thought in himself, he shall not eat me until that I am poor.
And it came to pass in the morning, that they fell to labour, and laboured very hard until that it was dinner time. Then took the smith Owlglass, and led him unto the court unto the lime-pit, and he said unto him: “Thou didst promise to eat that which I set before thee. Now take, eat, and make thee good cheer.” But he departed into the house, and ate roast and boiled. Then Owlglass abode without, and thought within himself: “Unto many hast thou wrought great knaveries, thou art repaid in that coin which thou didst pass to others. Yet shall master smith dearly pay for this deceitful practise.” And after the dinner hour did Owlglass return in silence unto his labour, and said nought at all, and so went it until supper time. Then had the smith pity for Owlglass, and gave unto him some supper, and said unto him: “Rise ye up early in the morning, and do ye begin in good time. Then shall ye knock together what ye shall find, and make me a round number of horse nails. The maid may stand at the bellows until that I come unto thee.” Then did Owlglass go to rest, and when that it was morning he rose up early, and thought: “Now shall he pay for the dinner.” So he took the tongs and hammers, fire-irons, sand-ladles, and everything that he could find, which was of iron, and hammered it into one mass in the fire. The same did he with the horse-nails; and when that he heard the master coming, departed he.
And when that the smith came in and found the pretty business, he waxed wroth, and asked the maid how it came that this was so, and where might his man be? And the maid answered and said: “He hath gone forth without the door.” The smith said: “Like unto a knave hath he gone; and if that I wist whither that he went, I would beat him with heavy stripes.” Then said the maid: “Before he departed, he wrote somewhat over the door.” Then went the smith and beheld that Owlglass had, as his fashion was, painted over the door an owl and a glass, the which signified his name. Then knew the smith thereby who his man had been, and was glad that Owlglass had done him no worse knavery than that he had practised. But Owlglass returned not again unto that village, or that master. And the smith had heavy work to make his tools again as they should be.