Things do happen in different fashions. To one man ill luck cometh by degrees and slowly: another it doth fall upon in a heap. So hardly had I spent a week in the wedded state with my dear wife, when I took leave of her and her friends in my huntsman's dress with my gun upon my shoulder; and because all the roads were well known to me, I came luckily to my journey's end without danger threatening. Nay, I was seen of no man till I came to the turnpike in Deutz that lieth opposite Cologne on this side the Rhine. But I saw many, and specially a peasant in the land of Berg, that reminded me much of my dad in the Spessart; and his son was still more like the old Simplicissimus. For the lad was herding swine as I was passing by: and the swine, scenting me, began to grunt and the lad to curse: "Thunder and lightning strike them and the devil fly away with them too!" That the maidservant heard, and cried to the lad not to curse or she would tell his father. The boy answered, she might kiss ... and burn her mother too: But the peasant hearing it, runs out of the house with a whip and cries out, "Wait, thou anointed rascal, I will teach thee to curse; strike thee blind and the devil take thy carcase": and with that he caught him by the collar, whipped him like a dancing bear, and at every stroke, "Thou wicked boy," says he, "I'll teach thee to curse, devil take thee, I'll kiss ... for thee; I'll teach thee to talk of burning thy mother." Which manner of correction did remind me naturally of me and my dad, and yet had I not such decency and piety as to thank God for bringing me out of such darkness and ignorance, and into greater knowledge and understanding. And how then could I expect that the good fortune which daily rained upon me should endure?