"Ham!" he cried, "that's good to eat; and bruinbier is a drink divine. Gigot is food fit for the Gods! And the thought of a pâté is enough to send one's tongue a-tremble in one's mouth for joy! A rich salad is worthy victual for a king, forsooth. But blessed above all men shall that man be to whom it is given to dine off thy loveliness, O lady mine!" "How the fellow does run on!" she exclaimed. And then: "Eat first, you rogue." "Shall we not say grace ere we consume all these dainties?" said Ulenspiegel. "Nay," answered the lady. But Lamme began to make moan, complaining that he was hungry. "Eat, then, your fill," said the beautiful dame, "for well I see that you have no other thoughts but of meats well cooked." "And fresh withal," Lamme added, "even as was my wife." At this the cook grew moody; nevertheless they ate and drank their fill, and that night also did the beautiful dame give his supper to Ulenspiegel, and so the next day, and the days that followed. As for the donkeys, they were given double feeds, and for Lamme there was always a double ration. And throughout a whole week he never once went outside the kitchen, playing the wanton with many a dish of food, but never with the cook, for he was thinking of his wife all the time. This annoyed the girl, and she went so far as to say that it was not worth while to cumber the earth if one thought of nothing but one's belly. But all this time Ulenspiegel and the beautiful dame were passing the time together in right friendly wise, till one day she said to him: "Tyl, I think you have no principles at all. Who are you?" "I am," said he, "a son that Chance begat one day on High Adventure." "You are not afraid to speak well of yourself," she told him. "That's for fear that others will praise me." "Would you go so far as to help such of your brethren who have suffered for the Faith?" "The ashes of Claes beat upon my breast." "There is something splendid about you, Tyl, when you say that," she told him, "but who is this Claes?" "He was my father," answered Ulenspiegel, "that was burnt alive for the Faith." "Verily you are not at all like my husband, the Count de Meghen," she said, "for he, if he could, would bleed to death the country that I love. For you must know that I was born in the glorious city of Antwerp. And now I will make known to you that the Count has entered into an agreement with the Councillor of Brabant to bring into that very city of Antwerp a regiment of infantry." "I must inform the citizens of this," said Ulenspiegel. "Behold, I will go there immediately, swift as a ghost."