The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: "How
does he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!" And each
man drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel,
without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the bushes
where Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelists
were within range of the arquebus, he cried out: "Crows, black crows,
the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!"
Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, and
the tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followed
a second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.
And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme,
and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from the
midst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.
There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage,
and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegel
cried:
"Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way you
shall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!"
And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So they
stood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parrying
blows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponent
was an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands and
on the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like a
lion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him,
and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away the blood with his
left hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainly
have been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist with
another shot from his arquebus.
And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemies
and blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the blue
smoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of which
Lamme displayed yet again his jolly face.
"Have you finished him off?" he asked.
"Yes, my son," replied Ulenspiegel, "but come...."
Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel all
covered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly,
and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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