"Nele," said Ulenspiegel, "when is it going to be fine again?" And he smiled at her very lovingly. "Why do you ask me that?" she said. "Because when it is fine there is an end of weeping," answered Ulenspiegel. "Go back to your beautiful lady of the brocaded gown," she said. "Your jokes are good enough for her...." Then Ulenspiegel sang: When I see my love crying My heart is torn. When she smiles 'tis honey, Pearls when she weeps. Either way I love her. And I'll draw a draught of wine, Good wine from Louvain, And I'll draw a draught of wine, When Nele smiles again. "You villainous man!" she cried, "making fun of me again!" "Nele," said Ulenspiegel, "it is true that I am a man. But I am not a villain. For our family is of noble origin, a family of aldermen, and it carries on its shield three pint pots argent on a ground bruinbier. But, Nele, tell me now, is it a fact that in Flanders when a man sows a kiss he always reaps a box on the ear?" "I refuse to speak to you," said Nele. "Then why open your mouth to tell me so?" "I am angry," she said. Ulenspiegel slapped her on the back very lightly with his hand, saying: "Kiss a naughty girl and she will cuff you; cuff her, she will cry. Come then, sweet, cry upon my shoulder since I have cuffed you!" Nele turned round. He opened his arms, and she threw herself into them. "You won't go away any more down there, will you Tyl?" she asked him. But he did not answer, busy as he was in pressing with his the hand that trembled so pitifully, and in drying with his lips the hot tears that fell from the eyes of Nele, like heavy drops of rain in a storm. XIX These were the days when the noble city of Ghent refused to pay the tax which her son, the Emperor Charles, was demanding of her. The fact was it was impossible to pay, for already the city was drained of money by the act of Charles himself. But it seemed that the city was guilty of a great crime, and Charles resolved to go himself and exact punishment. For to be whipped by her own son is above all things painful to a mother. Now, although he was his enemy, Francis Long-Nose was pleased to offer the Emperor a free passage through the land of France. Charles accepted the offer, and instead of being held as a prisoner, he was fêted and feasted in right royal fashion. For this is ever a sovereign bond of union between kings: each to aid the other against their own peoples. Charles stayed a long time at Valenciennes, and still gave no sign of his wrath, so that Mother Ghent began to lay aside her fears, believing that the Emperor her son was going to forgive her, seeing that she had acted within her rights.