see my doom. But let me for the last time
make confession, that I may not have
hereafter to be punished for some unacknowledged
sin.

Pitying him, some said, It is not much to
ask. They begged of the King, and he
permitted it. Then Reineke felt lighter at his
heart, and instantly began: Spiritus Domini,
help me now! There is no creature here
whom I have not offended. Before I was
weaned, I was a murderer of lambs; I loved to
kill young goats, and spared no birds, not
hens, not ducks, not geese. Wherever I met
them I slew them, and many a body that I
could not eat I buried in the sand. One
winter, near the Rhine, I first made Isegrim's
acquaintance. We vowed partnership. He
committed the great thefts, I the little ones,
but he cheated me always of my share. If we
caught an ox or a cow, he fetched his wife and
seven children, so that I still got only the bare
ribs. Nevertheless, thank Heaven, I did not
hunger. I was fed out of my secret treasure,
a treasure greater than my wants; no wagon
could remove it in seven journeys.

When the King heard of the treasure, he
bowed forwards, and said, How did you
come by that?—Reineke said, Why, in the
face of death, should I conceal the secret?
Moreover, I must confess, and it was stolen
property. Many had sworn, great King, to
murder you, and would have done it if I had
not robbed them of their money. Mighty
King, your life hung on that treasure; and
though I brought my father to the grave,
I stole it for your sake.

The Queen, heard with alarm the mystery.
I command you, Reineke, reflect, she cried.
Open your soul truly in the hour of death.
—The King said, Let everybody hold his
tongue. This matter is important; let me
hear it thoroughly. Come nearer, Reineke;
speak up.

Reineke, much comforted, descended the
ladder, to the great disgust of his enemies
below, and he approached the King and his
wife, by whom he was questioned eagerly.
Then he prepared himself for a powerful
effort at lying. Can I regain the King's
favour? he thought; it is good; I must lie
without scruple.

The Queen impatiently questioned. Reineke
said, I will tell all. Death is before me, my
soul must not suffer for want of confession.
Better confess, though confession accuses dear
friends and relations, than risk everlasting
perdition.

The King grew heavy when he heard these
words, and said, Do you speak truth?—
Reineke replied, Alas, what could untruth
avail me now? You know that I must die.—
Poor fellow, said the Queen, I pity his
despair.

The King commanded, and the whole
assembly became silent. Merciful King, said
Reineke, by your leave I speak. Though
I speak suddenly, and without time for
thought, I will be perfectly exact. You shall
be told the whole conspiracy.

CHAPTER THE FIFTH.

Reineke said: My noble father was so lucky
as to find the hidden treasure of King
Emmeric. So he grew proud; looked down
on his companions; aspired to loftier
connexions. He sent Hintze the Cat into the
wild forest of Ardenne to look for Bruin the
Bear, swear faith to him, and bid him come
to Flanders to be made a king.

When Bruin got that invitation, he set off
at once. My father was delighted; and sent
out for Isegrim, and the wise Grimbart: those
four managed the matter; but Hintze the
Cat made a fifth. They determined on the
king's death; swore together an eternal
alliance. Grimbart, one morning, had been
drinking himself garrulous; and the fool
chattered the secret to his wife, binding her
to silence. Directly afterwards his wife met
my wife, and bade her swear solemnly by the
names of the three kings, and give her word
and honour for her dear soul's sake to whisper
to nobody a syllable of what she was about
to tell her; so she told her all. My wife
failed of her promise, for, as soon as she saw
me, I heard all about it. Alas! I thought
then of the Frogs who were in want of an
active king, and had the Stork sent down to
them. Our king, I reasoned to myself, is
nobly born, mighty and merciful; it would
be but a sad change to raise a Bear, a good-
for-nothing dolt, into his place. So I reflected
for some weeks upon the plot, wishing to
hinder it.

Quite well I understood that while my
father held the treasure in his hand, he could
bring troops together. Therefore, my care
was to detect the place of its concealment,
and remove it quietly. If ever my father
walked out, I was behind upon his traces.

Once I perceived him slipping through a
cleft; he thought himself alone, looked round
suspiciously, and seeing no one, far or near,
stopped up the hole with sand, strewing the
ground, and stroking out his footmarks with
his tail. Then he went off to business, and
I found the treasure. I set to work upon it
with my wife; we carried and dragged it
day and night; for want of carts and wagons
we endured no little trouble and fatigue.

Meanwhile my father held daily counsel
with the betrayers of our king. Bruin and
Isegrim sent patent letters through the
land to entice mercenaries to them: they
should come in crowds; Bruin would find
them service; he would even pay them in
advance. Sure of the treasure which he
thought lay safely hidden, my father travelled
through the province, showing these letters.

Summer returned at last; then returned
also my father to his comrades. Joyfully he
showed the list of rascals won over by
promises of gold. Bruin was merry at the sight;
the five read it together, and it said:—