Fundvogel

That night he dreamed that his bedroom door opened. No, no, it wasn’t a dream. The door creaked so loudly that it woke him up. He raised his head, looked around, the light of the full moon shone through the huge window. The door really was open; the little girl came in. She looked dreadfully pale; he was frightened, almost believed she was dead. She wore a long nightgown; her hair had fallen down around her shoulders.

“Fundvogel?” The youth whispered.

She came up to the side of his bed and took his hand.

“Does it still hurt?” She whispered.

He said, “No, not at all!”

Then he made an awkward movement and groaned. She put her little hand on his red-hot forehead, caressing it tenderly.

“Are you mad at me Jan?” She asked.

“Why should I be mad at you?” He came back.

“Because grandmother gave you a thrashing,” she said.

He shook his head, “No, that doesn’t matter at all. I scarcely feel it.”

Then he saw how she staggered, almost fell down, grabbed his arm to steady herself.

“You are so pale!” He said. “You are so pale and very cold. You’ve certainly lost a lot of blood.”

“A little bit,” she agreed. “But it doesn’t matter. If you want, we can go catch leeches again tomorrow. I won’t scream any more.”

“No, no,” he said. “I don’t know what I want to do yet.”

She raised up on tiptoes, rubbed her cheek against his.

“Good night,” she whispered. “I must go before Katherine notices.”

She sneaked out lightly on her bare feet. That’s when he saw how weak she really was as she staggered through the door.

* *

*

He didn’t see his little cousin any more that holiday. She was very weak, caught a fever, and they needed to call the doctor. She had to stay in bed for twelve days and Jan was not permitted to see her. In the meantime his holiday ended.

Katherine had put the leeches in a bottle, she thought she could sell them in Kleve. They were worth a lot of money. Jan wanted them, claimed they were his, that they belonged to him. Katherine claimed they belonged to her because she had removed them. They agreed to share the proceeds between the two of them.

Jan was resolved to buy something for his sick cousin with his half of the money. He had Pittje saddle up old Lene so he could ride into town. The Elephant Pharmacy didn’t want the leeches, thought they had enough in stock already. The Unicorn Pharmacy offered him only five pennies a piece, but the Lion Pharmacy, the one at St. Anthony’s hospital, said they would pay ten pennies each if Jan would buy something from the store. Jan bargained, said he needed half in cash to bring back to Katherine. The Lion Pharmacist agreed. He counted them out, there were forty-nine but one was apparently dead. Four of them were horseleeches, he couldn’t use them. So he gave Jan two Marks and twenty pennies for Katherine. Jan bought candy with his share, Licorice, Licorice and more Licorice. That would make Fundvogel very happy.

But it’s a long way from Kleve back to Woyland, especially when you are riding old Lene. First he just wanted to see how it tasted. He sucked, chewed and sucked some more. It was all gone long before he was back. He consoled himself by thinking the sick girl would probably not have been allowed to eat the candy anyway.

He gave Katherine the money, asked her if she would like to go out and catch some more leeches with him. She was three times the size of Fundvogel, thick and fat. They would certainly bite on her. Katherine didn’t want to so he thought about whom else he might use as bait. He would gladly use grandmother but didn’t dare ask her. Then he thought of old Lene but that wouldn’t work either so he gave up on catching any more leeches.

* *

*

The leeches were long forgotten the next year when Jan came back for the summer holiday. He couldn’t ride old Lene anymore. She had been retired, permitted to run free and do whatever she wanted.

A heartfelt friendship grew between him and old gander, Philipp, who had been independent for a long time now as well. They often walked through the meadow together. The goslings had grown up and new ones were hatched but the old ones were still there as well. Fundvogel had seen to that. She had thrown a fit when they were supposed to be slaughtered for St. Martin’s day.

She had ran to grandmother, told her that they were her geese and besides, it was quite possible that they were really little girls that had been enchanted into the bodies of geese. Grandmother had agreed, had decided that all the geese should live. That year they bought the St. Martin’s day birds from a nearby farmer.

Jan wanted a Welsh pony and the Duchess presented him with one so they could both learn how to ride. Its name was Hobgoblin, but everyone called it Goblin. Pittje, the groom, said it had a devil in it. It bit or kicked as soon as you tried putting a blanket or saddle on its back. He explained that they needed to bite back. Then he bit Goblin on the ears, first the right and then the left. That way the pony learned what happened to him when he bit someone.

First they needed to learn how to saddle the pony and even before that Andrea needed to learn how to bite back. For two days she practiced biting hard into a leather strap and into fabric. Jan led her around with the strap, pulling her and she was not allowed to let go. Finally she tried her new skill on Goblin. The youth bit him on the right ear and Fundvogel on the left, bit so hard the pony couldn’t shake them loose. Then they got the snaffle bit into his mouth and buckled the bridle on before he could spit it out.

Goblin patiently let the little girl climb up on his back. He understood perfectly, was standing quietly one moment, then raised up on his forelegs and with a bound onto his back legs giving a little buck. Fundvogel crawled out of the manure pile.

Again and again she climbed up, again and again Goblin threw her off. She was finally beaten and crept away black and blue. That day the pony had won. Now Pittje joined in the work. Jan climbed up and the groom put a line on the pony and let it run around the corral in a big circle while he cracked the whip around its ears. Goblin saw that it was better to stand nicely for the little girl than to be oppressed by the two rascals.

By the next day he had already forgotten and the dance began all over again. It went like that for a week until Goblin was tame and stood quietly for the little girl. Meanwhile, she had more bruises on her body than hairs on her head.

Grandmother was away on a trip and Jan intended that his cousin be riding before her return. Afternoons he took her for swimming lessons. The yellow suit with red polka dots still didn’t fit and Fundvogel needed to go naked as she had last year. But Jan thought she looked fully clothed with all her colorful bruises, they were a rich rainbow of colors.

He had gotten a couple of pig bladders from the swineherd, inflated and tied them around her. Andrea was still afraid, but didn’t make a big scene that year. The Duchess, Roberta, came back but didn’t stay the night. She rode quickly on to the house in the forest, to her hunting lodge, where her falcons were kept.

Jan had ten more days to work with Fundvogel. Finally the day of the great performance came. He took grandmother down to the gloomy brook where Andrea needed to prove that she could swim, first with and then without the pig bladders. She wasn’t very fast, but she swam from one bank to the other side and then back again.

That evening Fundvogel sat astride Goblin in the corral as Jan ran the animal on the line letting his whip crack. Andrea crouched like a trained monkey on top of the pony. You could scarcely call it riding but she stayed on and didn’t fall down. She jumped over three hurdles. Jan explained that she had lots of talent, he would train her to become a circus performer. He also wanted to put up a tightrope between two of the castle towers, and then she could be a tightrope walker too!

Grandmother was very satisfied that evening. She commanded that from now on Fundvogel should be called “Young Miss”. None of the servants bothered, they still called her Fundvogel, at least when the Duchess was not around.

The little girl didn’t care, only Katherine needed to call her “Young Miss” and she argued herself green over it.