THE BLACK SPIDER

Tremulous with curiosity, the womenfolk crept after their men to the spot where one could exchange a word of confidence in privacy. There each man had to tell his wife what the men heard in the castle, to which the women listened fuming with rage and curses; the men recounted whom they met and what offer he had made to them. A nameless fear gripped the women, a mournful lament piercing mountains and valley, every one of them behaving as though the wicked one coveted her own child. One woman alone did not wail like the others. She was a cruelly capable woman who was said to hail from Lindau on Lake Constance and lived right here on the farm. She had fierce, black eyes and was not much afraid of God or man. She was already angry that the men had not rejected the knight's demands out of hand; if she had been there, she said, she would have given him a piece of her mind. When she heard of the green huntsman and his offer and how the men had fled away, she became even angrier and chided the men for their cowardice and for not looking the green huntsman boldly in the eye; perhaps he would have been satisfied with some other reward, and since the work was for the castle, it would harm their souls none if the devil undertook it for them. She got deeply enraged that she had not been present, if only to have peered at the Devil and found out what he looked like. This was why this woman did not weep, but in her fury spoke harsh words against her own husband and all other men.

‘The following day, when the wailing had died down into a quiet whimpering, the men sat together, looking for a way out of their quandary, but finding none. At first there was talk of pleading once more with the knight, but no one was willing to bargain life and limb in presenting such a petition. One of the men suggested sending women and children with their wailing and lamentation, but he quickly fell silent when the women began to speak; for even in those days the women were nearby when the menfolk gathered in counsel. The women wondered if there was any way out other than making an effort to obey in the name of God; they would have masses said to invoke God's succour, and approach their neighbours to give them secret help at night, for their lords would have forbidden them any open assistance. The women further suggested the men dividing into two groups, one half tackling the beeches, while the other half sowed oats and tended to the livestock. In this way and with the help of God they hoped to fetch at least three beech trees up to Bärhegen each day; no one mentioned the green huntsman, or if anyone thought of him has not been recorded.

‘They divided themselves up, set up their tools, and at dawn on the first of May the men gathered at Münneberg and set to work with a bit of grit and determination. Each beech had to be dug up in a wide circle, carefully preserving the roots, and then the tree was lowered gently to the ground to avoid damage. The morning was not yet high in the firmament when three trees lay ready to be carted away, for they had resolved to cart three trees together at a time, so that this way they could give each other help with hand and cattle up the demanding track. But come noon they still had not managed to drag the three beeches out of the forest, and by evening with