Meanwhile Nele, when Katheline was in the house of some kindly neighbour, and well looked after, Nele used to go far far afield, all alone, as far as Antwerp, all along by the Scheldt or elsewhere, ever seeking, both on the river banks and on the dusty highways, if she could not see her friend Ulenspiegel.
One fair-day, being at Hamburg, he saw merchants everywhere, and among them certain old Jews living on usury and old clothes.
Ulenspiegel, desiring to be a merchant, too, saw lying on the ground some lumps of horse dung and brought them to his lodging, which was a bastion of the rampart wall. There he dried them, and then bought red silk and green silk and made little bags with them, and put the horse dung in the bags and tied them with ribbon, as if they had been full of musk.
Then with some pieces of board he made himself a pedlar's tray, hung it about his neck by means of old cords and came into the market, carrying in front of him his tray filled with these sachets. In the evening to light them up he had a little candle burning in their midst.
When any came and asked him what he had for sale, he would reply mysteriously:
"I will tell you, but let us not speak too loud."
"What is it then?" the customers would say.
"These," Ulenspiegel replied, "are prophetical seeds, fetched straight from Araby into Flanders, and prepared with mighty art by the master Abdul-Médil of the kin of the great Mahomet."
Certain customers would say one to another:
"This is a pilgrim coming out of Flanders," they would say; "do you not hear it by his speech?"
And the ragged, lousy, wretched poor folk came to Ulenspiegel and said to him:
"When you have florins to buy them," answered Ulenspiegel. And the poor, ragged, lousy, wretched went away sorrowful, saying:
"There is no content in this world but for the rich."
The tale of these seeds for sale was soon spread abroad in the market. The citizens said one to another:
"There is a Flanders man there that hath prophetical seeds blessed at Jerusalem upon the tomb of Our Lord Jesus, but they say he has no mind to sell them."
And all the good citizens came to Ulenspiegel and asked him for his seeds.
But Ulenspiegel, who meant to have great profits, answered that they were not as yet ripened sufficiently, and he had an eye upon two rich Jews that went wandering about the market.