The Life of Courage: The Notorious Thief, Whore and Vagabond by Hans Jakob Christoffel V Grimmelshausen;Mike Mitchell

Author:Hans Jakob Christoffel V Grimmelshausen;Mike Mitchell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-09-01T11:32:00+00:00

The conditions under which they agreed to live together as man and wife, while remaining single.

If there had been a single honest vein in my body I could have done things differently and followed an honest course, for my foster-mother had found where I was and came to join me with two of my horses and some ready cash. She advised me to leave the wars and use the money I had safely invested to settle down and live peacefully in Prague or on my captain's estates. But with the heedlessness of youth I refused to listen to either reason or wisdom; the stronger the beer, the better I liked it.

My foster-mother and I were travelling with a man who sold provisions and drink to the soldiers of the regiment of my late husband, the captain who had been killed at Hoya. Because of him I was treated with respect, and I think I would have found another fine officer to marry if we had only been settled in quarters somewhere. But at a time when our army of twenty thousand men in three divisions was marching at full speed for Italy and had to force its way through Grisons, where there were a lot of obstacles, not many sensible officers were thinking of looking for a wife, and that meant I would have to remain a widow even longer. Moreover there were some who were too timid to talk of marriage to me and others who had certain misgivings, but because of the way I had stuck by my previous husband they all considered me much too virtuous - more virtuous than I really was - to suggest any activities on the side.

A long fast was not for me, and the musketeer who had come to my aid in the affair with the two troopers had fallen for me in such a big way he could not rest, day or night, but was always hanging round me whenever his duties allowed. I could see what his problem was, but since he did not have the courage to put a proposal to Courage, my feeling for him was as much contempt as pity. However, my proud intention of marrying an officer or no one gradually changed. I observed the man we were travelling with and the daily profit he made from selling food and drink while many a brave officer was on short commons, and I began to think I might like to go into the same line of business myself. I took stock of the money I had with me and found that, with the fair number of gold coins I had left sewn into my bodice, I had sufficient capital to start up. The only thing stopping me changing from being a captain's widow to a purveyor of food and drink was that I still felt I would be demeaning myself. But once I had reminded myself I was no longer a captain's wife, nor had much likelihood

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