ul woman, a dog, and a young boy, a long spear, and a
short sword; he is free to seek any master who will give him service. A
Landsknecht must make three campaigns before he can become an
honourable man. After the first campaign, he must return home wearing
torn clothes; after the second, he should return with a scar on one
cheek, and be able to tell much of alarms, battles, skirmishes and
storming parties, and to show by his scars that he has got the marks of
a Landsknecht; after the third, he should return well appointed, on a
fine charger, bringing with him a purse full of gold, so that he may be
able to distribute whole dollars as he would booty-pence.

"It is truly said, that a soldier must have to eat and drink, whether
it is paid for by the sacristan or the priest; for a Landsknecht has
neither house nor farm, cows nor calves, and no one to bring him food;
therefore he must procure it himself wherever it is to be found, and
buy without money whether the peasants look sweet or sour. Sometimes
they must suffer hunger and evil days, at others they have abundance,
and indeed such superfluity, that they might clean their shoes with
wine or beer. Then their dogs eat roast; the women and children get
good appointments, they become stewards and cellarers of other people's
property. When the householder is driven away with his wife and
children, the fowls, geese, fat cows, oxen, pigs, and sheep have a bad
time of it. The money is portioned out in their caps, velvet and silk
stuffs and cloth are measured out by long spears; a cow is slaughtered
for the sake of the hide; chests and trunks are broken open, and when
all has been plundered and nothing more remains, the house is set on
fire. That is the true Landsknecht's fire, when fifty villages and
country towns are in flames. Then they go to other quarters and do the
like again; this makes soldiers jolly, and is a desirable life for
those who do not pay for it. This entices to the field many a mother's
child, who does not return home, and forgets his friends. For the
proverb says: 'The Landsknechte have crooked fingers and maimed hands
for work, but for pilfering and plundering all the maimed hands become
sound.' That has been so before our days, and will remain so truly
after us. The longer the Landsknechte learn this handiwork the better
they do it, and become circumspect, like the three maidens who had four
cradles made, the fourth as a provision in case one of them had t