That, and he'd take lambs and kids, too, feeding on them raw and as bloodily as if he were indeed the wolf he appeared to be; so much so, indeed, that men suspected not his sorcery.
He had still living a daughter, whom he desired unnaturally and took in most cruel incest, that sin surpassing far adultery or fornication, though the least of those three would drive the soul to hellfire, but for a repentent heart and the boundless mercy of God. He begot this daughter of his in those when he was not entirely given to wickedness, and he named her Stubbe Belle, and her grace and beauty was praised by all who knew her.
However, his foul desire and boundless lust was such that he begat a child by her, still daily visiting her like a concubine. So deep was his greed, so given over was he to evil, that even she was not enough to satiate him, so he lay with his sister, too.
One day he paid a visit to a gossip, with whom he made merry and good cheer. He won her by his fair and flattering speech, and before the day was ended they lay together; her name was Katherine Trompin, a tall, attractive woman well-lked by her neighbours, who kept him company at his command.
Yet even now his lust was not sated, so the Devil sent him a wicked spirit in the likeness of a woman so fair of face and comely of figure that she seemed some Helen sent down from Heaven, rather than any mortal. She exceeded by far the foremost among women, and so Stubbe Peeter enjoyed her to his heart's desire for seven long years, the she-devil she was. But even now, his immersion in lewdness and lechery did nothing to dim his lust for cruelty and bloodshed; throughout he remained an insatiable drinker of blood, so much so he took no pleasure in a day without savage murder.
Stubbe Peeter had a son he called his heart's ease, his eldest begotten in his first flowering, from whom he derived such joy. But the joy he took in murder so far exceeded his love for this only son that, one day, he took him into the fields, and out further into the forest. He told his son he had to attend to the necessities of nature, and bade him press on; he'd be with him presently. Stubbe Peeter took out his girdle, unrolled it; when he overtook his son in the guise of a wolf, he took him down, ate the very brains from his head, an act more monstrous, degenerate than any had yet heard, truly fallen from nature.
Notes.
'and he'd take lambs and kids, too'. The implication here is the fact he also killed, mutilated and fed upon livestock persuaded the province that the murders must be the work of an actual wolf. Lambs and kids, of course, possess their own layered symbolism, which would not be lost on a 16th-century readership.
'He had still living a daughter'. A man so consumed by sexual appetite and paraphilia, that he subjects his daughter and sister to rape and abuse.
We saw in the previous installment that Peter Stump presented a civil, likeable face to the world; that his mask should completely slip in private is, again, an authentic note struck by this narrative, as is the sense of uncontrolled escalation. And yet there is a tension between this and his methodical approach to murder; he is nonetheless patient and careful.
'her name was Katherine Trompin'. Which we see here, when he displays the psychopath's 'glib charm' during his seduction of his neighbour. He moderates his behaviour.
'so the Devil sent him a wicked spirit in the likeness of a woman'. Vide Marlowe's Faustus. Here, the succubus is tasked with occupying Peter Stump, rather than seducing him from the righteous path. Likewise the reference to Helen.
'enjoyed her to his heart's desire for seven long years'. Compacts of seven years are folkloric to this day.
'his immersion in lewdness and lechery did nothing to dim his lust for cruelty and bloodshed'. This is yet another very authentic aspect of the narrative. Peter Stump is absorbed in his sadistic fantasies to the point of compulsion, but then pours the sexual energy he generates by the killing, mutilation and partial consumption of women, children and farmstock onto the women who hold various positions in his life. The implication, perhaps, is that he needs sadistic violence to have any hope of sexual release. So, he is caught in an escalating spiral.
'one day, he took him into the fields, and out further into the forest'. The stories of Abraham and Isaac, and of Cain and Abel, were known and understood by all strata of society. Only this time, there was no angel to stay his hand. And he performs it just like any of his other murders, by charm and guile, and a blitz attack.
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