Gresbeck: the king promises deliverance at Easter (new translation)

Now Stutenbernt, with the king and the preachers, had another scheme in hand. Stutenbernt made a book, which book is called Restitution. And they had the book printed too, and sent it into Holland and Friesland, and they threw the same little book into the camp in front of the blockhouse, and stuck the books up on sticks and set them out at night in front of the blockhouse, so that the landsknechts would get them; and they thought to get the landsknechts from the blockhouse into the city. But the same books would not help. Then the same messengers whom they had sent out with the books came back, and they then received letters from Holland and Friesland saying that they had gathered there and wanted to come to Münster, and wanted to relieve them, and wanted to bring provisions with them. When the letters had come, the king received a great revelation from God that the deliverance should then be at Easter. The king proclaimed this to the community at the marketplace during the sermon; and the king had a landsknecht standing before him, whom he had had fetched out of prison and whose head he meant to have struck off. This same soldier was the king's barber. The same soldier had wanted to leave the king and go home, and had asked the king for leave, and that he should give him some money to take with him. Then the king said to the soldier, "You still have some money." The soldier said, "I have no money." The king said in turn, "Why do you lie?" The soldier said, "If I am lying, then strike my head off." Then the king had the soldier searched to see whether he had any money on him. The king found on the soldier two Joachimsthalers and other small money. For that the same soldier had to die. For the same soldier had been betrayed to the king, that he still had money. Now when the king had said that the deliverance should be at Easter, he said: "If it is so that the deliverance does not come at Easter, then do to me as I will do to this same villain who stands here before me, and strike my head off too." The same soldier was no villain; he would gladly have been away from the villain, the king. Then the poor people all believed it was true that the deliverance should come at Easter. And some people would not believe that the deliverance should come at Easter. Then this same soldier fell on his knees before the king and begged for mercy, and asked all the people in the community to plead for him. The door of mercy stayed shut. So many of them fell on their knees before the king, but they could obtain no mercy, for the door of mercy was shut all the time. So in the end the door of mercy was shut with the king too. Then the king had the soldier brought out before the gate and had his head struck off, for the sake of the two Joachimsthalers, and because he had said: "If it is so that I am lying, then strike my head off."