miner at the Osel shaft, of Kuttenberg
“Twenty years breaking rock in the dark, and I've little to show for it but dust in my lungs.”
Things Leonard had written, latest first, with the glosses of his neighbours.
the eve of the Ascension, at Vespers
The muster for Saint George is long past and the bailiff knows my face. I paid good hard groschen for a gambeson and a leather cap, and that little bastard Hans pawned it to Reginald for drinking silver. Saint Barbara preserve me from young men who cannot keep a bargain.
Nota scribaeHe rubbed his neck the entire time he spoke. I told him he should have gone to the bailiff.
the second day of Easter week, at Compline
If Edward and Tobias do not stop screaming about that lent pick, I will take a hammer to both their skulls. Milada needs to come back from Prague. I sweep the hearth, I keep the fire, and nobody listens to a bloody word I say.
He lent my tool to Sebastian! A man needs his own iron for the deep seam.
the Tuesday after Palm Sunday, at None
The timber down in the third gallery is rotting through. The air smells foul, like old blood and bad eggs. I have twenty years in these shafts and I know when the earth wants to eat us. Casper won't listen, but I reckon the roof will come down before summer.
By Saint Barbara, don't say such things aloud, Leonard. The mountain hears.
Nota scribaeDictated covered in grey mud. He smelled exactly as he described.
the feast of Saint Gregory, at Prime
The priest says the Pope wants our days written down so the Lord has less reading at Judgment. If the Lord wants to know my sins, He can come down to the Osel mine and dig them out. We are too busy working to worry about paper.
Nota scribaeI reminded him that the Lord hears all, even in Kuttenberg.
Candlemas, at Vespers
Casper says no man works the deep seam without his own high-quality pick. He is just trying to force us older men out. Iron costs coin, and bread is dear enough with soldiers on the roads. God's nails, I am too old for these new rules.
That is why I borrowed Sebastian's iron. A man must eat.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
Reginald gave a fair price, Leonard. I was thirsty and the Hungarians aren't here yet.