hewer at the Osel shaft, of Kuttenberg
“I am a man of many talents with a terrible ache in my back. I would make a fine soldier if my health allowed, but I dig silver instead.”
Things Gilbert the Mouth had written, latest first, with the glosses of his neighbours.
the eve of Whitsun, at Vespers
The bailiff says the muster is upon us and I am sweating through my tunic! I paid Drunkard Endres good silver to take my place and buy a padded gambeson, and the whoreson pawned it for ale! Sakra, I cannot face those Hungarian blades with my bad back!
Nota scribaeHe spoke this in a great panic, sweating so much it dripped onto the table.
the second day of May, at Compline
Bloody hell, you would think the world ended. Old Hannes gets his foot crushed by young Markvart's barrow and will not stop wailing, and Benesh is weeping into his beer over his late wife's wooden rosary because Franz won it at dice. A tavern is for boasting, not bawling!
Martha carved those beads herself. Have you no heart at all, Gilbert?
He lost fair and square. The dice do not care about a dead woman's handiwork.
the third day of Easter week, at Terce
I had to wait until the widow went to market for turnips before I could creep out of the cellar. She wants three weeks of rent, two pennies a week! Christ almighty, does she think I shit silver? My back aches too much for this.
Nota scribaeDictated from the alleyway behind the baker's, where he was hiding.
the feast of St Gregory, at None
Karl is sighing like a bellows again, demanding his iron back. I told him plain, he owed me two groschen for drinks during Lent, so the tool settles the debt! Hans the foreman says we must bring our own iron, and I am just making sure I have mine.
It was a spare tool I lent you for one afternoon! Give it back, you parasite.
A debt is a debt, Karl. My back is too sore to argue.
the day after Candlemas, at Sext
Hans the foreman came down the shaft today and decreed every hewer must bring his own iron to the rock face or lose his wage. Bloody hell! I tried to flatter the man to get an easy seam, but he looked right through me. Now I must find a tool.
Just smile at him, Gilbert. Hans can be charmed if you know how.
He only cares about the silver yield, Markvart. We all have to find our own iron now.
Nota scribaeThe word he used for the foreman was not written down, out of respect for the masters.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
The ale was necessary, Gilbert. You would not want me marching with a dry throat.
I want my silver or the coat, you thief!