tiller of Kuttenberg, of Kuttenberg
“I break my back pulling stones out of the heavy clay on the edge of the parish. I earn my keep, no matter what my sister claims.”
Things Isabel Hill had written, latest first, with the glosses of her neighbours.
the eve of St John at the Latin Gate, at Vespers
The bailiff's men were poking about the lower streets today with their ledgers, looking for men to levy for the war. Praise be to God they do not take women. I hope they drag off half the drunks in the taverns so honest folk can work the soil in peace.
Nota scribaeDictated while wiping mud from her apron onto my table. I asked her to step back.
the third day of Easter week, at Prime
I hear Ellen Grey made a solemn vow to walk barefoot all the way to the abbey at Sedletz. She is a soft fool. The roads are crawling with stragglers and mercenaries. A girl walking with a candle will just get a broken nose, or worse.
The Lord protects those who keep their vows. You care for nothing but dirt, Isabel.
Dirt feeds us. Candles just burn your fingers.
the Tuesday after St Gregory, at None
Sovka brought up the far strip again at supper, right over the pottage. She says she has a right to half the yield because Lambert is father to us both. My arse she does. I pulled every stone from that clay while she sat by the hearth.
Father said it was for the both of us! You just ran out there with a spade before I could even put my boots on.
I just want to eat my supper in peace without you two squawking.
Nota scribaeThe sister was standing right behind her during the dictation. The shouting gave me a headache.
the feast of St Matthias, at Sext
My wooden spade handle snapped on a buried root today. Thank the Lord for Anna. We passed a spare iron spade back and forth behind the shed so her family would not see. We know what it means to hold onto what our hands have bled for.
Ay. Let the men talk, we will do the digging. Just make sure you clean the iron before you give it back.
Candlemas, at Prime
The ground is frozen hard as iron but I am out here turning it. Father told me to take over the chores for this piece of ground, but he mumbled it like an old man. Now I live in terror the magistrate will walk the boundary and give half to my sister simply because we share a roof.
Nota scribaeShe brought a lump of half-frozen soil into the church to prove a point.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
It is no laughing matter, Isabel. Some of us have business here and no wish to die on a Hungarian pike.