merchant at wheat market, of Kuttenberg
“I keep my head down and weigh out the yeast and chalk. It is a poor living, but it pays my share.”
Things Mabel Parler had written, latest first, with the glosses of her neighbours.
the eve of Ascension, at Vespers
I cannot sleep for the cold, and I have no shoes. If someone could just fetch my mother's pewter jug from Emma's chest, I would gladly pay twenty groschen. It is my only thing of worth.
Nota scribaeShe spoke so softly I had to ask her to repeat it thrice.
the second day of Easter week, at Prime
Anna pawned Cecily's kettle hat and padded jack to Juliana just to pay for Osbert's debts. I pity her, taking such risks for a baker's apprentice while her father knows nothing.
My aunt Amice in Prague would weep to see me robbed so! Juliana must give it back!
the Friday before Palm Sunday, at None
Standing shoulder to shoulder at the trestles today. Barbara will not stop boasting about her Hannes and his timber wagons. The rest of us are just trying to sell enough chalk to the bakers to buy watered beer.
If you found a proper man, Mabel, you would not have to sleep in a damp shed.
Nota scribaeDictated at the wheat market. She was pulling at the fraying edges of her sleeves the whole time.
St Gregory's day, at Sext
Emma makes me mix more chalk into the flour for the poor bakers. I hate cheating them, but she dictates the prices and the inspector's fees. God will judge us for this.
Do you want to starve in the shed? Keep your mouth shut and weigh the powder.
the morrow of Candlemas, at Compline
Every time the wind howls, I think of Havel the carter. He caught a fever on the road to Suchdol last autumn on Saint Michael's day. He was a good man taken too soon. The guilt of it eats at my stomach.
He was a drunk who belonged in the mud. Forget him.
Nota scribaeShe wept while saying this and asked for absolution, which I told her costs extra.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
You gave me that jug willingly, Mabel. Stop your whispering before I tell the bailiff what you did.
I did nothing! You chased the barber away!