day labourer at the market, of Kuttenberg
“I haul timber when there is work, and tend my cabbages when there is not. A steady hand and a strong back are all a man needs.”
Things Frantishek Little had written, latest first, with the glosses of his neighbours.
The Thursday before Pentecost, at Vespers
If anyone sees Lorenz Hartmann, tell him I have a letter for him. My shed on the far strip is leaning worse than a drunkard on Sunday. I need a strong back to help with the heavy timber frame. I offer a hot meal and a warm place by the fire for a day's work.
The second day of Easter week, at Terce
Julian brought up selling the far strip again while we were breaking our fast. He says we should divide the coin. I say a man cannot eat coin when the winter snow falls. That dirt is our survival. He just wants to pay off that merchant he owes with my cabbages.
It is half mine by right, brother! The bailiff will hear of this stubbornness.
Let the bailiff come and plant the onions then.
Nota scribaeDictated at the yard. The man kept rubbing dried mud from his thumbs while he spoke.
The Wednesday before Palm Sunday, at Prime
I hear Markvart is still fighting with his father over the laundress. Her late father was an honest carter, God rest him, but a lad should not break his family apart for a girl with no dowry. Claus is making the exact same mistake with the widow Enneleyn. Young blood is a sickness.
You old men know nothing of it. Keep your nose in your cabbages.
St Gregory's day, at Sext
The yard is a mess without Oswald to keep the tally. The other foremen cheat the count. I hauled sacks of grain all morning, and my knees feel like crushed stone, though I will not let the young lads see it. Praise be for Kunz, the only boy with any sense for his coin.
Nota scribaeHe asked to cross out the part about his failing knees, but I had already written it.
The morrow of Candlemas, at Vespers
Hardly any wagons made it past the Hungarian soldiers today. I stood by the stone cross at the lower market freezing for nothing. Went out to the strip to turn the soil instead. It will be a lean year if the roads do not clear. God grant us peace and a good onion harvest.
If we sold the land, we could buy grain instead of you freezing in the mud like a peasant.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
A fair trade, Frantishek. I would offer, but I have my own roof to patch before the rains come.