maidservant in Kuttenberg, of Kuttenberg
“I scrub floors and empty chamber pots for a living, and try to keep a cellar full of foolish girls from starving or getting locked up.”
Things Ottilie had written, latest first, with the glosses of her neighbours.
the eve of Whitsun, at Prime
Mandelina took a terrible fall in the dark on those rotting steps. Now she is burning with a fever and coughing up sick. Saint Jude preserve her. If I miss my shift, Mistress Ursula will have me whipped. Will some stranger look in on the girl three times today? I will give you the key to Ursula's back door for your trouble.
Nota scribaeDictated at the parish door. She smelled strongly of lye and fatigue.
the third day of Easter week, at None
Rose keeps asking after her bascinet. I told her I am keeping it safe from the spring damp, but the truth is I pawned it to a broker to buy boots for my brother Hans. I have not got a single groschen to redeem it, and the spring musters are coming. If the magistrates find out, I am for the pillory.
the Monday before Palm Sunday, at Vespers
I am so tired of hiding Agnes Field's padded jack. I took it so Hans would not be slaughtered in his first skirmish on the Hungarian border, but now I fear my own neck. Between the missing bascinet and this jack, the town watch will have my head before the soldiers even reach us.
I know you have it. Return it to me or I go to the bailiff.
Nota scribaeShe rubbed her raw hands on her apron the entire time she spoke.
Saint Gregory's day, at Compline
Twelve hours I hauled water and scrubbed floors today, with the old crone screaming insults from her bed. Then I trudge back to the cellar only to find Ursel and Clemence bickering over a borrowed sewing needle, and Lene muttering about a wooden bird. They will drive me to an early grave.
Candlemas, at Terce
The priest says we must write down our days for the Day of Judgment. Christ almighty, the Lord will fall asleep reading about me emptying chamber pots. I just pray Hans is not lying dead in a Hungarian ditch, and that these cellar wenches do not kill each other over spilled beans.
Hans is a fool for going for a soldier, but God keep him.
Nota scribaeThe woman swore twice, but I left out the worse of the two oaths.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
I curse Kunz daily for those steps and the roof over my bed.
The rent is still due at the end of the month, broken steps or no.