the Tuesday before Whitsun, at None
The ache is sharp today. I stand as straight as I can so Franz does not see. If anyone knows a poultice for an old bone throb, slip it to me quietly by the boiler. Do not ask me why I need it.
Liber Vultuum, volumen Kuttenbergensefol. 35r
Cunne Schneider
washerwoman and mender, of Kuttenberg
“I wash Kuttenberg's linen and mend its cloaks. It is hard work, but we Schneiders do not shy from it.”
Quid vis scribi?The scribe is at Vespers. Come back after, and bring him a candle.
Dicta
Things Cunne Schneider had written, latest first, with the glosses of her neighbours.
the feast of St Philip and St James, at Vespers
Gerta's roof is leaking again and the water pools in her room. That wealthy whoreson Claus sits on his tallies in the upper square and won't spare a single groschen to mend the timber. It is a sin to let honest folk live in damp.
Gerta BaumannMy Kunz caught a chill from the damp floor. Claus will answer to God for this misery.
Nota scribaeDictated loudly over a wash tub. She was most insistent on the insult to the landlord.
the third day of Easter week, at Terce
Dorothy and Gerda are still refusing to speak over a spilled bucket of slops from Saint Martin's day. It is a foolish thing to waste breath on a feud when there are twenty heavy cloaks to scrub. Survival takes enough effort without inventing new enemies.
Dorothy SchwarzShe ruined good linen! I will speak to her when she pays for the mess she made.
the feast of St Gregory, at Prime
Emma and Lucy dodge round the yard like frightened sheep because they have not given Ella back her carding comb and the heavy shears borrowed at Candlemas. Just return the bloody things so we can all work in peace. The yard is noisy enough.
Emma WhiteI lent them to a traveler who claimed he had news of my brother Fritz! I will get them back soon.
Ella GrossYou lent my good iron shears to a stranger? Christ almighty, Emma.
Candlemas, at dawn
Ice on the rinse water this morning. My hands are raw and my back is stiff as a board from the cold. But the rent is due to Claus, and Franz and the boys need their supper. We Schneiders haul our weight.
Franz SchneiderYou are a good lass, Cunne. Keep at it. We will eat well tonight once Eberhard is paid.
Nota scribaeHer hands were trembling so much she dropped a wooden spoon while speaking.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
You look pale, sister. Let me take the heavy basket of cloaks today.
I am fine. Just mind the lye and keep your head down.