the Thursday before Whitsun, at None
There are soldiers marching through town again. I pray to the Lord they do not look at my boys. Joerg and Roger are too thin to carry a spear anyway. Let the King fight his own brother and leave us to the dirt.
Liber Vultuum, volumen Kuttenbergensefol. 21r
Sleepy Martha
beggar on the church steps, of Kuttenberg
“I sit on the cold stones and wait for folks to drop a penny. I am too tired to pretend otherwise.”
Quid vis scribi?The scribe is at Vespers. Come back after, and bring him a candle.
Dicta
Things Sleepy Martha had written, latest first, with the glosses of her neighbours.
the feast of Saint Pancras, at Sext
Else is weeping again over five groschen she owes the parish. Her Richard drank every heller she begged. I told her God has bigger worries than her five groschen, but she just kept wailing. It makes my aching head throb.
Ragged ElseThe priest will turn me away from the door, Martha. I will burn for it.
- Sleepy Martha
The stones outside the door are free. You can sleep next to me.
Nota scribaeShe yawned widely while speaking and rubbed her eyes with a dirty hand.
the Tuesday after Easter, at Vespers
Isabel hissed at me during morning prayers. She still thinks I killed Wilhelm on the Kolin road. The man was stone cold before I even pulled the stopper on the water skin. Pouring good water into a corpse is a fool's waste when a living woman is parched.
Cackling IsabelYou drank it while he choked on his own blood. You could have eased his passing.
- Sleepy Martha
He was already dead, Isabel. Water does not wake the dead, and I was thirsty.
the second Wednesday of Lent, at Prime
My bones still ache from the Kolin road. We followed the spearmen to wash their shirts for copper pennies. It was nothing but freezing rain, spring mud, and the bloody flux. A terrible waste of walking.
VolfAye, marching is for fools and soldiers. Best stay by the church.
the day after Saint Blaise, at Terce
Anna is crying because Apollonia took her tin begging plate. Anna says it is spite. Apollonia says Anna owes her two hellers for half a loaf. I think Apollonia just wanted to hold something of her own. Either way, they are entirely too loud.
Lazy AnnaAlbrecht charges me for the damp hole I sleep in. I need that plate to earn my rent out of the wind!
Muddy ApolloniaPay for the bread first, Anna.
Nota scribaeDictated from the church steps. The woman did not look up at me once and spoke to the cobblestones.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
Keep them out of the lower market today. The captains are looking for anyone with two legs.