I hired a page named Pinkel to serve my son. I liked Pinkel. He was clever and amusing, and he saw everything that passed under his eye. One day, I went to the stables to make my weekly check on the horses. We had recently hired two brothers, and they had groomed the...
I was sitting on an old tree stump when the soldier approached. He had nothing–not a penny to his name–but he had the most charming and fearless spirit. He shook my hand and stretched himself out on the grass by my side. “I see you’ve got good...
I hadn’t learned a trade, so when I got discharged, I wandered. Begged alms. Kept the rain off my back with an old coat, and sloshed through the muck in a pair of buffalo-leather riding boots. I met up with a huntsman one day who seemed to have gotten himself...
I know how I’ll get through the forest where the man-eating giants live. I’ll beat my drum until I’ve woken them all. Then I’ll tell the giants that I’m just the first. There are thousands of men coming after me, bound and determined to...
I was fishing with my son at sea when the enemy of our country sailed by and ordered that we come aboard. They took my son prisoner and gave me 600 golden coins in exchange for him. When I returned to the city, I heard that our enemy would not withdraw until he had...
Another party of men had dared to hunt on the sacred mountain! I did what I had done before. I lured them into a feasting tent and gave them poisoned wine. Then I dragged their bodies to the ravine and threw them into the lake. As I was strolling through the forest, I...
I hadn’t laughed in such a long time. There was nothing to laugh about. Then this fellow came along holding a goose, and he seemed to be stuck to it, and then the person behind him had become stuck to him, and the person behind him, and so on until there were...
The town is preparing for an election, and all the people have gathered in the marketplace. At the appointed hour, I am released from my cage, and it is my job to appoint the new ruler by lighting on his shoulder. I need only circle once over the heads of the crowd...
