One Fact – Three Fictions
The fryer Berinon kept his goat Wenceslas locked in a shed.
Wenceslas was prone to swiping the knickers belonging to Goodwife Guthrie’s
ladies-of-ill-repute off their wash line on Mondays. Last wash day the good wife had
chased Wenceslas and fell, knocking herself senseless. Upon her recovery from
the shock, she reported the evil-doing of the goat to the sheriff.
Fryer
Berinon knew if Wenceslas was caught he would be put on trial, and knowing the nature
of testament Goodwife Guthrie would proffer, would surely face the death
sentence for his scandalous crime.
Three Facts – One Fiction
The gossipers clustered, flummoxed at the news carried by Master
Horace, the apothecary. Word from Rome was Pope Gregory IX had declared black
cats the associates of Satan. Talk spread like wildfire from village to city
and before long, throughout all of Europe cats were exterminated, viciously,
without mercy for their crime against the Pope and God.
Time moved on and
gossip died, but the Plague spread and death came to the villages and cities,
bringing Europe to its knees.
