Greek and Roman
The Emperor in the Bath
“But on another day when several old men were rubbing themselves on the wall to arouse the emperor’s generosity, he ordered them to be called out and to rub each other down in turn.” […]
Regions
Viking
The One-Legged Viking
‘The Vikings laughed and said, “may the trolls swallow you whole Tree-Leg, may the trolls topple you all. It’s not often we see men go into battle who can’t even stand up for themselves.” Onund said that there was no telling until it was put to the test.’ […]
Britons and Celts
A Knight to Tend to Every Desire
“I have named a noble knight to act as your guardian,
Overlord of England, answerable to you only,
And that person is Sir Mordred, whom you have praised repeatedly
A deputy, my dear, to attend your every desire.” […]
Supernatural
Weird Wolves in the Woods
“Sigmund and Sinfjotli put the skins on and could not get them off. And the weird power was there as before: they howled like wolves, both understanding the sounds. They agreed then that they would risk a fight with as many as seven men, but not with more, and that the one being attacked by more would howl with his wolf’s voice.” […]
Medieval Mentality
Tricks of a Charlatan Priest
“My master raised his hands to heaven, and turned his eyes up until scarcely anything could be seen but the whites. He prayed to the Lord not to require the death of the sinner, but rather to give his life back.” […]
Supernatural
Prophesy and Pettiness
“Your dream needs no interpretation. You yourself can understand what it is: more than likely, in only a little while, it will come to pass that you’ll be dead, and your enemies will seize the kingdom.” […]
Greek and Roman
The First Latin City
“An oracle was given to Aeneas, stating that a four-footed animal would lead him to the place where he should found a city, and once, wen he was in the act of sacrificing a sow, white in colour, which was pregnant, it escaped from his hands and was pursued to a certain hill, where it dropped a farrow of thirty pigs.” […]
Britons and Celts
Wha Daur Meddle Wi Me?
“Upon the head, so fierce he struck at one,
The shearing sword cut thro’ his collar bone:
Another on the arm, that stood near by,
He struck, till hand and sword on the field did lie.” […]
History
A Humbled King
“When the king woke, he asked who it was. ‘It is us,’ he said, ‘the envoys of your father. We have been sent over to you to discuss peace-terms.’ When he gathered this, the king wanted to inquire more closely into how his father was, and he put his head a little way over the gunwale of the ship. Then Palna-Toki grabbed him by the ears and the hair, gave a more powerful heave against his unavailing resistance, and dragged him willy-nilly out of his own ship.” […]
Britons and Celts
The Drinking Life of Thomas Hobbes
“When Thomas Hobbes did drink, he would drink to excess to have the benefit of vomiting, which he did easily; by which benefit neither his wit was disturbed longer than he was spewing.” […]