Humor
A Fate Worse Than Death
“He turned him over to a hundred comrades, the best and worst together, from the kitchen. These men plucked out his beard and moustache, and each one hit him four times with his fist.” […]
Western Europe
Humor
The Bell of Justice
“And behold the iron fell out of the middle, right on the head of the cheating brass founder, killed him on the spot and passed straight through his carcass and crashed to the ground, carrying his bowels and genitals with it.” […]
Supernatural
A Preview of Damnation
“For Hell is an insatiate Pit and Gullet which ever gapeth after the souls which shall not be damned, desiring that they, too, might be seduced and damned. This is what thou must understand, good Doctor.” […]
History
Enemies (and Friends) in Unusual Places
” “Tell me, what have I done to you, Infantes of Carrion? I have kept faith with you and in return you have plotted my death. If I did not forbear for the sake of the Cid, Rodrigo of Vivar, I should exact such vengeance as would startle the world.” […]
Supernatural
Strange Omens
“Also, the left hand of a certain man which had been cut off with a knife was, after a lapse of a year, restored almost whole to him while he was asleep.” […]
Violence
The Rage of a Violent Man
“When Roland hears this, God! Is he enraged! He spurs his horse and lets him run all out and goes to strike the count with all his force; he breaks his shield and lays his hauberk open and pierces through his chest and cracks the bones and cuts the spine completely.” […]
History
A Failed Surprise Gift
“Now Charles had no guess of what was coming; and, though he could not refuse what seemed to have been divinely preordained for him, nevertheless he received his new title with no show of thankfulness.” […]
Medieval Mentality
A Satanic Astronaut
“One of the stars, for example, was larger than half the world. A planet is as large as the world. While descending, I did look down upon the world again, and it was no bigger than the yolk of an egg. Why, to me the world seemed scarcely a span long, but the oceans looked to be twice that size.” […]
Humor
A Spurious Speywife
“When her people indicated that strangers were coming to her, she would lurk in her chamber to hear why they were traveling and where they were coming from and other details which her people astutely asked about.” […]
Violence
Victory for the People
“Some reached the ships again, but in their terror they missed their footing and plunged into the water, while others overloaded some of the boats and capsized them so that as a result only a very few survived.” […]