Humor
Beware the Sausage’s Return
“My master got up and took me by the head. Presently he began to smell me, and forcing my mouth open, he put his nose in. It was a long pointed nose.” […]
Body
Greek and Roman
An Emperor and Gladiator
“For such things as these, to be sure, he was strong enough, but otherwise he was weak and feeble, even having something wrong with him in the groin, which stuck out so much that the Roman people could detect the swelling through his silk clothing. Many verses were written on this subject. ” […]
Greek and Roman
The Breath of a Roman
“Nature has willed that only in man is the breath made bad in several different ways, namely by tainted food, decaying teeth, and most of all by old age.” […]
Greek and Roman
The Ugly Birth of All Things
Heaven rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Earth groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons. […]
Britons and Celts
The Beauty of a Giant
“Sir Walter Raleigh ordered him to carry up the first dish at dinner, where the queen beheld him with admiration, as if a beautiful young giant had stalked in with the service.” […]
Human Affairs
A Bad Life Gets Worse
“At that time a blind man came to lodge at the inn, who, seeing that I would do to lead him, asked for me from my mother. She gave me to him, saying that I was the son of a good father, and boasting that he had been killed at the Island of Gelves.” […]
Human Affairs
The Way of the Mongol
“In case of need, they will ride a good ten days’ journey without provision and without making a fire, living only on the blood of their horses; for every rider pierces a vein of his horse and drinks the blood.” […]
Viking
Duel of Swords and Words
“Gisli, who was out in the woods, heard this and answered, “Find some better employment for your farmhands. Here is a man who dares to fight you.” […]
Viking
An Embar-ass-ing Setback
“Then, just as King Adils was pulling the spear shaft with the ring on it back towards him, King Hrolf galloped up and sliced off both his buttocks right down to the bone.” […]
Eastern Europe
The Skin-skirt of the Fish-Woman
“God had created for her in the middle of her body a kind of white skin like a thick, strong cloth, which went from her waist to her knees, covering her private parts and it was like a veil attached to her waist to hide her nakedness.” […]