THYRSOBEL

Thyrsobel was a very poor and very kind old woman living in Djabuti Padjama in the mid-seventh century. She was not native born; she had been places. But it had all been in the past for her. Her husband had run off, leaving her with two small children, a baby, and a house that barely kept out of the rain. Her spirit was broken. Thyrsobel was tired and she knew it, but she talked to Caspar Wartsworth. Thyrsobel lived mostly on charity, and there was not much of that in Djabuti Padjama. Some of the bachelor farmers would give her odd jobs occasionally. Some would give her fieldwork. It was hard, but she managed.

Then, in the summer of 664 GUE, Jelboz Stumpbiter lost his wife. Jelboz and Caspar’s uncle were tight. Not a week went by after Jelboz buried his wife, that he asked Thyrsobel to come mop his floors for a copper zorkie. The next week he asked her to come clean his windows and wash his clothes for a silver zorkle. Poor Thyrsobel did. He asked her how she would like to make a gold zorkmid, and poor dumb Thyrsobel with three children to feed, who did not want to say yes, could not say no. And worse, he refused to pay her afterward.

Jelboz and Caspar’s uncle both had a good laugh about it out in the barn one afternoon. Their mistake was not knowing that Caspar was in the loft. Caspar had a plan to get even for his friend. He knew a stream where Jelboz and his pals would go to fish together. Caspar dug a pit near there in his spare time, and for days and days he collected the droppings from all of their farm animals with he had to unpleasantly lug for some distance. Then one afternoon when Jelboz came to visit his uncle Caspar suggested they all go for an outing. Caspar hid in the woods around the stream and waited, but dressed in one of Thyrsobel’s outfits that he had borrowed without her knowing. After everyone had their lines in the water, Caspar crept a little closer, but not too close.
    “Oh, Jelboz,” Caspar called in the mimicked voice of a woman.
    Jelboz was lured towards the disguised Caspar and tricked into tumbling into the pit full of dung. Unfortunately, the old fool managed to break his leg when he fell in, and while trying to get him out, Caspar’s uncle fell in too. They blamed it all on Thyrsobel. Caspar had to confess to save her from a terrible beating. Aggressively, the entire village ran Caspar out of town.