Lost Tales/3: The Hangedman Inn
I have decided to leave early that morning for my solitary walk just exploiting the tepid sun notwithstanding a very cold day. I have been walking for a long time always going along secondary country roads: the day was sunny, but a very cold iced wind made my walk harder and harder.
It was lunch time by now but I had nothing to eat or to drink with me: that long walk made me rather hungry. I had walked too far: impossible to go back home quickly.
Yet, suddenly, behind a small hill, a house appeared: I went closer to understand better if the house could be inhabited or not also because the road was going directly there...
Looking carefully at this house, I realized that it was rather bad-off: many windows were closed, the glasses broken, the roof damaged. It seemed completely abandoned: but, just over the door, I noticed a sign: Inn
Well, if this Inn was open, maybe I could have something to eat and rest for a while before going home, but the house seemed closed for centuries. The door appeared locked but it easily opened when I pushed it. Inside was quite dark: there were few wooden tables and chairs within a small room and at the end a great fire was burning in the chimney with a great pot where something was cooking. On the left there was a long desk full of carafes, bottles, plates, and glasses. Suddely behind the desk, a little woman dressed with a long white apron, appeared.
"What do you want here?" she said
"I would like to know if it is possible for me to have something to eat"
"I've got only bread, beans and wine"
"It's ok for me"
I sat on the first table I found and after a while the little woman arrived with a steaming dish of beans, some bread and a carafe of red wine. The meal was good and the hot beans and the red wines put me back on my feet after the cold wind I have taken during my long walk.
While eating, I noticed in a corner a man sitting on a table in front of an empty plate and and empty glass. The man was gazing at the empty plate without saying a word and without moving his eyes.
When the women arrived to take my dish away, I asked her who was that man.
"I don't know his name, but he is a criminal, or, better, he was a criminal. He was hanged in 1227. I don't know the reason why, but he had committed something really bad. The other deads didn't want him. So the Little Witch took him here and since then she pays to me 2 coins a week to keep him here. Well, he is not a sociable man, but I've got my gain also because he doesn't eat anything and he never sleeps".
Then, she want back to the desk.
So, I got up to pay the bill, but the little women refused my money:
"Dont' worry. Your bill has been already paid"
"I don't understant..."
"Your bill has been already paid by the Little Witch: 2 coins a week!"
After quickly leaving the Inn, I took the way home.
Some days after, I met a friend of mine.
He told me he has found in the country a old abandoned house.
After entering in, he found all destroyed, only dust, ruins and spiderwebs.
But he has noticed something strange: among these dusted ruins there was a table perfectly set for two...
Yet, suddenly, behind a small hill, a house appeared: I went closer to understand better if the house could be inhabited or not also because the road was going directly there...
Looking carefully at this house, I realized that it was rather bad-off: many windows were closed, the glasses broken, the roof damaged. It seemed completely abandoned: but, just over the door, I noticed a sign: Inn
Well, if this Inn was open, maybe I could have something to eat and rest for a while before going home, but the house seemed closed for centuries. The door appeared locked but it easily opened when I pushed it. Inside was quite dark: there were few wooden tables and chairs within a small room and at the end a great fire was burning in the chimney with a great pot where something was cooking. On the left there was a long desk full of carafes, bottles, plates, and glasses. Suddely behind the desk, a little woman dressed with a long white apron, appeared.
"What do you want here?" she said
"I would like to know if it is possible for me to have something to eat"
"I've got only bread, beans and wine"
"It's ok for me"
I sat on the first table I found and after a while the little woman arrived with a steaming dish of beans, some bread and a carafe of red wine. The meal was good and the hot beans and the red wines put me back on my feet after the cold wind I have taken during my long walk.
While eating, I noticed in a corner a man sitting on a table in front of an empty plate and and empty glass. The man was gazing at the empty plate without saying a word and without moving his eyes.
When the women arrived to take my dish away, I asked her who was that man.
"I don't know his name, but he is a criminal, or, better, he was a criminal. He was hanged in 1227. I don't know the reason why, but he had committed something really bad. The other deads didn't want him. So the Little Witch took him here and since then she pays to me 2 coins a week to keep him here. Well, he is not a sociable man, but I've got my gain also because he doesn't eat anything and he never sleeps".
Then, she want back to the desk.
So, I got up to pay the bill, but the little women refused my money:
"Dont' worry. Your bill has been already paid"
"I don't understant..."
"Your bill has been already paid by the Little Witch: 2 coins a week!"
After quickly leaving the Inn, I took the way home.
Some days after, I met a friend of mine.
He told me he has found in the country a old abandoned house.
After entering in, he found all destroyed, only dust, ruins and spiderwebs.
But he has noticed something strange: among these dusted ruins there was a table perfectly set for two...
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