Drachenhausens are a bad lot, and I for one am of no mind to say
no to that; all the same it is a sad thing that a simple-witted
little child like the young Baron should be so treated as the
boy has been; and now that our Lord Baron has served him so that
he, at least, will never be able to do us 'harm, I for one say
that he should not be left there to die alone in that black
cell."

Fritz, the swineherd, gave a grunt at this without raising his
eyes from the bowl.

"Yes, good," said Katherine, "I know what thou meanest, Fritz,
and that it is none of my business to be thrusting my finger
into the Baron's dish. But to hear the way that dear little
child spoke when she was here this morn - it would have moved a
heart of stone to hear her tell of all his pretty talk. Thou
wilt try to let the red-beard know that that poor boy, his son,
is sick to death in the black cell; wilt thou not, Fritz?"

The swineherd dropped his wooden spoon into the bowl with a
clatter. "Potstausand!" he cried; "art thou gone out of thy head
to let thy wits run upon such things as this of which thou
talkest to me? If it should come to our Lord Baron's ears he
would cut the tongue from out thy head and my head from off my
shoulders for it. Dost thou think I am going to meddle in such a
matter as this ? Listen! these proud Baron folk, with their
masterful ways, drive our sort hither and thither; they beat us,
they drive us, they kill us as they choose. Our lives are not as
much to them as one of my black swine. Why should I trouble my
head if they choose to lop and trim one another? The fewer there