Jorgen by Danylo Klochko

Jorgen was born in 1280
in the Free Imperial City Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The very first memory he had was cold. That winter was harsh and every third child in the city of his age died, as he will find out several years later. So he can be considered a lucky child. Also there was hunger – the eternal companion of poor like his family. There were very believable rumors about cannibalism, but there was no one to confirm it for sure. Some of Jorgen's neighbors never asked about the origin of food in their mouths, but he was aware that he was eating rats. They were numerous, cunning and merciless creatures, so the hunt upon them was accompanied by fear, however consuming them meant not only victory over hunger but over terror as well. At first Jorgen tasted the “real” food only when his friends and he broke into baker's shop and stole away everything they could carry in their hands. At that time it was truly the best moment of his life, but now, standing one step in the grave, he couldn't recall what of stolen food he tasted first, no matter how hard he tried. And that were all his child memories he had left. Any other had been eaten by his further deeds, that eventually led him here: into the torture chamber next to the city prison. Jorgen was executed by beheading in the autumn 1330 for the attempt to assassinate city's burgomaster. He didn't give the name of a person who hired him for this task. The last request of Jorgen was that burgomaster himself was the one to take head of failed assassin. The burgomaster refused to comply with this request, but he couldn't allow anyone in the city to find that out so it was decided that the torturer will cut Jorgen's tongue of before execution.