The Adventures of Spikey and a Wight Called Franconi

Journal entry

 * Once upon a time, in a small mound near the Vermentino vineyard, there lived a wight named Franconi. Amiable by nature, he spent his days in the mound, cooking various kinds of soups. Not that he was particularly fond of soups – it was his beloved pet, a barghest named Spikey, that slurped them up greedily. And so they sat there, side by side, Franconi the Wight and Spikey the Barghest, cooking soups made of decaying bones, withered weeds and, if they managed to swipe some metal, nails, their favorite delicacy.


 * One day Franconi heard two gravediggers talk about a certain man of wealth who kept various kinds of cheese in his cellar. A cheese soup sounded like a delectable treat to Franconi, so he snuck into the noble’s cellar and stole the biggest cheese wheel there was. When he got home, Franconi started slowly melting the cheese in his favorite pot. The stench was so awful Spikey ran off and refused to go back to the mound. To add to the already terrible state of things, the smell of cheese permeated everything, so Spikey and Franconi had to pack their things and move.


 * The moral of the story is simple. If you are cooking a cheese soup, make sure the cheese you choose is not blue.