Kunon went on a patrol around the area in the company of his friend - Ginter von Klopp. They left the castle and were just passing through the settlement that was situated at the base of the Teutonic fortress.
“Have you seen our Marienburg yet?” Ginter asked Kunon when their horses pulled level in an unhurried walk.
“Yep, although I wasn’t able to reach the sanitary tower.”
Ginter smiled.
“The Grand Master cares about our hygiene. He doesn't want poisonous fumes to enter the castle.”
“Perhaps these fumes would not be so poisonous if the local Prussians had better care for the quality of the dishes served in their inns.”
“You right, that is a serious problem.”
“Maybe we should hang or burn a few folks, how about that?
“I’d rather prefer not to. We live in harmony with them now. The Prussians finally calmed down and began to respect us.”
At that moment, Kunon noticed that the young boy, who was playing in front of a house they were just passing, stuck his tongue out at them. There was a woman and a man next to him with murderous expressions on their faces, probably the stripling's parents.
“What a nice boy, congratulations” he shouted to the couple friendly. "Maybe someday he'll be admitted to our service" added ingratiatingly.
There was a gloomy silence and something like a soft grinding of teeth.
"You see how friendly they are," Ginter clapped Kunon on the back.
“Did you relly find these expressions friendly?”
“In the past, you would have gotten an arrow in the eye for such a statement, and now, look, they just grimaced.”
"But the point is, they shouldn't have even frowned. They should be happy to see us. We brought them the Word of God. We have converted these savages...”
“But you see, they don't look consider themselves the savages... well, and we forced the Word of God on them a little...”
“Absolutely because they did not understand that it was for their good.”
“They still look like they don't understand.”
“Or maybe we need to integrate with them a bit... plan some joint entertainment?”
“This is what we started with: hare and hounds, running in forests. We were not doing well with this integration. They preferred to hide in bushes and shoot suddenly than to sing Te Deum with us.”
“So, maybe on the occasion of some major religious holiday, let's make them a feast. There might be an archery competition...”
“No way! It is better not to officially give them such weapons for they will make targets of our heads.”
“Hitting the head is not that easy task, though...”
“I'm not going to give them any opportunity to demonstrate their skills.”
“Then maybe a devotional song competition?”
“That’s much better, although from our beautiful song "Christ is risen" [1] they can only sing "Hallelujah!"
“Perfect, a Prussians who sings "Christ is Risen" in full and with the correct German accent, will be able to shoot with a bow to the one who designed the sanitary tower.”
[1] The original title "Christ ist erstanden".