Prolog

There was a merchant in Nemedia who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, “Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Now, please give me a horse, and I will ride far away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Zamora and there Death will not find me.”

The merchant gave him a fast horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks, and as fast as the horse could gallop he went east along the Road of Kings. Then the merchant, who was a brave man as well as kind, went down to the marketplace and he saw Death standing in the crowd and he spoke to her, saying “Why did you threaten my servant when you saw him this morning?”

“I was not threatening him,” she said. “I was only startled in surprise. I was astonished to see him here in Nemedia, for I have an appointment with him next week in Zamora."