The Lung Family Chronicles

Eberhard II smiled inwardly as he knelt and kissed the ring on the cold, dead hand of his father, King Eberhard I of Wurttemberg, a kingdom bordering Switzerland to the south, France to the west, Bavaria to the east and Hesse to the north (present-day Germany). He thought, "You wanted to cheat your own son, your own flesh and blood from the throne! What a shame, Father, that your horse fell and broke your neck before you could make it official. Just yesterday, with your knights surrounding you after the hunt, laughter and scorn was in your voice as you told them, and me, that you were going to declare your brother's son, Ulrich, to be the rightful heir. Now who's laughing, Father? This morning the crown was placed upon my head, and the princes and dukes are bowing to me. To me, Father!"

After one day of mourning the death of the old king and five days of feasting to celebrate their new king, Eberhard II, life continued as it had for hundreds of years. The royalty wanted for nothing while the peasants went to bed exhausted and hungry.

Rebekha, the chambermaid to the queen, quietly lifted the chamber pot from under the queen's bed and walked with it to the winding stairway leading to the next floor. Setting the pot on the stone floor, Rebekha pulled back the heavy woolen drapes from the three-foot long two-foot wide hole built to let in light in the summer. Reaching with one hand, she lifted the pot and poured the night's contents over the side of the building. When she was finished, she took the pot down two floors to where a large barrel of rainwater sat on the outside ledge. Taking the wooden cup she dipped exactly two cups of water from the barrel and used the water to clean the chamber pot. When she was finished, she turned the pot upside down and let the contents flow down the rocky abutment outside the castle.

Rebekha was fourteen years old; she had come to the castle at the age of seven when her father was killed in battle while fighting for King Eberhard's grandfather in 1489. Her father had been a courier for the king. He had been chosen because of his light weight and quick movement. He was a swift runner so the honor of carrying the messages from the king to his captains in battle was always bestowed on men like him. That is why Rebekha carried the name Lungen. For it meant lightness of weight and movement.