December 11, 1607
Which reminds me of a dialogue I overheard between two farmers concerning that new star which appeared in the heavens:
Natale: Why, didn’t you see that star three months ago, shining at night like a skunk’s eye? The one that you see now in the morning when you go out to prune the grapevines? The real bright one. Well, it was just born then and had never been seen before. That’s what’s really causing these freaks and this drought, according to what a Doctor at Padua said.
Matteo: How do you know it was never seen before?
Natale: The other day I heard a man that was reading this little book and he said it only began to show last October eight. The book was by a Padua prof, and said a lot of things.
Matteo: A pox on those goat turds at Padua. Maybe just because that fellow never saw it before, he wants everybody to believe him that it wasn’t there. Me, I’ve never been to Germany, but it’s there just the same.
GG