HISTORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD

THE HANGING

The Master stepped aside. A group of fourteen year-old girls ran past him, giggling, followed by a group of older boys trying to catch up. They were all on their way of the main event of that evening. The hanging.

This town lacked big squares. The reason therefore was, that it used to be a floating city. You could get everywhere skating. A kind of industrial Venice.

In the 20^th century the economy opened up. Which meant that the number of vans and busses grew. Many of the canals and rivers survived and were not transformed into motorways. At this moment you could get everywhere by car.

But not tonight. Near the southern port an old harbor had been filled up with rubble and sand. It was called “The Big Place.”

It could absorb a couple of thousand spectators and it was filled to the rim. Because he was over 7 feet tall, he always found a place, where he could oversee the event and the crowd. The air was filled with anticipation. According to the stories, tonight a villain would be hanged. He was said to have robbed and killed people, raped woman and children, while cursing and calling himself a freedom-fighter. He was caught during a man-hunt which had disturbed the area. Woman and children were kept inside. Man were armed.

At last he was caught. Still he managed to wound several policemen. But now, justice would prevail. The crowd hissed and yelled, when the victim was dragged forward. It looked like he had been beaten up. But the commitment of the crowd grew and they yelled: “Let it be over with. Hang the bastard.”

It took less than five minutes. The crowd fell silent, when the drums started and the man, took one last look at the crowd, the high merchant-houses and 100-year old trees. It was quite pitorresque. Then he was blindfolded and led to the gallows. When he fell, the audience hissed. Then they started to applaud. The hanged man was freed from the rope and put on his feet. He was quite alive. The crowd applauded a long time. This was the last activity of the “Museum-weekend”. Many museums and historical places in our kingdom were open to the public, for free. Cities like mine try to draw as many tourists and strangers as possible. This year it was quite a success. “The Hanging Party”, was an experienced group of entertainers, which performer their “Medieval Hanging”, all over Europe.

The Master stepped into an alley and walked away from the crowd.

In his mind pictures of real hangings flashed by.