Page 361 - The Grotesque Children's Book
P. 361
Chapter 60.
The folio’s new owner
Three days after the murder of Santi del Meglio, that is to say
August 19, 1581
Dr. Ludovico Valerius approached the front steps of his first floor rooms near the Ospizio
S. Tommaso Aquino, if that has any meaning to you, when he saw that there was some sort of
object leaning up against his door. It was a book of some sort; a folio. On the cover was a
watercolor of an odd-looking bird with a man’s face; a bat or something, with pointy wings and
splayed feet or claws. Why would anyone put a folio on my doorstep? He stooped down and
picked it up.
It was a folio of stories for children, with odd, disturbing illustrations.
He brought it inside with him and began to read.
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