Estimated reading time — 12 minutes

There was a time when people paid attention to facts, to warnings. Not that you have a way to fix what others are breaking, but you can try to straighten, run, hide or stay and fight, at least you try something. Strange that over time, people no longer see, or no longer understand, maybe no longer pay attention. Exactly as they say, receiving signs is simple, seeing them, finding their meaning, exceeds the limit of complexity.

A modern city, but keeping the classical imprint, from the Middle Ages to the Victorian era, then interwar, retro, and now futuristic. With absolutely modern histories and experiences, updated and yet clinging to a grand past, sometimes magnificent, sometimes dark, sinister, undesirable. And you can see that city today, every moment. But if you could see the one before?! Long before, as a comparison, to help you make a report, to see, to understand.

How would you see old Edinburgh, the one from the beginning of 1573. If you could go there?! Back. How would you imagine it? To help you? Good…

Yes, there were magnificent palaces and castles, with the latest manifestations of technology created by the Renaissance and later by the Elizabethan influence. Yes, there were parks, forests, waters, rivers, pure, raw, magnificent. Invariably splendid houses, villas, mansions, somehow far from the city, say somewhere 20-30 minutes away with a 6-horse carriage. There were cathedrals, universities, libraries, even hospitals. Yes, it could be magnificent, adorable, dreamlike. For 17% of the population. Exactly.

By the late 1700s, rich and poor lived side by side in Edinburgh’s many closes and “winds” (the narrow passages on either side of the Royal Mile, known until 1890 as the High Street). In 1560, 12,000 people lived in Edinburgh. Residents, to which were added merchants, soldiers and sailors passing through, prostitutes and troupes of jumping jacks, pupils and students coming to the university, missionaries or clerics better said. So on summer days or various festivities it could exceed 25,000. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it today, but then it was huge!

The city made more space by building up, creating the houses of Edinburgh. A large number of people were crammed into these medieval skyscrapers, basically multi-story houses, between 3 and even 12 stories, a fantastic thing for that time. The wealthier tenants lived on the upper floors, away from the filth and noise of the street, while the poor lived at street level, sometimes with one or more families sharing a room. Everyone had to share the same bucket, or “room pot”, as a toilet. Back then there were no separate toilets, so if you were poor you ate, slept and pooped in one room with the rest of the family.

Old Edinburgh was a busy place during the day with people and animals around. The streets would be alive with the sound of people talking and laughing and animals grunting, snorting and panting with thirst. Added to the mix would be the shouts of the stallholders and the noise of battle and cheers or jeers at the men being punished at the Mercat (Market) Cross, a public hanging, later the pillar of infamy, which was always a popular event.

In the old town, business of all kinds was conducted on the street, or in the coffeehouses (incorrectly said, as the first official coffeehouse was only opened in 1652 in London, but that was the context) and nearby taverns. The High Street and its closes were full of stalls and workshops of various craftsmen, including butchers, fishmongers, tanners and candlemakers. All the staples – bread, wheat, barley, malt and beer (safer to drink than water) were sold in the many crowded and noisy markets in the city. Edinburgh had many thriving merchants thanks to the port of Leith, which brought goods from all over the world into the city. And not only goods but also adventurers, businessmen, people from all over the world.

For any visitor to the city, the tours and/or carters were both guides and translators, just like taxi drivers today, for it was essential to be able to navigate regardless of social status, through the chain of lane closures and the maze of streets , where there could always be trouble. Adding to all the bustle, amalgam and motley landscape was the mixture of languages. Typically from the Highlands, their Gaelic speech would have added to the various accents and languages heard on the streets.

Every night at ten o’clock the city watchman would beat the drum, marking the time for the streets to be cleared before the gates at the end of the closes were locked or closed, as they got their name.

After 11:30 p.m., only the army, the extremely important people or the assassins went out. Occasionally poor people or merchants leaving at dawn, but basically everyone was checked. And any deviation ends with atrocious punishments.

Victoria Street as we know it today was different, and its enclosures (small courtyards; stone crescents surrounded by buildings, with a single entrance directly from the street) were once full of markets, stalls and workshops of various craftsmen, including butchers , fishermen, dyers, tanners, candlemakers, soap makers and luxury cosmetics, weavers and bakers. Many of these crafts were quite smelly. For example, tanners and dyers used urine to treat leather and cloth dye, and candles were made from hard-melted animal fat, which was called “tallow”, predominantly for the poor. On market day (practically daily except during the Sunday morning service), the fishmongers displayed their wares at their stalls, and the butchers, or “fishers” as they were known, cut the meat directly on boards or hung their carcasses from the stall’s ceiling covered in cloths, letting her blood run down the road. Many goods would have been brought by horses, so their droppings add to the mix of smells.

With no running water or toilets, people emptied their pots from their room into the street at 10 o’clock every night. The council hired the scavengers (the current vidanjari or green space maintenance) to clean up the mess and remove it from the city. The waste that was not removed was washed by rain down the steep slope of the inclosure into Nor’ Loch (now Princes Street Gardens), which was the main source of water for many.

Another important fact was the terrible smoke pollution, from open fires in homes and houses which at the end of the 16th century were a unique sight if you climbed onto a roof. It was joked that some houses had more chimneys than windows. In other words… It’s fair to say that Old Edinburgh (the old one from 1573) probably didn’t smell too good.

The summer of 1573 had arrived extremely hot, dry and absolutely stinking. But at the base of Edinburgh Castle, among the tangled alleys and streets, the news was already spreading about a Genoese merchant, who had come accompanied by his nephew, a gorgeous young man, Ludovico, who had just turned 17. Beyond the exceptional beauty of the young Italian for those times, the products brought caused a stir, because although they were for all pockets, they brought something extra that only the high nobility could afford. A major improvement came in the Middle Ages, when beeswax candles were introduced to Europe. Unlike animal wax, beeswax burned pure and clean, without producing a black flame that smoked the room. Beeswax also has a pleasant and sweet smell, rather than the heavy smell of tallow. Beeswax candles were widely used for church ceremonies, but because they were expensive, few could afford to use them at home. But Uncle Luigi had a craft, as some would say later, in the art of alchemy.

His candles didn’t just have honeycomb or beeswax. He had learned to extract oils from cinnamon brought from Constantinople, and sometimes simple candles were enhanced by essences of rosemary, mint, lavender.

And young Ludovico made a sensation with something absolutely special. Three silver mice, or at least that’s how they seemed, the first time you had the feeling that you were looking at who knows what complex mechanism, until you realized that they are actually alive. And the young man had also inherited his uncle’s talents, the manufacture of perfumes and soap. Yes yes…we know, fear of water was a big deal back then. But so was the idea of a snob, and the bathing fashion had entered the Court, brought from Spain. And having a bath was something that didn’t cost much, basically as long as you had water around. So Ludovico created soaps. The new vegetable oil soaps, which were praised for their mildness and purity and smelled good, began to be used as luxury items by Europe’s most privileged classes. The first of these, Aleppo soap, a green, olive oil-based soap infused with aromatic laurel oil, was produced in Syria and brought to Europe by Christian crusaders and traders. But the Venetians improved it to the delight of Rome later and then of all Europe. Beyond the hallucinatory beauty of Ludovico, there was something about him that made the whole city a delight. The so-called mouse dance.

Any high-ranking man or woman, the richer the better, who crossed the threshold of don Luigi and senior Ludovico was subjected to a uni test, especially if they wanted a perfume. They were seated on a chair, and Ludovico’s three mice circled the customer over and over in a strange dance, touching them now and then. Then they waited for the young man to place them on a table and each of them pointed to a specific plant. Based on the plants, Ludovico prepared the basic ones, and the uncle finalized the perfume or soap. Sometimes candles with the scent of citrus, lilies or green moss. It seemed that the mice had been trained to pick up each one’s scent and then associate it with specific scents that matched perfectly. Of course, success, fame, wealth increase both influence and envy. Later, starting from this principle, a certain noble had lost his daughter, probably kidnapped by rivals. The mice brooded for hours, but at last they set off in a mad rush, followed by Ludovico and other soldiers on horseback, only to find that the girl had not run away, she had gone of her own accord to a convent. The news had gone around the country anyway.

Wealth increased, as well as fame, because every now and then, Ludovico went out into the street and offered shows with his mice, including poor people, generally in love, the mice sniffed the woman and then indicated to the man which flowers would make a suitable bouquet. Unbeatable, funny, something new. The beauty of a young man as well as cleverness, intelligence far beyond the limits of time are not always an asset. Prejudices, absolutely bigoted religious conceptions, to the point of exaggeration, would bring trouble.

Likewise envy, greed, the fear of losing one’s influence, of some. The common people did not really have much to say, but the new arrivals, Luigi and Ludovico, although they were not of the same race as them, had helped them with various philanthropic actions or had taken pity and alms for the lower ones. This was not seen with good eyes either. Poverty had to stay like that, not to be able to compare. Fact for which in the end the uncle was arrested for heresy and pagan techniques, alchemy; and Ludovico, some mouths said, had been arrested for witchcraft, only because he had refused the advances of someone very well placed. And not just once.

Foreigners, wealth, enough interests. Uncle Luigi would escape and leave England with alas, although he had tried to save his nephew he had almost been caught and killed on the spot. But Ludovico… He was going to be convicted of witchcraft. Despite the support of the family helped when the girl disappeared. They would also end up as accomplices, with exile.

As a lesson that would remain in the minds of the common people, opposite to obedience to the leadership and the church, Ludovico would be executed in public. Not just burned, first tortured and only then set on fire. So, the mice had to perish with the master. Fact for which why wouldn’t they have been used?! Ludovico was not going to burn on a stake as was usual but on a table, tied, on a wooden podium. One of the cruelest methods of torturing mice involves placing the animals in a cage and placing it on the abdomen of an immobilized person. The cage is then gradually heated. Small incisions were made in the victim’s flesh. Desperate to escape the heat, the mice began digging into the only soft surface they could find: the victim’s flesh. With its sharp claws and teeth, it digs into the victim’s guts, causing pain and terror.

Except that the three silver mice burned alive, squealing in excruciating pain, writhing in unimaginable agony, but refusing to attack their master. As for Ludovico, surrounded by fire and smoke he marked an entire city:

– Touch of death, pain and terror. And when you forget justice and kindness, I will take care to repeat today.

It’s an old man, a teenager and money in the pockets of those interested. An unfortunate event, but fear is the best way to lead, to tame, to keep in check, the lower class. The slaves.

Historically speaking, however, on 14.03.1574 he started with a sensation of terrible nausea. Waves of fetid, putrid stench surged over and over. They enveloped everything, under a sky that had turned black, almost like a night in the middle of the day. The plague had struck the city. By the middle of 1575, when the plague is supposed to have stopped, more than 5468 people would die regardless of class, race, color, religion. A colossal number in the conditions in which the official census announced that the city had barely exceeded 12,500. Alleys with remains of corpses, blood, ashes, despair. Attacks, hunger, cruelty, escapes. And testimonies that said that everything is because of young Ludovico. When someone was to die, word had already spread that three enormous silver mice were running around the victim.

She would not be the only one, in 1665-1666 the plague would also reach London, somewhere the dance of silver mice had been seen in the gardens of the Court. And there was another short period in 1772-1773 when some soldiers brought it with them from the Indian colonies. Later in 1818-1819, he reaches the south of England. And each time three silver mice are seen dancing in various locations.

Perhaps modern times have taken on other forms, other desires and certainly other knowledge, but even in current times Ludovico is not forgotten. Although less known or documented. However, it seems that a little more recently than today, there were two at least bizarre events. And this reawakened memories and remodeled the story of the three silver mice and the superb Ludovico in a form adapted to the times.

The first story talks about two luxury prostitutes, Amanda L. and Susan T. Well, what was their job? In 2012, despite their chosen profession, they were known in certain circles for their generous donations, going to children’s homes, nursing homes or canteens for the poor. Although they had somehow been tried to “correct” them by the nuns from a certain monastery, let’s say that not much had stuck. Returning to the facts, however, in the fall of 2012, Amanda L arrives home extremely unwell , with abdominal pain. In less than 11 minutes, she falls flat, has convulsions and although Susan calls the ambulance, she is hardly saved and goes into a coma for the next 3 weeks. Amanda’s spectacular and inexplicable return would be recounted by Susan later. But the police investigate and arrest Amanda’s client, a weak boshorog, who got pleasure from poisoning women. The unofficial statement, given by Susan in the circles of merry girls, would later be taken up by an occult magazine:

“- I was desperate. Amanda and I knew each other since we were little. Practically since the first years of high school, since the children’s home. We had become very close and she was like a sister. It’s very hard when someone you love is about to die. It’s not so much difficult as frustrating, painful because you can’t do anything. Yes, I know, many of you will say that I drank and that I am a crazy whore. But, I didn’t know what to do anymore. I had gone to church. Laugh until you can’t anymore. I remember even now… I was dripping on the narrow, dark street under a heavy rain. To the tram. I was going to buy something and go home and go to the hospital again. And then, emerging from the dying rays of a cloud-eaten moon, I saw him. I had never seen a more beautiful man in my life. And that’s a big deal coming from someone like me. He was pale, transparent, and around him revolved three silver mice, as big as pigs. He handed me a bottle:

– Amanda, just one word.

But his voice excited me to orgasm and at the same time I had the feeling that my blood froze, as in front of me stood a saint and a demon, a mixture of the two. And so and so Amanda was dying. The doctors didn’t give him a chance. I poured it down his neck. You know the rest.”

Do you want to hear something more and…? The one who published the news in the paranormal magazine, the strange tabloid, asked for proof. The bottle was dated to be over 500 years old, the Venetian workshops and what’s more, the cap was a huge ruby. The girls gave up their jobs. They started a beauty and hairdressing salon. And women have a special pleasure to chop various things with a curler.
The second story, however, is not so happy. Case 29874/2016. Two children, Alex and Johnny. 14 and 13 respectively, two brothers in the care of an abusive father and a work-hardened mother. A life full of troubles, lies and unpleasantness, with endless drunks and fights. Except that one evening, the mother is late, and the father sends his children for cigarettes and drink. Winter, cold, fog. And on the way home, three little mice, squealing, approached them. They knew they were going to be beaten, but they were eating anyway, so it didn’t matter. He gave them a bun from what they had bought. From the wall, from the air, a young man, an angel the children said, gave them a big, chunky bottle:

– For dad. He’ll sleep like a cannon, the best whiskey.

Mother would arrive home from the night shift. Contrary to expectations, everything was clean, in its place, children sleeping peacefully. Less the husband lying on the couch. The medical examiners would declare that they could not explain how someone could have their bones crushed from the inside out. Alex and Johnny would talk about that man with their mother much later. The bottle was nowhere to be found.

Somewhere at the foot of the volcanic rock on which Edinburgh Castle is built, there is a restaurant, which reminds, through a commemorative plaque, vaguely, of a young Ludovico and the dance of the three silver mice. A simple legend. The fantastic denotes that which does not exist in reality, that which is unreal, apparently illusory, or the world of phantasms. Initially, the fantastic was defined as a fundamental object of some philosophical manifestations or as a premise of religious artistic representations, as well as folkloric ones. In popular creation, magic appears as the measure of the uncontrollable forces of nature, while in cult creation it tends to become one of the distinctive signs of this creation.

What strikes the person who has collided willingly or unwillingly with the reach of the impossible, is the presence of events that lie beyond the limits of the natural possible, calling into question the certainties of the one who experienced them, certain components of the imagination, principles or his perceptions of the world.

No individual who has experienced the fantastic, the impossible, the magical or any other name he wants to give it, can remain indifferent, because the unusual facts always contradict the normality of his reality in the surrounding world, forcing him to react. Seduction, fear, amazement are the main forms of manifestation of the experiencer’s involvement.

And yet, paradoxically, although people fear the unknown and tend to destroy rather than understand what is beyond their level of perception, ultimately people seek that possibility that would make the impossible possible. And when they finally have that chance, most of the time they slip up, run away. They loose themselves.
A little warning. Ludovico’s goodwill seems extremely flexible. So if he has mercy on you, be careful. Maybe you should not use it. Don’t refuse, you don’t know what reaction he might have. Wait and then trash. Do not use.

Although, to refuse the touch of magic can be extremely complicated, irresistible. Sometimes we want something special so much in our lives that we don’t take into account the consequences. But in the end, it’s all about decisions, free will. You couldn’t say that Ludovico was the one to blame.
A shadow in the late, desolate, rainy nights. A discreet squeal, a charming man and then… probably a new story.

Credit: Louis Vigny

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