The Pigknuckles

The fall of the five sisters

Near the town that would soon be called Thermogate lived an old farmer. Phil Pigknuckle was his name. He made his living keeping … chickens. Phil Pigknuckle was a widower, left to take care of his five daughters after his wife succumbed to the fever a few years prior. From eldest to youngest, Catherine, Agnes, Patricia, Polly, and Morgan were all beautiful young ladies. Some with red hair like Phil the others with black hair like their mother. All with hazel-green eyes, as unique and beautiful as their dead mother’s. The girls would travel together all over the lands surrounding the budding new town. They would do anything to stay away from their father.

Old Pigknuckle was not a good man, as his five daughters could attest. He would swindle anyone stupid enough to seek to barter with him for his chickens. He would almost always overcharge for purchase of his livestock. And whoa be the fool that attempted to call Ole Pigknuckle out for his ways. Catherine would often be called on to help “Pappa” put things in his personal “stew.” The repugnant Pigknuckle would even call on his elder two daughters for “lady favors” at night while the others slept. Needless to say, the girls relished any chance to be away from the farmer’s old shack at the edge of the Begroner Bog.

One morning the toddler, baby Morgan, played near the edge of a “boggy” pond behind the family’s home— as Agnes picked flowers. Agnes needed some way of distracting her mind from the hell she found herself trapped in every day. She did not notice as Morgan ventured to the edge of the pond and began to look at her own reflection. Agnes did not see as baby Morgan’s reflection began to gesture for the youngest girl to come closer to the water’s edge. She was not aware of the small whirlpool that began to spin at the little one’s feet. And when she turned to check on her beloved baby sister, she had no idea where she had disappeared to. Agnes was mortified. She knew that “Pappa” would kill her if anything had happened to “his property” while she was looking after “it.”

So, she ran.

Agnes had heard of powerful warlocks to the far north. Maybe they could teach her some magic and she could come home and rescue her remaining sisters from her evil “Pappa.”

Agnes knew she was putting her siblings in danger by leaving. But she had to save herself. It is not hard to conclude that ole man Pigknuckle was quite angry at the absence of two of his daughters. He blamed the eldest remaining sister. “I’ll deal with you when I come home from market,” snarled the sinister Pigknuckle as he slammed the door behind him.

Catherine knew what would happen to her if she did not escape from her father. “He’ll put me in that damned pot!” Thinking quickly the teenaged Pigknuckle extinguished the fire under “Pappa’s stew” and hid behind a shelf in the room for the old man to come and investigate. It did not take too long for Ole Pigknuckle to come and investigate why his beloved “stew” was not still simmering. Now was her chance …

As the old man leaned over the pot, trying to figure out “just what the hell is going on around here,” Catherine sprung to action. In one swift motion the eldest child ran in and lifted her frail father’s frame from the ankles. Finding strength that she did not know she had, she dumped old Pigknuckle into a pot of his own stew! Cathy did not think anyone would believe that she had not killed her father in cold blood, so she ran. She had heard of a tribe of Yak-men to the far south and east that had shaman that could teach great magic to worthy students. Cathy knew she was leaving her two remaining sisters to die, but she had to save herself.

Polly and Patty would come home soon after Catherine left for the Yak lands. The house was dark, cold, and empty. Being the elder of the two, Polly had been taught how to light the fire under “Pappa’s stew” pot. She knew that would shed some light into the room. After lighting the fire under the pot, the two remaining girls sat and waited for the other sisters or their “Pappa” to return. Hour after hour turned into day after day. It was not long before Polly and Patty became so hungry until they began to become really weak. They both stared at their father’s pot. “He won’t mind,” whispered a starving little Patty.

The two little Pigknuckles worked together to set up the dining table and scoop out chunks if meat into bowls. The two little sisters had never eaten so well. “This is delicious Polly! I see why Pappa wants to keep this all to himself,” shouted Patty. The two little girls survived on the “stew” for the next few weeks before eventually having to travel into town.

So goes the tale of the fall of the Pigknuckles. Forward comes Turtleback Patty Pigknuckle, Rotten Polly Pigknuckle, Auntie Agnes Iceybottom, Cackling Cathy Bonechewer. No one ever found out what happened to the mysteriously missing Morgan.