"Mein host!" Bishop Odo squeezed his corpulent frame through the inn's front door. The establishment's proprietor - a florid-faced man by the name of Gustav - paled at the greeting.
"Herr Bishop," he stuttered. "It is a pleasure to see you." But not as much as it will be to see the back of you, you gluttonous pig.
The prelate staggered towards a chair, then sat down in it. The seat bowed and creaked as his bulk overflowed the armrests. "You set a good table, Gustav. I trust you will not disappoint me. Now, tell me, what is simmering in your pots today?"
"Your Grace!" Gustav began to reel off the dishes that his wife was preparing in the kitchen. As he recited his board of fare, the bishop's eyes lit up and drool began to gather at the corner of his mouth.
"Very good. It all sounds so good," Odo said, interrupting the innkeeper. "I shall have one of everything - and make sure that the portions are goodly in size!"
"Your Grace." Gustav bowed and clicked his heels, then retreated to the kitchen.
His wife, Maria, looked up from the bubbling pots and hot range that constituted her domain. "You look upset. What is it?"
"Fat Odo is back."
Maria glared at her husband. "Has he settled up for his last visit, then?"
"No. And he wants more of the same - worse luck. But, if I refuse to serve him and kick him out, he will cause us no end of trouble."
"So?" Maria snorted. "We can do without his kind. He costs us more than the business he brings. He needs to be taught a lesson."
"But I can't just - !"
Maria raised a hand to silence her husband. "If you cannot, then I can." She turned away from her pots and began to rummage though the jars of herbs and spices she kept on a nearby shelf, before settling on one. "I think that Bishop Odo could do with losing some weight, don't you? And I'm sure that this will help him."
