The Farmer

...As evidence implies that the Seeress, knowing the hearts of people, only announces herself as the Seeress to give weight to her proclamations or counsel. This has given rise to speculation that she often passes unknown among people and helps others without them knowing she was there...

--Mistress Aiode, Sage of Elhrub

Year 722

A woman stopped her wagon near the farmhouse. The wagon was a simple affair, not much more than a common box wagon with shelter added to it. A pair of mules who didn’t seem to care pulled it.

The woman climbed down from the wagon and made straight for the farmer, who was preparing to milk his two cows.

“Excuse me, good sir. Could I trouble you for a skin of milk for my baby niece? She’s orphaned and I am all she has in this world. I have coin so I could pay.”

“You can keep your money. I’d never hear the end of it from my wife if I took your money so you could feed your niece. Now if you had enough coin, I’d sell you that scrawny cow over there. She’s bound for market next week.”

The woman looked at the 2 cows for a second before saying, “Thank you, sir. I know little about keeping cows, but I would think about selling the bigger one. She has an air about her. She harasses the other one and won’t let her be. I think if you separated them, the smaller one might do better.”

“I appreciate the try at some insight. Just sometimes, cows don’t turn out as fit as we’d like. Do you have a skin handy? Cause it is time I get to milking them.”

The woman handed him an empty skin she’d been carrying on her shoulder. The farmer soon got work filling his bucket. His practiced hands filled his bucket to a level where he could fill the skin. After filling the skin, he tied it closed and handed it back to the woman.

“Thank you again. Hopefully, this will last until I can return home and find my goats,” the woman said with a smile and a slight bow.

“You may want to hurry, then. That milk may not be fit by evening,” the farmer warned as the woman climbed up into her wagon. She waved goodbye as she set the mules off again.

Not long after she left, a little girl of about 5 came out of the wagon and sat down beside the woman and asked, “Mommy, why did you lie to the man? The milk is for my sister.”

“Yes, the milk is for your sister, but I lied to protect us. Had I told the man it was for my daughters, he could have had questions about why I needed the milk. It is not good for a woman to have a child and have no husband,” the woman explained.

“But you have no husband and have me and sissy.”

“The Aranians have children but no husbands and you have heard the mean things some people say about them.”

“Oh. But why did you not tell the man to sell the fat cow so the skinny one could get bigger and provide him with many calves?”

The woman smiled at this as she said, “Again, to protect us. To tell him which cow to sell and why may have made him guess at who we are. Who I am. He may have expected us to make decisions for him. By telling him what he might do and a little of the why, he now must make his own choice.”

“But what if he keeps the fat cow?” the girl asked.

“Then he keeps it and will be hard pressed to have more than 3 cows while that one lives. Now, go back inside and check on your sister and practice what I have taught you to shape your mind.”

Throwing her arms around her mother, the girl said, “Yes mommy.”

A couple of decades later, a woman traveling on foot approached the farmhouse. It was nearing evening and the sky should be red, but it was black with the coming storm. She could see the clouds in the distance illuminate with flashes of lightning. The woman could hear some cows in the barn protesting the coming storm.

The woman approached the farmhouse and knocked on the door. The farmer’s wife answered it. “May I help you?” she asked as she examined the stranger who had knocked.

“Yes. There is a storm coming, and I wanted to ask if I could spend the night in your barn?” the traveler replied.

The farmer’s wife looked at her peculiarly before saying, “By the look of you, I’d say you’re a northern person. What brings you here?”

“Yes, my parents were desert people, but they gave me to the Aranians. I presume because my father wanted a son and not a daughter. I’ve been traveling to find what this world wants of me.”

“Well, you don’t have to sleep in the barn tonight. We have an extra bed you can use for the night.”

“Thank you, but I would prefer the barn. I’ve spent so much time sleeping in tents and under the stars, a proper bed and roof bothers my mind. And those fine sounding cows I think would be soothing on a night like this. How did you come about them?”

“It’s a bit queer. Many years ago, we had 2 cows and one was sickly, which we were going to sell. For some strange reason, my husband kept her and sold the good one. It didn’t take long for the sickly one to fatten up. She produced several fine calves who have, in turn, provided more. The twenty or so head we have now are all from her or her offspring. If you had saw that cow in the beginning, you’d never believe me,” the woman said.

“But if you prefer the barn, so be it. I’ll let my husband know so he won’t wake you.”

“Don’t worry about waking me. If he does, then it means I should have already gotten up.”

“Fine then. If you need anything, just knock.”

“Thank you, I will,” the traveler said.

“Well mother, thanks to you, it appears they chose well,” she thought to herself as she headed to the barn to sleep.