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Her father nodded. "Better to give him no room to quibble. Send two of the
men ahead and have them clear the road. We can wrap your feet in a sheep fleece
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to protect them. If we bind that with strips of leather, then there can be no
question that you would have been able to walk."
"I'd thought about using leather or a fleece."
"I never thought I would see the day I would be happy about your marrying
so high above your station, Beth," her father said. "There will be problems."
"Life is a collection of problems, Father," she said quietly.
He nodded. "Now, you sound like your mother. Shall we have supper soon?"
She smiled at her father. "Of course, my dear. What would you like to eat?"
"I will cook," he offered.
"Can you cook, Father?"
He laughed. "If I have to. When you were a little girl, you used to love
cabbage and apples. Why don't I fix that with some sausage for supper?"
"Shall we be nice enough to invite the guards in for supper?"
"No," he said quietly. "Not today. I want my time alone with my daughter
tonight."
She blinked back tears. "I'm sorry, Father. I didn't plan this."
"I know. But you would marry someday. I knew that. At least this way, you
will never worry about starving or about affording shoes for your children."
"No, I doubt that will be among my worries, Father& It takes an hour to
cook the cabbage and apples. I'll go get the dried apples from the root cellar.
Why don't you go harvest a small cabbage and a couple of small onions from the
garden? By the time that we have everything ready to go into the pot, we'll be
able to cook in the coals."
While supper was cooking, she folded the fishing net in thirds. Very quickly,
she basted the top edges together so that the three thicknesses would not come
apart during the journey. The width of the final section was tall enough to cover
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The Peasant s Wise Daughter
her from under her arms to her ankles and it was long enough to wrap around
her several times.
* * * * *
Morning came all too soon after a restless night. After she milked the cows
and gathered the eggs, she churned the butter and started a new batch of cheese.
After that, she mixed the mash for the pigs and fed the rest of the animals. She
went to the summerhouse and filled a large basket with hundreds of rose
blossoms. There were still many more there. She would need most of what
remained for the rose hips she added to winter tonics.
"There are fifty-five cheeses aging in the root cellar," she told her father as he
ate the breakfast of boiled eggs, sausages and bread and butter she had made for
him. Her stomach was entirely too nervous for her to eat. "Those cheeses sell at
market for seven Thalers for each wheel. There was barely enough milk this
morning to start one wheel of cheese. It won't be long now until the cows both
stop giving milk entirely this year."
"Would you not rather take your cheeses? They do eat cheese at the castle."
"I might send for them. I'm going to have to take charge of the kitchens there.
Wilhelm's initial offer last week was for me to come to manage his larder. I
always thought I would marry for love, never for my ham, cheese, and bread."
Her father laughed. "He wants more than your cooking, my girl," Johann
said quietly.
"I know," she said quietly.
"Your mother, bless her memory, was supposed to have the talk with you
about marriage."
"She did. You needn't worry about that."
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Her father looked relieved. "Good. You go prepare yourself for this
challenge. I will have two of the men ride ahead and clear the road of anything
that could cause you trouble. And I'll put a plow horse into harness."
"Thank you, Father."
"I love you, Elzebeth. No matter what happens with the bet, I do love you.
You will always be my beloved daughter."
After her father left the cottage, she undressed and wrapped the fishing net
around and around herself until the threads of the net overlapped enough so that
she was not naked. She basted it together at the top. Then she ran a length of
rope around the top of her bust to secure the fishing net and another rope around
her waist.
It was as secure as she could make it. She only hoped it would be secure
enough. She stripped the stems of the roses of their thorns and wove the stems
through the net on her front until she looked as though she were clothed in red
roses.
For extra measure of cover for her backside, she took down her hair and
brushed it out. This would have to do. She was not clothed, but she was not
naked. With waxed thread, she tied together the last of the roses to form a circlet
of roses. She placed that on her head.
"Elzebeth, are you ready?" her father called out as he came into the cottage.
"I don't know. Am I covered?"
Her father looked at her carefully from all angles. "Yes. You are fine. Let me
put the layers of the fleeces on your feet now."
"Yes, Father."
"Just answer me one question, Beth. Do you love him?"
"Yes. I'm not sure I like him at the moment. But I do love him."
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The Peasant s Wise Daughter
He looked at her for a long moment. "It would bode better for domestic
harmony, if that situation was reversed."
"I know. I'm frightened, Father."
"Good. Anyone going into marriage without a little fear is foolish. You've
seldom been foolish."
"This entire situation is foolish."
"Men in love sometimes do foolish things. As do women. Do you think that I
have not listened to you cry in the night and have known the reason has been
that your heart was breaking over the prince? I am not so old that I cannot
remember what it is like to be young and have juices that flow in torrents. I do
not judge you daughter for your tryst with the prince in the summerhouse. Your
mother and I spent quite a bit of time out there, ourselves. I know how seductive
the place can be when one is out there with a beloved."
Elzebeth fought a blush. "You should remarry, Father. With my being out of
the cottage, now, you should be able to convince Kathryn, Ernst's widow, to
accept your suit."
Her father smiled. "Let us handle one marriage feast at a time. Have you
bundled your fine clothes?"
"Of course. I've put my work clothes in there as well. I will send for my herbs
and books, Father. If you could pack them up for me, I would appreciate it."
"Do you really think that he will allow you to continue to practice healing?"
"It is the duty of the lady of the castle to see to the health and well being of
the people."
Her father kissed her on the forehead. "Come, daughter, let me bind your
feet. It would be best to use three fleeces, just to protect you."
Johann carried his daughter out of the cottage and to the plow horse. He put
her feet down in the rightmost rut of the road, as that rut would turn directly
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Cassie Walder
into the road leading up to the drawbridge of the castle. Then he wrapped a
triple length of leather strapping around her connecting that to the harness of the
plow horse. Elzebeth wrapped the leather straps around her arms for stability
and held on. Then, her father took the reins of the horse and commanded it,
"Gie!"
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