I swallowed dryly as I looked at Heather. A spider on the web she lured me too. She walked out of the room leaving the maid behind. The young woman looked at me with a smile and blushed prettily. “The mistress is very affectionate. Something you will have to get used to in time. She is also fond of pranks and misleading information. You’ll see her do so around guests more and more as you stay with us.”
Feeling like I was on the edge of a knife I looked around the room, “How soon until the meal is ready. I might not be as hungry as I was thinking.”
“It should be ready in moments. I wouldn't worry all too much. Is there something else you would like to do with your time? I’ve brought a book of the master’s selection that you might enjoy. It isn’t as factual as most but I hear such things aren’t as important to the lower class. I still find it fascinating that you are able to read and write. Not many of our station find the time to learn such things.” She brought forth the heavy tome and laid it on the small table next to the chair I no longer found to be as relaxing.
“My master made sure to educate me in things. He said reading a story often would improve our ways of living and spreading tales to our guests.” I didn’t have much drive to crack open the book anymore. I would have to keep up pretenses though so I heavily moved it into my lap and opened up the first pages. It turned out to be a collection of cautionary tales of peasants dealing with nobility. Stories that didn’t relate to me and my time in this world. Still though, I started to read. This must be some veiled warning for my future.
The maid sat down and began to massage my feet before I pulled them away, “I think I’ve received enough affections from beautiful women. You can leave until the food is ready.”
“May I ask that you read to me? We have a few minutes.” Her eyes glimmered with hope and I worried that this was another trap laid for me. Or a test to see how I treated others in the home I was currently a guest in. Should I be charitable with my time? I had always been that way with others but I wasn’t sure that was the image that the former Duke wanted me to have.
“I don’t see much harm in telling you a small story. This is about a peasant that was tasked with teaching a noble woman how to live in the name of the gods.”
Long ago in lands far away a Baron had a child one fateful night. A girl of impossible beauty that shined like the moons in the night sky. Her eyes were pools of silver, her hair as white as driven snow. Her parents knew her to be blessed by the gods for they heard the words from them.
“Raise her to be humble. To know the plight of the peasantry. Or she will not last long in the world.”
So the parents hired a maid for her to be raised by. For a staff of the less fortunate to take care of her in the way that peasants take care of their own children. They made sure that the family wanted for nothing while they cared for the young woman in their house. This did not keep the peasants humble though. They soon began to abuse their power over other members of the village. Pushing others around.
One night deep in the darkness a god came and visited the young girl and took her into their arms. They sat the girl down and began to ask her questions. They tested to see if she knew the plight of the peasants. Knew to be humble in the face of the gods. And she was not.
The god reached out and plucked the girls eyes out in a motion so swift no one could have stopped them. The girl screamed in agony as she clutched her face. The god looked at the peasants and smote them for acting above their station. Ripping the eyes out of the entire family for the insolence the baron’s daughter had shown.
The god visited the parents and warned them once more. “Raise your child to be humble. She has failed this day and I will visit again. I have shown mercy this time and let her live with her insolent tongue. Make sure she understands her true station.”
The Baron executed the girl’s adoptive family and found a new one for her to live under. This time they were more sparing with their support of the family as they cared for the blind girl. She was set to work on weaving baskets to provide her own fair share to the family that cared for her. She was seen to have such great aptitude for it that her baskets began to fetch a high price and soon she was being pampered by the family that cared for her in return.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Years went by as the family prospered under the eyes of the Baron and he did not see the warning signs that the girl was growing pompous and self important once more. Then one night on her tenth birthday the god came again and sat her down. She did not feel fear of the god and was once more insolent and ungrateful for the gifts of the world. Thinking she was prosperous of just her own skill.
The god grew angry and struck her dumb so she couldn’t speak such insolence anymore. The god struck everyone in the household dumb as well cursing them forever more to live in silence. Unable to barter for the goods that had made them so rich. The young girl shook in fear too much for her to weave anymore baskets.
The Baron and his wife grew angry with the gods but still they had no recourse to stand against the all powerful. They collected the girl from the family and decided this time they would not let her live amongst the peasants. For the peasants grew corrupt with every shred of power and wealth they ever had. The Baron gave away his home to the orphans of the city. They bought a cottage far outside of town and sheep to take care of. The baron and his wife loved their daughter dearly and so lowered themselves to be less.
They struggled to survive as they learned to sheer and brought their daughter to learn how to spin yarn out of the wools they had. Soon their hands grew callous and all memories of their noble standing faded from their minds as they pushed to live through each winter and prepare for the coming of the gods.
Five years later on the day the girl became a woman the god came for her. The parents woke up when it entered the home and they begged and pleaded that she be let go. That they would live forever more as peasants if only the god showed mercy to the young woman. The god pushed them aside and stood in front of the girl.
This time she was humble. Not out of fear for the god but because her parents had done their best for her to know the struggles of the commoners of the realm. As she laid her head against the floor the god gave her the power to speak once more. She wept and thanked the god, so the god gave her back her eyes. The girl groveled and kissed the feet of the god.
The god was pleased once more and told the girl, that in five years if she stayed humble. If she pleased the god once more then he would give her a gift like no other. She had to remain pure, chaste, and know the plight of the weak and poor.
She left her father and mother to live upon the streets with those that had no homes then. To learn what life was like when you had nothing. Her parents begged and tried to get her to return to their home so she left the town and walked the face of the earth. She was desired by many but always had the strength to flee any that would pursue her. In the end after five years on the eve of her twentieth birthday a woman found her and picked her from the dirt that she lay in.
She was led to a glade deep in the forest and washed clean in the brook. Her clothes were mended by the god and she was made beautiful once more. She thanked the woman. Told her the girl would do anything that she was asked of in payment for the kindness the woman showered upon the girl.
The woman that helped her was the god that had blessed her so long ago. She lead the girl back to her parents in the Barony. They had decided to live in humble ways since losing the girl. They wept when they were reunited and the god looked upon them. The god offered them a home in the eternal fields with sheep of spun gold, they would come and spin the yarn of the gods. They would learn to make such finery that it would be fit for those of most divine blood.
So the family that was made humble left the mortal world and ascended into the realms of the gods. They were placed upon the eternal fields and learned to weave golden cloth that would please the divine. The girl was taken as one of the many brides of Terus and her purity saved her from the god’s touch. It is said that even now the family lived amongst the gods. That learning to be humble and know the plight of the peasant can bring anyone closer to the divine.
Though those that fall to the call of riches and power are destined to feel the god’s wrath. That they will be driven blind and dumb if they do not know their true place in the world.
I flipped the last page and grew quiet as I looked at the pages. The gods could be such fickle and testing beings in the world and some of those didn’t deserve to be tested. Yet others now forgot their place in the grand scheme of things. It seemed to me that mankind transcended the gods if they had grown so weak without their worship.
The maid looked at me when I finished and she frowned at it all. “They were punished for enjoying what was owed to them in life. They were serving the nobility were they not. Why would the gods punish them.
“It was less about them serving the nobility and forgetting their place with the gods. Instead you should focus that sometimes by lowering yourself to a lesser station you can be given so much more. You only need to know that suffering can lead you to greater things.”
“Foolish story. Suffering is only for those that don’t understand that they can earn what they want without needing to lower themselves. You just need to be close to those with power.”
“Who has more power than the gods?” I asked her.
“The power of money trumps anything gained by worshiping the gods. If anyone proves that it is the master.” She stood and motioned for me to follow. “Your food should be ready.”
I wondered if the tale was true as I was sat down and given the meal I had asked for. It didn’t taste as great as I had hoped and I found myself not enjoying it. The excellent spiced tasted dull on my tongue, the meat wasn’t as juicy as it should have been and I found my mouth running dry. The book was a warning and I didn’t know if it was only from the master of the house. What if his actions was guided by a higher power?
I sipped the sweet wine as I thought about my place in life. Maybe the gods would have been happier if I stayed away from the machinations of the court. I promised myself though, I wouldn’t let this standard of living get to my head. I was caught in a web, if I let myself relax the spider would come and trap me.