Help with the harvest (Europe 1200s)

First appeared here.

The air turned sharp in Brigstock as autumn crept in. Leaves curled at the edges, and the grain in the fields swayed heavily with waiting. In one corner of the village, the Parter family faced silence where noise should have been. John Parter lay ill, feverish and still, and the harvest loomed.

Cecilia Penifader heard the news as she walked the path past the chapel, her sickle already looped at her waist. Without hesitation, she turned back to her cottage, fetched an extra kerchief, and made her way to the Parters’ field.

By midday, she wasn’t alone. A few others had joined her. Elias the thatcher. Agnes, who baked for the priest. Even young Thom had no farm of his own, but strong hands to lend.

They cut and bound the grain in rows. No one asked for anything. No one kept count. At dusk, the Parter boys brought out a basket of bread and a jug of ale. They all sat on the edge of the field, dirt on their sleeves and sun on their cheeks.

It was just one day’s work. No one wrote it down. But the grain was safe from the frost, and the village held together one small kindness stronger.