The First Tale:
The Two Sisters
There was a young man traveling many miles across his country to visit his brother. Along the way he had seen many strange, new places but the strangest of all was a small town called Trifling. Here he was running very low on supplies and thought he might stay a few months to work freelance repairing roofs or carpentry related jobs that he could trade for provisions.
Most places he turned could not help him in his desire to find work, they already had hired someone or their sons were doing the work. Until at last he came upon a tiny hovel like house, surely there was work here and maybe they could spare some bread. He knocked on the door quietly at first but when there was no answer he hit the thin walls harder.
A miniature woman came to answer the door and spoke in a voice as rough as her face. "Ah, you've arrived at last."
He cleared his throat. "I was wondering if I could help you with some work around fixing your home in exchange for some supplies. I'm journeying and have somehow run out of provisions. I thought I had enough..."
"For three months." She interrupted. "But somehow, when you reached this town you found you had only packed enough for one month and now you're in desperate need in order to finish your trek."
"How did you?" He began but the question died on his lips. She was looking deeply into his eyes and he felt almost as if she were probing him for information or something he didn't quite understand.
"I know a lot of things boy. What's your name?"
"I'm surprised you don't know already. It's Peter."
"Peter I have just the job for you."
"Oh excellent, I can work as..." But again the thought vanished instantly as she was staring at him again.
"It's not work for me. My daughter in-law, Mage needs some help around her farm now that her husband has passed on. She has two daughters and no sons and the one daughter is as useless as her looks. You just wander down the stream path there," she said pointing beyond his shoulder out of the hovel's crooked door-frame. "And tell her I sent you to work on her farm. She'll have plenty to give you in return."
He smiled at the old woman, thanked her for the help and started off down the path. It ran along the length of a rather thick, fast flowing stream. Floating along beside him were a few ducks and one very large goose that seemed a bit out of place. He was very much enjoying his walk, gazing at the odd flora and fauna of this town. He'd never seen flowers like the ones on the bank, large blood red buds on purple stems that sagged in the sunlight. Had he returned later that night he would have seen them bloom into giant red blossoms with little white fangs. Moons-child they were called.
At the very end of this path, which he had unwittingly come to while he was trying to soak everything in, there was a large cottage and behind it an even larger plot of land where some small farm animals wandered about. There was nothing particularly out of the way about any of this except for the stunning woman standing proudly outside the door of her little cottage. One voice was raised within, shrill and intolerable yelling at someone who remained as yet unseen.
"Welcome traveler." Greeted the woman at the door.
"Good day miss." He said politely. "My name is Peter. You're mother in-law sent me to help you with work on your farm in exchange for supplies for my travels."
"Oh excellent. You'll fit right in. Why don't you come inside and I'll show you around?"
Peter grinned, stepped to the door and realized quietly in his mind that an important decision was about to be made. He wasn't sure why but he felt that if he stepped over the stoop than he might never make it to his brother's house. That's ridiculous, he thought. What's to stop me from leaving? With that he stepped through the tiny door-frame and into a large kitchen.
Two girls were busying about, tidying the room. One of them, tall with long golden hair and penetrating blue eyes was idly handling a broom. The other, shorter and plain with dull brown hair cut above her shoulders and glassy hazel eyes was busy scrubbing pots and pans.
Their mother showed him about the house, bringing him upstairs to show him the bedrooms, the spare one where he would be sleeping and stopping before a window she pointed him to the large field that desperately needed to be plowed. When they returned downstairs the tall daughter was resting at the table whilst the shorter one was still bustling about, finishing the chores.
"These are my two daughters, Emiline and Courageous." She said pointing to the tall daughter first and then the shorter one. She turned to them: "go out back and help prepare for dinner."
Both young ladies curtsied gently and he followed them out the back door of the cottage. Emiline he noticed was really the more beautiful of the two, but he refrained from saying so since Courageous was the one doing all the work.
Courageous was plain, even a little doughty, but she filled up a water-skin with relaxed skill. She found a bag and filled it with some wheat and flour. "For bread." She said softly. "If you'll only add water to the bag and allow it to mellow for two days you'll be able to bake it in the fire and have the sweetest bread you've ever tasted. We must prepare one each day so that we will have dough to make in two days, that way we never run out of dough or bread. Villagers come from all around to eat my bread."
He smiled at her, listening to her directions as she sighed it sweetly. Her voice was far more enchanting than her sister's looks and the traveler found he was bound to both of them by some odd attraction. The one sister appealed to his sexual appetite whilst the other beckoned him as a Siren on the rocks calling the ships in to destroy them.
"And nothing else." Her sister said dully in that shrill voice that set his spine to tingling. If only Courageous looked like her sister and Emiline could speak like hers.
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Peter worked hard, learning how to plow and tend the animals on the farm. They would be harvesting great stalks of corn soon, the fall coming on quicker than any of them thought possible. For some reason Peter hadn't thought once about leaving and continuing on to see his brother.
They had a few accounts to settle since the death of their father and needed to divide up his inheritance. Peter had left their homestead many years ago, traveling to the east to see what the city had to offer him, ignoring the low valley farms and mountainous regions between. His brother, older by three years remained behind and took over their father's accounts when he fell ill. Of course, when Peter learned his father was dying he began making arrangements to travel to his side at once.
But it often takes many months of planning to get so far across the country. He hadn't accounted on that and before he had left the east his brother wired to tell him that their father was indeed dead and that it was desperately important that Peter leave immediately. Which of course, he did.
However, since his arrival in Trifling he couldn't seem to remember what was so important about leaving here. He could feel a sadness tugging about his chest, but he couldn't figure out what it meant. Surely he was happy laboring for Mage and her two daughters like the moon and sun tangoing violently every afternoon. The women were kindly to him and it seemed as if Mage wanted Peter to marry one of her daughters.
All the same, he thought sighing, something is amiss. He sat looking morosely into the well that he often took long draughts from in the hot, late summer days. He hadn't noticed Mage approaching.
"Why are you so sad young man?" She said to Peter.
"Well miss, I can remember why I'm here and I can remember why I stayed, but I can't remember what seemed so important for me to leave. I don't know why I ever started traveling."
She smiled with a tinge of regret. "Why you wanted to see your brother dear. Why don't you write him and ask him to come here?"
To Peter this seemed like a very good idea, although later he wasn't sure how she had found out that he was going to see his brother. He couldn't remember telling anyone that he was going to do so, but that was the way it was in Trifling. Your memory was not to be trusted.
He wrote and sent his letter immediately. He waited for nearly two weeks, shaking with anticipation at the response his might receive. One day in later September, two months after Peter's arrival a letter arrived at the post. John Gentil, the local post boy rode out immediately on his coal black horse to deliver the letter personally. Mail was something entirely out of the ordinary in Trifling.
John reached the farmstead shortly and dismounted his horse gleefully, the letter clutched tightly in his hand. He recognized the young man immediately as he well knew the sisters from school. There was no other man at this residence and so the one sitting at the well could be none other than the Peter the letter was addressed to. He cleared his throat softly to catch the young man's attention and was rewarded with a faint smile.
"This is for you sir." John said, not quite sure how to address the strange new resident. He extended his hand carefully easing his fingers off of the yellow envelope as Peter took it.
"Thank you. You can call me Peter." Said the other young man smiling. John thought he looked like someone he recognized. Perhaps he had seen someone like him riding through years ago.
"I'm John Gentil. The local post boy."
"Nice to meet you John, would you like a drink or some dinner. The girls were just about to the set the table, I can ask them to set one more place."
John blushed and stared at his knees as he responded. "No thank you Peter, I could hardly ask such hospitality. A drink sounds nice though."
Peter called to Courageous who gladly supplied John with a fresh cup of water. The young men chatted for a while idly, speaking of the weather and the coming harvest. Finally John could stand it no longer. "Aren't you going to open your letter?"
"Oh, of course." Peter laughed and ripped the thin, sunshine-yellow paper. The letter he read as follows:
"Dear Peter,
I have received your letter. I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune. Of course I will come immediately. Allow me a week or so to finish closing the estate and settling father's business. I will bring the rest of our business with me to settle in Trifling.
Your brother,
Patrick."
"Your brother's coming out to join you?" John asked. "I should like to meet him if he's anything like you."
Peter smiled broadly at the young man. He seemed such a nice fellow and it might not hurt to make a few friends here. "Thank you John. I think he should like you too."
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The week couldn't end fast enough and though Peter was very busy preparing for the harvest season yet to come, he was constantly distracted by thoughts of his brother. Courageous sensed a change in him and showing her usual kindness took special care of him. Emiline continued on, the way she always did speaking shrilly and shrugging her chores with no special attention to Peter.
When Patrick arrived he found Mage's farmstead easily enough. He had much paperwork and had officially closed almost all of their father's estate.