...
The end of a warm summer saw dry grass reaching for the sky offering itself up to the farmers who would shortly harvest it for winter feed. None but one labored in the fields though, and this one but a boy who sang as he worked, for it pleased him to do so.
And when that bright day faded,
And the sun was going down...
With each line he swung his sickle in a short arc before him, felling brittle stems and stalks to dry further over the coming days. Behind him was an almost swathe of cut and resting grass, hinting at how long he had been working today.
There was a merry piper
Approached from the town...
So caught up was the boy in his singing and felling that he did not hear the horse and rider draw near to him on the small road bordering the field, until the horse whinnied. The boy looked up, and was met by an imposing sight. The setting sun back-lit a man clad in slightly dust-covered but still-shining armor. His song and labor forgotten, the boy gaped, for he had never seen a knight before.
The boy and the knight stared at each other. The boy saw a great hero then and there, a hundred legends and tales all crashing and meeting with dizzying immediacy, plain as day, in the flesh. There was Ser Marel the dragon slayer, and Topilan the brave, Golden Boris, and a dozen others. As for what the man saw...?
A barn, boy? Does your family have a barn?
Doffing his straw hat, the boy replied that they did.
And a father, Do you have a father?
Again the boy replied it was so.
I'd speak with your father then, boy, lead me to him, it must be time for your supper by my reckoning. And while you take me to him... finish the song, if you've a mind.
And so it was done, the knight being led to meet the boys father, and the boy finishing the harvest song, and was gifted a shining copper coin for his singing, which he clutched to his chest, and valued over all other things he had ever had, or ever would.
He pulled out his pipe and tabor,
So sweetly he did play,
Which made all lay down their rakes,
And leave off making hay.
