The overwhelming smell of fresh bread and the brightness of many candles met Mirabel as she stepped into the kitchen so early in the morning that it was still dark. The linen sleeping sack draped over her shoulders looked like a long shawl. “Ah, there you are,” said Rowan. “Good morning, Sister and Caretaker of of Barn Hill, and thank…
When Mirabel rolled over in the dark, her face landed on a clump of prickly, pokey, stick-up straw. She brushed it all away from her face, but when she tried to settle again, a lone piece of straw poked at her cheek. Now, opening her eyes, she looked over the edge of the loft toward the door which was now…
Ronduin emptied the bucket of kitchen scraps into the chickens’ food bowl. “Sunrise and Sunset, you will like what I brought you today,” he said to the chickens in a tone that sounded like he expected them to understand. “Yesterday I noticed some turnips that had started to sprout and I asked Cook Agnes for green tops. She said she…
The dawn wind stirred the grass on the foothills. And, when a blade of dew-damp grass brushed across his cheek, Roland wakened from his light sleep. Sitting up and stretching, he surveyed the cows and sheep who were already up and grazing. He had woken may times through the light to check on them by the light of the moon.…
Thinking the tickle was a spider crawling across his face, Ronduin startled and leaped out of bed. Now he hastily tugged off his nightshirt in case the spider had darted inside. In truth, the tickle was only a bit of straw poking through a hole in Ronduin’s mattress, but he had no way to know in the darkness that it…
by Karah Pino and Kim Allsup Roland’s farewell song turned into a whistling tune as he walked. He steadily lead the long line of animals down the hill through the forest and then along the high path that sat just above the muddy fields. The cows and sheep pressed forward excitedly, murmuring to one another. Every time an inviting patch…
“We can wait here at the well until we can see Roland and the animals walking along the high path toward the foothills,” said Mirabel. “Let’s get Giselle and her calf. They can wait with us,” said Rowan. The two children walked along the barn and, at the corner, stepped through the open gate in the the fence that ran…
Sitting on the stone bench near the pear tree in the courtyard, Ronduin noticed a low branch that was just a stick. Unlike the rest of the branches, it had no leaves. “You know, ” he said to the chickens, “if the castle gardener were still here, he would have pruned that branch.” Ronduin stood on the bench. “Maybe I…
“Up to the tower or down to the courtyard?” This is what Ronduin asked himself as he opened the curtains in his bedroom at the first glimmer of light. He dressed and then took Apple and Pear from his pillow and walked over to the window and sat them on the windowsill where they too could survey the fields. …
By Karah Pino with Kim Allsup In the purple darkness of early morning, Mirabel quietly climbed down the ladder and made her way through the barn. She opened the small door and noticed an orange glow coming from the kitchen. Her legs felt bouncy and alive as the dream of running with Ronduin still lived in her. Walking around the corner of the barn,…
