Growing Children

Entering the kitchen in the morning twilight, Mirabel saw the glow of candlelight shining up into the dim room from the opening in the floor. Rowan had already moved the great stone and had climbed down the ladder into the food storage area.   “Good Morning, dear brother!” Mirabel called out to Rowan. “How can I help?”  “Good Morning to…

Ronduin woke early, tucked his throwing sacks in his pockets, fed the chickens in the courtyard, then ran up the stairs in the turret to the spot where he liked to practice juggling.  “You’ve been very patient about waiting to practice,” said Ronduin as he placed Apple, Pear and Peach on the stone window ledge.”I’m sorry I’ve been so busy.…

“Only four sleeps until rescue day!” said Rowan as they stood outside the barn waving happily at the Prince, Cook Agnes, the Queen and the King.  “Look at Cook Agnes,” said Mirabel. “She’s waving much more than she usually does. It’s as if she knows that we are coming to rescue them after four sleeps.”  “I noticed that,” said Rowan.…

Mirabel and Rowan left Roland and ran along the path toward Disappearing Brook. The long cloth bag filled with loaves of bread hung around Rowan’s shoulders and bounced against him as they ran. “Stop for a minute,” said Mirabel. “I have a better idea for how to carry the bread. I’ll hold one end over my shoulder and you run…

Mirabel rubbed her eyes and remembered dreaming about skiing across the mud to the castle. In her dream she approached the huge main door which swung open to reveal Ronduin with the King and Queen. She rubbed her eyes again. “I keep dreaming that Ronduin is in the castle and that Ronduin is the Prince, a healthy Prince.” She rubbed…

Watch this video to see skiing on mud https://youtu.be/SFk8uBznRT4 Ronduin walked into the kitchen to find Cook Agnes in her usual position, bent over the fire, stirring a pot. “Prince Ronduin, I missed you at the midday meal,” she said. “The King said you would eat later, but you never arrived.”  “I was the field practicing with my mud skis,”…

Just after sunrise and long before breakfast, Mirabel pushed opened the heavy barn door and let Giselle and her calf out onto the hillside. It was a beautiful day on barn hill under a brightening sky decorated with fluffy pink clouds.  This was the first time Mirabel had allowed Giselle to roam freely without being led on a rope, and…

Ronduin scraped the flat ended shovel across the stone floor, peeling up dry mud. He dumped the dry mud in a bucket and then continued his work. Sweat beaded up on his forehead as he pushed hard on the shovel. When the bucket was full, he walked to the far end of the old kitchen and dumped it into the…

Roland had fallen asleep in the field while watching over the sheep and cows. When rain woke him in the dark of early morning, he smiled and retreated through the wet grass to the lean-to he had built at the edge of the field. It was a low, three sided structure made of long sticks he had found in the…