tidy but filling

The maiden was comely and hid in a bush and would not dare leave it until hunger pushed and pulled her back into the open again where she would then hunt in dale valley and fen. With skills well-developed she stacked the pelts high then dried and then tanned them under open skies then sold them at night to a woman she knew who lived in the manner of a barren shrew. To the comely maiden it changed not a thing for she and the woman would sit down and sing and share with each other tall tales of the past as well as a tidy but filling repast. Then on the next morrow the pelts would be sold to some local tradesmen both cunning and bold who'd venture up to the old woman's hovel and barter with her using foodstuff or shovel. One time the skilled maiden chose to stick around and hid in the bushes there on the shrew's grounds and spied her some man-flesh and soon became smitten and dropped as she ran away one of her mittens. A tradesman did find it and wondered aloud what sort of wee creatures were stirring about to which the old woman did respond in kind and mentioned the maiden with whom she oft dined. The tradesman went searching and spied him the lass and thought her stout build was of the finest class and bade the old woman to help the two meet in a morning meeting both swift and discreet. The woman invited the maiden to dine and broke out a bottle of her finest wine and left in the cottage the maiden alone then sent in the tradesman his heart filled with stone. The two hit it off though and soon became wed and rumpled the sheets of their marital bed and wandered the high plains hand-in-hand together and while making babies still crafted fine leather.

​© americanifesto / 場黑麥