Chapter 13Life in the valley began to settle back to normal after the tithe had been transported to the castle. Although the valley dwellers were quite capable of sustaining petty quarrels for months, if not years, this was largely a superficial trait used, as much as anything, both to vary and to confirm the soundness of the texture of their everyday existence.
Patient, farming people living lives that were founded deeply and wisely in the ways of nature and which knew and danced to the slow rhythm of the seasons, they showed a true measure of reality when need arose. From the moment the gatherers had been identified for what they were, the villagers had begun to relinquish their emotional ties to the goods gathered in the tithe barn. After all, the justice of the matter lay squarely wit
