The golden sun was slowly starting its decline into a sunset, and as such the workers in the fields must have begun bringing in today’s harvest before calling it a night. And surely enough, when he got to the fields, he saw how much had been harvested and how thick and heavy the sheafs were. He saw the men finishing up the work with the scythes and the women and children following behind, tying the swath up with bands made from wheat. To carry the sheaves back home, to the housing for the slaves, were a horse drawn cart, and an unusually large man would pick up the sheafs one by one and load them onto the cart.
The young master was fascinated with the enormous strength of the man by the cart, how he picked up so much wheat with ease. The young master knew this man had been working from morning and realized his workload must have tiring out the big brute, although it hardly seemed so. The man moved without any sign of exhaustion, and easily carried what two men would struggle with.
Standing in the middle of a field with a guard and a maid, the young master stuck out like a sore thumb, and some of the slaves decided to wave and greet him. The young master knew that his father had always kept a friendly relationship with his slaves, treating them well without punishing harshly like other estates did. So even though slaves were not normally meant to interact with the dynasty in charge of the estates, his father had created a place where it was perfectly normal.
Even the big brute turned away from his work to wave at the young master, and not wanting to keep them from their work and disturb them any longer, the young master waved back and started to depart for the estate.
Being escorted safely to the front door, the guard saluted and returned to the barracks. The young maid, quite satisfied that the young master was doing okay, excused herself, and got back to her usual work.
Returning to his room, the young master began to ponder what he had learnt and seen. He thought to himself that there was still time to learn a bit more before he could come to any sort of conclusion about his endeavor today.
From his window, the young master could spot the housing complex for the slaves, and he could see how the men, women and children were returning with the last of the wheat in their carts for threshing and winnowing in the morning. The young master decided to have one last look at his future subjects and decided to climb out the window to avoid being escorted again, having grown a bit weary of being followed around.
Luckily, this was not the first time the young master had snuck out at night, being fond of taking a stroll in the garden in the pale moonlight, and so he had hidden away a makeshift rope to climb out of his window. Not long after he arrived at the slave housing he hid in a bush.
The young master spied on the slaves and saw a great number of people surrounding what looked to be a campfire. It was quiet except for an older man, who was telling a story to the rest.
The young master listened in, and heard story after story of people overcoming hardships, learning to be kind and gentle as well as smart and cunning. The old man made sure to impart his life lessons in the stories he told, and he used the stories to captivate his audience and make his point have impact. He taught what he felt was right for the younger generations to know, and he made sure that the community enjoyed his stories by making them fun to listen to as well as educational.
The young master, not realizing how much time had passed, saw that the sun had almost set. He hurried back to the estate, climbed his makeshift rope up to his window, and got in just as the door was opened by his father.
“I came to personally get you. It’s time for dinner, and after that you will meet me in my study” and with those words his father closed the door and left the young master to dress appropriately and prepare for dinner.
As he left his room, he was escorted by the same young maid who had accompanied him earlier, and was led ceremoniously to the dining hall, where his family had been waiting. His father, now with all his dynasty present, began the dinner, and soon servants flooded in with food on beautiful trays and served it with the greatest of grace.
But the young master’s mind was disturbed. He had not had time to think about what he had seen throughout his day, and he was lost in thoughts throughout the whole dinner, hardly noticing his surroundings.
He thought to himself, “I don’t know why I should be the master. I do not possess the elegance and agility of the maid from the kitchen, I have not yet been tested on a battlefield or shown such loyalty as the sergeant, I don’t have the endurance and raw strength that the mighty man from the fields had and I have still not lived long enough to have seen as much or be as wise as the old man from the slave houses”.
He continued “I do not possess any of these qualities, yet I have to answer my father in his study within the hour”.