The Silver Cup (15 page)

“The twelve sons of Jakob became the heads of twelve tribes, and all my people come from these tribes.”

“So you're really named for an ancient grandmother.”

“Yes. I suppose I am, because Father says we are of the tribe of Levi, who was a son of Leah, not Rachel.”

The girls had not noticed Gunther who had come in from the garden. He had been listening to Leah.

“You know your story well, Leah. I have heard that all your people can read. Is that true?” asked Gunther.

“Many can, yes.”

“Even the girls?” he asked.

“It is the boys who become scholars of our book, but yes, many girls can read. We must be ready to teach our sons if necessary.”

“Such a different people you are,” commented Gunther.

“Yes, very different.”

Gunther looked at both girls. He asked Anna, “Do you remember your grandmother's pin? The one I almost gave you on Easter?”

“Yes, Father.”

“I'm sorry I listened to Agnes. This should be yours.” He pulled the pin from the pouch on his belt.

Anna took the amethyst pin, and Leah helped fasten it on her kirtle.

“There,” said Leah. “It looks elegant.”

“This pin belonged to my grandmother, the one named Anna.”

“It's lovely,” said Leah.

“I'm going to wear it always.” Anna beamed.

26

SUMMERTIME

 
Leah and Anna awoke on a flawless summer morning, alone but for each other. Lukas appeared and offered to take the girls to swim in the afternoon. Above the town, there was a place where the stream was still and clear and perfect for bathing.

First, Anna and Leah swept the house and scrubbed each pot and crock. Cobwebs were banished from the corners, and the bed was refilled with clean straw and sprinkled with tansy leaves. When Lukas returned, he carried a heavy wooden staff.

“Do you think we need a shepherd? ” asked Anna with a laugh. She reached for a crock of gray soft soap that Agnes had made in the fall from sheep tallow and lye leached from wood ash.

Scooping a lump into a smallter crock, Anna wrinkled her nose and said, “This is nasty. Before we go, I'll pick some mint leaves to take as well. Let's be off.”

Anna and Leah practically skipped through the town, with Smudge and Lukas following close behind, ignoring the snickers and comments from their neighbors. As they reached the rolling meadow beyond the town wall, the little party fell into a gentle, purposeless stroll. Leah and Smudge trailed behind, the girl gathering an armful of blue cowslips, yellow marigolds, silver ladies smock, and white daisies.

Anna looked at Lukas. “I'm glad you're here.”

“You know, when Dieter's tale became known, people laughed at him. Such a ridiculous curse, but behind the laughter there's doubt and a grain of fear. No one wants to test Leah's powers.”

Anna shook her head sadly. “Not yet, anyway. I wish Leah could stay, but I know she can't. If the people like Dieter stop being afraid? Then what will they do to her?”

“No one in this town will cross your father.”

“But Father travels.”

Lukas nodded. “And I am not perfect protection. Except today, of course.”

“She has to go to her people. Lukas, you have to help.”

“Anna, I still feel baptism is the best way for Leah.”

“She'll never accept baptism.”

“You are probably right. And I don't think forcing someone would be God's wish. If only she would see.”

“Do you really think Leah would ever be safe here? And what about the boy she is betrothed to? In Strasbourg, she could find the life that was taken from her in Worms. She would rather die than give up her faith.”

“What can either of
us
do, Anna? ”

“We have to get her to Strasbourg. Can't you find a reason to take her?”

“Me? I've never been beyond Worms! What about your father? ”

“He refuses. Father won't listen. He says he can keep her safe. But you and I can't.” She was silent for a moment, and then she asked, “Do you ever think about Thomas?”

“I cannot,” said Lukas.

“And Martin?”

“I pray for him every day.”

“For his safe return?”

“Yes. And that he took no part in the evil in Worms,” answered Lukas.

“Sometimes I feel so helpless,” said Anna.

“And I feel so confused, dear Cousin. You're not easy on me,” Lukas said. “Now, I am going to sit on the other side of that hill and think about all this. I have the whole afternoon, and I look forward to the peace out here. You and Leah will be safe,” he said, and he tapped the staff on the ground.

The sun was hot as Anna and Leah headed for the bathing spot. At a sandy part of the stream bank, hidden by the reeds, the girls stripped off their kirtles. Underneath, Anna wore a very old, thin woolen smock, and Leah had a linen one. They bathed, removing the under shifts as they slipped beneath the water, while Smudge scampered along the bank. They rubbed the greasy soap on their skin and into their hair and rinsed the lather. Using fistfuls of sand, they scrubbed until it hurt. They coaxed Smudge into the water and washed his fur. The girls drowned out the hum of the insects with their splashes and laughter.

Afterwards, they brought their kirtles into the water and scoured them with soap and sand and lay the heavier cloth to dry in the sun. Then they rubbed the mint leaves in their hair and on their arms and hands. In their wet shifts, they sat on the bank and talked of everything and nothing until the sun was low, and their clothing was only damp.

Anna lay on her stomach and peered into the water.

“Don't you ever wish you could see your face, Leah?”

“Mine looks more like a skull than a girl,” said Leah as she leaned over the edge of the stream.

“The water's too shadowy. I can't see my eyes at all.”

Leah sat up, drawing her knees to her chest, and said, “My mother used to say I looked just like my grandmother.”

“She must have been lovely,” said Anna sitting up and smiling at her friend.

“She was old and a little fat,” laughed Leah. “But everyone said she was pretty when she was a girl. Your mother must have been beautiful,” said Leah.

“I don't remember her face very well. Why?”

“Because your aunt was her sister, and she is as pretty as she is nasty. And because you're so lovely.”

“Don't tease me.”

“Anna, you're very fair.”

“Your head must be waterlogged.”

“You have the most perfect skin.”

“All freckled?” scoffed Anna rubbing under her nose.

“What are you talking about? It's clear and rosy. You don't have
any
freckles.”

“What color are my eyes?”

“Green. And very beautiful.”

Anna looked at Leah and beamed, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For that.”

Leah shrugged, and the girls pulled on their clean, damp kirtles and gathered skirtfuls of flowers. They called Lukas and returned home with him for dinner. They shared a late meal of cheese and green peas and bread dipped in honey. Anna could not recall a better day.

Just before sunset Gunther returned, and he seemed more contented than he had been in years. He joked with Leah about her fly ointment, which had actually worked. He complimented both girls on the shining appearance of the home and the girls themselves. He complimented Lukas on being their escort but chuckled when he saw the staff. Lukas bid them all farewell.

The quarter moon was sharp edged, and Gunther asked Anna to join him in the garden to enjoy the star-pricked sky. He surprised her by linking arms as they walked, and she drew herself to him.

“I planted this pear tree when I married your mother,” Gunther said.

“I remember sitting here with her when the tree was white with sweet flowers. She would tell me to close my eyes and breathe deeply. And she would ask if I could smell the fruit.”

“She loved it. We'll plant another in Worms.”

“Worms?”

“I have given this house to Karl.”

“What?” cried Anna desperately.

“I've been to Cologne often this spring. On the first trip, I met two Flemish brothers, cloth merchants with a very large trade.”

“What's this to do with our house?” Anna pulled away from Gunther.

“Let me finish. These Flemish brothers have many weavers who make the finest cloth, very, very valuable. They know everything about wool, but little about trading, and nothing of the towns and cities along the Rhine. These are good people. I have promised to take their cloth.”

“But what's all this to do with our house?”

“We are leaving this town. After Lammas we'll move to Worms. I need to be near the market there.”

“Worms? No Father, we can't.”

“Anna, Worms isn't the evil place you think. All that's over.”

“No, it's a horrible place.”

“It's not heaven here. Anna, this is not just about me. For Leah's sake, I should think you would be glad to leave this place. For both of you. For all of us. Agnes wants us gone from the family. We are outcasts here. This is no home. You can't even go into the garden if you see her or your cousins.”

“I've never slept in another bed. This is where I've always been.”

“It isn't safe for Leah here.”

“Worms wasn't safe for her either.”

“I won't travel anymore. People will come to me. Anna, I have found a better house, near the cathedral and the marketplace. You'll love the new home. It is far more fine, with a hall large enough for my goods. There's a separate cooking house in the back. And stairs to a room above the hall, a room just for us, more like the manor house. And a garden. We will plant a pear tree there. I had planned to take you to see the house when we were in Worms that awful day.”

Anna listened, shaking her head stubbornly. “Father, everyone I have ever known is here. This is where we lived with Mother. No one except Martin has ever left.”

“Your uncle's eldest son is old enough to marry. It's time he had a house.”

Anna began to cry.

“It's settled. I am tired of traveling. Your life and mine will be better. I'm off again at the end of the week. I'm weary, Anna.”

“What shall I tell Leah?”

“Tell her that the house in Worms is more comfortable, grand like her father's. And she will be safer.”

“Safer?”

“Because I won't travel. And because no one will know she's a Jew.”

“No, Father. That's not right. Leah wants to be a Jew. She won't ever become a Christian, and she cannot return to Worms.”

“I can't see what choice she has.”

“We must help her.”

“You have done enough. I am not sorry Leah has come into our lives. But it's time for her to become one of us. There's no other way.”

“Can't you understand that Leah cannot become one of us? At least let her see if she has family in Strasbourg.”

“No, Anna. She's just stubborn. No one else will take her. Can you be sure that the story of her betrothal is true? No, she will stay with us. We move next month.”

“I don't think you really listen to anyone, Father. Especially to me,” said Anna sadly.

27

HEALING

 
Anna's heart stopped. She was sitting on a stool outside the door, stripping broad beans in the morning sun, when she saw a strange boy leading Gunther up the road. Her father was hunched, and he stumbled, leaning on the lanky boy who was gently guiding him. Anna dropped her work and ran to him.

“What's wrong?” she asked frantically.

“My eye. Please just let me get inside.”

“What happened?”

The boy just shrugged. When Gunther handed him a coin, he scampered off, leaving the girls to help Gunther into the house. They seated him on a bench against the wall, and he leaned back, drained and in pain.

“Something in my eye. Yesterday the wind stirred up the road. Dust swirled like tiny knives jabbing into my eye. Today, my eye is worse, swollen shut. I could travel no further.”

“Let me see,” said Anna peeling his hand from his face.

Even in the half light, Anna saw that her father's eye was angry and blood filled. She gasped.

“Aunt Agnes will know what to do.”

Anna ran next door where Agnes was salting a tub of butter, kneading it and slapping globs into crocks. Margarete was at the butter churn, and she hardly looked up from her swift strokes when her cousin burst into the room.

“It's the little Jew lover. Unnatural child. Get out of here,” said Agnes icily.

“My father is injured.”

“He's punished for your sin.”

“Aunt, please! He needs your help.”

“He'll get no help from me. Let him ask the Lord. Or maybe the scheming Jewess can call on her god? Go, go now! You'll ruin the butter.”

Anna looked to Margarete who continued to pull and plunge the handle of the churn without looking up.

“Cousin, can you help me?” cried Anna desperately.

“No. And don't think of me as your cousin. I've forgotten your name,” spat Margarete.

“How have I wronged you?”

“With the Jew.”

“Leah is good and kind.”

“Her hands are bloody,” said Agnes