The priest began to point to his candidates. “You there, maiden.”
A cheer rose from her kin. “Me?” she asked timidly.
“Aye, you! Come to the fore.”
A young girl of about eleven stepped lightly toward Pious. She was willowy and tall, blonde, and fair. She turned to face the others and blushed.
“And you… there.”
Another young girl stepped forward. She had a bold step, however, and Richard muttered that her legs looked thick under her gown. She was brown-haired, buxom, and spirited. “Better ahead of the plough than behind,” he chortled.
“Hmm. I pray God helps me!” cried Pious. The crowd tittered and waited patiently. The priest scanned the pressing folk until he spotted Katharina. She was standing at the edge of the crowd, shyly, and eyes cast down. Heinrich saw her too and his heart beat quickly. He had not seen her for months, for her cruel husband had kept her indoors for nearly every winter’s day. Pious stared at her for a long moment. Her form was as one kindly, graceful and lean. A bit old, thought the priest. But … He hesitated while Katharina died a thousand deaths. “You, there! Wife of Ludwig the Yeoman.” The man pointed a chubby finger toward the woman and beckoned her.
Katharina closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. She wanted nothing of this silly game. She had been pleased enough to feel the sunshine on her face and needed nothing more. As she moved reluctantly toward the front she smiled politely and begged the pardon of those she bumped against. She stood with the other two and licked her dry lips nervously.
Heinrich left Richard and pressed his way closer. He caught her eye for a fleeting moment and she looked quickly away. At the same time her brutish husband bellowed from somewhere in the crowd, “She’s mine! Y’ve no right to look at my woman!”
Meanwhile, Marta simmered. Why that cow before me? Suddenly she worried that Pious would not choose another matron.
The priest shifted his black robe and craned his balding head. “A gourd!” sneered Wil. “His head looks like some swollen gourd and his eyes peek out from his flab like … like little acorns.”
“Quiet!” scolded Karl. “You’ll be doing penance again.”
“There, you,” called the priest. He had chosen number four from the far side of the common. She was another young one, barely of marrying age.
“She’s the sister of that redhead, Ingrid,” added Wil.
“Aye, and y’think Ingrid to be pretty!” teased Karl.
“Shut up, y’dolt!”
Irene, daughter of Franz the yeoman, now stood by Pious and smiled shyly to her cheering family. She waved and giggled and adjusted the white Maiglücken blooms tucked neatly in her hair.
“I’ve but one left to choose,” announced Pious. He stretched his neck and scratched his head, furrowed his brow and folded his arms. The names of this one and that were shouted from the impatient folk until, at last, he smiled and motioned for calm. “Ah, good people, I have chosen!” He smiled and pointed to Marta. The woman feigned surprise and blushed. “Me? You pick me?”
Heinrich groaned as Richard jibed him. “You are s-surely one destined to suffer!” he slurred. “Look at her. She walks like someone p-planted a great stick in her rump! She’s got the way of a she-wolf on the prowl, and ha, poor Katharina looks like a d-doe tangled in the brush!”
Reeve Edwin called the crowd to order and thanked the priest, but Pious was not quite finished with his plan. He cleared his throat and beckoned for Marta. He laid his arm over her shoulder and spoke sternly. “Men, hear me, and hear me well, for nothing happens on earth that is not noted in heaven:
Your spelt and wheat and oats and rye
I pray do yield you well,
But choose not she who tempts your eye
Else you shall end in hell!
Choose with care, choose not in jest
A queen to bless your ground.
Choose one proven and one blessed
And one whose spirit’s sound.”
Wil groaned. “A riddle!”
Karl smiled. He loved riddles.
The crowd remained quiet. In times past choosing the queen was a frivolous thing, but Father Pious’s poem made it seem worthy of more care. They suddenly imagined their crops to be at risk and the fun was gone. They studied the candidates and murmured amongst themselves until Edwin called for their attention. “Now, are we ready?”
The crowd nodded.
“Good.” Reeve Edwin put his hand on the first maiden’s head. “All for this one?”
She received a polite applause and a few distant cheers. The young girl hung her head and stepped backward.
“And for this?”
Again, the same.
“And for Katharina?”