Abigail's Story by Ann Burton

Author:Ann Burton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

CHAPTER

11

Rosh Yehud’s wife Bethel insisted Keseke and I stay in camp until her sons could repair the roof of the hill house. Storms came each afternoon and lasted far into the night, so it was only sensible to abide with them. There were so many women that the tents were crowded, but they were also warm and dry.

My serving woman had no real objections. “Everything smells of goat and sheep, but there is enough to eat, I suppose, and men to watch over us.” She gave me a stern look. “You are not to be alone with any of the men. Most of them are married.”

“So am I, and I do not wish to be.” That was almost true. I did think often about meeting the shepherd who had danced in the rain. It was a childish wish, and nothing could come of it, but still my thoughts lingered on him.

I looked for the blue of his mantle whenever I walked outside the tents, but saw no sign of him. The few women I asked about the shepherd did not seem to know of whom I spoke.

I began to think I imagined him.

The armed men we had seen the first night appeared now and then, but they never spoke to any of us or moved within the camp. Most often I saw the dal patrolling beyond the torches, circling in groups of five and six, always alert and carrying many weapons. I had no opportunity to ask Yehud about them, for the rosh left at dawn with the herds and did not return until late at night, when he retired to his tent and sent for Bethel or one of his other wives to attend him.

“My uncle is having some trouble with other herdsmen from the south,” Leha told me. “There is only one stream where the men can water the herds at the noon hour, and sometimes our men are made to hold back the herd and wait while the southerners water their flocks. Since ours are much larger than theirs, and our sheep are thirsty, the men must work hard to keep them back.”

“Is the water on my husband’s land?” That would mean our herdsmen deserved the right to use it first.

“No. It cuts through land that belongs to King Saul.” Leha made a face. “The king’s law says whoever comes first, waters first.”

With each day, I learned a little more about the way Yehud and his people lived, and the difficulties and hardships of tending the flocks. Each morning the sheep were brought out of a walled pasture, which Leha called the sheepfold, at the edge of camp. The flock was so large that it had to be divided, else the sheep were in danger of scattering and being lost once up in the hills.

Yehud’s sons all had their own portion of the flock to drive to graze, and incredibly each had trained his sheep to come at the sound of his voice. I

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