Page 46 of The Evening and the Morning
Dreng said: “Don’t speak of my daughter like that.”
“She’s my daughter, too.”
“You’re too hard on her. She may have her faults—”
Ma interrupted. “We all want her to marry, but how is she to live? My farm will not feed another mouth—never mind two.”
Dreng said: “I’m not going to marry her to a husband who can’t support her. I’m a cousin of the ealdorman of Shiring. My daughter could marry a nobleman.”
Leaf laughed derisively.
Dreng went on: “Besides, I can’t let her go. There’s too much work to do around here. I need someone young and strong to paddle the ferry. Blod is too pregnant and I can’t do it myself—I’ve got a bad back. A Viking knocked me off my horse—”
“Yes, yes, at the battle of Watchet,” said Leaf impatiently. “I’ve heard you were drunk, and you fell off a whore, not a horse.”
Ma said: “As to that, Dreng, when Cwenburg leaves you can employ Edgar.”
Well, Edgar thought, I didn’t see that coming.
“He’s young and strong, and what’s more he can build you a new boat to replace that old tree trunk, which is going to sink any day now.”
Edgar was not sure what he thought of that. He would love to build another boat, but he hated Dreng.
“Employ that cocky pup?” Dreng said scornfully. “No one wants a dog that barks at its master, and I don’t want Edgar.”
Ma ignored that. “You can pay him half a penny per day. You’ll never get a cheaper boat.”
A calculating look came over Dreng’s face as he figured that Ma was right. But he said: “No, I don’t like it.”
Leaf said: “We have to do something.”
Dreng looked obstinate. “I’m her father, and I’ll decide.”
“There is one other possibility,” said Ma.
Here it comes, Edgar thought. What scheme has she dreamed up?
“Come on, spit it out,” said Dreng. He was trying to be in charge, but no one else believed it.
Ma was silent for a long moment, then said: “Cwenburg must marry Erman and Eadbald.”
Edgar had not seen that coming, either.
Dreng was outraged. “And she would have two husbands?”
Leaf said pointedly: “Well, plenty of men have two wives.”
Dreng looked indignant but could not, for the moment, find words to express just where Leaf was wrong.
“I’ve heard of such marriages,” Ma said calmly. “It happens whentwo or three brothers inherit a farm that is too small for more than one family.”
Eadbald said: “But how does it work? I mean... at night?”
Ma said: “The brothers take it in turn to lie with their wife.”
Edgar was sure he wanted no part of this, but he kept quiet for the moment, not wanting to undermine Ma. He would state his position later. Come to think of it, Ma must already have guessed how he felt.
Leaf said: “I knew such a family, once. When I was a child I sometimes played with a girl who had one mama and two daddies.” Edgar wondered whether to believe her. He looked hard at her face and saw an expression of genuine reminiscence. She added: “Margaret, her name was.”
