It is hay-making time on the Wookey farm. Two brothers are building the haystack, but thinking about other things – about young women, and love. There are angry words, and then a fight between the brothers. But the work goes on, visitors come and go, and the long hot summer day slowly turns to evening.
Then the sun goes down, covering the world with a carpet of darkness. From the hedges around the hayfield comes the rich, sweet smell of wild flowers, and the hay will make a fine, soft bed…
Glossary
- bang (n) a sudden very loud noise
- blanket a cover that you sleep under, to keep you warm
- breath taking in or sending out air through your nose and mouth
- cheek one of the two round parts of your face under your eyes
- cheese yellow or white food made from milk
- cover (n) a thing that goes over another thing, to keep it dry, etc.
- engaged if two people are engaged, they have agreed to marry
- feelings something that you feel inside yourself (e.g. angry, sad)
- fool a person who is stupid or who does something stupid
- fork a large tool with points at one end, used for farm work
- frown (v) to move your eyebrows together to make lines on your forehead (you frown when you are worried or angry)
- gentle quiet and kind
- ghostly like a ghost; not real
- governess a woman employed to teach the children of a rich family in their home
- hate (n) a strong feeling of not liking someone; opposite of ‘love’
- hay grass which is cut and dried, and used as food for animals
- hay-maker somebody who cuts and dries grass to make hay
- haystack (stack) a very big pile of hay, built in a tall ‘box’ shape
- hedge a line of small trees that makes a kind of wall round a field
- icy like ice; very, very cold
- kiss (v) to touch someone with your lips to show love
- ladder two tall pieces of wood, with shorter pieces between them, used for climbing up something
- lamp a thing that gives light
- lean (v) to put or rest your body against another thing
- light (adj) not heavy, easy to lift or move; not dark in colour
- mean (adj) not kind
- miserable very sad or unhappy
- mist thin cloud near the ground that is difficult to see through
- neat with everything in the right place; tidy
- pie meat (or vegetables, or fruit) inside a pastry case
- pretty nice to look at
- shade (n) a place out of the sunlight (under a tree, behind a high wall, etc.)
- shed a small building for keeping tools, animals, etc.
- shy not able to talk easily to people that you do not know
- stare (v) to look at someone or something for a long time
- tears water that comes from the eyes when you cry
- terror the feeling when you are very, very afraid
- throw (past tense threw) to move your arm quickly to send something through the air
- tool a thing that you hold in your hand and use to do a job (e.g. a fork is a farm tool)
- tramp (n) a person with no home or job, who goes from place to place
- trust (v) to feel sure that someone is honest and good
- vicar a priest in the Church of England
- wagon a kind of open ‘car’ pulled by a horse or horses
- waist the part around the middle of your body
- wave (v) to move your hand from side to side, to say hello or goodbye
- weep to cry
- whisper (v) to speak in a very soft, quiet voice
- wonder (n) a feeling that you have when you see something very strange or beautiful or surprising