Mary's Path

When the last grey-clad riders had left the castle courtyard, the court turned around and entered the castle. Mary and the chatelaine remained while the castle courtyard slowly returned to the tumultuous chaos that Mary had watched from the window.

“Come, I don’t have time to stand here” it was the chatelaine who spoke to Mary. Her voice was stern and thin. Mary turned to the chatelaine and waited for her to lead her to Mary’s new room.

“I’ve made sure your things have been moved to your new room,” said the chatelaine as they walked toward the castle.

“Thank you,” said Mary. They did not enter through the large doors where Mary had come out. Instead, they walked around the castle and entered through a much smaller door. Mary saw that they entered the parts of the castle where the servants were staying. They rounded a corner and suddenly they were standing in the middle of the kitchen. It was the biggest kitchen Mary had ever seen.

There were four huge fireplaces where the food was cooked. There were benches everywhere and there was so much food on them that Mary thought it could be feed the whole city. There were people running around everywhere. Mary thought it was chaos, she couldn’t understand how any food was made there.

“Come,” said the chatelaine, setting off across the kitchen. It seemed that most of the people in the kitchen had respect or were afraid of the chatelaine, because they automatically paved a path for her by stopping or moving so that she always had free way.

Mary followed her close on her heels. For Mary, the kitchen was scary. The chatelaine stopped in front of a woman the size of four ordinary women. Her face was red with the heat and from working. She wore a white cotton cap on her head and here and there a blonde lock slipped out from underneath it. Her eyes were small and blue. She seemed annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of work. She looked at the chatelaine.

“This is the new kitchen maid” said the chatelaine, giving a little nod in Mary’s direction. The big woman’s blue eyes changed their focus from the castle wife to Mary. She looked closely at her and seemed to value Mary.

“A little weak and looks almost sickly,” said the big woman.

“Not my problem,” said the chatelaine, and began to walk away. Mary turned around to follow, but the chatelaine turned around looking at Mary. “You stay here,” she said, and then disappeared.

Mary turned to the big woman. The woman shook her head a little but seemed to accept the situation as it was.

“What’s your name?” she asked Mary.

“Mary Group,” Mary replied.

“My name is Mrs. Karrots, I’m the head cook here in the castle. “I’m in charge of the kitchen, do you understand?” Mary nodded.

“Good. If you’re going to be a kitchen maid, you should get better clothes for the task.” Mary looked down at her blue dress given to her by the Lady. She nodded and pondered which of the dresses that was in her chest that fit her new work.

“Good, I’ll tell you what to do and how to do it. I expect it to be done quickly and correctly, do you understand?” Mary nodded again. “Good. First, I want you to bring in water to boil the vegetables in. All those pots should be filled to two-thirds,” she said, pointing to four large pots standing by one of the fireplaces. Mary nodded and thought it would take her all day.

“Jossi, make sure the new one here knows where the buckets for the water are and where the well is,” Mrs. Karrots shouted. A young, beautiful woman appeared among all people.

“Of course, she said.”

“Do you know what to do?” Mrs. Karrots asked Mary.

“Yes, ma’am, I’m going to fill those pots to two-thirds with water that I’m getting from the well that this woman is going to show me where it is” Mary summarized. Mrs. Karrots nodded approvingly and then turned her back and continued with what she was doing when the chatelaine had interrupted her.

Mary looked at the young woman who had already begun to make her way through all the people who worked in the kitchen. Mary quickly followed her. When they came out the back, it got both colder and quieter.

“Here you have the buckets” pointed Jossi and Mary saw three stacks of sturdy wooden buckets. “There you have the well” Jossi continued, pointing to a wooden cover. “Are you going to be okay now? I have my own work to do.” Mary nodded and went to bring out two buckets. “Don’t fall into the well” the woman shouted over her shoulder as she disappeared through the door.

Mary went up to the well and opened the cover. She attached the bucket to the rope and dropped it into the well. When the bucket was filled with water, she hooked it up and repeated the procedure with the other bucket.

With a full bucket in each hand, she walked toward the door. When she entered the kitchen, she was careful not to spill water on the floor. She didn’t want to be responsible for someone in there slipping on a puddle of water.

Carefully but as quickly as she could, she made her way to one of the large pots and poured into the water. She looked down at the pot and realized that the water barely covered the bottom. It was going to be a long day, she thought, as she quickly made her way toward the door.

When Mary finally finished filling the pots to a third, her hands was sore, and she had back pain. But when she stood behind Mrs. Karrots, she felt proud. Mrs. Karrots turned around.

“Are you done?” she asked Mary. Mary nodded. “Not too bad, it could have gone a little faster but at least we’ll get the vegetables ready in time,” said Mrs. Karrots. She waved at a couple of men who walked up and hung up the large pots in the fireplace. Mrs. Karrots turned to Mary again.

“Out in the yard, not far from the well, there is a storage room full of chopped wood. I want you to make sure there’s plenty of firewood for all the fireplaces in the kitchen. It’s almost time to start cooking dinner and not just preparing, and then the wood must not run out. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Mary, and headed out to find the firewood. She went out to the well and looked around. Not far away was a storage room where she could see the wood through the door.

She piled her arms full of firewood and carried it into the kitchen. Each fireplace had its own crate for firewood. She looked down at the different crates and realized that this would be a painstaking job as well.