Abandoned - Gypsy Camp - Story 79

[Abandoned]

Chapter 8


  Before Mckaylan's wagon was complete, Harlton and Bryleighton moved into their wagon back in the woods.  They also had a newborn, a boy named Ibraham.  Their 13-year-old son, Domenicolas, had a wagon built south of ours.  He got a grape vine from Marvid and Ette and had it growing in a big pot behind his wagon.  He was hoping his sister, Crissie, would be the one doing the grape stomping but she moved into a tiny house in town.   She made friends with the girl living across from her and she liked the young woodcutter who lived next door.  A new Old Town Smith was built not far from those houses and the young blacksmith who worked there liked her.







  By then, Mckaylan's wagon was completed, and the girl set up a table with an awning to sell the love potions she made from wild plants and herbs. 





  As I foresaw, our daughter, Teller's wagon was built next to ours.  She would help care for her new baby brother, Martheford, and she would tend the camp's bonfire.  She was quite a good gypsy dancer at a young age and would help entertain visitors to our camp.   I saw some young men from Ironwood watching her dance from the woods. There was bound to be more young men coming from town.

[Glenn]

The gypsy wagons look very interesting in the game.

[Abandoned]

@Glenn Thanks.  I think they would look good outside a castle wall.  There are free-to-build deco wagons included.



Chapter 9

  In town, by the end of year 3, a Tiny town hall had been built and a school was being built next to it.  There was only one child that would be starting school soon.  Most of the 23 children now recorded in the town hall were newborns or only a year or two old.  As I foresaw, the gypsy and his lady had 2 boys.  I also predicted they would have another boy child in spring of the following year.  The accuracy of my predictions had other townswomen coming to me wanting to know how many children they would have or whether their expected child would be a boy or a girl.  The town could use more girls, at present there were more boys than girls.




  In our camp, the last adult boy, moved into his own wagon.  Wilmers and Malvira's boy Sedric chose a location by the stockpile for his wagon.  He set up an anvil out front but we did not need any tools.  He was put in charge of bringing supplies from town to our stash.  There was plenty of tools, clothes, and food items to be had.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 10


    Sedric used his anvil to make trinkets for trade with the visitors.  He said it was easier to have visitors bring needed items to trade than it was for him to make trips to town and back to keep the stash filled.  His talismans and amulets were as popular as his cups and tableware.  The first warm days of spring brought more visitors to our camp and customers to his trinket table.  As predicted, the gypsy and his lady had another boy child they named, Steward.





Mckaylan's love potions were drawing the attention of young women from town and they, along with older women, wanted their fortunes told.   Men and older boys from town and from Ironwood gathered round the bonfire to watch the gypsy girls dance.  Domenicolas was harvesting the first grapes of the season from his potted grape vine, and he had a grape stomping barrel set up and was making wine. 






  While the Ironwood men were occupied drinking wine and watching the gypsy girls dancing, Domenicolas' father, Harlton, took the opportunity to visit Ironwood's far work camp with his wagon to borrow some need items.  Old habits die hard.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 11


  Harlton return with his borrower's cart filled with venison, apples, and a few hides.  He would have to return to Ironwood and back home again later by a different route through the trees.  There were men lined up on the path to his house to visit with his wife.  Why?  Well, one could say Bryleighton was something of a healer.  She had been in the habit of taking care of the needs of Ironwood men while Harlton did some borrowing.






By autumn, we actually had a healer's wagon and Mckaylan became our herbalist healer.  She set up another display table, this one with herbal elixirs.  She set out a few more pots to plant with flowers and herbs and she put out a sign to attract customers.  There was a hedgerow across the road where asparagus would come up in spring and where there would be herbs to gather.  Herbal chamomile tea was very soothing and healing as well as providing tea leaves for reading.  Can I get you another cup, weary traveler?

[Glenn]

This weary traveller would love a cup of tea - I can see myself living happily in the Gypsy camp.

Years ago I had my tea leaves read - it perfectly described a predicament I faced at the time, and then, having made my choice the leaves were 100 percent correct in the outcome.

Looking back it was a classic damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

The other choice may have lead to exactly the same outcome - then on the other hand it may have not -  it is something I may never know.

I can see Gypsy camps being a wonderful addition to all our games.

[Abandoned]

  Very interesting, thanks for sharing that. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 12


  There were less visitors to our gypsy camp as the seasons changed once again and winter came.  But then it was spring and the asparagus was coming up and the wild flowers were blooming.  The plants in the healer's pots were also blooming, and visitors were returning to trade for elixirs, love potions, and trinkets, and to have their fortunes told.





  With spring came 3 families, with 4 young children and 2 adult children, who moved from Ironwood to this side of the river.  One of the families was a gypsy family that had remained behind in the hills when we moved here.  They were an older couple who wanted me to know that my prediction, that they would one day have the child they wanted, had finally come true.  They had a little girl, Evelynettina, who just turned one.  They built a wagon in camp just past Mckayla, the healer's wagon.





  The other 2 families had visited our camp and the town in the past and thought it was a place they would like to live.  They wanted more space and more peace and quiet than Ironwood had to offer.  They chose a secluded spot northeast of town and began planting their garden while their nice houses were being built.  The couple with twins built a house on one side of the garden and the other couple built on the other side.  Their adult son moved into the nice cottage next to them.  By the following spring they had the area fenced in and were harvesting beans, apples, squash, mushrooms, cabbage, wild honey, herbs, wild oats, and peppers.  There was a stockpile and storage barn built nearby.

[haewalt]

Very colorful, enjoying it. Love the early-game minutiae:)

[Abandoned]

 

Chapter 13


  By late summer the town's firewood supply was low.  Another woodcutter was assigned to cut wood in town while everyone else went out into the forest to gather branches.  By early winter there was enough firewood for all the houses, wagons, and cookfires.


  We had more visitors in spring of year 6 but they did not plan to stay long.  There were 4 families of roaming gypsies, some were distantly related to some in our camp.  It was good to see them.  They parked their wagons along the road.  There was a small clearing there where they roped off an area for their horses.  The boys in camp took hay and water to the horses.




  The gypsy visitors brought us 2 elderberry bushes they dug up along the road.  Mckaylan immediately provided pots to plant them in.  The bushes transplanted well and soon there were elderberries to pick.  The men made a brewer's barrel to turn the berries in elderberry wine.  The townspeople and those from Ironwood joined in our reunion celebration.  There was food and dancing, and there was music and there was wine.




  All too soon the leaves and the temperature and a cold autumn rain began to fall and the roaming gypsy families went on their way.  There were many new towns to visit and to borrow from.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 14


  The snow began to fall shortly after the roaming gypsies left our camp.  It made us feel very lucky to be where we were with plenty of firewood, warm coats, roasted meat and potatoes, fruits and vegetables, and wine.  Marvid and Ette made sure that we and the townspeople had everything we needed.  In spring of year 7, the population of the town and our camp was 79, 42 adults, 7 students, and 30 young children.  The town was doing well and had a new chapel and a cemetery.






  Of the 30 young children, 22 lived in town and 8 in our camp.  The only gypsy child among the 7 students was our son, Jencarlton, who was 7 years old. The school in town was a long way for him to go.  Carnardo and I thought the only reason the boy wanted to go to school was to be with children his own age.  His brother was 6 but the other children in camp were only ages 3, 2, and 1.  Ette thought we should have a school.  Well, we gypsies really didn't see a need for a school but Ette convinced us to at least take a couple of school books to have in camp.  Yander, in the wagon near us, agreed to teach the children or anyone else who wanted to learn something.  He set up a table and some chairs, put the books on the table and an awning over it.  He built a wagon nearby to take the books and children inside on really cold and rainy days.  Our gypsy camp had a school.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 15


  Our gypsy camp had everything we needed.  We had a herbalist healer and a fortune teller.  We had table displays of love potions, elixirs, and trinkets.  We had a stash of need items that we filled from the storage units in town.  We had a borrower's cart to get items from Ironridge, and a firewood cart too.  We had horses to pull a wagon if anyone chose to leave.   And we had wine.  We had half barrels planted with grapes and elderberries and we had a barrel for grape stomping and one for making elderberry wine.  Why would anyone want to leave?  We were all healthy and happy.  We lived in a beautiful valley and our wagons were sturdy, comfortable, and warm.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 16


  The families that moved from Ironridge felt the same.  They were happy and healthy and felt like they lived in a fairy garden.  They wanted a wine barrel like the one we made elderberry wine in so they could make apple cider with the apples from the tree in their garden. 






  The townspeople were happy and healthy too.  They had a school and town hall, a tailor and a smith, and a new chapel and cemetery.  And they had stomping barrels to make wine from the Gypsy's grape vineyard. 





There was new spring wine for the spring and Easter celebration in the festival park.  The Gypsy himself dressed up as an Easter bunny to delight the children.  Ette made baskets and colored eggs to hide around the town center for all the children to hunt for.  And there was music and there was wine.  Everyone was very glad that "the Gypsy Rover came over the hill and won the heart of his lady".


Happy Easter, weary traveler.

The End

[Glenn]

A lovely story - music, wine and fortune telling, a peaceful valley filled with happy people.

Happy Easter Abandoned.

[Abandoned]

  Thanks @Glenn and Happy Easter to you.