The Brewers

Walter Smith

8, Elena's elder boy, the smith's son; since his mother married Stephen Brewer on 14 January 1354 he lives at the inn with her, Margaret (9), Hugh (3), Stephen, Adam and Joan. At his letters with Sir John since Michaelmas.

House: The Brewers
Born: about 1345
Age: 8
Mother: Elena Brewer
Sister: Margaret Smith
Brother: Hugh Smith
Pastime: watching the heron

Who they are

Small and wiry, brown hair that sticks up. The new front tooth came in crooked and he still pokes at it. Had the spots and a fever last summer; the inn's cough got him in the middle of February and broke up his reading for weeks.
Proud of the forge as if it were partly his. It stood cold from the wedding till 12 March, when the Fairford smith came to it: Adam Fisher, with a wife and three boys, the youngest, John, ten. He keeps his back to the old forge when he's in the croft, and fog that hides it is nearly better.
Wary of strangers: stands half behind the door post and stares until they speak first, then gives short answers. At the inn there are strangers every night, and he listens to all of them: a carter on runaway bondmen, Emma the juggler on glass windows, a man who said a smith's arm is worth any three. He brings it all out to Margaret as if it were sure.
Stubborn and watchful. Goes quiet when he's thinking, then asks a question that's too big: is there a letter for the vixen's scream, what's a pledge for.
At his letters with Sir John most mornings and often after dinner. His hand aches on the wax and his legs go to sleep on the bench. On 18 February he got the hard line of the Pater Noster through without stopping; Sir John said his D has a belly at last; his P still won't stand.
Cuts and carries the firewood, dry on top, wet under the eaves; does odd jobs about the croft; minds the sheep on the common with Margaret.
Scolded for touching what he was told to leave, for wandering off when he should mind Hugh, and for dragging mud into the inn.

Pastimes

Birds and beasts he can watch without being seen: the heron in the shallows, still as a post, that he'll outlast if it takes till dark; the crows on the common fence, which sit just past where a pebble reaches; the vixen screaming past the croft at night (he was awake, whatever Meg says).
Counting between the flash and the crack in a storm, the way Mam showed him.
His mother's hammer song. He sings the words wrong on purpose to be corrected, and lately there's nobody to correct him.
Amice Warrener, who asks him hard questions back. She showed him where she hides her red ribbon, and he can keep a thing hid.
Kit Fletcher, more than he lets on. She carried pottage for Mam when Mam was abed and never said she had, and he thinks she's not as sour as she makes out.
The tales Sir John lets drop: Robin Hood robbing the abbot and the sheriff.
23 March 1354: Walter sings his mother's hammer song wrong on purpose; only she gets to put it right, never Jack Fisher.
23 March 1354: Walter means to ask the new smith whether he knows the hammer song and wants a boy for the bellows.
23 March 1354: Jack Fisher boasts and counts his loads, yet he's easy enough in the croft, and he still has a forge to argue over.

How they talk

Short, blunt sentences and lots of "Why?" and "What for?" Brags about the forge and himself: "My mam can mend anything." "I'm not little. I'm eight." "A smith's arm's worth any three."
To strangers: hardly a word, from behind the door post. To Margaret: "Hush," and "You never," when she's seen something he hasn't, and when he's cornered, something bigger than the quarrel: "You always think it's the end of everything."
To Amice and Kit: questions, and he'll ask to be shown how. "Does it hold when you pull, or does it slip?"
To Sir John: "Yes, Sir John," and the question saved up all morning.
Called: Wat, at home.
10 March 1354: Margaret's fear of fire at the inn and of the cough taking their mother back to bed is hers; Walter won't be hushed by it, though he watches Mam too.
10 March 1354: Walter means to be smith after Mam and have the bellows first; the cold forge, unlit since the wedding, sits heavy on him.
10 March 1354: At his letters with Sir John his P won't stand up, and he keeps forgetting to ask what a pledge is for.
10 March 1354: Amice says she'll be warrener after her father; she talks bold and loud, and he doesn't believe all her tales.

What he thought lately

All morning on the wax and my P still won't stand up. The D has a belly to sit on. A P's all head and one leg, like Jack.
28 May

Jack was first at the sack in the croft again, and first to say so. I'd sooner think on Robin Hood and the abbot than on him.
27 May

The smith came to our own house today and I took myself off to watch the heron. A heron never has to ask anybody for anything.
26 May

Our house gave alms to the Warreners at the church door, with Amy there. She always has a hard question for me, and I hadn't one thing to say to her.
25 May

The heron didn't move, so I didn't either, and I can do that. Saying it plain to Meg that the flux wasn't her doing, I can't.
24 May

Overheard

16 June, afternoon at the croft · Walter Smith and John Fisher

John: Wat, you're not to stand there gawping at my wood. I've cut eight loads this week and I've twelve more to go.

Walter: Twelve more? Father Stephen would have had them stacked by now, dry on top, not wet under the eaves like yours.

John: My father says the eaves are where the wet gets in, so I'm stacking them under the lean-to, and you can keep your opinions to yourself.

Walter: Fine. Come and see the heron at the shallows before dark, then. It's still as a post and I'll outlast it, I always do.

15 June, midday at the common · Walter Smith and Christina Fletcher

Walter: I've got the sheep on the common with Meg, and the rain's got into everything. The heron's gone off down the shallows and I never saw where.

Christina: Mam says the grist's ground dear at the mill now that Peter's charging the toll like it's Lent. The wet's on the barley, so she's sour about that too.

Walter: Father says the wet'll rot the winter corn if it doesn't stop. There's a stranger in the inn, Henry of Oakham, a wool man, and he's looking over the clip before the merchants come.

Christina: A wool man. I don't care what he's looking at, Wat. He's not having our pig.

In the books

12 June 1353 Walter Smith is in bed with spots and a fever.

The daily round (3 more)

29 September John of Thornbury has taken Walter Smith, 7, to teach him his letters.
21 June Walter Smith is up again after spots and a fever.
30 September The Smiths keep the forge: Elena (31), Margaret (8), Walter (6), Hugh (2).