The night passed quickly.

Little Hoss woke up from his sleep, but he didn't go down to the field with his farming tools.

Instead, he rummaged around the house and found a suitable scythe for chopping wood.

The handle of the wooden handle, about the length of the wrist to the elbow, carries an iron knife with some curves in front of it.

With this wood-chopping sickle in hand, little Hoth went out.

Last night,

He slept alone and had a dream.

dreaming that he was back on the night of his father's death,

Blood burned from his trouser legs, and he hid in the house, the door closed.

Outside the house were the sounds of all sorts of people knocking on the door, Mr. Raleigh, Mr. More, and the priest,

There were even people in the village, around the prayers of the father at that time,

In the dream, little Hoth couldn't stop being afraid, and kept staring at the drop of blood.

In the dream, the drop of blood gradually grew larger with his fear, soaking his clothes little by little.

He dyed him into a bloody man, and then he saw blood dripping from him.

He fell to the ground in fear,

But it was like taking the place of his father at that time,

The people of the surrounding village appeared, surrounded him, and repeated prayers in fear,

And the priest in the church, looking at him with a kind face, also recited prayers to him.

Little Hoss was frightened and wanted to raise his hand, but found that he couldn't move,

I wanted to open my mouth to make a sound, but I couldn't make a sound.

That's it

Until I was awakened from a nightmare by extreme fear,

It's already covered in cold sweat.

……

With a scythe in hand, little Hoss went out along the road in the village,

All the way to the foot of a hill on the edge of the village.

There is a cemetery for the inhabitants of the village.

There is a distance between most of the graves, where they are deliberately separated,

There was a new grave, and there were no trees around it, and there was no vegetation around it.

Alone there.

Little Hoss stood still, watching, and took a few breaths before walking towards the grave.

That was his father's grave.

for his father had sinned against the gods and against the Lord.

When the villagers buried his father, they did not let him stay with the graves of the other residents of the village.

Fear that the graves of the other inhabitants will be wrathed by the Lord and the gods.

He didn't dare to be too nice to Medioc's grave, so he pulled out the green grass and cut down the green shade here.

Let the grave be exposed to the scorching sun.

At the same time, because he could not return to heaven, he sinned against the Lord.

Nor was there a tombstone in front of the grave that represented the grave of the believer,

It's such a bare grave, lonely here.

Little Hoss looked, then walked to the side.

Take a scythe and cut down the trees on the side of the mountain.

He wanted to build a tombstone for his father.

After searching, little Hoth found a tree,

And he took the sickle and slashed down,

Although the scythe was not as smooth to use, he did not have much strength.

But little Hoth chose a larger tree anyway.

With some difficulty, little Hoss took a sickle and slashed at the trunk of a tree with the mouth of a small bowl.

The sound of chopping trees is muffled,

The branches trembled with Little Hoth's movements, and the branches and leaves shook the skin of Little Hoth's body,

If you itch little Hoss, you will scratch it, and when you are tired, you will take a few breaths,

After a lot of effort, little Hoss finally cut down the tree.

Then he shaved the leaves,

Cutting out a log almost as tall as him,

He was holding another street of wood, using the peeled bark, and tying it up vigorously.

Little Hoth used all his strength to tie the two trunks together as much as he could.

In this way, it becomes a simple tombstone.

Little Hoth took the finished tombstone and returned to his father's grave.

"Dad, the priest said that the Lord will forgive you, and you will be able to return to the arms of the Lord."

Holding the tombstone, in front of the grave bag, little Hoth with the stone, with the sickle,

smashed the finished tombstone, and inserted the tombstone in front of the grave bag little by little.

I was already covered in sweat and panting.

Looking back and forth, Little Hoss picked up a sharp stone from the side.

On the tombstone he erected, on the bark of the stick, his father's name was scratched.

Mediok, Hóss.

are the only two words he knows,

One is his father's name and the other is his own.

Little Hoss staggered upwards and carved the name of his father, Medioc.

“…… Little Hoth ...... Little Hoss, what are you doing! ”

Suddenly, a voice came, with fear and fear in it, shouting loudly,

Little Hoss looked back and saw Aunt Valina carrying the basket.

Aunt Valina is also a resident of the village, not far from Little Hoss's house.

Now he was running towards little Hoth in fear, in terror,

"Little Hoss, what are you doing! Your father can't erect a tombstone, oops! You will sin against the Lord by doing so! ”

Aunt Valina said to little Hoss in fear and anxiety,

He was about to reach out and pull out the tombstone that little Hoss had spent all morning erecting.

"I have gone to the church to pay the fine, and the priest said that the Lord will forgive my father, and my father will return to the arms of the Lord."

Little Hoss stopped Valina,

Valina hesitated,

"Really? Has the Lord forgiven your father? Can you erect a tombstone? ”

"Yes, my father Medioc can return to the Lord's arms!"

"Whew...... That's good. Little Hoth, you scared me to death, I thought, I thought ...... lest you sin against the Lord and the gods again when the time comes, so that you will ......"

Aunt Valina breathed a sigh of relief, her frightened look subsided, and she bowed down to Medioc's grave.

"Is the tombstone erected, do you need my help?"

"No, it's fine."

Little Hoss shook his head.

Aunt Valina nodded.

"Aunt Valina, what are you doing here?"

"Come and see your brother Walker."

Aunt Valina said to little Hoth.

Walker, Aunt Valina's first child,

But he died before he grew up, and then he was buried here.

"Aunt Valina, go ahead."

Aunt Valina nodded and walked away.

Little Hoss faced the tombstone, continued to skew a little crookedly, and carefully carved his father's name,

Give this bag a name, and know that this is Mediaok's grave.

“…… Dad, I'm leaving, I'll come to see you tomorrow. ”

Little Hoss spoke again to the tombstone and the grave bag, and got up to leave.

“…… Little Hoss! ”

Aunt Valina over there shouted loudly at this time,

"Are you hungry? Eating? I've got some food here. ”

"No, thank you, Aunt Valina."

Little Hoss left the grave and returned home.

Cook some food at home and eat it, and in the afternoon,

Little Hoth took his farm tools and went out into the field.

He still needs to pay off Mr. Raleigh's debts, and he needs to live,

He needs to cultivate it.

fortunately

Although he was still young, he had followed his father down into the field many times.

He took the seed from the house and went to the field.

In the field, with his back to the sun, facing the land, holding a farm tool, he ploughed little by little.

Sweat began to drip from his cheeks, then from the placket, and mixed in with the dirt.

When he raised his head again, Xiao Hoss's head was a little dizzy, and his feet and body trembled a little.

I hid in the shade for a while before returning to the field.

Cultivated like this for an afternoon,

but far from being in time when his father was there,

He just planted a small plot of land with crops.

At night, when I got home,

Little Hoss was too tired to move, but his hunger forced him to bring out the food left over from noon.