“My idea is this. You all come and live at the church. It’s warm, quiet, and I’ve got Sampson, the church car, right under my thumb...er...almost. The parson says if we do a few odd jobs we’ll be paid in cheese, best quality. He’s expecting us tomorrow morning if you want to come.”
“Rowan knew, as Annad did not, that without the bukshah there would be not rich, creamy milk to drink, no cheese, curd, and butter to eat. There would be no tick gray wood for cloth.There would be no help to plow the fields or carry in the harvest. There would be no broad backs to bear the burden on the long journeys down to the coast to trade with the clever, silent Maris fold. The life of Rind dependen on the bukshah. Without them, the village, too, would die.”
“Rats!
They fought the dogs and killed the cats, and bit the babies in the cradles, and ate the cheese out of the vats, and licked the soup from the cooks’ own ladles.”