Destiny

Words 299

Sarah was the middle child, born between six brothers. The village in which the family lived was predominantly a farming community and boys were valued more than daughters. Sarah had little education, but she was quick, clever and knew she was as capable as any of her brothers. And yet she was simply her mother’s helper. Cooking, cleaning and washing the endless supply of dirty work clothes.

One day on her fourteenth birthday, which no one had as yet acknowledged, while hanging laundry on the clothes line she looked up at the sound of a bird call she hadn’t heard before. A cloud formation appeared in the shape of an arrow pointing north.

She followed it for hours. Through fields of wheat, rape seed, up steep inclines and thick forests, all the while keeping her eye on the arrow in the sky. At the very top of a hill stood an old man firing arrows from a beautifully hand-crafted bow. He smiled at this tall, youthful girl with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

“I followed the cloud,” she explained, “what does it mean?”

“The arrow is a sign, my child. I am a master archer and I’ve been searching for an apprentice. You were the only one who took the time to look into the sky and had the instinct to follow. I had thoughts of a boy to teach my skills to, but now I see you were meant to be.”

From then on, Sarah learned all the intricacies of how to hold the bow, aiming and releasing the arrow. She entered tournaments across the country, winning prize money which brought more money into her family’s coffers than any of her brothers. She thanked the day she had followed the sign which led her to her destiny.