The Wee Free Men

'We shall see,' said Granny. The men dragged the dog to the doorway, threw it inside the barn and slammed the door quickly. People rushed to the little windows.

There was the bleating of the lamb, a growl from the dog, and then a baa from the lamb's mother. But this wasn't the normal baa of a sheep. It had an edge to it.

Something hit the door and it bounced on its hinges. Inside, the dog yelped.

Granny Aching picked up Tiffany and held her up to a window.

The shaken dog was trying to get to its feet, but it didn't manage it before the ewe charged it again, seventy pounds of enraged sheep slamming into it like a battering ram.

Granny lowered Tiffany again and lit her pipe. She puffed it peacefully as the building behind her shook and the dog yelped and whimpered.

After a couple of minutes she nodded at the men. They opened the door.

The dog came out limping on three legs, but it hadn't managed to get more than a few feet before the ewe shot out behind it and butted it so hard that it rolled over.

It lay still. Perhaps it had learned what would happen if it tried to get up again.

Granny Aching had nodded to the men, who grabbed the sheep and dragged it back into the barn.

The Baron had been watching with his mouth open.

'He killed a wild boar last year!' he said. 'What did you do to him?'

'He'll mend,' said Granny Aching, carefully ignoring the question. ' 'Tis mostly his pride that's hurt. But he won't look at a sheep again, you have my thumb on that.' And she licked her right thumb and held it out.

After a moment's hesitation, the Baron licked his thumb, reached down and pressed it against hers. Everyone knew what it meant. On the Chalk, a thumb bargain was unbreakable.

'For you, at a word, the law was brake,' said Granny Aching. 'Will ye mind that, ye who sit in judgement? Will yer remember this day? Ye'll have cause to.'

The Baron nodded to her.

'That'll do,' said Granny Aching, and their thumbs parted.

Next day the Baron technically did give Granny Aching gold, but it was only the gold-coloured foil on an ounce of Jolly Sailor, the cheap and horrible pipe tobacco that was the only one Granny Aching would ever smoke. She was always in a bad mood if the pedlars were late and she'd run out. You couldn't bribe Granny Aching for all the gold in the world, but you could definitely attract her attention with an ounce of Jolly Sailor.