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South of Sterrenbos, north of Hveitsvar is are the smooth hills of Haithyan. It is much like Wythviz, but with more plants and animal life. Common here are the tough grasses and the purple Haithan. They have grown here for centuries and dead plants and their roots formed, together with the fine sands and dried clay that flew in from Wythviz, a very tough soil. Rainwater can not flow into the ground and stays for weeks on the surface, making an excellent place to live for some small animals as frogs and fish. These animals lay their eggs in the mud, and the eggs can survive in the dried mud and clay until the next rain fills the pool again - then the eggs break open and give room for the next generation. After Phyarxday, the Haithyan turns into one large blanket of purple blossom of Haithan, the plant after which the region is called, and an abundance of bees and butterflies hovering over it. It is decorated with the dark blue of the Liuven and the yellow of the dried grasses. A delicate perfume covers the valleys and the hills, and the farmers and shepherd gather the blossoms of the Haithan and the Liuven, dry it and sell it on the autumn markets. Many houses and mansions in Daleth perfume the bed linen with sachets full of these dried blossoms to get rid of the dull, dusty odours that comes in the houses in the long, cold winters. Haithyan is full of isolated huts, small farms and solitary houses. Each of this dwellings has its own wide valley, its own very deep well, and can survive on its own. The buildings are build in the valley, but not on the lowest point, for that can easily turn into a lake or a pool of mud. Most buildings are halfway the slope of the hill. The houses are half a stond apart from each other, far enough for social isolation, especially in the winter menoths, when the snow makes the Haithyan practically inaccessible. In spring, the snow turns to water and this water forms lakes and brooks until they streamed all water into the Is River or until the warm sun has vaporised them. The farmers here herd sheep and have some cultivated land, fertilised with the sheep dung, to grow their own crops - there are no shops they can go to. The buildings are protected against the wind by the hills, and a row of trees - usually fruit trees. From the wells, a small irrigation system is build to water the trees and vegetables, and the soil is dug deep with a plough to have a better surface for the vegetables who do not have firm roots like the haithan. The Haithyan is a difficult region to farm in. The soil is fragile during alterations, the plants too. Too much grazing sheep cause erosion, and the plants will vanish to make place for sandy dunes. Too much haithan is not good either, because the sheep eat the juicy grasses and not the dry haithan. A farmer should know this environment well to make a good balance. Miscalculation of that balance and failing crops caused the big hunger of 1751-1756 in this region. The general wealth and wellbeing in Daleth led to larger families, where the children did not starve. To feed more mouths, more sheep were herded, and these sheep grazed to much. The next summer, there was not enough grass for the sheep and the sheep started to feed on the Haithan. Thus, a lot of haithanfields disappeared and the second summer, many sheep starved, taking the humans who fed on the sheep flesh and sheep milk with them. The flora was destroyed by the sheep, and the soil suffered. Without plants, the rainwater vaporised too soon, and the ground water level lowered. Wells dried up. Crops from the fields near the dwellings failed, the harvest was very poor. This only got better after the Duke of Hveitsvar ordered the farmers to plant grasses and new haithan, and forbid the grazing of sheep the next five years. The families still alive on the Haithyan got food supplies from Hveitsvar, Nieuw-Gamoor and Ildritz. During the hunger years on the Haithyan, many families left the region, or died. Other families send their oldest children into the world to make their own money, to earn their own food. But almost all families took a twig of the Haithan, gave it to their oldest daughter, and send them with the last of their money to the White Temple in Ildritz, to pray for crop and harvest, and strong, healthy lambs. The young women walked to Ildritz, a journey that was long and exhausting with their already hunger suffered bodies. It was expensive too, because economy in Daleth flourished and the prices were high - most of the Dalethians made good money and could afford it. As the women of Haithyan reached Ildritz, they had nothing left but the clothes they were wearing and the purple twigs of Haithan. They went into the White Temple of the Kungsfelthan and prayed to Gräins. Some offered the Haithan twigs as a sacrifice, others kept the only thing they had left from there homeland. As they finished praying, they had no money to pay for a journey home, and so they stayed in the Kungsfelthan. As the Kungsfelthan asked money too, they had to sell they only thing they still had: their bodies. As prostitutes they tried to earn the money to return home, but the pay was poor and many of these women stayed in the Kungsfelthan until they died. However, whatever they did, where ever they went, they still had the purple Haithan twigs with them, mostly attached to the rags they wore. Other harlots adopted this fashion (including the simple traditional dresses of the shepherd girls), also because the perfume of the Haithan covered the awful smell of rotting in the Kungsfelthan. Thus, purple soon became the colour of paid love in Daleth and still is. The region of Haithyan still exports the plants for the production of sachets and perfume, but also the twigs that go straight to the Kungsfelthan. The hunger is now gone for years, but a special Master of Haithyan in Hveitsvar checks on the farmers every year to make sure the situation does not repeat itself. The abandoned dwellings are demolished and vanished. The shepherd that stayed, now let the sheep graze on the one hill the first year, and on the other hill the next year to give the plants the chance to recover and heal from the sheep mouths and paws. The sheep cheese from the Haithyan is now better than ever before, the people claim, and the Haithan honey tastes sweeter than all other honeys - a phrase that is also widely abused in the Kungsfelthan. Related topics: |