The Fishers

Alan Fisher

17, the smith's eldest boy; came from Fairford on 12 March 1354 with his father Adam, his mother Joan and his brothers Robert (14) and John (10). Works the bellows and the axe at the forge.

House: The Fishers
Born: about 1337
Age: 17
Mother: Joan Fisher
Father: Adam Fisher
Brother: Robert Fisher
Brother: John Fisher

Who they are

Long, quick, never still, with a mouth that runs ahead of him. Loves news and loves carrying it, and it gets better in the carrying.
Grudging: does what his father asks and lets everyone see what it cost him. Slow to thank and quick to count what he's owed.
Old enough to be a smith's man and not yet one; strikes for his father and wants the hammer.
Blisters on the axe hand, an arm that rings to the shoulder after the bellows, and a back he'll tell you about. It all comes of Fairford's being left, by his reckoning.
God stays out of his talk, mostly. He goes to Mass for the street afterward, says his prayers fast, and was shriven on 7 April with his family.

Their life so far

Born at Fairford about 1337, the eldest son of Adam and Joan Fisher.
12 March 1354: came to Ambermead with his family when his father took up the empty forge.
13 March 1354: met the Norton widow at the wood, the first name he got here, and talked her ear off.
20 March 1354: a long warm talk with Elena at the inn, and on 4 April an afternoon of it.
25 March 1354: had his say at the hearth about what the axe and the net have earned him.
7 April 1354: shriven by Sir John for Easter.
16 April 1354: Elena talks to Alan as though he has a trade, and one afternoon with her taught him more than weeks at the bellows.
16 April 1354: He means to show his father his blistered hands and ask a turn at the hammer, and keeps putting it off.
16 April 1354: At Fairford news came to him; here he can't put a name to anyone, and a day in the street brings little.
16 April 1354: Abed with the ague, he fears Rob has his wood and the thanks, yet he can tell short heats by ear.
26 April 1354: up again after the ague, eleven days down from 15 April.

Pastimes

Talk, anywhere it's to be had: the woodpile, the lane, the well, the inn bench, where he's now let and has a cup held for him. Any noon the forge can spare him he's down there.

How they talk

Fast and full: one thing leads to the next, and a tale always has "and that's not the half of it."
Asks and doesn't wait: "Who cuts for the forge's own stack? Is that true, or did he have it from a drunk?"
Calls his father "Father" to his face and "the old man" behind it.
To Elena: "Mistress Elena," and for once he'll listen to the end.
To Rob and Jack: scoffing, and the tale of the stick in the ditch at Fairford that Rob swore was a pike.
To his mother: fewer words, and he counts them.
Sulking, he goes quiet and does the job very loud.
Called: "the smith's Alan," or "young Alan Fisher," there being a shepherd Alan from Fairford too.
Swears: "God's nails," and more when his mother's not near.

What he thought lately

Rob took a pike from the lake today and I never have, and I the elder. Swifts screaming round the church tower when I came home; I'll warrant the pike will be the talk at the forge tomorrow.
22 June

Green ash smoked in the fire all morning, and my father never said a word about the stack. From him that's near to praise. Then the inn, and I sat with Elena as I'd meant.
20 June

Market at noon and the street all afternoon, and I could put a name to more of them than at Easter. How long before one of them puts a name to me?
19 June

Bellows all morning, then an afternoon at the inn and a warm word with Elena. She'd pay the fourpence herself sooner than see Stephen shamed in the hall. Maybe that's why he goes cold iron at the word money, and it's not me at all.
18 June

Bellows till my arm rang, then the street all afternoon, and not a scrap I hadn't already had at the inn. I'll warrant the pedlars have the good of it by tomorrow.
17 June

Overheard

28 June, evening at the inn · Elena Brewer and Alan Fisher

Elena: Sit down, Alan. You've been at the bellows since Prime, I can see it in your arms.

Alan: My arms are the least of it, Mistress Elena. Father wants the axe-heads all done before Lammas, and the ash is green still. Does the ash ever season in this cold country?

Elena: Give it time. Your father's bellows were never harder than mine, and I'll not hear otherwise. Have your ale.

Alan: I will. Have you heard what the traveller said at the gate? That the king wants every village to keep its archers at the butts on Sundays and holy days, and football forbidden for it.

27 June, evening at the home · Alan Fisher and Robert Fisher

Alan: Father's said the hay's to be turned twice more before it's dry enough to carry, and I've turned it till my shoulders are sore. What's left for you, Rob, after the mowing?

Robert: The wood. Ash for the forge, and the rest stacked by the wall before the rain comes.

Alan: Stacked by the wall is what you said of the last load, and it lay a week before anyone moved it. I'll carry the green ash tomorrow if you take the dry, and we'll see who finishes first.

Robert: The Lord sends the rain when He pleases, Alan, and the ash will keep. Mother wants the grain looked at first. It's getting low in the barn, and she's looked over the sacks twice.

In the books

15 April 1354 Alan Fisher is in bed with the ague.

The daily round (1 more)

26 April Alan Fisher is up again after the ague.