Part I: The Farmer and His Wife

(Play the music for ambience while reading the story)

There once was a poor farmer named Kafés Athan who lived in a small hut with his wife Tsái. The two had fallen in love when they were young and had been together since. However, Tsái and Kafés began to grow unhappy with each other and with life. Each year that past they would see a shrink in their harvest which meant less food and less money. The tension would continue to grow between them until Tsái reached her boiling point. She was sick of living in such poor conditions and was nervous for her future as the two of them had found out that they were expecting a child.

"We cannot keep living like this Kafés. We will have a child soon and we cannot even feed ourselves!" Tsái states firmly one day as her husband comes in from another fruitless day.

Her husband looked at her with tired and sad eyes. He knew that they were struggling and her complaining was not helping with his mood. "What do you want me to do? I do not control the soil! I cannot command the plants to grow!" he said frustratedly, sitting down on a chair at the table in the middle of the room.

Tsái looked at her husband angrily, her intense eyes narrowed and points at him with a firm finger, "Listen to me carefully you ignorant man. If you do not get us out of this hole, I will leave you and go back to live with my parents. You will prove my father right."

That hurt him. His father-in-law never liked him and was not afraid to let everyone know. He always said that Kafés was not man enough or smart enough to take care of his family. With those sharp words, Kafés was determined to prove his father-in-law wrong. "Alright," he nods and looks at her, "I will find a solution. I will prove you wrong."

Tsái, although not full convinced, nods and sighs, "Good. Now go wash up before dinner."