Uruz decided to do something special for Fehu. They had been married for many years, celebrating their way through the summers and surviving the winters together. Uruz wanted to let his beautiful bride know how much he still loved her.
First he went to Raidho the traveler, and bought some of those sweet candies Raidho kept bringing back with him from the south. He stopped by the kitchen to ask Kenaz to cook something special for their dinner, then he had a good time flower-picking with Wunjo and Grampa Inguz. He bought some of Perthro’s finest mead. He bought some gold from Gebo the Merchant, then stopped by his own forge for about an hour. Before the sun set, Uruz and Laguz bathed in the river so that he would smell good for his date.
When he arrived home, Fehu looked up from the cow hide she was preparing for the market. “Where have you been, Uruz?” she asked. “I thought we were going to put your bull out to stud today, but I haven’t been able to find you all day.”
Uruz smiled and produced the flowers from behind his back. “I’ve been working with everyone in the village to make tonight a special night for the two of us. Perhaps the bull outside isn’t the one I intended to put out to stud today.”
Fehu rolled her eyes. “Oh, Uruz,” she said, standing and taking the flowers from him. “They’re beautiful, How much did they cost?”
Uruz was taken aback a bit. “They were free.”
“Well that’s not very romantic, is it? Giving me things that didn’t cot you anything?”
Uruz got angry. “They cost me an afternoon! I picked them myself!”
Fehu just looked at him.
Thankfully, a knock on the door broke the tension. “Who is it?” they asked in unison.
“It’s Kenaz. Are you ready for your dinner?” Without waiting for an answer, Kenaz pushed the door open and brought in a large plate of steak and a small cauldron of stew. Fehu grabbed the hide off the table and folded it into the corner, and Kenaz laid the plate on the table.
Uruz poked the wood in the fire pit with a long stick, then put the stick over the fire to hold the cauldron of soup. Kenaz drew her wooden spoon from her belt and began serving the soup into bowls for the couple.
While Fehu and Uruz were eating their soup and Kenaz was cutting up the steak, Perthro arrived with a small cask of mead. “I’ll just leave this here,” he said, feeling claustrophobic in the one-room hut. As he walked out the door, he muttered to himself, “Fehu is the wealthiest woman in the village. You would think she could afford a bigger house.”
“Will that be all?” Kenaz asked, once the food was on the table and ready.
“Yes, that will be fine,” Uruz said, proud of the evening he had planned out for his wife.
The tension was gone, and they talked of small things throughout the dinner. The mead complimented the soup nicely, the steak was tender, and Fehu especially liked the sweets at the end.
“And now,” Uruz said. “I would like to give you something that I think you will appreciate.”
Uruz reached into a pouch in his black apron and pulled out a small golden cow’s head brooch. “I know your cloak needed a better clasp. I hope you like it.”
As he handed it to Fehu, Uruz thought about the hours he had spent at his forge that afternoon shaping the gold.
“Oh, Uruz,” Fehu said. “It’s beautiful.
“I can’t wait to sell it.”
Uruz’s face fell, but then he recovered. This was what Fehu enjoyed, and this is what would make her happy. He was happy that she was happy.