My First Sword Lesson, My Eighth Birthday, September 27, T.A. 2995

It's my birthday and today my father took me to the fields for a long walk. As we were crossing the fields around Bree he told me that he felt it was time for me to learn how to use a weapon properly and he asked me what I would like to try. I told him a sword and he smiled at me because we both knew what I was going to say for I have always loved the smell of the forge and loved watching the local smith make his blades. After a while we came across an old plow rusting away in an abandoned field ever since the wolves and bears had taken the fields over and my father stopped and took some tools out from his pack. He told me to pull the iron handle back on the plow as it was of an old sort and i tried with all my might until I shifted it loose from its rusty holdings. He took one of the tools and handed it to me as he started working with the other to loosen the bolts and asked me to hold the other side so we may take the long piece of iron away from its rusting tomb in the field. We were at it for a few hours until the last pin came loose and it came clanging down. My father picked it up from the handles end and swung it like a sword and then handed it to me and told me I should start swinging it to get used to the weight. I did as I was told and could barely hold it above my had unless I was holding it with one hand half way down its length for support. But I kept trying and I will continue to do so because he said that the day I can swing it properly is the day he will buy me a real blade. It was the best birthday ever.