The Harvest Dance – A Short Story from Our Table

 

© 2026 Aga, author of Art in Cupboard. All rights reserved.
This original creative work is my own. It may not be copied, reproduced, republished, modified, distributed, commercially used, scraped, used for AI training, or presented as the work of another person without my prior written permission.

 

Summer is slowly coming to an end. It’s still warm, and most days are sunny. As I sat outside basking in the sun, I was reminded of a short story my grandmother once told me when we were in the kitchen together and she was preparing dinner for the whole family. On the table lay freshly picked vegetables and fruit from my grandparents’ garden. I was delighted by the sight of dark burgundy cherries in a small bowl, green and red apples, and a wicker basket filled with various vegetables—leeks, beets, cabbage, and potatoes. Most of them had been peeled for a dish, and the black currants were waiting to be made into compote and sprinkled on a homemade fruit tart. I couldn’t take my eyes off all these wonderful things that Grandma had just brought from the orchard and garden.

 

Back then, I used to watch her as she cooked with such care, mixing and stirring the soups on the stove. And then she began to speak to me in a warm tone, as if it were almost bedtime and time for a short story. Her voice was always soothing, lovely, and filled with joy. I felt calm and at peace, and I eagerly awaited her every word.

“A long time ago, my wonderful mom told me a story” ,

my grandmother said, looking me in the face and chuckled softly.

They said that a young and beautiful girl lived in a small village. She had a big heart with room for everyone. She lived with her family—her elderly father, who was a farmer, and her elderly mother, who took care of the family, raising four small children.

 

The young girl loved her family so much that she was willing to do everything for them. But she also had much love for the other villagers.

The village was pretty with its little wooden houses and thatched roofs, painted wooden windows, flowers growing beneath them, and the sounds of farm animals filling the air.

One day, the weather suddenly turned bad—first torrential rain, then a heat wave—which destroyed all the farmers’ crops. Families were crying; they were sad and devastated. There was no time to plant new seeds and wait for a new harvest. Although it was August, harvest time had already begun.

The beautiful girl was also very sad as she stood watching all the villagers who looked lost, not knowing what to do or how to survive until winter, when the bad weather would come.

And then she secretly wished that all the farmers’ fields and rural areas would suddenly burst into blossom with new crops of vegetables, wheat, and rye for bread, and that the orchards would be filled with apple and pear trees. She stood up and raised her hands as if in a dance, smiling sweetly, her eyes sparkling—and in that moment she resembled Gaya, who brings happiness and prosperity to people on Earth. The girl wore a delicate, soft pea-green dress, and on her head was a huge wreath of flowers from the meadows and fields. In both hands, raised in a dancing pose, with love woven into her every movement, she held golden stalks of wheat with seeds that shone like living gold.

At that moment, as the beautiful girl turned gracefully, the sun appeared above the village and in the hearts of all the villagers. It was like a breath of fresh air, as all the farmers ran with excitement and greeted one another, for that moment of the beautiful girl’s dance had brought a new harvest to the village. Her hands were like  a force moving the heavens, bringing joy to the people. Her hands had created the harvest.

 

 

 

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© 2026 Aga, author of Art in Cupboard. All rights reserved.
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