Long Long Ago and Far Far Away there lived a maiden who was a serf under a terrible, cruel lord. The maiden’s name was Summer, and she was very beautiful. Since it was harvest season, she was often to be found in the village, tending to all the youngest children while everyone of able hands went out to the fields to bring in the harvest.

Now the lord of those lands was Gerard, Lord Argent, and he was a greedy, scheming lord who constantly scrabbled for more power and land than he had. He had two sons, but the first he had cast off some time ago, and no one knew where he went. So the second son was his heir, and Sir Kit was a drunken lecher. Sir Kit frequently went out to the villages in Argent lands and took advantage of the women, especially the pretty maidens.

One day at the harvest-time, Sir Kit came to the village where the maiden Summer lived, and she was alone in the village with the babies. She sat outside spinning while the littlest children played at her feet. Sir Kit saw her and thought it would be a fine thing to have her for his new mistress, for he had tired of his previous women and wished for a new one.