Mayonnaise was a regular village farmer. His village Green Yard was one of the regular small villages in Penne Pasta County. It was situated deep within the forest guarded by towering mountains from all sides. When looked at from above it would seem as if there was a circular green field guarded by mountains from all sides.
The towering mountains, even though they isolated the village from the much-needed development, it was their sole means of protection against the wild magical beasts that often terrorised other villages in the region. Even though it was a daunting task to traverse through the precarious mountain peaks, it was worth it considering that they needn't worry about their wives and children being harmed while they were away.
Mayonnaise was one such villager. He had been born and raised in this small village. Even though he met his beautiful wife Kimchi while selling cabbages in the town, she still happily came back to the village to make a happy family with him.
Two winters later, on Christmas Eve, they were blessed with their beautiful daughter Cabbage Soup. Since then Christmas was the time for joy for them, unlike the other villagers who just treated it like many other normal holidays. It was the birthday of their baby girl after all.
Determined to give a good life to his daughter and wife, Mayo-chan (Mayonnaise) worked harder and harder every day. He cultivated land, used his powers to give high yield and sold vegetables thrice a year at the town market! That was almost 2 times more than a normal farmer's capability.
Soon Mayo-chan had already bought 4 fields and was the richest farmer in the Green Yard village. But even so, he was always kind and treated other villagers as his family.
Time passed like the flow of tap water. In the blink of an eye, it was the 15th Christmas since their angel was born.
Mayonnaise was sleeping inside the house today. It was getting colder and colder as the days went by. His wife and daughter were sleeping together on a mattress on the floor beside his cot.
It was already 4 am. Mayo-chan's eyes opened automatically without any alarm clock. He got up from his sleep and lighted the kerosene lamp kept on his bedside. As the light brightened the room, he looked at the peaceful sleeping face of his beautiful wife kimchi and his angel-like daughter.
He steeled his resolve to work hard today too and make sure to provide well for his family. He got up as quietly as he could from his wooden cot and walked towards the door of his single-roomed hut. He poured himself a glass of water from the pot near the cooking area. He gulped down another glass and sighed.
His daughter would be 16 this Christmas. The biggest fear of his life was about to be realised. He will have to marry off his daughter by 17 and get her engaged to a suitable boy before her 17th birthday. He had toiled sleeplessly for the last 15 years and provided her with the most advanced education.
Even though all of the villagers including his childhood friend Soy sauce mocked him for educating a girl. He often said, "What good will all that education do? She will be married off someday! Also, Brother Mayo, even if she can write advanced poetry like those nobles from the city, no noble boy would take a poor villager's daughter as his wife!"
Even though he disapproved of his opinion, he still never said it outright to their faces. They all lived in the same village after all. And he was not educating her to get something in return after all. He wanted his baby daughter to get all the happiness in the world and not even know a shred of sadness. Even if he couldn't provide for her like those of noble families, he still wanted to give her the best he could.
After having a roasted sweet potato for breakfast, Mayo-chan freshened up and took another look at the sleeping peaceful face of his wife and daughter, sighed in gratification and left the house with his hoe and shovel in tow after patting his dog Bok-choy. His family's cat Meemaw followed him as he went towards his fields.
He looked at the fat butt of Memaw, who was walking before him as if showing the way. His smooth silky white fur with black spots in places made him look as adorable as one could imagine. As the duo walked through the dimly lit path towards his field with his kerosene lamp, Meemaw growled suddenly.
Mayo-chan's eyes grew sharp and he took out a steel plate and a ladle from his rucksack. He violently hit the metal plate with his ladle and started alerting everyone' " BOAR! A Wild BOAR! EVERYONE COME OUT!"
After a few times repeating the same sentence, he saw that Meemaw was back to his normal lazy self, and soon other farmers tending to the nearby fields also came running with their hoes in tow.
"Where is it Old Mayo? Where is the Boar?" His close friend Soya Sauce asked hurriedly.
"This is the third time this week that those animals have been spotted! Why do they keep lurking around our village?" Said Old Wine Vinegar one of the oldest residents of the Green Yard village.
"Ahhh! Meemaw's calm again! So they must have run away hearing the commotion." Mayo Chan said with a silly grin plastered on his face.
"Uncle Mayo! Your cat is so amazing! Where did you get him??" Young Parsley asked curiously. Young Parsley was Old Wine Vinegar's Great-Great Grandson. And if this young chap was lucky enough, he could finally inherit all the fields from old wine vinegar. A test that all previous generations have failed to achieve since they all died of old age before old Wine vinegar did.
"Meemaw? He was born in our house on a Christmas day when my little girl turned 4. He's been braver than any guard dog's ever since." Mayo Chan naively replied.
"The Masala tribe has been getting braver and braver each season! Now they're letting their wild Boar roam around the village so blatantly! Do they think the men of Green Yard Village are as spineless as theirs? Let me show how I make bacon out of them!!" Beetroot-sama, a samurai, commented sternly.
"Let's not bother about all those things! I am off to the fields now! My little girl is almost 16, I need to sell off these crops by the end of this month to get her an amazing present!" Mayo chan declared enthusiastically and marched towards his fields with meemaw paving his way.
The group of villagers stayed silent until he was out of sight and then sighed.
"Too bad that Old Mayo doesn't have a son! Such a hardworking man! *Sigh* Such a pity!" Old Samurai Beetroot-sama sighed.
"I would have thought that he was possessed if little Cabbage Soup was not such a lovely girl! Too bad! She'll have to be married off by next year." Old Wine Vinegar lamented.
"Too bad he didn't have a son!" Old Soya sauce chimed in.