A young man was tending the fields, the same fields his father had tended, the same field his fathers father had first sown. He was a tall and strong man. Large rippling muscles bulging beneath his loose cotton shirt. His dark brown hair long enough to cover his ears, it was messy now, with curls and cowlicks sweat drenched in the hot summer sunshine as he worked hard ploughing with ox and blade. His green eyes looked up from his sweaty brow at the low rumble he could feel in his sandaled feet. He is an honest man. A man who always keeps his promises, no matter to whom he makes them. Such is the reason he is tending plough this day, he made a promise to his father to continue the work, to tend the farm as best he could, and to try and make a profitable and happy life for himself. He was also a pragmatic man. When the tractor broke and he could not fix it he harnessed an ox and plough and continued his work. When a shovel handle broke he carved a new one from a tree branch. Every problem had a solution no matter how obscure or difficult it was he somehow found a way.
He lived with his mother.
She would mend clothes for single farmers who had no wives to mend their clothes for them, and she made good money for her work, but it was not steady work, and new fabrics broke less and less making his work tending the fields and selling the produce in the Saskatoon market that much more important.
He was not a greedy man.
Nor an ambitious man, he had his dreams as anyone does, but he knew that he must work to fulfill those dreams, and work he would without rest, and without complaint, no matter there was no one to hear his complaints should he wish to do so.

His neighbors considered him a great farmer with blessed land that seemed to grow great harvests from nothing but the sweat from his brow. But his lands were small and his father has taught him well so it was no magic that grew his crops, merely patience, good work, and careful tending of the land. Great care did he take with rotating crops, irrigation, pest control, and seeding. Every aspect of farming did he consider for years in advance, always careful to remember what he had done in the past so he could be guided to do the correct thing in the future at the appropriate time.
He was a good farmer, and while not rich also not poor.

Many years after his fathers death a new family moved in to a nearby farm. They had struggled with the virgin land much as his grandfather had when he first arrived, so being a kind man he had gone over to help them as much as he could. Now their farm ran smoothly and profitably and they helped him when he needed it gladly always aware of his kindness in the past and the future.
This family had three children. Two boys and a girl. The boys were of different ages, one older than him, one barely a toddler. The girl was a year younger than him. Himself being young as it were.
Together the man and the girl secretly fell madly in love. She was considered attractive by most, but he considered her beyond beautiful, to him she was the face of an angel surrounded by the light of heaven with laugh that could make flowers smile. To her he was a gift just for her of the perfect man to protect her and to hold her; strong and kind. They would meet under a tree in a graveyard next to the river to kiss, and to make love, and to lay next to one another the way only two truly in love can staring up at the moon and the stars until the sun began to rise.
Each moonlit night they met he did not sleep, nor did he need it. Just being near her left him refreshed and energized all day. He was contemplating last night actually as he was distracted by the rumble in his feet. He looked up to see a cloud of dust along the road heading for his house. He halted the ox, his muscles bulging as he forced the powerful animal to heed his command. Eventually the animal listened and halted. He attached a feed bag to the animal before detaching the plough so the ox would not wreck the field he was tending. He began the long walk towards the house. The cloud of dust would be there long before him, but he knew his mother would keep their company until he arrived for whatever these people needed him for.
When he arrived at the house he noticed a brown truck, it was relatively new, and very clean meaning it had either just been washed or it was not a farmers truck. Both it turned out were true.
He entered the house to see two men in suits sitting having tea with his mother in the living room, a fourth cup had been set out for him in expectation of his arrival.
He introduced himself as he put on a shirt and grabbed his tea before sitting on a high backed chair he had carved from a stump he pulled from the western field.
The men told him they were from the government and they needed him. They showed him many papers and asked him many questions. Some general, some personal, but all relating to one very big subject recently. He was being conscripted. He was to join the army and do his duty. He was to leave in ones days time to begin training and one week later he was to leave for Europe.
While this news was surprising it was not totally unexpected. But being a loyal man he promised himself to the country and the military. He would do the duty they asked of him as long as they sent his pay home to mother so she could keep the farm and thus his promise to father.
When the men left he packed his things, kissed his mother and left to see his love one last time before leaving.
She was there when he arrived. From the look on her face he knew she expected terrible news. Silently he mused he must be easy to read. She took the news well, having also expected this to happen eventually. She gave him a necklace of hers, a family heirloom passed on from mother to daughter to give to their husbands on their wedding night as a promise of their love. He needed no such trinket to know her love but it was important for her and so it was important for him.
He gave her only his promise that one night he would return, after his duty was done and he was released from his promise that he would return to this spot when the moon was high and be her lover once again. No matter how long it may take he said. He, being an honest man was determined to make this true.
He excelled in his training, while others gambled and drank he trained.
When they shipped off he continued his training. And while others would drink, and smoke, and become ever more boastful to quell the growing fear in their hearts he would simply lie back in his bunk and remove the necklace from beneath his green shirt and hold the precious item in his hand, ever more grateful she had insisted on making him take it. The small item would make him remember his love and the fear would vanish. He would be strengthened and energized.
And he would remember his promise to return.

In the war he did his duty. Every task they asked of him he completed. Some of these tasks were simple. Some of these tasks were hard. Many were dirty, or frightening, or dangerous and unappreciated. But he never complained. Not that anyone would have cared. The men mocked and jeered him for his quietness. For he rarely spoke and made no attempt to make friends. But though they mocked him and jeered him, and pulled pranks on him and generally made his life more miserable he did not complain or retaliate. They never did stop for each time he completed a task and the men began to quiet he was moved to another task and new men to work with who would begin anew. When he was finally told to kill, he did. When he was told to kill again, he did again. He took no pleasure in the task, but he did it anyways. They told him to do the impossible, so he did. They told him to do it again, so he did. He was injured, and beaten, his body crushed and healed. He was shot, and stabbed, and blown up and healed. He was burned, and frozen, rotted and healed.
Again and again they told him to do something and eventually, somehow he did. They told him do this one last thing and you can go home. So he did the task. Then they told him he was too useful, they needed him again for just one last task. So he did.
His commanders commended him for doing fine work. They awarded him medals for bravery and courage, and some for being hurt by the enemy. He found this preposterous as that was his job. Not used to being praised for doing his job he ignored the medals and awards. He put them with his things and forgot them. They meant little to him. The only real thing he kept was the necklace of his lover.
A reminder of his promise.
A promise he would keep.

While he was away at war she stayed at home. Her father promised her to an older friend of his but she refused. No matter how nice the friend was. No matter how much he could help their farm should he be betrothed to her she refused him. She dared not tell them of her lover out of fear that they may make her give him up, so she said nothing as to her reason of refusal. She worked the fields in penance. Each moonlit night she would return exhausted to the tree in the graveyard by the river to await her lovers return, no matter how long it might take. She would awaked the next morning still tired and now saddened that he had not woken her from her restless sleep to hold her in his muscled arms. She would then return to work tears streaming from her face to land upon the ground she tended. Her brothers and parents did not notice this, nor her odd behaviour. They merely considered her a hard worker not worth trying to marry off any longer.
So time passed.
She worked the fields.
She waited and cried, each time saddened.
He fought and he worked.
He held her memory in his arms and worked harder, always trying to keep his promise.
But the harder he worked and the harder he tried the less they wanted him to leave. He became broken, and bruised, scarred, and mangled, burned and shot. Each time they healed him. Promised him he could go home. After one last task.
Each time they broke their promise. But he could not break his. He had pledged himself to duty. He had pledged himself to her. By breaking his promise to them, he knew he would break his promise to her.
He would never break his promise.

She worked and she waited. He fought and he held her memory and his promise.
Her brothers married and had children, her mother died and her father grew old.
Her brothers children grew up and some helped her in the fields, some left for school and jobs. And still she returned to the tree in the graveyard next to the river on moonlit nights to await her lover who she knew would keep his promise.
Each night she awoke saddened and exhausted. Each night he worked harder, renewed to fulfill his promise and then return to her by the tree in the graveyard next to the river on a moonlit night.
And so they wait.