Maria also went to check on her fields. Her serfs were busy working with their families in the fields. Because Maria had provided them with sickles, their harvesting speed was much faster than others, making them the envy of the other serfs. After all, many serfs couldn’t afford iron tools like sickles. When they needed one, they had to request it from the field overseer and pay a usage fee, often having to wait their turn in line.

But Maria’s four serf families each had their sickle. The men were harvesting in the fields, the women were carrying the cut stalks to the edge of the field, and the older...