Make Do and Mend

Mary MacDonald's Farm

What happens when favorite nursery rhymes are dropped into World War 2? When Mary had a little lamb and Old MacDonald had a farm, for example. Scotland, 1940 and the years after: When Mary Begbie married James MacDonald she thought it was happily ever after. But he went to war, and now she’s a widow, living with her father-in-law. When her father dies, his adjacent lands are annexed to the MacDonald farm as well. Now they have been called upon to increase their yield to help the war effort, but it’s difficult; they need help. After D-Day, laborers are brought in from the nearby POW camp—but they are warned: These men are fanatical. Then a distant relative comes, claiming Old MacDonald is too old to handle it all. There’s profit to be made, and he makes a legal claim to the farm—for the good of the war effort. He has a legal case, and given the farms have been merged the man claims a right to Mary's family lands too. So her father-in-law has a novel suggestion . . .