Ein guter Vater
A good father
And so a year went by and Helen was already 6 years old, the little pegasus certainly didn't live a busy life, she spent her days helping her parents on the farm, and occasionally she went with them to the city, both to work at Hunk's stall than to have some fun.
She didn't tend to make friends, because in the morning there were no foals around as they were all studying, unfortunately her parents couldn't afford to give her an education, only her father and Hunk could teach her anything, because they had studied at least a little, unlike the mother who was illiterate.
Helen still couldn't read, but Hunk had promised to teach her now that she was growing up, even if she could read some letters by looking at the wooden signs of the various shops around town, she had no problem with math, since always thanks for Hunk she was able to count, the first few times she counted money, then she started counting other things, like the eggs from the chickens, the apples she picked, the vegetables from the garden and so Hunk taught her not only to count but also the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and Helen never had a problem with these operations.
Her mother also taught her to sew, so Helen was also able to repair her own clothes, she always wore a long white dress with a green part on the chest and was always careful not to get dirty, but it was inevitable that on a farm she would get dirty, so her parents didn't tell her anything, they would get dirty too, for the old hunk it was a routine too.
After a month, Hunk and Braune both started teaching Helen to read, at first it was not easy for Helen, but German is not an easy language, also the first word Helen said as a child was Großvater (Grandpa), because Hunk was with her, that day the old pony was so glad he could be a grandpa again, though not by blood, but he didn't care, he'd been alone so too long that he'd forgotten certain joys, like that to have a family, and above all a beautiful granddaughter.
Helen did not seem to have learning problems, on the contrary she was able to perfectly remember what she was taught even if she liked to practice, she also started reading in a short time, as far as grammar was concerned that was a slightly more complicated subject, and therefore both Hunk and Braune couldn't teach her much, but in town Helen found a German grammar book that friars were selling along with other books, so her father bought her various books, and Helen seemed interested in books, at first she only had learning books , then her father also bought her books on other topics, such as ancient history, various legends, and even fairy tales, her father didn't mind the prices, because Helen always appreciated being given a book as a gift, it was necessary to remember that in the Middle Ages she had not been printing was still invented, so the friars copied the original books several times and then sold them, the friars also had the task of teaching various foals, especially the noble ones, but they needed a lot of money all the same and the fillies didn't have a complete education, given that in the Middle Ages they did not have much power, another problem was that in Kieselstein there were neither convents nor monasteries, at most a church, it was a big city but not that big, the friars came from outside to perform services religions and to sell books copied from them.
Gelbes wished that Helen had had a good education that she could not have, for the moment she Helen was happy with what she was able to learn thanks to her family and the books they bought.
One day when Helen was with Hunk in the city to sell fruit and vegetables, she began to see in the middle of the square three fillies who were playing with a ball, curious, the pegasus approached them.
They were three unicorns of different colors in nice long dresses and all three of them were using magic to pass the ball to each other, they seemed to be having a lot of fun, then one of them made a bad shot and the ball rolled next to Helen.
The pegasus took the ball and turned to the unicorns.
-“ Kann ich mit euch drei spielen?(Can I play with you three?)”-,
the three unicorns were amazed by that request, but they didn't say anything, on the contrary they looked at each other,
Helen tried to ask them the question again, but this time, one of them, a purple unicorn approached her to talk to her,
-“ Hör mal zu! (Listen) not to offend you, but we can't play with someone like you”-
-“ Warum? (Why?)"-
-"Why? But look at you, with those clothes, the dirty ones, it's obvious that you're just a low-ranking pony, surely you're poor, you won't be a beggar, but you won't have an easy life, I bet that instead of studying you're forced to work"-
-“Ja, I work, I help my grandfather and my parents on a farm outside the city”-
-"A farm? Listen to yourself, so you are a peasant girl, and we certainly cannot play with a peasant girl, we are high-placed fillies, we are noble, our parents have noble titles, we have money, we can afford nice clothes, we can afford everything, you instead no, you're just a poor thing, you're nothing, I bet you also have poor friends"-
Helen was beginning to feel melancholy,
-“I…I…have no friends”-
-"Really? You don't even have any friends? And yet I believed that the poor were with the poor, just as we rich are with the rich" -,
the purple unicorn took the ball back with magic,
-"Let's go girls, let's go play somewhere else, away from the rabble"-,
all three of them went off leaving Helen alone, the poor pegasus was very upset by that horrible speech, and she went back to Hunk to continue working.
Hunk noticed right away that Helen didn't seem in the mood for her,
-"What's going on, Helen?"-
-"Nothing, nothing"-
-“Come on, what's going on? Who made my little mouse cry?”
Helen decided to tell Hunk the truth, so she told him about her bad experience with those fillies.
-"I understand, I know those three well, their parents are noble, and unfortunately it was their parents who taught them to hate non-noble ponies, they don't even give money to beggars, they pay their servants, but still they treat badly the other ponies, and once they insulted me, but you must not listen to them, they are not better than us, it is not fair that the wrong ponies have money, if I were noble, I would have helped who was poor, in fact that's what I did when I was a thief, I stole from the nobles to help the needy, of course I kept something, but I always gave to the poor”- .
Hunk's words made Helen think, but still she went back to helping him sell his stuff.
The filly might not have made friends easily, but at the moment she didn't feel the need to, because she always had her family to support and comfort her.
However, every time Helen went to town she often looked at the artists she found around, there were unicorns doing magic, ponies playing the flute, guitars, drums and violins, and puppet shows, it was nice for her to watch and hear those interpretations, she seemed to enjoy art in various forms.
After a morning's work Hunk made a lot of money selling his vegetables, and so he pulled the cart and Helen got on top of it, it didn't take them long to get back to the farm, just fifteen minutes to go through the different fields that surrounded the city.
Mechanical clocks had been invented, but the farm didn't have any, so the family had two ways of keeping time, cockcrow in the morning, and the ringing of bells from the town, and Hunk taught Helen that too, so the filly already knew when to wake up, when to have breakfast, lunch and even when to go home, as well as the time spent on tasks in the fields.
Waiting for Hunk and Helen there was an excellent lunch, excellent vegetable and hay soup with homemade bread and cheese, and Gelbes Mehl had also cooked a good carrot and walnut cake.
Gelbes, Hunk, and Helen sat down to eat, as Braune Pflanze wasn't arriving anytime soon.
The pony had gone to town to look for work, as she wanted to earn more, so he would have lunch later.
All three began to pray and then to eat,
Gelbes and Hunk talked to each other while Helen was eating a nice slice of bread,
-“How was your day, did people buy our vegetables?”-
-"It went well, they bought, luckily no matter the social status, everyone buys our fruit and vegetables"-
-"And Helen was good today too?"-
-"Ja, it's a pity that she met some nasty noble fillies"-
-“Was? (What?) What are you talking about?”-.
Hunk told of the bad experience that Helen had with those fillies, and Gelbes as she sipped her soup began to think, then she turned to her daughter,
-"Helen, don't think about these things, there will always be someone who will look down on you, those fillies don't know what they are missing, you are a good filly, no one knows you like we do in this house, if you can't have noble friends, you can always have others" -,
but Hunk got in the way
-"He doesn't necessarily have to have friends, we are enough for him, her family"-
-"But Hunk, I don't want Helen to grow up antisocial, she has to have friends her age"-
-“If she could go to school maybe she would have friends, but we can't afford that”-
-"I know, I wish she had the education that I never had, even my parents couldn't afford it, but sooner or later she will be able to study"-
-"If only we lived in Eichel it would be easier for her”-,
Gelbes was amazed, it was the first time that Hunk mentioned that city which was located south of Kieselstein,
-"Why? What is there in Eichel?”-,
Hunk sighed and then spoke,
-“So….in Eichel there is a big monastery where my old friend Father Arthur lives, if I could talk to him maybe he could take Helen and give her an education, maybe at a low cost, or if it was free, there she would learn to read and write better than we have taught her so far”-
-“But the problem is that it's in Eichel, and this city is to the south and who knows how many days by cart from here”-
-"Exactly, that's the problem, and I can't give up my farm right now that I'm about to finish my payment with the king of Kieselstein"-
-“But we could leave the city”-
-"We can't get a new house, I don't even know if we could be hosted at the monastery, of course it would be nice for Helen to have an excellent education, but we would have to start all over again and I'm old"-
-"Of course it's a big problem"-, at that moment Helen wanted to speak to her mother and grandfather,
-"You don't have to worry, you don't have to have so many problems because of me, if giving me an education gives you so many problems then I prefer to study what you three know, I know how to count, I'm reading the books I have, and I'm learning to write, you don't have to work hard because of me, I just want you all to be well, I don't want gifts, just my family, that's all I ask"-,
Helen sat up again, and ate again,
Gelbes and Hunk looked at each other and then at Helen, Gelbes replied,
-“My darling, you don't have to worry, we wanted to give you what I couldn't have, so we do everything to give you the best, in fact it would be a problem to leave Kieselstein and move to Eichel, but if there was the possibility to give you a We will do our best to give you the best education”-
Hunk spoke,
-“And then fillies don't have much power or little, so what could our little Helen do?”-
-"It's actually true, for the moment it's better to plan things slowly, then we'll see"-
-“For the moment I'm happy with the work Helen does here on the farm, in fact I'm almost going to leave it to her as an inheritance”-
-“Don't say certain things Hunk, not in front of Helen, rather eat”-.
After a while, Braune came through the door and greeted everyone,
-“Guten Tag(Good morning), how are you?”-
Gelbes welcomed him at once,
-“Oh, hi Braune, how was she in town?”-
-"It wasn't easy, but in the end I managed to find something, I found work in an inn, the pay isn't much, but there is the possibility of rounding up with tips"-
-“Well, always better than nothing”-
-"I'm sorry to have to leave you here, with you having to take care of the farm, and Hunk having to go to the market"-
-"Sometimes there's also Helen helping here at the farm, so we can do it, especially during the day, luckily our filly has a lot of energy"-
-“She takes after you, she doesn't know how to fly well at all”-,
Helen ran to embrace her father,
-"Hi Dad"-
-"Hello my little mouse, it's always a pleasure to see you, what a nice hug you give me"-, Hunk got up from his chair to talk to Braune,
-“Listen Braune, next week I need you to go to the king, I have to bring the last money to pay for the farm, after all these years it will finally be mine, in fact I'm thinking of leaving it to you, so you'll have a place to stay even when I will not be there"-,
Gelbes replied,
-"Hunk, please, don't say that, that's not talk"-
-"But I'm getting older and older, and I have nothing to give you, except my farm, and my house is yours, and then where would Helen grow up?"-,
Braune nodded,
-“It's a nice thought, Hunk, but we'll have to talk about it at another time, not in front of the little one, anyway it will be a pleasure to have this farm for us, even if we still pray for your health, I'll gladly bring the last money you owe to the king"-
-"Be careful though, you never know who you might meet, I've already had to deal with thieves when I was travelling"-
-“Are you talking about the Schwarze Feder(Black Feather)?”-,
Gelbes was amazed,
-“What is Schwarze Feder?”-
-"It's a band of thieves who appear on the streets or in some cities, they all wear a cloak with a hood, and their symbol is a black feather, they are very strong thieves and they steal from anyone who comes within range, in this city they don't there were more, when i was younger i fought many, i killed others, fact is no guard ever managed to stop them, i met them once in town, but luckily i had my dagger with me, and also if old I managed to stop and scare them”-
-“After all, you were part of….of…..what was the name of your gang?”-
- “Our name was Roter Specht (Red Woodpecker), and we stole above all from thieves like them, as I told you some time ago we were doing good actions, and what I stole from them I gave to poor families, sometimes I even managed to catch them when they stole from beggars, they are thieves without a shred of honour, just scoundrels, if you see them, you have to stay away from them, they are dangerous and you don't know how to fight, so run as fast as you can"-
-"It's terrible, luckily I can fly, but what if one of those thieves were a pegasus?"-
-“As far as I remember they were ponies and unicorns, few pegasi, but I didn't find many fast ones, I've always managed to beat them, so if you go around with a lot of money you better bring a weapon, luckily I still have my daggers here at home”-,
Braune didn't seem very enthusiastic,
-"But I don't want to kill anyone, you know we are very religious"-
-"I know you are, I have become one too, but this is about your life, it is better to hurt those thieves than to be injured or worse killed"-
-"These are things I'd rather not say in front of Helen, she's small for these things, she shouldn't know"-
-"It's good that you know who to run away from, and who to take refuge from, that is, the three of us, I don't trust the royal guards, I've always thought they were incompetent, they never managed to catch those thieves, and if they ever did those caught have always managed to escape from prison, trust me”-.
Braune looked at Helen, who didn't seem frightened, in fact she simply returned to her chair to eat, Braune then thought it was better to be proactive as Hunk said, since Helen's safety was also at stake,
-"Okay Hunk, I'll do as you say, when I take your money I'll equip myself with a dagger"-
-"But if you find too many, you run away anyway"-.
The family had a lot of help since Braune worked in the inns in the city, on the farm instead Gelbes remained, in the afternoon Helen helped them since in the morning she was together with Hunk, so they were able to put some money aside already, with which they bought not only clothes and food, but other books for Helen, furthermore Hunk wanted to go to the city to ask for a document or rather a kind of will, in which he wrote that he was leaving the farm to the family, in this way even after his after the death, the spouses Braune and Gelbes could live on that farm together with little Helen.
Gelbes however hoped to be able to take little Helen one day to Eichel where she could study, but for the moment it was not possible, but perhaps when they would have more money everything would be better.
Though little Helen didn't mind being taught by her father and grandfather, and was also making progress with reading, and they even gave her scrolls and quills with ink to write with, so both Hunk and Braune could teach her better to write, which was not easy given that German is a difficult language, in fact Helen slowly began to write the alphabet, even if it was quite easy for her, being already able to read, even if not yet good at writing.
The days went by and little Helen learned immediately, one day some soldiers also came to visit the family, but they didn't have to worry since Hunk knew them.
The day also arrived when Braune had to go to the castle, Hunk gave him the bag with the coins to give to the king, and also a dagger, he asked him to be careful, and to be as careful as possible, so as not to get noticed too.
Braune had almost reached the castle, but at one point five ponies appeared with black cloaks and a hood covering their faces.
He looked at them, being careful not to get too close to them,
-"Who are you? What do you want from me?” -, one of the ponies taller than the others approached, a blue horn came out of the hood, so Braune understood that it was a unicorn.
-“Don't be scared, we won't hurt you, Wir wollen nur dein Geld (We just want your money) and then we'll let you go”-.
Braune noticed that on their cloaks there was a black feather symbol, he immediately understood that they were those bandits that Hunk often spoke of.
-“ Sie .... Sie sind die Schwarze Feder(You….you are the Black Feather)”-
-"You guessed right, and now give us your money right away otherwise you'll be in trouble"-, the unicorn magically pulled out a dagger that had a handle in the shape of a snake.
But Braune took the dagger that Hunk gave him,
-“Nein (No), you wouldn't have this money, it belongs to my family, it is used to pay a debt to the king”-
-"Then you're looking for trouble, take him"-.
The five delinquents attacked Braune, but he tried to defend himself with the dagger, but despite how much he trained he wasn't that good, then he attacked the unicorn, but the latter used magic to try to stop his hooves, so Braune with the His dagger tore off a piece of his cloak, that's when he managed to see the cutie mark of the unicorn, but just when the villain noticed that the pony saw the cutie mark he hit him in the chest with a sharp stab, Braune let out a loud scream.
Meanwhile at the farm Gelbes and Helen were harvesting the wheat, it seemed like a perfect day, old Hunk was taking care of the cows.
Gelbes asked Helen a question,
-"So Helen, my baby, let's repeat a bit, can you conjugate the verb to be for me?"-
-“Ja….. Ich bin ... du bist, er ist ... sie ist .... wir sind ... Sie sind ... sie sind ...”-
-"Very well, now, let's listen, what about the verb to have?"-
-“ Ich habe .... Sie haben .... er hat ..... sie hat .... wir haben .... Sie haben ... sie haben ...”-
-"Great, and now you can count from twenty to thirty?"-
-“Ja….. zwanzig ...... einundzwanzig ..... zweiundzwanzig .... dreiundzwanzig ....... vierundzwanzig ..... fünfundzwanzig ....”-,
But before Helen could finish, in the distance was Braune running towards the farmhouse.
Arrived nearby he leaned against the fence, Gelbes went to him and noticed that there was something wrong and in fact she hadn't been mistaken Braune was bleeding from his chest, Gelbes immediately called Hunk, who ran immediately, they took Braune to the kitchen and they sat down, the pony said he met the Black Feather and fought them, luckily he was able to bring back Hunk's bag of money.
But now the problem was Braune's wounds, so Hunk immediately went into town to call his doctor and asked Gelbes to put her husband to bed and stop the bleeding as much as possible.
Helen didn't know what was happening, she didn't know what to do, she wanted to enter the house, but at one point her mother came out of a window and spoke to her.
-“Bitte (Please) Helen, don't come in, now wait for your grandfather to come back”-,
-"But what's going on mom?"-
-“Nothing…..your father hurt his hoof, so we had to call the doctor, you stay in the cornfield to work, and let me know when Hunk arrives with the doctor”-,
Gelbes didn't want to alarm Helen, so she said those words to calm her down.
Helen did so, she took care of the grain, and put it on a wagon, until one point when she saw Hunk arrive with another pony, so she warned her mother, and everyone went into the house except Helen.
The little pegasus stayed in the cornfields as her mother commanded before her.
The whole afternoon passed and it was evening, Helen had collected a lot of wheat but now she was beginning to be worried about her father, so she too entered the house, where she found her mother who was praying in front of a wooden cross.
-“Oh great Merciful Pony, please save my husband, you who are the highest in Pony Heaven, and whose kingdom is infinite, please save my husband”-,
Helen hearing those words she began to feel worried, Gelbes noticed Helen and got scared,
-“Helen? What are you doing here?”
-“I was worried, I've been out all this time, what happened to dad?”-,
Gelbes certainly couldn't keep lying to Helen so she told her the truth.
Helen felt a fear come over her whole body,
-“Nein, nein, I want to see papa, my papa”-, but her mother stopped her,
-"You can't, Dr. Hans is doing everything possible to save him, you mustn't disturb him, Hunk is with him to help him, maybe you don't remember this doctor but he's the same one who healed you when you were little"-
Helen began to cry, and hugged her mother,
-“But what will happen to dad? He's not bad, he didn't do anything ”-
-"It wasn't his fault, he was a victim of the Black Feather, that group of bandits who steal from people, your father fought, but he's not very strong, but he managed to bring the money they wanted to steal from us" -
-“Das Geld ist mir egal(I don't care about the money) I want my father, my father must be well”-,
Gelbes embraced her daughter,
-"Don't worry, dad will be fine, he needs us to have faith, if you have faith in the Merciful Pony then he will be fine"-.
After another half hour, Hunk and the doctor Hans came down the stairs, Gelbes got up from her chair,
-"How is my husband?"-, the doctor was clear right away,
-"Unfortunately I did everything possible, the wounds were very deep, he should have died sooner, but I can't do more than that"-
-“What do you mean?”-
-“That unfortunately your husband won't spend the night, I'm sorry, I did everything possible”, Gelbes started to cry, Helen instead ran to her father, who was lying on the bed.
-"Dad dad"-
-“Oh Helen, my baby, mein kleines Stutfohlen (my little filly) come here”-
-“Nein papa, you mustn't die, you must stay with us”-, Helen approached her father, and he grabbed her head with a hoof,
-"You don't have to be sad my baby, your father wasn't strong, but if you don't make it I want you to take care of your mother, I want you to become strong, even if you are just a filly, you must become strong, whatever obstacle you will find on your way, you shall overcome it, you must learn to defend yourself, but you must not cry, because I will always be with you, my little filly, I will defend you as an angel from above”-
-"Don't say that dad, I want you here next to me, dad"-.
Braune kissed Helen on the forehead, Gelbes came and took their daughter away, they went down to the kitchen, and thanked Doctor Hans, Hunk felt guilty about what had happened and pounded his hoof on the table,
-"Damn it, I shouldn't have sent him alone,why right now the Black Feather had to go back to stealing from us poor people?"-
-“Don't beat yourself up Hunk, it's not your fault”-
-“Instead it's my fault, Gelbes, I had to go with him, not just give him a dagger, he wasn't a thief, but I was, despite my age I could have done it against five stupid thieves, the nice thing is that when they steal from rich people a thief is always caught, but when they steal from poor people none of them are found, in my opinion it's all a plan to rob us poor people”-
-"Don't say that Hunk, now we have to be strong, my husband will be gone, but you're still there, and then there's me, we have to go on for Helen think what a bad trauma she's going through now, I didn't want to tell her everything right away"-
-“Sooner or later I too will die, but at least I will leave you the farm, so you can live here for the rest of your life”-
-“Don't say these things in front of Helen, please, she's already upset”-.
Hunk calmed down because he saw little Helen with corn in her hooves staring the floor, and he knew he had to comfort her.
Hunk walked up to Helen and spoke to her,
-“Helen? Listen"-
-“I don't feel like talking so much”-
-"I understand how you feel, now you think that the whole world has turned gloomy, and that everything that has happened is unfair, I myself saw my wife die, only that it was an illness that took her away from me, that was a fatality"-,
Helen hugged Hunk tight and cried,
-“Why did it have to happen? I thought the Merciful Pony was protecting us, why did this have to happen to dad?”
Hunk embraced Helen,
-“It wasn't the Merciful Pony's fault, it was a coincidence, he protects us it's true, but there are still bad people around who choose to be bad, and the Black Feather is people to avoid, unfortunately we can't help it, you must be strong”-
-"Ja... even my dad told me"-
-“Indeed Helen, when your father will be gone you have to be strong, in life you have to be strong, otherwise you get overwhelmed by bad ponies, you have to become stronger, I'll take care of that, as long as I'm here I'll teach you how to survive or rather be stronger, I will protect you and teach you to be as strong and fast as I was when I was younger, but from now on you and your mother must be careful, you never know when the Black Feather will could present”-
-“Danke….grandfather, danke”-
-"Do you promise me that you will be strong, both for me and for your mother and for your father?"-
-“Ja…I will”-,
Hunk kissed Helen's forehead and then returned to Gelbes who had returned to her husband, but sadly with bad news,
-“What happened, Gelbes?”-
-“I think… ..sniff… ..Braune is no longer breathing, I tried to touch him and wake him up, but he doesn't speak, no longer gives signs of life, and isn't breathing”-
-"The wound was more serious than the doctor believed, so it really ended like this, if only I weren't so old I would go looking for the one who killed him"-
-"Nein, please, we just need to teach Helen revenge, and then how are you going to find him?"-
-“Listen, Braune told me that he managed to rip off a piece of her killer's cloak, from what he could see it must have been a blue unicorn, and as a cutie mark he had a dagger and a snake, and his weapon was a dagger with coiled snake, if I were to find it then I would match him with my skills”-
-“Nein, please don't do it, if they found out the other members would kill you, and we need you, please, don't avenge Braune, stay here with us”-
-"Okay I won't do it, but I'll make sure to protect you both, I'll see even now to go and talk to the priest of the city to think about Braune's funeral, he deserves a worthy burial"-
-“Danke Hunk”-
-"You don't have to thank me, you are my family, the only people I have left, and for this I have to thank you".
That night, it was difficult for all three to sleep, Helen slept with her mother, but could not sleep, due to the loss of her father, moreover, Gelbes and Hunk had not noticed it but Helen had managed to eavesdrop on what they had I said, so she was going to look for this blue unicorn with the dagger and snake cutie mark, then she tried to fall asleep because they had to go to the funeral the next day.
The priest had everything prepared there were four ponies with him who put Braune's body in a box, then carried it to the town cemetery.
The priest began to pray,
-“Dear Ponies, we are gathered here to say hello to a good soul, Braune Pflanze I knew him little, but he was a good believer, he always found time to come to church with his family, he was able to give a new life to the old Hunk, who had a new family and a granddaughter, now Braune will be welcomed by the gates of Pony Heaven and the angels and saints will welcome him into his new life, because he has now become immortal, the Great Merciful Pony will take him to his celestial kingdom, and there he will meet people who he has known as his parents we are here now with his body but his soul is already on its way to the kingdom of Pony Heaven, evil ponies took him away from us but he was good and he will be welcomed for his goodness ….”-,
as the priest read, Hunk saw that Helen was looking at the coffin down in the ditch, so he walked over to her,
-“You see Helen, the Big Merciful Pony has a plan for each of us, he just took your father in, it wasn't his fault he died, but as my friend Father Arthur said, the Merciful Big Pony gave us the free will, that is choosing good or evil, your father has always chosen good, but the Black Feather has chosen evil, you don't have to be sad because your mother and I will think of you”-
-"Okay, Danke, grandpa"-,
Helen threw a flower into the grave then hugged Hunk and started crying again.
To be continued…..
My Little Pony By Lauren Faust and Hasbro