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Updated: June 28, 2025
Jendrek slowly walked home, puzzled and sad. When he returned to the cottage, he found Stasiek lying ill. He told his father what Gryb had said. 'He's an old fool, replied Slimak. 'What! should a man stand like a beast when others are praying, even if they are Swabians? 'But their praying has bewitched Stasiek. Slimak looked gloomy. 'Why should it have been their prayers?
Through the dark branches of old lime-trees the roof and chimneys of the manor became visible. Suddenly two shots rang out. 'They are shooting! cried Jendrek excitedly, and ran forward. Stasiek caught hold of his father's pocket. Slimak called Jendrek, who returned sulkily. They were now on the terrace, where the manor-fields stretched on either side.
Stasiek began to feel a little more cheerful, but his father happened to shift his position, and the child thought he had been pushed away again. He crept under the bench where Burek lay, and although the dog was soaking wet, he pressed close to him and laid his head on the faithful creature. Unluckily his mother caught sight of him. 'Whatever's the matter with the boy? she cried.
Jendrek was the only cheerful one; he ran out from time to time, wetting himself to the skin, and tried to induce his brother or Magda to join him in these excursions. 'Come, Stasiek, he cried, pulling him by the hand, 'it's such a warm rain, it will wash you and cheer you up. 'Leave him alone, said his father; 'he is peevish.
What does he see down there? he whispered. Stasiek was his favourite, and struck him as an unusual child, who could see things that others did not see. While Slimak cracked his whip and the horses went on, his thoughts were travelling in the direction of the desired field.
Slimak turned towards the river where his wife could be plainly seen in her white chemise and red skirt, bending over the water and beating the linen with a stick until the valley rang. Stasiek had already strayed farther towards the ravines. Sometimes he knelt down on the bank and gazed into the river, supported on his elbows. Slimak smiled. 'Peering again!
'It's all the fault of those scoundrel Swabians that everything is going wrong with me, he muttered, and began to count his losses on the window-pane: 'Stasiek, that's one, the cow two, the horses four, because the thieves did that out of spite for the hog, Burek five, Jendrek six, Maciek and the child eight, and Magda had to leave, and my wife is ill with worry, that makes ten. Lord Christ...!
Never had the peasants heard a hymn like this, so solemn, yet so triumphant, they who only knew their plainsongs, which rose to heaven like a great groan: 'Lord, we lay our guilt before Thine eyes. A cry from Stasiek roused the parents from their reverie. 'Mother...mother...they are singing! stammered the child; his lips became blue, and he fell to the ground.
He was no longer in doubt whether or no he was lying on the manure-heap. Slowly he walked up to the cottage and hesitated on the doorstep; but the rain began to fall more heavily. He stood still in the passage and listened to Magda's snoring; then he cautiously opened the door of the room. Stasiek lay on the bench under the window, breathing deeply.
The children had long been ready, and at last they started. They had no sooner gone than loneliness began to fill Slimakowa's heart. She went outside the gate and watched them; her husband, with his hands in his pockets, was strolling along the road, Jendrek on his right and Stasiek on his left.
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