Selected Polish Tales | Page 3

is the village. On the second
tier, where the ground is clay, stands the manor-house, almost on top of
the village, with which an avenue of old lime-trees connects it. To the
right and left extend the manor-fields, large and rectangular, sown with
wheat, rye, and peas, or else lying fallow. The sandy soil of the third
tier is sown with rye or oats and fringed by the pine-forest, its contours
showing black against the sky.
The northern ridge contains little hills standing singly. One of them is
the highest in the neighbourhood and is crowned by a solitary pine.
This hill, together with two others, is the property of the gospodarz[1]
The gospodarstwo is like a hermitage; it is a long way from the village
and still farther from the manor-house.
[Footnote 1: _Gospodarz_: the owner of a small holding, as distinct
from the villager, who owns no land and is simply an agricultural
labourer. The word, which means host, master of the house, will be
used throughout the book. _Gospodyni_: hostess, mistress of the
holding. _Gospodarstwo_: the property.]

Josef Slimak.
Slimak's cottage is by the roadside, the front door opening on to the
road, the back door into the yard; the cowhouse and pigsty are under
one roof, the barn, stable, and cart-shed forming the other three sides of
the square courtyard.
The peasants chaff Slimak for living in exile like a Sibiriak.[1] It is true,
they say, that he lives nearer to the church, but on the other hand he has
no one to open his mouth to.
[Footnote 1: Sibiriak: a person of European birth or extraction living in
Siberia.]
However, his solitude is not complete. On a warm autumn day, when
the white-coated gospodarz is ploughing on the hill with a pair of
horses, you can see his wife and a girl, both in red petticoats, digging
up potatoes.
Between the hills the thirteen-year-old Jendrek[1] minds the cows and
performs strange antics meanwhile to amuse himself. If you look more
closely you will also find the eight-year-old Stasiek[2] with hair as
white as flax, who roams through the ravines or sits under the lonely
pine on the hill and looks thoughtfully into the valley.
[Footnote 1: Polish spelling, Jedrek (pronounced as given, Jendrek,
with the French sound of _en_): Andrew.]
[Footnote 2: _Stasiek_: diminutive of Stanislas.]
That gospodarstwo--a drop in the sea of human interest--was a small
world in itself which had gone through various phases and had a history
of its own.
For instance, there was the time when Josef Slimak had scarcely seven
acres of land and only his wife in the cottage. Then there came two
surprises, his wife bore him a son--Jendrek,--and as the result of the
servituty[1] his holding was increased by three acres.

[Footnote 1: Servituty are pieces of land which, on the abolition of
serfdom, the landowners had to cede to the peasants formerly their serfs.
The settlement was left to the discretion of the owners, and much
bargaining and discontent on both sides resulted therefrom; the
peasants had to pay percentage either in labour or in produce to the
landowner.]
Both these circumstances created a great change in the gospodarz's life;
he bought another cow and pig and occasionally hired a labourer.
Some years later his second son, Stasiek, was born. Then Slimakowa[1]
hired a woman by way of an experiment for half a year to help her with
the work.
[Footnote 1: Slimakowa: Polish form for Mrs. Slimak.]
Sobieska stayed for nine months, then one night she escaped to the
village, her longing for the public-house having become too strong. Her
place was taken by 'Silly Zoska'[1] for another six months. Slimakowa
was always hoping that the work would grow less, and she would be
able to dispense with a servant. However, 'Silly Zoska' stayed for six
years, and when she went into service at the manor the work at the
cottage had not grown less. So the gospodyni engaged a
fifteen-year-old orphan, Magda, who preferred to go into service,
although she had a cow, a bit of land, and half a cottage of her own.
She said that her uncle beat her too much, and that her other relations
only offered her the cold comfort that the more he applied the stick the
better it would be for her.
[Footnote: Zoska: diminutive of Sophia.]
Up till then Slimak had chiefly done his own farm work and rarely
hired a labourer. This still left him time to go to work at the manor with
his horses, or to carry goods from the town for the Jews.
When, however, he was summoned more and more often to the manor,
he found that the day-labourer was not sufficient, and began to look out
for a permanent farm-hand.

One autumn day, after