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