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Maria Matios
even a sign, as if thewater had
carried people off without a
trace; except someone was
gossiping about Kuryk that he
was somewhere in prison on
the other side … But whether
they were telling the truth,
or lying, who knows? People
like that – know how to lie
better than to tell the truth.
Mykhailo doesn’t understand
this, because it doesn’t
concern household matters.
He’s just interested inhiswork
and his household, but, God
forgive, in the village Kuryk
was so much the ringleader,
that a little bit more – and he
would have earned himself
some prison time here. There
are those kinds of people
who bring trouble on their
own heads. But that’s their
problem. Though, a whole
bunch of Kuryk’s children
were left behind… And how
could one run away from
his own flesh and blood,
and dump everything on the
teeny tiniest woman like Mrs.
Kuryk? And yet, something
attracted the man there to
Galicia, something stronger
than his children and wife…
Something attracted him.
There Mykhailo’s workbench
and ax attracted him in a
way that neither the tavern,
nor carousing attracted him.
Maybe someone wonders
about him the way Mykhailo
wondered about Kuryk and
about those who disappeared
with Kuryk to the other side.
…Mykhailo looks from the
dam to the other side and
feels, that maybe for the first
time in his life his heart was
aching. And he senses a vague
anxiety, as if right now that
hawk that’s hanging lifelessly
over the nape of his neck as
though over carrion is about
to steal him, as though it’s