What do you think?
Rate this book


215 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
Mad Mara lay on the meadow, barefoot and half-naked, dishevelled and covered in scratches. Lying flat on her back with her black curls among the flowers and grasses, she gazed into the abyss of the sky with eyes that were forever tear-filled. The sky seemed endless, like the firm earth beneath her shoulders, and she felt the sun burning ever hotter in its frenzied spinning. The midday heat penetrated her temples, dulling her thoughts.
Her large head resembled a strange earthenware vessel. Her big, rather slanting eyes shone black. She stood as firm as a fortress on her heavy legs. It would have taken more than the devil himself to shift her. Although sheltered by the awning, the sun’s heat reached her nevertheless and melted the grease-paint and pomade they had smeared on her tight-skinned cheeks, full lips, long neck and thick, black plaits.
The bridegroom was small and stunted with a greenish complexion and long arms that hung down his fragile body. Utterly uninterested in the merry-making convened in his honour, Kajica was playing with the small boys down by the stream. Depressed, unhappy, withdrawn into himself, his chin still innocent of any growth, Kajica differed from his playmates only in his laughter. This was somehow broken and repressed, more brittle than sincere.
Not far from the kolo dance that still revolved in its mad course, two men were fighting. A crowd that had already taken sides and divided itself into two factions was cheering them on, some shouting for the fair-haired contestant and some for the dark-haired. Both were bloody and dishevelled and near exhaustion.