Ducks

Ducks appear in the domestic landscape of Lipce as both a small brood at the pond and animals folded into the crowded routines of the farmstead. Their scenes are modest, but concrete: ducklings scatter from an attempted feeding, while ducks sleep beneath beds and receive food among the household’s other animals. The details show a farm not as an abstract unit of production but as a lived space where human work and animal movement continually meet.

Farmyard and Pond

Beside the pond, the organist’s wife sits near a brood of ducklings described by their bright appearance, while a ruffled hen clucks on the bank. Hanka recognizes the brood as belonging to Kozłowa the firebrand. The exchange identifies the birds through everyday village knowledge: Hanka knows whose they are, and their presence at the water is familiar enough to prompt a casual question rather than surprise.

When the organist’s wife calls to the ducklings and scatters millet to draw them out, they do not follow the invitation. They hurry to the opposite bank, and she has to run after them. The episode gives the birds a small but distinct physical presence. They are not stationary farm property in the scene: their movement redirects the woman’s attention and effort, turning a simple act of feeding into a brief pursuit along the pond.

Feeding and Domestic Care

Elsewhere, ducks are part of the routine Hanka oversees around the Boryna farmstead. In the morning she feeds the ducklings cooked groats before chasing them off toward the pond. This task falls within a rapid sequence of animal care: she throws grain to the chickens, carries swill to the pigs, prepares a drink for a calf separated from its mother, and attends to the stork as well. The ducks belong to a mixed household menagerie, each group requiring its own food and handling.

The scene emphasizes Hanka’s command of practical detail. She remembers what each animal needs while also directing people, moving through the yard, and pressing the reluctant Pietrek to work. Her care for the ducklings is not presented as an isolated sentiment; it is one element of a demanding system of daily labor. Feeding them and sending them toward the pond require attention alongside the larger responsibilities of the farm.

The House as Shelter

At night, ducks sleep beneath the beds in the chamber where Hanka lies awake. The room is hot and stuffy, and their presence contributes to its unpleasant smell. Hanka is already troubled by anxious thoughts and fears of sounds outside, but she does not open the window. The animals’ nighttime lodging places them literally within the family’s living quarters, blurring any neat boundary between house and farm.

This detail complements the daylight scenes at the pond and in the yard. The ducks move through several parts of domestic space: they are fed in the morning, sent toward the water, and sheltered under the beds at night. Their care is practical and close-range, shaped by the household’s arrangements rather than by a separate enclosure described in the narrative. Their proximity also has a cost: the same animals that receive care make the sleeping room more oppressive.

Narrative Significance

The ducks’ appearances are brief, but they make the ordinary demands of farm life visible at ground level. A brood crossing a pond, a handful of millet, cooked groats, and birds sleeping under beds are small particulars through which the narrative registers the constant labor of maintaining a household. They also connect human space to animal space without turning the birds into symbols with a fixed meaning: the ducklings evade the woman’s call, while the household accommodates the ducks indoors when night comes.

Their care is most clearly set within Hanka’s work as farmstead keeper. She must remember individual needs, keep animals moving through their daily routines, and continue despite the many other tasks competing for her attention. The ducks therefore contribute to the portrait of a working farm as an interdependent, crowded environment, sustained through repeated acts of feeding, tending, and managing movement.