Szymek and Nastusia marry

Szymek and Nastusia marry in a subdued ceremony that nevertheless marks a decisive change in their lives: against the opposition that had delayed their union, they leave the village party as a married couple and set out for a home of their own. The wedding does not end their hardship, but it converts a contested promise into a shared household—and the villagers’ practical kindness helps make that household possible.

A home prepared against opposition

Before the wedding, Szymek’s cottage had been rising through a combination of his labor and assistance from others. Pan Jacek the violinist worked alongside him, sharing food and shelter, while Mateusz and Adam, a member of the Kłąb family, helped obtain and haul the wood. Mateusz worked hard for nearly a week; when the building was finished, he hung a green wreath around the chimney before returning to his own work. The cottage stood high enough to be seen from Lipce, a visible sign that Szymek was trying to establish an independent life rather than remain dependent on his mother.

As Szymek finished whitewashing the room and clearing away shavings, Pan Jacek the violinist put his fiddle under his arm and indicated that the nest was ready for a bride. Szymek answered that the wedding would be the following day after vespers. Pan Jacek the violinist explained that he had not worked for nothing: if the village drove him out, he would come to Szymek for lodging. His remark joins practical help to a teasing acknowledgment of his own uncertain place in the community. Szymek, left to look at the completed cottage, took visible delight in what they had made.

The prospect of the wedding also brings the conflict with Nastusia’s mother into focus. When Szymek’s intentions were discussed, she mocked the wedding and threatened him if he got drunk. He responded by deciding to drink on purpose and ran to Mateusz’s cottage, where people were preparing to leave for church. The exchange makes clear that the marriage is not simply a family-approved celebration: Szymek and Nastusia are proceeding despite a prohibition that has helped keep them apart.

The church ceremony and the gathering

The wedding itself is quiet and almost austere. There is no procession of singing, shouting, or music as the party leaves for church; the ceremony has only two candles. Nastusia bursts into tears, while Szymek sulks and looks around the empty church with a proud, aggressive air. Their different responses give the scene its emotional tension: she is overwhelmed by the moment, while he meets its discomfort with defiance. The organist’s lively tune as they leave brings a small but meaningful change in mood, setting feet tapping and making the occasion more cheerful.

After the ceremony, Jagna returns to her mother’s house and later visits the gathering. In the narrow chamber, some guests dance while others dance outside between the cottage and the tables where the wedding party eats, drinks, and talks quietly. The celebration remains restrained in daylight, and the guests are sober; music nevertheless gives the event its movement. Mateusz plays the fiddle, Pietrek, a farmhand in the Boryna household, accompanies him on the pipe, and another guest drums. The contrast between the spare church service and this modest music-filled gathering makes the wedding feel less like public splendor than a hard-won domestic beginning.

Leaving together

The party soon thins. Once only family and Ambrozy remain, Szymek and Nastusia decide to move to their own place immediately, although Mateusz urges them to stay in the cottage a little longer. Szymek is firm. He borrows a horse from Kłąb and loads their trunk, bedding, pots, and pans onto a cart. After seating Nastusia ceremonially, he kneels at her mother’s feet, kisses his brother-in-law, bows to the relatives, crosses himself, and sets off. The sequence gives their departure the form of a leave-taking: Szymek acknowledges the family even as he establishes a separate household.

The journey takes them past the mill at daybreak. Fields shine with dew, birds sing, and wheat ears stir in the summer morning. Two storks clatter overhead; Nastusia’s mother treats them as a good omen and predicts that the couple will have children. The scene sets a hopeful communal blessing beside the couple’s uncertain future. When they reach the new cottage and are alone, however, Nastusia looks around and cries. Szymek, exhausted and drunk, tells her that others have less and will envy what she has. He falls asleep on straw, while she sits outside weeping and looks back toward the white walls of Lipce among the orchards.

Marriage and mutual aid

The wedding’s resolution is therefore practical rather than effortless. Szymek and Nastusia have secured a home, but the sight of it does not immediately make Nastusia feel secure; she mourns the distance from Lipce and the hardship of their new circumstances. The contrast between the bright morning departure and her tears at the cottage prevents the marriage from reading as a simple, complete escape from trouble.

That loneliness begins to ease through repeated acts of help. Nastusia cries more than once over her misery, but less often as village women visit, bringing something with them. One brings a hen and a basket of chicks, giving the household a tangible beginning; almost every day afterward, another housewife arrives with a gift. Nastusia is moved by their generosity and wonders how she can repay it. The response she receives is that a kind word is enough. The wedding thus extends beyond the church and the couple’s private vows: the new household becomes viable through shared labor and ordinary gifts, while Szymek’s insistence on leaving marks the couple’s independence and the villagers’ assistance keeps that independence from becoming isolation.