Ada

Ada is the daughter of Turu, the village Rainmaker, and later the wife of Joseph Knecht in his life as the Rainmaker. Her story connects Knecht’s boyhood admiration of Turu to his apprenticeship, marriage, and succession, placing her at the center of the family line through which the office passes. She is also present at the household’s most dangerous turning point: as drought and famine bring the village against Knecht, she falls gravely ill while he prepares their son Turu to succeed him and offers himself as a sacrifice.

Identity and Introduction

Ada first appears as a little girl among the evening listeners gathered for the village’s stories. Knecht sits beside her. He is fond of her, plays with her, and protects her, but the narrative distinguishes this childhood attachment from love: he is still too young to understand love, and his attention to Ada is also a way of getting closer to her father, whom he greatly admires. Because Turu is difficult for a boy to approach directly, Knecht often goes to the Rainmaker’s isolated hut to fetch Ada, then accompanies her back after the stories.

At home, Ada is her father’s cherished child. When she is frightened by a tale of witches and worries that she lacks a boar’s tooth for protection, Turu reassures her by promising a special root that will protect her from magic and make her prettier. Knecht, eager to learn from Turu, asks whether he can help find it if the plant is described to him. Turu gently teases him that many boys would like to know such secrets, but says there will be time, perhaps in the autumn. The exchange captures the unequal starting points of the two children: Ada receives her father’s reassurance, while Knecht approaches the household through his wish to learn from him.

Marriage and Household

As Ada and Knecht grow up in Turu’s hut, their childhood association becomes a family bond. When Turu decides the time is right, he gives Ada to his disciple as a wife. He presents Knecht to the village Mother as his son-in-law and successor, and Knecht thereafter becomes Turu’s assistant. The marriage therefore coincides with a public change in Knecht’s standing: the boy who once sought reasons to visit Turu’s hut is recognized as the heir to the Rainmaker’s office.

The succession is also framed through Turu’s belief in the return of his spirit. During a night lesson, after showing Knecht the predicted rising of a thin crescent moon, Turu says that his spirit will fly into the moon when he dies and return to dwell in Knecht and Ada’s son. The child, he predicts, must be named Turu. Later, Ada and Knecht have several children, including a boy named Turu. The narrative identifies him with the old Rainmaker’s promised return, joining the family’s ordinary succession to its account of death and rebirth.

Wife of the Rainmaker

As Turu grows old, he gradually leaves his duties to Knecht, who becomes familiar to the village as the Rainmaker before his teacher dies. Ada remains in the household as Knecht’s wife and the mother of their children. The narrative gives little account of her daily responsibilities or private thoughts, but establishes her closeness to Knecht through his protective concern for her and the children when disaster threatens the village.

Knecht’s work and outlook change over the years. He studies the moon and its effects on seasons, weather, and sowing, eventually surpassing Turu in that knowledge. His understanding of lunar cycles is bound to the village’s ideas about death and rebirth, and the narrative says that this devotion helps him acquire a reverent, purified attitude toward death. Ada belongs to the human and domestic life alongside that vocation: Knecht’s youthful longings partly fade as he grows older in his work and in his love and care for Ada and their children.

Crisis and Knecht’s Sacrifice

The family’s security is tested when falling stars spread panic through the village and the following spring brings signs of crop failure. Knecht hides his alarm from the children, taking Ada by the hand and leading her outside while instructing her to keep the children inside, including their son Turu. He tells her that nothing will harm her or the children. His attempt to shield them reflects the Rainmaker’s public burden: the village looks to him to maintain order in the heavens, even when he cannot explain or prevent what is happening.

The spring’s poor signs are followed by a severe drought. The crops fail, the village’s usual ceremonies do not help, and Maro incites hostility toward Knecht. Ada becomes seriously ill with vomiting and fever. With the village in despair and his position under threat, Knecht dresses their son in the ceremonial robes and takes him to the village Mother, presenting him as successor while offering himself as a sacrifice. The story places Ada’s illness beside this decision, but does not say that she witnesses the ceremony or learns its details at the time.

Knecht’s sacrifice makes the household’s line of succession public and immediate: he names their son as the new Rainmaker and asks the villagers to obey him after his death. Ada’s part in this ending is defined chiefly by her absence from the proceedings through illness and by her place as the mother of the heir. The narrative closes her role within the Rainmaker’s family, where marriage, apprenticeship, office, and the anticipated return of Turu’s spirit are joined across generations.