Spinning Silver

Wanda continues collecting payments, despite Miryem’s absence. Strangely, one of the townsfolk is kind to her, giving her a free drink, paying her more than required, and giving her a bottle of alcohol for her father. At home things are unchanged, and she is struck for the crime of not returning home due to the snow the previous night. Fortunately, the savings she and her brother have hidden beneath their mother’s tombstone remains safe.

Miryem takes the Staryk coins to her cousin Basia’s fiancé, a jeweler named Isaac. Isaac makes a ring from the Staryk silver under the agreement that they will sell it and split the proceeds beyond the six zlotek owed to the Staryk. They sell the ring to the local duke, making a tidy profit beyond the Staryk’s price. Miryem immediately sets off toward town to return the gold to the Staryk king and avoid his wrath. On the journey, they are suddenly surrounded by cold, causing the driver, Oleg, to fall asleep. Miryem sees a Staryk riding an unnaturally large stag with sharp teeth. The longer she gazes upon him, the more inhuman he seems: “The Staryk didn’t look so terribly strange at first; that was what made him truly terrible.