Chapter 5 - WacławHe won’t be pleased with me.
FATHER WAS SPEAKING WITH KAJETAN, our tribe’s ambassador, when I approached Perun’s Oak at the heart of the village center. Crowds gathered all around, preparing for the festival. None gave me a care as I ran my fingers along the oak’s rough bark.
According to Father, the oak represented the Three Realms of Prawia, Jawia, and Nawia—Perun’s realm of the gods in its branches, the lands we knew as its trunk, and Weles’s underworld as its roots. Dariusz disagreed with Father’s view of Perun as the chief deity, instead choosing Swaróg to reign in Prawia. It didn’t matter much to me as long as Jaryło granted us a plentiful harvest and Perun protected us from those who would destroy the village. To Father, though, it was yet another symbol of his r
