Mold of the Earth
Mold of the Earth is set in Pulawy. It is about how the world is more like mosses or molds on a boulder. The narrator sat by the Temple of Sibyl on a bench with a botanist. When the narrator asked him what does he find of interest in irregular patches of colors on a boulder, he replied that they are not any inanimate patches. They were actually living beings almost invisible to naked eyes except for their colonies. They too fight for existence and for space on that boulder. Years later, the narrator sat on the same bench and observed the patches have changed dimensions. The botanist now appeared in front of him and everything became faintly luminous. A globe appeared in front of his vision and he studied the globe, the boundaries, the countries divided from one another. He understood then how humans too have colonized the earth and globe is nothing but a presentation of mold (mould) of the earth.
The Waistcoat
The Waistcoat is about a vest that was purchased by narrator from a Jewish peddler. It was in a worn-out condition yet there were invaluable sentiments attached to it. The Waistcoat belonged to narrator’s neighbor and told their story. The neighbors had been living a happy life until the husband started losing weight because of tuberculosis. He became shortening one band of the waistcoat so that his wife will not be worried while his wife started shortening the other band to give her husband hope. They both deceived each other to keep the other one at peace. The wife left the town after her husband’s death.
