One of the von Goetzens was a professor of the history of religion. He was also an expert of roofs. It began when the mansion needed new roof tiles. The professor devoted himself to researching different styles and methods.

Later in his life, he wrote about Saint Kummernis and religious sects, including the Cutlers. He believed that religion intersected with roofs, as both acted as a barrier to what is above, protecting those under it and helping them make sense of the chaos in the world.

The Cutlers made excellent knives and observed strange traditions, such as mourning when they had children and celebrating when someone died. In their huts, they hung their knives from the rafters, fearlessly walking under them. They believed the world began when the spirit experienced an overwhelming emotion, though no one ever discerned which emotion that was.

They believed the soul is a knife. It is stabbed into the body to animate it, giving life while also killing. They also took extensive efforts to not conceive: “Whenever they had intercourse, they took care to prevent the semen from reaching the womb. They spilled it on the ground as an offering to their God” (225). This was their only offering to God, believing God had nothing in common with humans. Even their psalms were merely mournful songs.

Marta believes that eras are defined not by people, but by color and light. She makes connections between how the world appeared at a certain time to her. This makes it hard for her to order memories, demonstrating the confusing nature of time. She once saw a deserted, dead valley under an orange sky, but did not know what it meant.

There is a man who wanders through the woods with a chain saw, offering to cut trees down for people. He has an alcohol dependency, and his lack of care with the tool makes the narrator anxious. R. once asked him to cut down a tree, but when the man wanted to cut another tree, R. had to lead him away. Now, when they hear him coming, the narrator and R. retreat inside.

Ergo Sum woke up in a drainage ditch on the side of the road, covered in blood that was not his. He decided to turn himself in to the police, convinced he had murdered someone.

In Pietno, he met a group of people standing over a dead cow. The villagers believed a dog, belonging to Bobol, killed the cow. Ergo Sum remembered pieces of the previous night and felt terrible. Ergo Sum sat down next to the cow and cried, to the astonishment of the villagers.

At home, Ergo Sum craved death. He resisted the urge, however, and the next morning, he walked back to Pietno, where he found Bobol and offered to be his farmhand. Bobol accepted the offer once Ergo Sum explained that he did not want money, only a place to live.

Ergo Sum changed his name to “Mr. Bronek.” He spent his days milking cows and mucking out stalls. Every night, Ergo Sum ate dinner with Bobol and the dogs. Ergo Sum suffered from insomnia and often went walking in the forest, up to the border. He hoped a border guard would shoot him, ending his misery. Instead, he transformed into a wolf.

Sometimes, Bobol and Ergo Sum talked of Pietno, and how the future looked grim. When Bobol’s dogs often returned with the corpses of deer, Bobol asked Ergo Sum to bury them. Ergo Sum had to break the deer’s legs to bury them, and it haunted him. One day, Ergo Sum decided to donate blood, thinking it charitable. He gave blood two or three times a month.

Mushrooms appear in August, and the narrator sees the first of the season on her way to Marta’s. She thinks of the many unique mushrooms in the forest. Some are edible while others are poisonous, and some are beautiful while others are ugly. The narrator dislikes how mushrooms are often divided into “good” and “bad” categories, based on how humans can use them. The narrator has eaten many mushrooms throughout her life, not always considering if they are harmful. The narrator brings puffball mushrooms to Marta’s, and they make a dessert with them.

The chapter ends with a recipe for Sett puffball dessert.

Paschalis stayed with Katka for days, always wearing her clothes. He reread his work, considering the many contradictions Kummernis wrote, looking for answers. When summer ended, Paschalis left, realizing he must destroy himself to become the person he wanted to be.

He found the Cutlers, who named him Brother-Sister Fire. With them, Paschalis learned the Cutlers believed that God was independent of humanity. As he travelled back to his convent, Paschalis concluded that God wants people to die and return to him. Paschalis believed the best way to honor God was to die, and saw signs everywhere—in poisonous mushrooms, knives, wars, and illness.

There are two different accounts of Paschalis’s end. In the first account, Paschalis hanged himself. The other version suggests that Paschalis continued travelling, spreading the word about Kummernis and the Cutlers. The narrator believes the lack of an accepted account reflects Paschalis’s role in Kummernis’s story: “The person telling the story is always alive, immortal in a way” (246).

The narrator believes that aloe is an immortal plant. She often cuts off its shoots, replanting and growing a new plant. She cannot remember which of her aloe plants came first.

She brings one to Marta, considering how its immortal existence must be boring. Marta agrees with her, suggesting that it is an example of why death is not a completely bad prospect.

Bobol, Ergo Sum, and their neighbor visit the narrator’s home to make a deal. They bring vodka, and everyone sits around a bonfire. Ergo Sum does not drink, and when he reveals that he has donated 16 buckets of blood thus far in his life, only Marta commends him.

Bobol’s father, Old Bobol, and his family, were among the Poles moved from the eastern portion of the country annexed by Russia to the newly reincorporated Silesia. The journey was unpredictable, with assurances that there would be homes at their destination, but no destination was ever shared.

When they finally reached the small, damp village in the forest, an official assigned Old Bobol’s family a house. The official introduced them to the German family whose home it was. The official assured Old Bobol that the German family would leave soon. The two families lived together in the house for the entire summer, slowly growing accustomed to each other.

The newly arrived Poles were resentful of the war, blaming their German neighbors for their evictions. When autumn came and the German family left, the grandmother confronted Old Bobol, screaming at him. When he asked an official what she said, the official told Old Bobol she cursed him. The village was renamed Pietno, its German name, Einsiedler, erased.

Marta possesses a unique collection of broken things, dug up from her garden. They are a legacy of when the village was German. The narrator and R. also find objects on their land, but they prefer new items. The narrator does like Marta’s pewter plate, though, finding it beautiful.

The narrator had a German nanny growing up. Though the woman spoke German to the narrator, the narrator cannot remember any of it. The narrator hopes that German lies dormant within her, her nanny’s care imbuing it within her. When the narrator was one year old, her nanny brought her to visit her own family, and while there, a photographer took her photo. The narrator remembers this being the first time she saw herself from an outside perspective. For the rest of her life, this viewpoint disorients her, though she soon sees it as an advantage. Every viewpoint creates a different view of the world, introducing her to infinite worlds.

The Cutlers’ psalm is one of futility. It laments the pointlessness of life: “To do, but have results / to act, but stir nothing / to age, but change nothing / to set off, but never arrive / to speak, but not give voice” (261).

As the first years in Pietno passed, the new Polish residents discovered more and more of their former residents’ past, which now belonged to them. The Germans left their homes intact, with clothes in the closet, toys for children, and cellars stocked with provisions. Occasionally, while working in gardens, people dug up small treasures, like silver cutlery. Soon, people began to hunt for these treasures around the village.

This treasure hunting continued for generations, and eventually, Germans returned to the village as tourists to look for their families’ hidden objects. The best hunter was Flaster, who uncovered more than anyone. Everything in his home was a found treasure. His greatest discovery was a set of cutlery and table settings, for which a furniture dealer paid him an immense amount of money. His daughter, Krysia, used the money to find a room in Nowa Ruda, and travelled to Rome to see the Pope.