The Power and the Glory Summary

The Power and the Glory Summary

A local dentist Mr. Tench came to the landing stage, as there he had to receive from the captain some nitrogen for his cabinet. There he met a stranger who asked whether Mr. Tench had something to drink, meaning alcohol; the dentist answered that he had at home and invited the stranger to have a drink. As they were sitting at Mr. Tench’s there was a knock at the door and a boy asked for a doctor as his mother was very sick. Mr. Tench said he was just a dentist, and assumed that the stranger was a doctor, but the stranger did not want to go, and when the boy said he would not leave until the doctor went with him the doctor had to subdue as his behavior became suspicious. After the stranger had left Mr. Tench reminded that he had to receive nitrogen and quickly went to the landing stage, but there was no nitrogen left for him. When the stranger was following the boy he hated him and his mother, as he had to leave this place today with the ship, which has already left.

In the police station the lieutenant and police captain were talking about some priest who still was at liberty. The lieutenant promised he would catch him for sure.

When captain Fellows returned home he found his wife in a bad mood and very worried. She said that last night there appered a policeman and they had to let him spend night. Their daughter Koral gave him a hammock. The Lieutenant said to the captain that he was looking for a priest who was a betrayer of the country and was hiding somewhere. Mr. Fellows promised he would inform if something happened, or if they saw the priest, so the lieutenant left. Koral said to her father that did not let him to make a search in their home, because he did not have a right, and because there was something hidden in the shed. It was the priest. Mr. Fellows was very angry with his daughter and said to the priest to leave at once. Koral gave the priest some food and beer and he left. On his way he found some very poor dwelling, where an old man and few younger people lived. They gave him a refuge but asked the priest to hear their confessions. The priest agreed, so all the people living there came to confess to the priest.

The Lieutenant met with the head of the police and the last told him that the governor wanted the priest to be caught before the season of rains. The priest himself was waiting for this season because he knew that when rains started the police would stop the searchings. The lieutenant asked whether he could use methods which he considered effective – he wanted to take into prison one person from each village and if the priest did not show up to shoot them all, and again take one person into prison. It would repeat until the priest gave up. The head of the police said that it would not harm to pour some blood but he also noted that if some troubles would show up because of it, there would be nobody to help the lieutenant.

The priest was traveling through the forests and came into a village where lived Maria, a woman he had a short affair years ago, and she had a daughter – Brigitta. Maria gave the priest food and people let him spend a night in the village. When in the morning he was holding a mass someone run in and said that police was approaching the village. When they came they ordered everyone come out and stay together. The lieutenant informed that they were looking for a priest and if anyone knew where he was should inform at once. But nobody let the priest down, even when the lieutenant took a hostage and left the village. People in the village did not want the priest to stay so he had to go. He went towards village Karmen and on his way some man got stuck to him. The priest suspected that this man wanted to gave him up the police so he was very careful in his speech. The man continued to treat him as a priest, and the priest told many times that he was not a priest. In the night the man got cold and had a fever. They approached two paths, one of which runs to Karmen. The priest made the man sit on his mule and forced the animal go to Karmen while he himself went the opposite path. The man was very agitated and even angry that the priest did not go to Karmen as well, but had no strength to do anything.

Next scene finds the priest in the capital, in the very centre of all the events. There he got arrested for drinking and keeping brandy. The priest spent a night in jail, but the liuetenant did not recognize him. The priest spent the night in a cell with many other people, and there he said that he was a priest, but none of them told the police in the morning who this man really was. In the morning the priest also met the man who wanted to give him to the police. This man came to the lieutenant and said that he had seen the priest, and now he was a guest in the police office and his duty was to walk around the city and recognize the priest when he sees him. But at present the man did not give the priest up; he was really satisfied with his position, and he had food to eat and a place to sleep, so he let the priest go away.

The priest did leave the capital and started to the farm where a girl (Koral) helped him, but there was none in the house. The rains started. The priest was traveling through the forests and came across a little settlement. There people helped him, gave him food and a place to sleep. He spent there several days during which he held a mass and heard the confessions of the inhabitants. There were a lot of children to be baptized, as for three years they had not seen a priest. The priest has done this all, and earned quite enough money to reach a place where he would be in safety.

The morning he got ready to go the man (who had seen him before and was the one to help the police to find him) appeared before the priest and said that in the village not far there was a man who was dying so needed a priest. The priest understood that it was a trap but went there anyway as it was his duty. He was right, the the police was waiting for him. In three days they shot the priest.

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