Geratzite

Gaffer Yordan the Gerak is a wealthy farmer with a large family The Geraks live in harmony as long as his wife is alive After her death disagreement and strife erupt among them Two of the sons Bozhan and Peter demand the partition of their fathers real estate The third son Pavel who is doing his military service in the town has become estranged from the land and from his family When Pavel returns home only to ask money from his father Gaffer Yordan discovers that he has been robbed His sons trade accusations and come to blows Pavel goes back to his mistress in the city Elka Pavels wife falls ill with a venereal disease she has contracted from his husband On a dark and stormy night Elka is about to drown herself in the river when the Geraks old farmhand takes her back home Before long Elka dies as does Gaffer Yordan Bozhan fells the centenarian pine tree in the yard of the family home which symbolized the patriarchal ways of the Geraks