St. Peter's Umbrella by Kálmán Mikszáth

First published:Szent Péter esernyöje, 1895 (English translation, 1900)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Comic realism

Time of plot: Second half of nineteenth century

Locale: Hungary

Principal characters

• Pál Gregorics, a wealthy bachelor
• Anna Wibra, his housekeeper and cook
• Gyury or György Wibra, the illegitimate son of Anna Wibra
• János Bélyi, a priest in Glogova
• Veronica Bélyi, his sister
• Widow Adamecz, the priest’s housekeeper
• János Sztolarik, a lawyer
• Jónás Müncz, a Jewish merchant

The Story:

When the new priest, young János Bélyi, arrives in Glogova, prospects for an enjoyable life are extremely dim. The little Hungarian town is a forlorn place where impoverished peasants live out their lives trying to get as much as possible out of the poor soil. No provisions are made for the priest’s subsistence, and church property is almost nonexistent. While the priest contemplates the fact that he will have to eat less and pray more, the situation becomes more critical with the arrival of his baby sister. His parents died and somebody decided to send little Veronica to her nearest relative, the priest; thus, a baby in a basket is suddenly put at the doorstep of his modest home. In order to find a solution to his problems, he takes a prayerful walk.

A heavy rain begins to fall. Suddenly he remembers the baby, still lying in front of his house, and he is certain the child will be soaking wet before he can arrive. To his surprise he finds her completely dry, protected by an old red umbrella. The priest cannot imagine who was so kind to his little sister; however, the townspeople soon find all sorts of explanations. Since the only stranger seen lately is an old Jew, the peasants come to the conclusion that St. Peter came to show his mercy for the poor child.

At the next funeral on a rainy day the priest uses the red umbrella. The men carrying the coffin stumble, and the supposedly dead man, who was merely in a trance, becomes very much alive. To the villagers this incident is another sign of the supernatural character of the umbrella. As a result of the umbrella, the priest’s conditions improve rapidly, and all kinds of gifts arrive at his house for the baby who caused St. Peter to come to Glogova. Even Widow Adamecz offers her services as housekeeper free of charge, additional proof of the miraculous power of the umbrella to all who know the money-conscious widow.

In the beginning the priest tries to resist continuous requests for the presence of the umbrella during church ceremonies, but his parishioners feel so offended when he refuses that he finally gives in and uses the umbrella on all occasions. Pilgrims come from far away to look at the umbrella, and brides insist on being married under it. Soon the town feels the need for building an inn that carries the name Miraculous Umbrella. The priest wonders how the umbrella came to Glogova; he waits many years for an answer.

In the town of Besztercebanya lives a wealthy bachelor, Pál Gregorics. A spy during the war, he was seen many times with a red umbrella. Pál is in love with his housekeeper, Anna Wibra, who gives birth to an illegitimate son, Gyury Wibra. The townspeople observe how Pál devotes all of his time to the child. Pál’s two brothers and his sister do not like the possibility that they might someday have to share Pál’s estate with an illegitimate child. For this reason Pál, afraid that his relatives might try to harm young Gyury, decides to trick them by pretending he does not care for the boy, and he sends Gyury to a distant school. To deceive his brothers and sister, he acts as if he invested all of his money in several estates that require inspection from time to time, but in reality he visits his son.

Despite great love for his father, Gyury reproaches Pál for making himself a laughingstock by always carrying the old red umbrella. Pál disregards the complaints and promises his son he will one day inherit the umbrella. When Pál feels he is going to die, he asks his lawyer János Sztolarik to prepare his will. Mysteriously, he asks two masons, under strict order of secrecy, to break a wall in order to place a caldron into the wall and finish the masonry as it was before. Although he tells his housekeeper to notify Gyury of his illness, she fails to do so, and Pál dies, without seeing his son, with the red umbrella in his hands.

When Sztolarik reads the will, Pál’s brothers and sister are horrified to hear nothing about the rich estates that their brother supposedly owned. They spend much time and money to find out what Pál did with the money. They suspect a secret bequest to Gyury, but investigators report that the boy is studying and living on a meager income. Finally they discover the two masons, who reveal for a large sum of money the secret of the caldron in the wall. Certain they found the answer to their riddle, they buy the house, which was willed to Gyury, for an extremely high price. When they break the wall open, they find the caldron filled with rusty nails.

Soon afterward Gyury completes his education and becomes a lawyer in Besztercebanya. He hears about the frantic search for his father’s estate, and he begins to wonder where it could be. The first clue is given by the dying mayor, who tells how Pál carried secret documents in the hollow handle of his umbrella during the war. Gyury’s suspicion is confirmed when his mother tells him how Pál, even in death, still clutched the umbrella. The search for the umbrella then begins. Gyury’s investigations points to an old Jew, Jónás Müncz, who bought for a few coins those odds and ends belonging to his father that the relatives did not want. Further inquiries establish that the Jew died but that his wife owned a small store in Babaszek. Gyury and his coachman hurry to that town. An interview with Frau Müncz reveals that her husband was fond of the umbrella and carried it around at all times. Gyury hears from Frau Müncz’s son that the old Jew was seen putting the umbrella over a little baby in Glogova.

As he is about to leave for Glogova, Gyury finds a lost earring for which, according to the town crier, the mayor is searching. Returning the earring to the mayor, he is introduced to its owner, a young and extremely beautiful woman. Furthermore, he learns she is Veronica Bélyi, sister of the village priest in Glogova. She was on her way home when an accident damaged her vehicle.

Gyury gladly offers to conduct Veronica and her traveling companion in his carriage, but the two women decide that it is now too late for departure, and Gyury agrees to postpone his trip until morning. During a party in the mayor’s house, Gyury hears about the miraculous umbrella in Glogova and realizes that the umbrella he seeks is identical to the priest’s umbrella. Throughout the night he can hardly sleep from thinking how near and yet how far away the umbrella is. During the night he dreams that St. Peter advises him to marry the priest’s sister; thus he will have a beautiful wife and a legal claim on the umbrella.

On the trip to Glogova, Gyury considers the advantages of the suggestion offered to him in his dream, but he is afraid Veronica might not love him. The carriage breaks down not far away from the town. Searching for some wood needed for repair, he hears faint cries for help; a man fell into a deep hole. After several attempts he succeeds in lifting out the unfortunate man, who turns out to be the priest of Glogova; he fell into the hole while waiting for Veronica on the previous night. Deeply grateful, the priest wants to know whether there is anything he can do for his rescuer. Gyury tells him he has something in his carriage belonging to the priest. The priest is surprised to find his sister in the vehicle; he informs Veronica of his promise, and she becomes engaged to Gyury.

In Glogova the young man has a conversation with the lawyer Sztolarik, who heard from Gyury about his successful search. The lawyer is concerned because he feels that Gyury cannot be sure whether love for Veronica or for the umbrella is the primary motive for his marriage. Veronica, overhearing the conversation, runs away heartbroken.

Gyury is eager to see the umbrella, which the priest gladly shows him; but the old handle was replaced by a new one of silver. Gyury’s last hope for recovering the old handle is crushed when the priest’s housekeeper informs him that she burned it. Meanwhile, the priest begins to worry about the absence of his sister. Hearing of her disappearance, Gyury is also greatly upset. Suddenly he realizes that he can overcome the loss of the umbrella but not the loss of Veronica. Church bells give the fire alarm signal, and everybody in Glogova appears for the search. When Gyury finds Veronica and tells her about the burned handle, she recognizes his greater love for her, and she and Gyury are married in the grandest wedding Glogova ever saw. Although Gyury never knows whether the handle contained the key to his inheritance, the umbrella remains a treasured relic in his family.

Bibliography

Czigány, Lóránt. “The Decline of the Gentry and the Novel.” In The Oxford History of Hungarian Literature from the Earliest Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. Provides an overview of Mikszáth’s work.

Reményi, Joseph. “Kälmän Mikszäth: Novelist and Satirist.” In Hungarian Writers and Literature. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1964. Pages 154 to 164 introduce and establish a context for Mikszäth’s works.

Scheer, Steven C. Kälmän Mikszäth. Boston: Twayne, 1977. A good starting place in the study of Mikszäth’s life and work. Includes a bibliography.