Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov

First published:Pod igoto, serial, 1889-1890; book, 1893 (English translation, 1894)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Historical

Time of plot: 1875-1876

Locale: Bulgaria

Principal characters

• Kralich, a revolutionary
• Rada, his sweetheart
• Sokolov, a doctor
• Marika, a girl

The Story:

One day Marko, a substantial family man, sits down to his evening meal. His children and his relatives are a noisy crowd, but over the din they hear an alarming noise in the yard. The women all shriek, because they are afraid of robbers. Marko takes a pistol and goes to investigate. In the stable, he finds an exhausted and furtive man cowering in the dark.

Ivan Kralich, the fugitive, returns to the village of Bela Cherkva after escaping from a Turkish prison. The Turks are harsh rulers of Bulgaria, and anyone suspected of revolutionary tendencies is either killed outright or imprisoned. Nevertheless, eight years of confinement failed to quench Kralich’s spirit. Making his getaway, he asks for sanctuary because the Turks are on his trail. Marko, a patriot who knew Kralich’s family, tells the fugitive to remain in hiding in his stable. As he returns to the house, however, Turkish policemen knock at the door. They heard the women shrieking and come to see what the trouble is.

As soon as Marko can get rid of the Turks, he hurries back to the stable, but Kralich disappears. Hearing the police, he climbed the wall and ran. Unfortunately, he runs into a patrol and escapes them only after leaving his coat in the hands of the Turks. They shoot at him, but the fugitive escapes into the countryside. It is raining, and at last he takes refuge in a mill. As he crouches in a dark corner, the miller comes in with his innocent fourteen-year-old daughter, Marika. Kralich watches unobserved as they make beds on the floor. Then two Turkish policemen knock and force their way into the mill. One of them is a notorious lame man who cut off a girl’s head a short while before. The miller is terror stricken when the Turks order him to get them some raki.

Knowing that they want Marika, the miller bravely refuses to leave. Throwing aside all pretense, the Turks seize him and start to bind him. Kralich is moved to action when the despairing miller calls to Marika for help. He takes an ax and after a brief struggle kills the Turks. After Kralich and the miller bury the bodies, the grateful miller leads Kralich to a good hiding place in a nearby monastery.

While Kralich is resting, Sokolov, the village doctor, finds himself in trouble. Although Sokolov is called a doctor, he received no training and prescribes few medicines; he is regarded with suspicion by the Turks because he is a patriotic Bulgarian and because his peculiar habits include keeping a pet bear. That night, as he is playing with the bear, the Turks arrest him on a charge of treason.

What happened was that Kralich asked Sokolov the way to Marko’s house, and the compassionate doctor gave Kralich his coat. When Kralich loses the coat during his escape from the patrol, the police recognize Sokolov’s garment. In the pockets they find revolutionary documents. The arrest creates a sensation in the district. Kralich, hearing of Sokolov’s trouble, starts to the village to clear him. Marko, however, cleverly fools the police by substituting a harmless newspaper for the incriminating documents when the official messenger stops for a drink in a tavern. The evidence disappears, so the easygoing Turkish bey releases Sokolov.

Kralich changes his name and finds a job teaching school. He maintains contact with the revolutionaries, however, and soon welcomes to the cause his friend Mouratliski, who also fled from the Turks. Mouratliski, passing as an Austrian photographer, soon becomes a familiar figure in the village. Kralich continues to discuss the cause of liberty and wins many converts. He also falls in love with Rada, a gentle orphan who teaches in the girls’ school.

Once the townspeople give a play in which Kralich takes a leading role. The bey, who understands no Bulgarian, is an honored guest. At the end of the play Kralich leads the cast in singing patriotic and revolutionary songs. The audience is much moved. The quick-witted Bulgarian translating for the bey assures the Turkish official that the songs are part of the drama.

Kralich finally comes under suspicion when a spy informs the Turks that the schoolmaster is working for Bulgarian independence. A detachment of police surround the church while the villagers are at worship, but Kralich gets through the cordon by assuming a disguise. He then flees to the mountains and the woods and for months leads a wandering life sheltered by patriotic Bulgars. He preaches continually the need for revolution. One day, when he attends a party in a small village, Turks come and beat an old man to death. Kralich leads a small group, including the giant Ivan Kill-the-Bear, out along a trail, and they wait in ambush. The Bulgars succeed in killing the Turks and leave their bodies to be eaten by wolves.

Meanwhile, in Bela Cherkva, Rada leads an uneasy life. The village knows of her love for Kralich and twits her on her hopeless affair after his disappearance. In particular, a student named Kandov makes her life miserable by following her about. At last Kralich slips into the village to visit her. Rada, overjoyed, is reluctant to part from him again, and Kralich invites her to go to Klissoura, a nearby village, where he is busy organizing a revolt. Soon afterward she sets out, but Kandov follows her and finds the house where she is staying. When Kralich appears, he is already a little jealous because he received an anonymous letter accusing Rada of intimacies with Kandov. As soon as he sees Kandov with her, Kralich becomes angry and leaves.

Under the fiery leadership of Kralich, the inhabitants of Klissoura prepare to revolt. On the day for the rising, the little garrison proclaims its independence of Turkey, and the citizen soldiers, after setting their wooden cannon on the trail, prepare to battle the Turks. Bela Cherkva does not revolt as planned, however, and the whole Turkish strength is concentrated on Klissoura. The Bulgarians are quickly overwhelmed. When the victors begin pillaging the town, Rada is lucky enough to get back to Bela Cherkva with the help of Ivan and his wife.

A fugitive once more, Kralich wanders hungry and cold through the Balkans. At last, he takes shelter in the mill and sends the faithful Marika into town with a letter asking Sokolov to bring him clothes. Marika cannot find the doctor, who also becomes a fugitive, but by chance the letter falls into Rada’s hands. She makes up a bundle of clothing and starts off to the mill.

Sokolov, meanwhile, joins Kralich. When Rada arrives, the lovers have a brief and tearful reunion before pursuing Turks attack the mill. Kralich and Sokolov are both armed, and for a time, they hold their own against the enemy. Rada is the first to be killed by gunfire. Kralich kisses her cold lips and returns to the battle. The Turks quickly close in on the two Bulgarians when the defenders’ ammunition gives out. Kralich’s head is mounted on a pole and carried in triumph back to the village.

Bibliography

Choice. Review of Under the Yoke, by Ivan Vazov. 9 (June, 1972): 514. Hails the publication in English of this important work. Praises the work of the translators and editor in making the work accessible to English readers.

Gyllin, Roger. “Iván Vazov: A National Monument’s Development as a Writer and Personality.” In Snorri Sturluson and the Roots of Nordic Literature / Snori Sturluson i korenite na nordskata knižovnost, edited by Vladimir Stariradev. Sofia, Bulgaria: Department of German and Scandinavian Studies, University of Sofia, 2004. This article may be difficult to find, as not many libraries have books from Bulgaria. It is one of the few English-language discussions of Vazov’s life and literary career, describing the conditions under which he wrote Under the Yoke. Compares Vazov’s literary production to August Strindberg’s “both quantitatively and in the richness of genres,” but argues that Vazov is to a much higher degree than Strindberg a “national writer and patriot.”

Haffner, Susanne A. Review of Under the Yoke, by Ivan Vazov. Library Journal 97 (January, 1972): 86. Describes the importance of the novel in the context of Bulgarian history. Cites some weakness in characterization and the strength of the novel’s largely accurate account of a revolution.

Mihailovich, Vasa D., ed. South Slavic Writers Before World War II. Vol. 147 in Dictionary of Literary Biography. New York: Gale Research, 1995. Introductory overview, providing a biography of Vazov and a critique of his work.