The Painted Bird

The boy begins Chapter 6 by describing the peasants’ beliefs about lightning storms. He’s now living with a carpenter and his wife, who are sure that the boy’s dark hair will bring lightning to the farm they work. Because lightning is a message from God, the villagers didn’t try to put out fires caused by lightning. If a house caught fire after being struck by lightning, objects saved from the house “were similarly possessed and could attract new lightning” (57).

At the onset of a storm, the carpenter would attach a padlocked harness to the boy and bring him out to a field where, frightened, the boy would spend the night in the rainstorm surrounded by “forest werewolves,” “translucent demons,” and “graveyard ghouls” (58). On one occasion, the boy hides in the barn when the storm begins. The barn is struck by lightning and catches fire, and the boy runs away, fearing the villagers will kill him. He jumps aboard a passing train and goes deeper into the forest, coming out by an abandoned military bunker. Upon investigating the bunker, the boy discovers that it’s filled with cannibalistic rats. He continues on his way, approaching a village that evening.