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Barbu Lautaru (The Fiddler)

Barbu Lautaru rustled up his physical and artistic resources, desirous to make an impression on Franz Liszt whom he met during the great Hungarian virtuoso's visit to Moldavia. Their encounter became famous thanks to an article carried by the French weekly La Vie Parisienne,

Old And New Squires

excerpts Chapter XV. Scenes of Social Life The beautiful autumn days of the year 1817 had already flitted along with the joys they bring to pass for the inhabitants of Romania. Winter had made quite an early appearance and the western wind had by now started to blow in

Depraved Youths

excerpts To you I am descending, oh you, deluded souls!To set your gall a-seething-you, minds like fumaroles- I'm carrying a curse;My curse is misanthropic, with purple, claw-like hand-With this I stamp your foreheads, instead of cattlebrand: A stigma, if not worse.

Pleasure

One might think that all men desire pleasure because they all aim at life (…). Pleasure completes (…) life, which they desire (…). But whether we choose life for the sake of pleasure or pleasure for the sake of life is a question we may dismiss for the present. For

The Pleasures Of Life

excerpt It happened, not too often, but especially after a theater evening followed by dull group discussions at a terrace forgotten open. Camil, the second day after the torture, ran wild. He met Sandu, the sports teacher, the scare of the second division at rugby, the

The Litter Pit

excerpts At the end of every winter, in a hall illuminated by electric lights and covered by wooden floors, near the Central Station, at Locomotiva, the Craftsmen's Ball was the event of the season. Craftsmen from all over Bucharest brought their wives to party and

Lent

In General Ionescu's garden, the April dusk brought a harsh wind and sprayed dust in the horizon like a bluish mist, spreading heaps of apricot tree flowers over the fresh vegetable beds. Ion, the general's first orderly, in charge of sweeping the flowers laid

At Medeleni

excerpt Olgutza and Monica had forgotten the size and duration of a Romanian banquet. Compared with French meals, the Romanian ones are like a trip in a carriage versus a precise urban taxi ride. When you have finally reached the last course – incidentally, in Romania,

A Feast At The Monastery

excerpt In the end, after much talky talk, the priest managed to completely lay the guilt on Father Mitrofan from the monastery, who was now to be held accountable and punished. And since there was nothing there to eat, the priest's wife being sick, priest Bolindache

Hop

Take the hop and wash the dirt off with plenty of water when it is still fresh. Then put it in a pan or pot fit for the quantity; add sufficient water, fried onion, parsley root, salt, pepper and cinnamon as well as a little olive oil so that the onion does not smart, and

Woolen Gardens

European travelers such as Antonio Maria del Chiaro were struck long time ago by the uncommon abundance of woolen carpets in each Romanian home, be it aristocratic, bourgeois or peasant. Carpets were laid mainly onto the walls of the rooms, but they also covered the beds,

On Snatched Souls And Their Stories

Popular belief has it that Death is an old crone, carrying a scythe. She scythes people and snatches away their soul. Or she sips their breath and again, snatches their soul. Or simply touches them lightly but cruelly with her frozen wing. And snatches their soul. As a child