Kálmán Mikszáth - Heathen Master Filcsik

Heathen Master Filcsik is a classic morality tale. It is the story of a self-centred father, the bootmaker Filcsik, who chooses pride over the love of his daughter, Therese. She neglected to marry the miller her father had chosen for her, instead eloping with the County Justice.

Filcsik's great love is his fur cloak. Mikszáth builds his character early and well, lavishing attention on Filcsik and his cloak.

It was a long yellow cloak, with a wide collar of black lambskin from the two ends of which two lamb's feet were hung, hoofs and all, in their natural state. It was buckled in front by two beautiful silver clasps and in the corners below each clasp were embroidered two large green tulips.

Filcsik's daughter Therese is rich, now, but she wants her father's love. Unfortunately, he is stubborn to the point of breaking her heart, and then she dies. Filcsik remains unable to accept either his daughter's love in life or in death, and then he, too, dies.

The symbolism of the story is a little overblown, and the sentiment is somewhat naive, but Mikszáth colours Heathen Master Filcsik with a good deal of Hungarian country-folk sentiment, as well as several references to the mythology and history of the area. This, in truth, provides the primary area of interest in the story, for the plot itself is tedious.

Mikszáth's short story is good, but it doesn't offer greatness. Mikszáth was very prolific in life, but his literary reputation failed to approach Mor Jokai, either in his home country of Hungary, or in the English-speaking world (though many of both authors works have been translated). Heathen Master Filcsik is worth the read, and at seventeen-odd pages, it won't take long. Mikszáth is out of print in English and will probably stay that way, which means that Project Gutenberg's recent addition of Heathen Master Filcsik is likely the only way to read any of the Hungarian's author's work.

Author	Kálmán Mikszáth
Title	Heathen Master Filcsik
Translator	William N. Loew
Nationality	Hungarian
Publisher	Project Gutenberg
Pages	17
Availability: ---Amazon (US)