Chapter 12 Summary

"The Apothecary"

Natalia begins her narration of this chapter with her second reference to Marko (the first was a passing reference in Chapter 4) who, she says, discovered the death of Darisa the Bear. The legend is that after being confronted by the grandfather (Chapter 9), Darisa woke to see his heart being devoured by the tiger. He transformed into a bear and he and the tiger fought, the tiger peeling him out of his skin and then disappearing. It was that skin which Marko found, and that skin which led the villagers to believe that the tiger's wife was at least partly responsible for Darisa's death. Narration then turns to the other events of that night - how the grandfather led the tiger's wife home and took care of her. Narration then shifts again, to a narrative of the life of the apothecary -...