Summary

After his collapse, the man spends several days recovering on his bed. His fever comes down soon, but he fakes being ill and pretends to have dislocated his back or shoulder in the hopes they would take him to a doctor, or let him go after he proved to be useless. The other part of his plan was to distract the woman with cries of pain during the day when she tried to sleep, such that she lost productivity during the night and the security of the village was threatened, but it doesn’t succeed because he repeatedly falls asleep during the day and stays awake at night.

As he lies there, his mind drifts and he wonders what his colleagues will think at his disappearance. He imagines the gossip that will follow the jealousy they’ll feel at his fortune to have...