Summary

In pages 1 - 46, the first person narrator August Epp introduces himself as minute-taker for the women of Molotschna Colony's meeting. Ona Friesen asked him the night prior to take the job, as the women are illiterate. August returned to the Mennonite colony seven months prior and has been staying in the bishop Peters' shed. While talking, Ona tells him a story about a squirrel and a rabbit.

Agata Friesen and Greta Loewen arranged the meetings after many of the women were attacked mysteriously in the night. While Peters told them that the attacks were either demonic or punishment for their sins, they later discovered several of the men had been drugging them with an animal anesthetic and raping them. After Ona's sister Salome attacks the men, Peters has the men arrested and held in town for their protection. While the rest of the...