The Nagyvradi Brothers

by Laszlo Endrody

  That evening they had chicken paprikash. Paul helped Ilonka with all of her chores and then they all went for a walk. The boys held the girls’ hands and little Tilda rode on Paul’s shoulders.

  That Sunday they went to church and asked Big Luke to get permission for them to whitewash the church after the services. He told the priest that with his wedding coming up he would like to have the church whitewashed before the wedding. The priest gave them permission, and after the services the boys got started right away. They had everything they needed and it went real fast. They did have to get an extra-long pole to the get the steeple though.

  As they were nearing the end, Paul started to carry buckets back with him to Gizike Nény’s house and he did the finishing touches on her house too.

  On Monday the girls went to Nagyvárad and came home with beautiful dresses for the wedding ceremony. Big John got a gypsy band to play for the dance and party afterwards in the village hall. The boys got measured and would have their suits soon.

  Tuesday the kids went back to school. After school, they had their study session at Magda’s and Paul suggested that they paint the front of the wheel write’s house just to see if that would give him an incentive to start working on their wagon.

  Big John brought a beautiful spotted gelding back with him from Nagyvárad and put the horse in Magda’s corral. Now the boys had to feed the horse and the cow. Big John also sent a wagon load of hay over to Magda’s and the boys filled her barn full.

  After they finished unloading the hay, they went to the wheel write’s house and started painting the front of his house. Sure enough, that did the trick; he started working on their wagon right away. He changed all four wheels and put new ones on.

  The kids now had a wagon. Magda told them that she also had a wagon in the back of her barn. The boys pulled it out and parked it in front of the wheel write’s house and finished painting the rest of his house. He told the boys that he was busy working on something else at the moment, but he would get to it as soon as he could. The boys told him that would be fine. The next house they painted was Magda’s.

  16

  The big day had finally arrived, Luke and Lydia got married. It was a beautiful ceremony. The sergeant had a squad of Hussars line up with drawn swords that Luke and Lydia passed under. The three girls looked beautiful. Across from the church was the town hall where the gypsy band played until after midnight. Everybody danced and had a really nice time. They barbecued a steer and had lots of other food for everyone to eat.

  After midnight, the sergeant took Ilonka home and told Magda to get home too. John escorted Magda to her house, of course, and young Luke took Teresa home. The boys headed for home after they dropped the girls off at their homes.

  Everybody had the next day off, but Paul got up earl and went to milk the cow for Gizike Nény. She had breakfast ready for him when he finished. Ilonka was still sleeping and when Paul finished, he went back to bed too.

  That afternoon the kids got together at Magda’s house and were talking about how much fun they had at the wedding. They heard some shouting going on outside so they went out to see what was going on. Magda’s neighbor had a nice spotted mare in harness and big John was ordering him to unharness the mare. It was the mare he had gotten for Magda. The man said that the mare was about to foal and suspected it would happen that night. The carriage driver met up with John who was leading an old horse. John told the man he could use the old horse and that Magda’s mare was off limits. It belonged to her, not him. Big John told young John to lead the spotted mare into Magda’s barn so she could deliver her colt. The boys could see that it was a very nice horse and once the colt was old enough, they would make a very nice pair for the wagon. Magda’s neighbor told John that he wanted the mare back. John told him that he would work with whatever horse he was assigned, end of story.

  The boys went out to the barn and brushed and fed the mare. They were really happy with the team they now had. During the night the mare had a nice horse colt. It was getting its first milk when the kids got there the next morning. Luke figured that they could start hauling manure in three days, so big John brought them a new set of harnesses.

  When they got out of school, they still had four houses to paint, so they concentrated on getting them done as fast as they could. The wheel write told John that the blacksmith would have to tighten all four tires on Magda’s wagon, so the boys painted the blacksmith’s house too. It worked like a charm and the smith got to work on Magda’s wagon.

  The kids decided that they would start hauling manure the next weekend. Young John told big John their plans when he stopped by. Big John told the boys to start with Gizike Nény’s manure pile because she had a big field behind her fence that they could plow later for corn and potatoes.

  The next Friday after they got out of school they harnessed the two horses and hitched up to Gizike Nény’s wagon. They adjusted the harness and pulled up to the manure pile. They had to borrow an extra manure fork so that all three boys could load it. It took them about a half hour to fill the wagon. The sergeant opened the back gate and they went out into the big field. Two boys spread the manure while one drove the wagon. While they were loading, the girls kept the little horse colt out of the way. After two loads of manure, they left the wagon next to the manure pile and unhitched the team and walked them over to Magda’s barn. They fed the horses and then went on home and cleaned up. They were going back to Gizike Nény’s for dinner; the girls were baking a goose. All the kids were going to have breakfast there the next morning too.

  The next morning the boys had the team all hitched up to the wagon and the girls made breakfast for them. After breakfast, they started loading. They were able to take 12 loads of manure out that day. They figured that they had four loads left and would finish it Monday evening.

  Gizike Nény was so happy to have the manure out of her yard and the boys were happy to have had it, but they still needed more. Luke noticed that the blacksmith had a big pile of manure when they were painting his house. The blacksmith didn’t farm his 60 acres; it was all in pasture. They asked the blacksmith if they could haul his manure pile over to Magda’s field, and he let them. He was also happy to have the pile gone.

  The sergeant told the boys that he wanted all of the widow’s manure piles hauled off too. The boys told him that they would haul off the Smith’s pile first and then take big John’s plow over to get sharpened. The smith was really happy with the boys. His house was white and his manure pile was significantly smaller.

  After they had finished hauling off the smith’s manure, they hauled big John’s manure over to Gizike Nény’s field. They cleaned John’s place up real good and took his plow to the smith to be sharpened. The smith checked both horses for shoes and told the boys that they were in shape.

  They parked Magda’s wagon in front of her place and were ready to haul clean loads with it. They now used Gizike Nény’s wagon for only hauling manure.

  School was going well. After school they went to Magda’s and did their homework. Lydia went over every day as well, and Magda taught her how to cook Hungarian dishes. The boys were happy with that because they ate everything she cooked.

  The girls went to Nagyvárad twice and Lydia got them some nice clothes. They were real modern looking on Sundays and Lydia had Magda sit up front with her in the special seats.

  Uncle John called a town meeting and everyone met in the meeting hall. When he called the meeting to order he asked if anyone had any problems or suggestions. Magda’s neighbor stood up and wanted to speak. Big John told gave him the go ahead. He asked why he had been singled out to haul manure for the past eight weeks. Big John told him that there were six wagons hauling manure but he needed those wagons to load some clean loads, so he told all six to clean up their wagons. He told him, “Five of them came to work the next day with clean wagons and you came to work with manure all over your wagon. The
other wagons went to Nagyvárad after they loaded and I sent you back hauling manure.” Everybody started laughing.

  Big John then stated, “We have plenty of manure, Béla.”

  Béla stated that the whole business was unfair. Big John told him that he was sorry that he felt that way.

  Béla then stated, “I have another suggestion.”

  “Go ahead and tell us about it,” John insisted.

  “I have two grown sons that need a house of their own. There are two orphan girls that have houses, Magda and little Tilda. We all know that Magda is the sergeant’s daughter, so why doesn’t he take her into his home?” Béla suggested.

  After hearing this, the sergeant stood up and John motioned for him to speak. He said, “Béla’s statement is a very bold one indeed. I would like to say that if Magda was my daughter, I would be very proud of her,” and everyone started clapping. The sergeant then stated, “Magda has a garden where she grows her own vegetables, she keeps her house clean and neat, and she has lost so much since losing her mother, I would hate to see her lose her home too.”

  Paul then got up and big John told him to speak. While he was standing there, little Tilda went over to him and reached her arms up for him to pick her up. Paul picked her up and then started to speak while big Luke translated. He said, “Many generations ago someone built those houses to past down to their families, not to Béla’s boys. When Magda and little Tilda get married, they will need the homes to raise their families in. Those homes are theirs and not ours to give away.”

  Paul then sat down and everybody clapped. His grandfather had not said anything and then stood up and said, “Paul Nagyváradi’s suggestion on the two homes will stand,” and the people clapped even harder.

  Béla was disgusted with the decision and sat down. Uncle John then started to speak again. He said, “We have it set up so that any young man that wants a home can always build one. We have lots where they can build and all of the material is readily attainable. It will take a lot of work on their part, but anything that is worthwhile usually does.”

  Uncle John then announced, “His Lordship has approved a family help plan. All school children can get a free pair of boots any time they need them. Just give our shoemaker time to make them. With spring and summer here, it should be no problem. Also, every schoolgirl will get two ready-made dresses for the summer and later on will get two winter dresses. The summer dresses are at the store now. Mothers can take their daughters to the store to pick them out. This should give the mothers a little break from all of the sewing they do.” The congregation started clapping so loudly that big John had to hold his hands in the air for them to stop.

  He then said, “We need to kill a young bull tomorrow morning and the meat will have to be used up. You ladies can go by the butcher’s and pick up some meat for your families.” Once again they all began to clap.

  He told them that he had one last announcement and everyone quieted down. He stated, “We are starting a new policy for the children after graduation. The three best students will be able to go onto college or a university of their choice and His Lordship, my brother, will pay the cost and all expenses.” Everyone clapped again and then Károj the harness maker stood up. John told him to speak.

  Károj stated, “This money should not be wasted on sending girls for higher education. It should be for boys only.”

  Magda was translating everything for Lydia. Lydia was not happy about this comment and stood up. Uncle John asked Lydia what she thought about this comment and asked her to make a decision on what should be done.

  Lydia stated, “It would be very unfair if hardworking girls were left out of this. This is a reward for good students who dedicate themselves to their studies, boys and girls alike. I feel like girls deserve a chance to go onto higher education just as much as the boys do.”

  Uncle John then announced, “His Lordship stated that Mrs. Nagyváradi’s decision on this matter will stand.” All the ladies in the room started clapping as loudly as they could.

  Uncle John then asked, “Does anyone have any other business they would like to discuss? If not, this meeting is adjourned until next time.”

  Everybody stood up and some of the ladies went up to Luke’s father and thanked him for his kindness.

  The next morning a lot of the ladies were so excited to get their daughters new dresses that they headed to the store as soon as they could. Lydia and Gizike Nény took Ilonka and Magda to get theirs. It took them an hour to pick out six dresses. When they came out from the store the sergeant was there and told Gizike Nény that he had picked up the meat for them. There were quite a few women at the butcher shop and Magda was anxious to get her share of meat as well, but Lydia told her that she had gotten plenty and was making goulash for dinner that night.

  A few days later, the master builder came to the village from Nagyvárad and stayed at Uncle John’s house. He was inspecting the beams. He told John that some of the beams needed to be replaced but he didn’t have any metal roofing at the moment.

  Magda’s roof was in pretty bad shape too. It definitely needed to be fixed. One time when all of the kids were finishing up with their studies it started to rain. Magda ran for two buckets and a big washtub. She said that her roof leaked quite badly on the outside corner. The boys went to help her. It was the first time any of them had ever been in that room because she always kept the door shut. The room had a dirt floor and one small window. There were two pieces of furniture in the room, a big case made out of wood and an armoire for hanging clothing. Both pieces had belonged to Magda’s mother and were full of her things still. When Lydia saw how damaged Magda’s roof was, she told Luke that he needed to stop by so that he could see what needed to be done to fix it.

  The next day Luke and Uncle John went out to Magda’s to take a look at her roof. Paul met them there and suggested putting in two big windows, one on each side. Big Luke said that the entire roof needed to be replaced. Big John said that he would have his master builder from Nagyvárad come back out and take a look at Magda’s roof and then decide what to do after he examined it.

  The builder came out and looked Magda’s roof over. He told Uncle John that the entire thing needed to be replaced. He said that they would have to take the old one off and haul it off before he could get started on the new one. Magda was excited to get her roof fixed.

  The kids had dinner at Uncle John’s and Lydia and big Luke were there too. Big John told young John that he would let them use his plow horses in his corral and they could start plowing after school, and on the weekends they could bring a load of building materials from Nagyvárad. He told them that as soon as they finished the fields they needed to start taking off the old roof on Magda’s house. They would need both wagons to haul it all off. He told the boys he would show them where to dispose of the roof.

  With only two boys plowing after school it took them 30 days to finish two fields. When they finished plowing, they still had to harrow to get them ready to plant in May.

  On their fourth trip to Nagyvárad Uncle John and big Luke followed the boys in John’s carriage. When they reached the lumberyard, Uncle John told Paul and young Luke to let young John oversee the loading because he wanted to show them something. He took them to see a castle. It had been pretty well blown to pieces during the Turkish invasion, but they had been working on rebuilding it ever since. There had been three teams working on it for eight generations. The first floor was half rebuilt, along with part of the second floor that had 14 rooms. On the north end of the castle close to the main entrance there were six rooms where the bishop lived. There was a good size house in the back yard next to the old stables and this place had been fixed up for Uncle John and his guests. This is where he stayed when he was in Nagyvárad. They went inside and Uncle John told them that they were to never talk about what he was about to show them.

  He told them, “Eleven generations be
fore, a Miklos Nagyváradi with 200 men on horses went to fight the Turks in West Hungary. The main Turkish force was already in parts of Austria and had Vienna surrounded. The rode north of the Danube River and ran into a wagon train of 20 wagons of Turks. They cut the Turks down and found the wagons all loaded with gold and other loot that was on its way back to Turkey. Miklos took 50 men and started to take the wagons to Nagyvárad. He figured that this would make up for all of the injustices King Leopold had put upon the Hungarian people. The rest of his men were led by his son, Lajos, and they went on to fight the Turks. It took Miklos eight months to get home. He hid the wagon train in the forest and brought the gold up here with two horse wagons where he hid it underneath the castle in the dungeon. He had four of his sons guarding the gold in the forest. We have used up about a third of the gold but the rest is still here. We’ve been very careful with this gold. We traded some bullion for Russian coins at times and have always been very cautious when it comes to spending it. They did have cases of coins and we used those up first. Now in order to get to the dungeon we have to open the trap door under the bed.”

  They opened the door and went into the dungeon. They lit some lamps to take with them. There was a big heavy shelf with the base of it sitting in a recess. Uncle John got two long iron bars and Luke and John lifted the shelf out of the recess and moved it enough so they could pass into the tunnel. There was a long tunnel under the castle that led to the dungeon. Big John told them that the dungeon was left over from the old fort that had been there many years before. The fort had been destroyed in the Latin invasion.

  They were now below the basement part of the castle. When they built the castle, they used the remaining stones from the fort. Once they were inside the dungeon they looked around. The ceilings were made of stone and were leaning into a center wall. It used to have a stairway up to the cellar of the castle at one time, but there were only remnants of the staircase now. At one end of the dungeon there were also remnants of an old fireplace and a chimney. The chimney allowed some air to filter in, even with the destruction on the top half of it. The dungeon had a side room which was still filled with the bars of gold. Big John showed them where the cases were that used to be filled with coins. Some of the ancient coins were still in a few of the cases, including some Latin coins. These coins were worth more than their weight in gold.