The Deluge (novel)

The Deluge

Cover of the first English language edition (Boston 1898)
Author	Henryk Sienkiewicz
Original title	Potop
Translator	Jeremiah Curtin
Country	Poland
Language	Polish
Series	The Trilogy
Genre	Historical novel
Publication date	1886
Preceded by	With Fire and Sword
Followed by	Fire in the Steppe

The Deluge (Polish: Potop) is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1886. It is the second volume of a three-volume series known to Poles as "The Trilogy," having been preceded by With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1884) and followed by Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wołodyjowski, 1888). The novel tells a story of a fictional Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth soldier and noble Andrzej Kmicic and shows a panorama of the Commonwealth during its historical period of the Deluge, which was a part of the Northern Wars.

Chapters I – V

The novel begins with a description of the families living in and around the district of Rossyeni, the oldest and most powerful of which are the Billeviches. Aleksandra Billevich, daughter of the chief hunter of Upita, has been orphaned and left in the care of the noble families. She is destined to marry Andrei Kmita (Polish: Andrzej Kmicic), whose father was her father’s – Pan Heraclius’s – best friend. The pair meet and she is smitten by him on their first meeting, particularly as he is a war hero from Smolensk. However, she is wary of his impetuous character and also his companions, ruffians who are almost outlaws and who depend on him for their protection from the law.

At his mansion in Lyubich, various misdeeds take place and rumours soon fly around the neighbourhood. They are taken to meet Panna Aleksandra and go on a sleigh ride, interrupted by news that a quarrel has broken out between Kmita’s troops and the citizens of Upita over provisions. He deals harshly with the affair and also news reaches Olenka, via an old servant Kassyan, of the debauchery at Lyubich. On a Sunday she again meets Kmita’s companions and treats them harshly, arousing their ire and they decide to go to Upita to complain to their superior. On the way, they stop off to drink at the Dola public house they drink vodka and play with the Butryms’ women and are slaughtered by the men.