Saturday, May 23, 2015

What is Ulrich von Gradwitz doing in the forest on a winter night?

In the first paragraph of Saki's short story, he writes that Ulrich von Gradwitz patrolled his forest in search of a human enemy, Georg Znaeym. Ulrich von Gradwitz has no intention of hunting any wild animals on his tract of precipitous land and is solely focused on murdering Georg Znaeym on this particular night. Both Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym have inherited their family feud, which has been passed down through three generations. Ulrich's family believes that they are the rightful owners of the precipitous woodland on the eastern spurs of the Karpathians and considers the Znaeym family to be illegal poachers, who continually trespassing on their land. Ulrich had hoped to catch Georg Znaeym poaching on his land and had every intention of killing him at the beginning of the story. When Ulrich von Gradwitz eventually discovers Georg in the forest, both men face each other with bad intentions. Suddenly, a massive tree falls on both of them and prevents them from exacting revenge on each other.


On a winter night, Ulrich von Gradwitz patrols the forest looking for his enemy, Georg Znaeym. Gradwitz hopes that he can kill his enemy and finally put an end to the generational feud that has plagued his family for years.
The text tells us that the von Gradwitz land is greatly prized and well-stocked with game. However, the ownership of a narrow strip of woodland amidst the acreage is disputed by the Znaeym family. Georg believes that the woodland in question belongs to his family, while Ulrich maintains that Georg's family has no legal right to the land.
In the days of their grandfathers, a lawsuit had led to the court's decision to bequeath the disputed piece of woodland to the von Gradwitz family. The Znaeym family, however, never acquiesced to that decision. Ever since that fateful day, a series of poaching offenses by the Znaeym family (particularly by Georg) has angered Ulrich von Gradwitz.
On a cold, tempestuous winter night, Ulrich is patrolling the forest looking for an opportunity to kill his sworn enemy, Georg Znaeym.

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