The ballad of Barnabas Pierkiel: a novel (First edition.)

Set in the quaint (though admittedly backward) fictional nation of Scalvusia in 1939, this novel follows the exploits of a young swineherd with romantic delusions of grandeur.

Desperate to attract the voluptuous Roosha, the Gypsy concubine of the local boot-and-shoe magnate, Barnabas and his short-legged steed Wilhelm get embroiled in a series of scandals and misadventures, as every attempt at wooing ends in catastrophe.

After the mysterious death of an important figure in the community, a witch-hunt ensues, and a stranger falls from the sky.