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Description
With Fire and Sword:
Rzędzian
February 28th 2017
Ink, gouache, white charcoal
Toned paper
5x7 inches

Rzędzian (more phonetically spelled Zjendjan) is a young Polish nobleman (though of the lesser gentry, and rather poor) from Henryk Sienkiewicz's With Fire and Sword (though he also appears briefly in the second book The Deluge). He is the squire of Pan Jan Skrzetuski and serves his master loyally. Although only sixteen at the beginning of the novel, Rzędzian is an intelligent, cunning, avaricious, and devious fellow, and is remarkable in that no matter how dire the circumstances, he always seems able to make a profit out of the people around him. If he feels that anyone has wronged him and his honor, he is terribly vindictive. However, he's generally very good-natured and always serves his friends and takes care of their own interests as if they were his own. His parents and his 91-year-old grandfather live in Rzędziany where they wage an everlasting legal battle against their neighbors over a fruit tree that straddles both property lines. Rzędzian is described in the book thus:
Then March came. The sun returned and the roads dried out enough for a determined rider to try his luck among the steaming marshes, and Pan Jan ordered his shrewd young body servant to pack his saddlebags. "Listen, Rzędzian," he told him. "You'll go to Rozloghi."

"To Rozloghi, master." The lad, whom nothing seemed to worry or surprise, nodded as calmly as if he'd just been ordered to walk to the vinter's for a flagon of mead.

"You'll take a letter from me to the young lady there and get one from her, understand? Don’t tell anyone who sent you. Pretend you’re just riding through to Tchehryn. Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut tight. Watch everything, see how they’re treating the princess, find out what you can about Bohun and come back as fast as you can."

“You can count on me, sir,” Rzędzian said and stared with absolute assurance at his worried master.

“Hmm. Yes. I know.” The boy, Pan Jan knew, was quick-witted and resourceful enough to do everything that he had to do, and to do it well, but his own worry was beginning to undermine his faith in everyone around him. “But are you sure you’ll manage it alright? This is no joke, you know. You’ll really have to keep all your wits about you."

Rzędzian grinned and nodded. His shrewd little eyes peered at Skshetuski out of a pink pudgy face that made him seem as innocent as a child, but it was an innocence of his own devising. Barely sixteen, he had been with Pan Jan for more than a year and the young lieutenant knew that he could trust him and depend on him in almost anything, particularly if there was some way for the cunning lad to turn a profit out of whatever he was told to do.

~ With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz, translated by W.S. Kuniczak

Description
With Fire and Sword:
Rzędzian
February 28th 2017
Ink, gouache, white charcoal
Toned paper
5x7 inches

Rzędzian (more phonetically spelled Zjendjan) is a young Polish nobleman (though of the lesser gentry, and rather poor) from Henryk Sienkiewicz's With Fire and Sword (though he also appears briefly in the second book The Deluge). He is the squire of Pan Jan Skrzetuski and serves his master loyally. Although only sixteen at the beginning of the novel, Rzędzian is an intelligent, cunning, avaricious, and devious fellow, and is remarkable in that no matter how dire the circumstances, he always seems able to make a profit out of the people around him. If he feels that anyone has wronged him and his honor, he is terribly vindictive. However, he's generally very good-natured and always serves his friends and takes care of their own interests as if they were his own. His parents and his 91-year-old grandfather live in Rzędziany where they wage an everlasting legal battle against their neighbors over a fruit tree that straddles both property lines. Rzędzian is described in the book thus:
Then March came. The sun returned and the roads dried out enough for a determined rider to try his luck among the steaming marshes, and Pan Jan ordered his shrewd young body servant to pack his saddlebags. "Listen, Rzędzian," he told him. "You'll go to Rozloghi."

"To Rozloghi, master." The lad, whom nothing seemed to worry or surprise, nodded as calmly as if he'd just been ordered to walk to the vinter's for a flagon of mead.

"You'll take a letter from me to the young lady there and get one from her, understand? Don’t tell anyone who sent you. Pretend you’re just riding through to Tchehryn. Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut tight. Watch everything, see how they’re treating the princess, find out what you can about Bohun and come back as fast as you can."

“You can count on me, sir,” Rzędzian said and stared with absolute assurance at his worried master.

“Hmm. Yes. I know.” The boy, Pan Jan knew, was quick-witted and resourceful enough to do everything that he had to do, and to do it well, but his own worry was beginning to undermine his faith in everyone around him. “But are you sure you’ll manage it alright? This is no joke, you know. You’ll really have to keep all your wits about you."

Rzędzian grinned and nodded. His shrewd little eyes peered at Skshetuski out of a pink pudgy face that made him seem as innocent as a child, but it was an innocence of his own devising. Barely sixteen, he had been with Pan Jan for more than a year and the young lieutenant knew that he could trust him and depend on him in almost anything, particularly if there was some way for the cunning lad to turn a profit out of whatever he was told to do.

~ With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz, translated by W.S. Kuniczak