Kasparek: “Two Micro-Stories by Prus”

Mold of the Earth
A man is shown spotches in the dirt by a botanist. The botanist explains that they are not visible to the eye, but they are tiny societies and wage war and move and conquer and live their lives. The man says that they are like human societies a bit. The botanist says no, they have no souls, art, communication, etc. Then years later the man sits down at the same spot and sees the spots agian and the botanist shows up. they are transported to a school room and the botanist shows the man the globe and the many splotches of life. The man asks "is it the history of mankind" the botanist nods and the man asks where the art, culture and souls are and the botanist laughs at him. The man asks who the botanist is and understands that who is by his melancholy and mockery - Satan? This is Prus' first dealings with writing from Spencer's ideas of "Society as Organism."
Shades
Lamplighters bustle about at twighlight lighting all the lamps in the city and then disappearing like shades. Where do they go? Where do they come from? The N tries to find out, but never sees his lamplighter and then only finds out after he dies that he is in the cemetrary, but he was too poor and no one can show him where the man's grave is. Is Prus the lamplighter that no one knows and wants to know? These were written during some of the more pessimistic years of Prus' life after his journal shut down and the general poor situation in Poland. 99