In these short stories Siegfried Lenz, in his own artful style, describes a village community in his native East Prussia. We get to know the farcical Hamilkar Schass, who fears neither death nor militant attacks from a mad general. A shoemaker competes against the best swimmer in the village. The unity of the Suleker becomes apparent when they all travel together to another village to buy a kilo of nails. All these and many more peculiar events are described.
