The Emperor of Portugallia

Jan Anderson is a hard‑working farmhand who has spent his life scraping by on the edge of poverty. When he and his wife Katrina finally manage to build a modest cabin of their own, the prospect of a newborn seems to add an unbearable weight to their already strained existence. He worries that the baby’s cries will steal the few quiet nights he has managed to keep, and he resents the shift from a shared labor to a house full of new responsibilities.

The story opens in a rain‑soaked woodshed, where Jan’s frustration boils over as he watches the midwife and the women attending the birth. His bitter reflections on fate, marriage, and his place in the parish paint a vivid picture of a man on the brink of despair. Yet beneath the grumbling, there is a hint of something softer—a reluctant curiosity about the child that may soon reshape his world.