Check! (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sławomir Mrożek
- First Published: 1962
- Type of Plot: Fable
- Time of Work: Around the 1960's
- Setting: Courtyard of an old palace, presumably in Poland
- Principal Characters: The narrator, The regular white Bishop, The white Knight, The black Rook
- Genres: Fable, Short fiction, Allegory
- Subjects: Violence, Pain, Board games, Storms, Work or workers, Poland or Polish people, Swindling or swindlers, Games, Chess or chess players, Rain
- Locales: Poland
The Story
Two friends who have in the past worked together at trivial jobs meet on a day when a storm threatens. Complaining about his various physical ailments that will worsen if he is caught in a storm, the man who has been working regularly as a piece in living chess games asks the narrator to substitute for him. He describes the life-sized chess game as a public spectacle in which people dressed as pieces move about on a great outdoor board controlled by players sitting on elevated platforms. He regards it as a relatively easy way to make money—so long as the weather...
[The entire page is 1532 words long]
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