Before the Feast, Paperback

It's the night before the feast in the village of Fu]rstenfelde (population: an odd number). The village is asleep. Except for the ferryman--he's dead. And Mrs. Kranz, the night-blind painter, who wants to depict her village for the first time at night. A bell-ringer and his apprentice want to ring the bells--the only problem is that the bells have gone. A vixen is looking for eggs for her young, and Mr. Schramm is discovering more reasons to quit life than to quit smoking.