of government entirely through the folk-mote. The municipal fields, downs and forests required no watchman for every member of the community was their owner and understood the need of conserving their natural resources. There were no poor in their township for the land produced enough food for all and the communal granaries and barns were always open to the needy. The kings and their boyars watched with jealous eyes this existence in which there was no room and no exigency for them. Once a year the king’s revenue officer visited Tukhlia and the community tried its best to get rid of this undesirable guest as quickly as possible. In a day or two he would ride out of Tukhlia his wagon piled high with produce, for the community paid most of its taxes in raw materials. However, the king’s revenue collector was never allowed to be the sole arbiter of the amount owed the king, as he was in many other communities. The Tukholians were very careful to give him the exact amount due the king and himself, but would not allow themselves to be overtaxed for his benefit.
Zakhar Berkut’s vital, inspiring influence extended not only to the hamlets outside of the village of Tukhlia but for many, many miles around, to the other side of the Carpathians and into the sub-Carpathian region. They knew him not merely as a marvelous healer of wounds and all kinds of ailments, but as a great and golden orator, a sage statesman and profound thinker, “who when he speaks it is like the voice of God entering your heart and when he advises, whether it be a single individual or a whole community, not even a meeting place packed full with elders could render a better judgment.”
Zakhar Berkut had long ago come to the conclusion that as in community life only the man who attempts to remain alone and aloof is weak so in a nation a single community must also lack strength unless it cooperates with other surrounding communities, thereby enabling each to preserve its
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