If you go from Porto Vecchio to the depths of Corsica, you can go to the vast thickets of poppies - the homeland of shepherds and all who are at odds with justice. Corsican farmers burn out part of the forest and receive crops from this land. The roots of the trees remaining in the ground again allow frequent shoots. This thick confused shoot several meters high is called poppies. If you killed a person, run to the poppies, and you will live there safely, with weapons in hand. The shepherds will feed you, and you will not be afraid of justice or revenge, unless you go down to the city to replenish the supplies of gunpowder.
Matteo Falcone lived half a mile from the poppies. He was a wealthy man and lived on the income from his many herds. At that time he was no more than fifty years old. He was a short, strong and dark-skinned man with curly black hair, an aquiline nose, thin lips, large lively eyes. Its accuracy was unusual even for this edge of good shooters. Such unusually high art made Matteo famous. He was considered as a good friend, as well as a dangerous enemy; however, he lived in peace with everyone in the area. They said that once he shot his rival, but that story was hushed up, and Matteo married Giuseppe. She bore him three daughters and a son, to whom he gave the name Fortunato. Daughters were successfully married. The son was ten years old, and he was already showing great hopes.
One early morning, Matteo and his wife went to the poppies to look at their herds. Fortunato was left alone at home. He basked in the sun, dreaming of a future Sunday, when suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a gun shot from the plain. The boy jumped up. On the path leading to Matteo's house, a bearded man appeared, in rags and a hat, which the highlanders wear. He was wounded in the thigh, and he hardly moved his legs, leaning on a gun. It was Gianetto Sanpiero, a bandit who, having gone to the city for gunpowder, was ambushed by Corsican soldiers. He fiercely shot back and, in the end, managed to leave.
Janetto recognized in Fortunato the son of Matteo Falcone and asked to hide him. Fortunato hesitated, and Janetto threatened the boy with a gun. But the gun could not scare the son of Matteo Falcone. Janetto rebuked him, recalling whose son he was. Having doubted, the boy demanded a fee for his help. Janetto handed him a silver coin. Fortunato took the coin, and hid Janetto in a haystack standing near the house. Then the sly boy dragged the cat and kittens and laid them on the hay, so that it seemed that he had not been tedious for a long time. After that, as if nothing had happened, he stretched out in the sun.
A few minutes later, six soldiers under the sergeant’s command were already standing in front of Matteo’s house. The sergeant, Theodore Gamba, a thunderstorm of bandits, was a distant relative of Falconet, and in Corsica, more than anywhere else, they are considered relatives. The sergeant went to Fortunato and began to ask if anyone had passed by. But the boy answered Gamba so insolently and mockingly that, boiling, he ordered a search of the house and began to threaten Fortunato with punishment. The boy sat and calmly stroked the cat, not betraying himself even when one of the soldiers came up and casually poked his bayonet into the hay. The sergeant, convinced that the threats did not make any impression, decided to test the power of bribery. He pulled a silver watch from his pocket and promised to give it to Fortunatto if he betrayed the criminal.
Fortunatto's eyes lit up, but still he did not reach out for hours. The sergeant brought the clock closer and closer to Fortunato. A struggle broke out in Fortunato's soul, and the clock swayed in front of him, touching the tip of his nose. Finally, Fortunato hesitantly reached for the clock, and they laid on his palm, although the sergeant still had not let go of the chain. Fortunato raised his left hand and pointed with his thumb at the haystack. The sergeant let go of the end of the chain, and Fortunato realized that the clock was now his. And the soldiers immediately began to spread the hay. Janetto was found, seized and tied hand and foot. When Janetto was already lying on the ground, Fortunato threw back his silver coin - he realized that he no longer had the right to it.
While the soldiers were building a stretcher on which to carry the offender to the city, Matteo Falcone and his wife suddenly appeared on the road. At the sight of the soldiers, Matteo was wary, although for ten years now he had not directed the barrel of his gun at a man. He took the gun to the sight and began to slowly approach the house. The sergeant, too, was somehow uncomfortable when he saw Matteo with his gun ready. But Gamba boldly went out to meet Falcone and called to him. Recognizing his cousin, Matteo stopped and slowly pulled away the barrel of his gun. The sergeant reported that they had just covered Giannetto Sanpiero and praised Fortunatto for his help. Matteo whispered a curse.
Seeing Falcone and his wife, Janetto spat on the threshold of their house and called Matteo a traitor. Matteo raised his hand to his forehead, like a heartbroken man. Fortunato brought a bowl of milk and, looking down, handed it to Janetto, but the arrested man angrily rejected the offer and asked the soldier for water. The soldier handed the flask, and the bandit drank the water brought by the hand of the enemy. The sergeant signaled, and the detachment moved toward the plain.
A few minutes passed, and Matteo was silent. The boy looked anxiously now at his mother, then at his father. Finally, Matteo spoke to his son in a calm, but terrible voice for those who knew this man. Fortunato wanted to rush to his father and fall to his knees, but Matteo screamed terribly, and he, sobbing, stopped a few steps away. Giuseppe saw the watch chain, and strictly asked who gave them Fortunato. “Uncle Sergeant,” the boy replied. Matteo realized that Fortunatto became a traitor, the first in the Falcon family.
Fortunato wept in a voice, Falcone did not take his lynx eyes from him. Finally he threw his gun on his shoulder and went along the road to the poppies, ordering Fortunato to follow him. Giuseppa rushed to Matteo, glaring at him, as if trying to read what was in his soul, but in vain. She kissed her son and, crying, returned to the house. Meanwhile, Falcone went down into a small ravine. He ordered his son to pray, and Fortunato fell to his knees. Stammering and crying, the boy read all the prayers he knew. He begged for mercy, but Matteo threw up his gun and, taking aim, said: "God forgive you!" He fired. The boy fell dead.
Without even glancing at the corpse, Matteo went to the house for a shovel to bury his son. He saw Giuseppe, alarmed by the shot. "What did you do?" - she exclaimed. “He has done justice. He died a Christian. I will order a requiem for him. I must tell the son-in-law, Theodore Bianchi, so that he would move to live with us, ”Matteo answered calmly.
