This story takes place eleven hundred years ago in a small country in Eastern Europe. What details take the reader into that time and place, and how is it different from life today?
The structure of this story is a “frame” device. What is the device used, and how does it change the story from a simple narrative?
Throughout the book the light of truth in the Christian God is contrasted with the darkness of paganism. How many examples and symbols of this contrast can you find?
Besides growing from a twelve-year-old slave into a twenty-year-old man, in what ways does the main character Poidevin change by the end of the story?
Poidevin has many fears he must overcome, and it takes him many years. What are his specific fears? How do love and devotion to both God and Václav become a more powerful motivation than fear?
Once Poidevin is enslaved and taken to Praha, he discovers “I had been in bondage my entire life without realizing it.” What did he mean? Would this also apply to his spiritual life?
Even though Poidevin is enslaved and later becomes a personal servant to Duke Václav, he is taught to be a servant of God by his master. Is everyone a servant to someone else? What about kings?
Václav teaches Poidevin truths about God through the stories of God’s people in the Old Testament. Which ones are specifically mentioned? Do any of them feature “heroes of faith” to you? Why? Who would you consider a faith hero?
Most people know Duke Václav as “Good King Wenceslaus” from the old Christmas carol. Can you find the scene that depicts the story told in the carol? How is it different?
How do you think this book would have been different if it had been written from Václav’s point of view instead of Poidevin’s?