Every Hungarian knows that the peasant is the shrewdest man on earth. He understands the soil and the crops that grow from it. He breeds the animals that graze on it. He knows the changing seasons and the effects of sun, wind, and water on the life cycle he manages. But what he knows best is the value of all that he raises. His prices rise from a glance at the buyer’s eyes.
The peasant sees himself as God’s deputy on earth, the sole steward of nature’s resources. The entire nation depends on him. Regimes may change, but he stays, managing his land and all that comes with it. Over the centuries he developed a resistance to all attempts to interfere with his sovereign authority over his domain. The more he was taxed, the less he declared; the more soldiers stole from him, the more he hid; the more he was regulated, the less he complied.
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