Where is Lottar at the beginning of the story? How did she come to be there? What is her situation and status? What is her psychological state?

What is “raki”?

What is a “kula”?

What is “the striga”?

What are “oras”?

What is a napoleon?

What do the other women do to Lottar in the Spring? What is your response to this image of Lottar? How do you think Munro wants us to respond to this image? Why?

Describe the lives of the Albanian women. How does it compare to the lives of the Albanian men?

Describe the guest Lottar meets at Lunch? What is her response to the guest? What are the advantages of becoming a virgin? Why don’t more of the women pursue this option?

How and why does Lottar depend on the priest?

What sort of people are Charlotte and her husband? How are they thought of by the town? Why?

How does Lottar’s perception of herself change after she regains her health and continues living with the tribe?

What clues suggest that Charlotte’s story about Lottar is a story about herself? Do you think that Charlotte is speaking of her own life? Why or why not? Why do you think she tells the story?

What is the relationship between Lottar and the narrator? What are the terms of their friendship?

What parallel’s can you find between Lottar’s story and the narrator?