Beside a stream a man is reading. He sits against a tree,
one knee drawn up as a support for his book. Next to him a
long slender pole is propped; a line dangles into the water.
The open pages of the book show an illustrated, gilded
scene: a tiny figure by a stream, fields giving on to a town
beyond. In the fields, men and women bend over curved
bundles of wheat. Their scythes make dark punctuations of
the harvest.
The man smiles, as if pleased with what he sees. Then
he yawns and looks over at the pole. He shifts his gaze a bit
and considers the prospect of the town in the distance: the
familiar spires and gables. He surveys the fields, before re-
turning to the book.
A shadowiness comes over the surrounding landscape,
as if a cloud were passing in front of the sun. It is the man's
hand, about to turn the page.
