The adopted children of Samuel Batsa from the remote village of Shaflary in the Lower Tatras have a strange gift. They are thieves, but they do not cut off the wallets of onlookers, but steal secret thoughts, aspirations, skills and knowledge. The “stepsons of the eighth commandment” have settled down quite well in life: Jan is the abbot of the Tynets Benedictine monastery, and will soon be his bishop; Teresa is the wife of a rich merchant; Pan Michal is the governor in the count's castle, such nobles were in great demand in the turbulent 17th century. But things didn’t work out with the youngest, Martha. A century and a half later, Saint Martha will be remembered in his prayers by the gypsy Druts, a descendant of the funny little gypsy from “The Stepchildren of the Eighth Commandment.” And a new parable will begin about the restless, supervised, convict “magicians in law.” The parable about the Great Power and the Little People, about how the blind lead the blind, and about the fact that there is nothing new - neither under the sun nor under the moon. But magicians and the Russian Empire at the beginning of the century? Gendarmes, whose official “profile” is ethereal influences?! The Spirit of the Law, entangled in its own web?! The Oldies, as always, do not look for easy ways - but deliberately complicate their task, so that they can then gradually emerge from the labyrinth of intricacies generated by their uncontrollable imagination. Contents: Stepchildren of the Eighth Commandment (novel), p. 5-212 Magician in law (novel), p. 213-922