Hombres de Bronce - Ricardo Palma (completo).

It was that there was once a notary of the royal audience called Don Dimas de la Tijereta. The good man had fallen into the worst nonsense that an old man can fall into. Fall in love with the crown of a beautiful and coquette young lady.

Suddenly he forgot all his mess and began to spend the money, the fruit of his bribes and tricolors, in gifts and wonderful gifts for Visitation, which was the name of the coveted girl. Visitation had 20 spring, full of air, and a polished waist of those of "look at me and don't touch me". The gifts of Tijereta did not move his heart.

She received them interested, but without any encouragement to return the favor, because the very Taimada, knew in depth the influence of his spells, on the heart of the scribe. Exasperated by the atmospheres of visitation, which did not end up being decided, Don Dimas de la Tijereta, let himself be carried away by anger, and shouted with force in the street: "Badness! I would be able to give my soul to the devil, in exchange for the love of that capricious creature."

The notary's scream resonated immediately in the walls of hell, where Lucifer is always attentive to the weaknesses of men. And the old lover took longer to get home than Satanás in sending him to the devil Lilith, his personal secretary, with a contract already signed in which he offered the love of the maiden in exchange for his soul.

to which the angry Tijereta had called Almilla in the midst of his anger. The agreement was simple. The devil would give her to visitation for three years, after which Lilith would come personally for her soul.

After signing the contract, Don Dimas returned to his house. And as soon as he entered the bedroom, he saw that the demon had fulfilled his word. Visitation was there, warm and loving, waiting for him in the alcove. The other time, a stubborn and remorseful girl, this time threw herself, drunk of love, into his arms. And now let's look at the water, because it is dangerous to extend in the belongings and remains of lovers.

and as the water runs under the bridge, the time also ran month after month, day after day, making Don Dimas de la Tijereta happy. The love between the notary and the visitor grew as time passed, but two years and many months had already passed and the deadline was coming.

Finally the day came, and the devil Lilith presented himself punctual to demand that Don Bimas honor his signature in the contract. I come for the albilla. Without showing any fear of the presence of the devil, the writer said hello and immediately began to take off his clothes. No, it is not necessary to undress, said Lilith. As it is, I take it without problems.

But without undressing, I could not pay you, answered Don Dimas. While he was taking off his inner garment and extended it to the sent of hell. What do you want me to do with this garment? asked surprised Lilith. To charge. The scribe replied. That garment is called almilla. And that's what I have sold you. Review the contract. Read well and you will see what almilla says.

Philip did not want to argue with the gulag and without thinking twice dragged him directly to hell so that Satan himself would decide the matter. Fortunately for Don Dimas, the dreadful Satan agreed to celebrate a trial because his infernal majesty, although there are those who resist to believe him, always denies the law and detests everything that smells of arbitrariness and despotism.

Tijereta asked to be read in the dictionary of the language the meaning of the word "almilla" and the demon, after reading, gave the reason to the notary. Indeed, "almilla" means "clothes" and that is what the cunning leguleyo had sold. Thus, Don Dimas was free and hell had to be conformed with a "almilla" almidonada. Once again, it is proven that even the devils can not with the leguleyos.

But some punishment they would have to take, because it is affirmed that from then on, both the notaries and the lawyers were forbidden to wear underwear, for centuries and centuries. But there the story does not end. When Don Dimas came to his house healthy and safe, he found that his beloved visitation was no longer there. He only found a brief farewell note. Destroyed the diabolical spell, she had run to lock herself forever in a convent.

This happened in Lima in the early 18th century. The story of the notary, Don Dimas de la Tijera de Jareta, went through time, mouth to mouth, until it reached the ears of Don Ricardo Palma. He wrote it for us, giving it literary height and turning it into one of his famous Peruvian traditions. Ricardo Palma was born in this house on February 7, 1833.

He was baptized as Manuel, but in adolescence he decided to be called Ricardo. He never explained why. Along with his parents, Don Pedro Palma and Doña Guillerma Carrillo, he had a rather poor childhood, but full of the joys of any boy. In the time of Don Ricardo Palma, the Rimac River was still a river of the town, where mothers would go to wash clothes and the boys to bathe. That river had seen almost 300 years of colonization.

and the childhood of Palma coincided with the beginning of the republic. Time passed quietly and in peace when the military captives of that time left Lima and were going to face in the distant provinces. The preachers marked the hours as walking clocks. The day opened at six in the morning with the milkmaid and ended, at least for the children, at eight at night with the passage of the ice cream maker and the boatman.

Palma studied in the schools of the teachers Orenco and Noel, very reputed in Lima, but his best education was received by the old people who told stories in the courtyards of the houses. An old relative always came to his house, who gathered all the boys from the neighborhood to tell them old stories of elves, witches, miracles and apparitions.

Many years later, Palma remembered. The old woman had so much air that we, the granujas and mataperros, heard her without blushing or losing syllable. Sometimes the stories were dreamy, full of humor and reverence, and other times they produced nightmares and bad dreams. At the end of high school, she entered the convictory of San Carlos, but soon she abandoned him, because she preferred literature, journalism and bohemian.

His first texts were satirical and appeared in the most famous humor magazines of the time. In those years he became part of the first literary generation of our republic. A time that Palma would later call the Bohemia of my time. The members of the Bohemia were basically poets, but poetry did not give them the desired popularity.

For the young romantics there were no applause more coveted than those obtained on the stage. The theater was the cultural spectacle of the time. Palma presented three works: "The Sister of the Verdugo", "Death or Freedom" and "Rodillo".

Years later, aware of the poor literary quality of his theatrical works, he called them with his typical mock tone, "My Three Monstrosities" or "My Sin Against the Letters". At the age of 20, Palma decides to get to know the country and goes to the sea, sailing for three long years through different ports on our coast. He liked the sea, but the motto of the sailors, "A love in each port," was not his.

He rather embarked to flee from a love. But this is another story, to which, as he used to say, we will return soon. Do you know how Don Ricardo Palma became a sailor of the Peruvian Navy? The story tells that he entered the Navy avoiding an imminent marriage. The girl was called Teresa, and is one of the several names of women that appear in her first verses.

Ella vivía en la calle Los Gallos, y hasta allí llegaba el joven bohemio a visitarla a escondidas de sus padres. Un día, descubierto por la madre de Teresa, el enamorado furtivo fue obligado a decidir según la costumbre de la época, o se casaba con ella, o dejaba de verla. En aquel entonces no se podía enamorar a una joven sin consentimiento de sus padres, y menos aún sin intenciones de matrimonio.

Aware of his dilemma, his friend, Don Rafael del Carpio, a man of state and a lover of letters, invited him to have tea at his house. Marrying at the age of 20? What a nonsense, he said. Don't cut yourself the wings, Ricardo. Better go to Lima for your peace of mind and that of that lady, he advised him. Don Rafael del Carpio was a character of influences and quickly managed a reputation in the Navy.

So, from one day to another, the young writer became a accountant aboard the ships of the Navy. In this way, he moved away from the hymn and marriage. Fortunately, the wounds of love heal soon in the young. One day, Teresa married another, and Palma continued sailing on the ships of the Navy, in love with the sea and the places she visited.

In his travels, the ships were stopped long seasons in the Guaneas Islands or in remote ports where there was almost nothing to do. The young accountant then began to fill his empty hours with the books of the nourished library that the ships used to carry. Those endless hours of reading made him one of the greatest connoisseurs of the Spanish classics.

On March 1st, 1855, the ship Rimac, where it served then, crashed into a reef when sailing near the tip of San Juan, on the southern coast of our territory. Giant waves swept the deck, leading the dark ocean to the 500 crew. Twelve men did not manage to reach the shore, but fortunately Palma counted among the survivors.

Since there were no nearby populations, the shipwrecks left the water only to face the endless desert. Palma would remember those terrible hours when they had to walk long days on the sand dunes, enduring thirst, hunger and fatigue. 66 of his companions did not manage to overcome the desert, and those who, vigorous or fortunate, managed to reach the towns,

"We had more resemblance of specters than of human beings," said Don Ricardo Palma. A few months after the shipwreck, Palma left the Navy to dedicate himself entirely to journalism and political life. The political struggle of that time was quite confusing. Palma joined the liberal movement led by Don José Gálvez Egusquiza and got involved in an insurrection against the government of the Marshal Don Ramón Castilla.

The uprising that included an assault on the house of government, failed quickly and Palma was arrested. But Castilla was always a veneer in his reprisals. In a time when conspirators were shot, he only deported the heads. José Galvez traveled to France and Palma was banished to Chile. Over the years, the writer recognized the generosity of President Castilla, who for the rest felt very close in the acute and socavado spirit.

In his Peruvian traditions, the liberator Castilla appears many times portrayed in tales and anecdotes that show his grumpy and a little picaro character. Perhaps the story of a little cannon is one of the most famous traditions that Palma dedicated to the president's insignia. They say it was the birthday of Don Ramón Castilla. And among the many who went to greet him, there was a young and modest orfebre.

who approached His Excellency and in a sign of affection, he gave him a watch. The jewel was a tiny and beautiful little cannon, but Don Ramón received it as if it were a dangerous object, he did not want to wear it immediately and ordered his head of state to put it on the console of his office, with an express order that no one touch it.

The days went by and the cannon remained on the console, being a reason of curiosity for the president's friends, who were not tired of asking them to move away from him. "Gentlemen, get to one side, you must not touch it." The cannon points, "One of these days it will be on fire, I do not respond to injuries," warned Don Ramón very seriously.

After a month, the cannon left the console to finally occupy its place among the dikes that adorned the chain of the clock of his excellence. When friends asked what the change was due to, Castilla explained smiling: "Gentlemen, the cannon has already made fire. Low aim, little dust, there is no danger anymore." What had really happened?

The young orphan had asked for a job, a modest position he needed to keep his family. That is, the cannon had fired at the end, but with modesty, pointing low. Palma lived for three years in exile in Chile, where he worked as an editor in various newspapers and magazines, but finally returned to Peru in 1863, thanks to a law of amnesty.

In Lima, he takes up an old job: reviewing books and papers in the oldest archives. There he looks for the chorus, the forgotten custom, the little anecdote that will serve as a beginning to write his famous Peruvian traditions. Precisely looking in those convent archives, he found written down the number of azotes that a bellman named Jorge Escoiquiz received in the time of the colony.

Why did a Viceroy send such cruelty to a simple bellboy? Don Ricardo Palma answers that question in another of his jocose traditions, which paint the 18th century better than any boring history book. This is Jorge Escoiquiz, a convent bellboy. He once wanted to be a priest.

But his superiors, seeing him more willing to the truanery than the noviciado, punished him by sending him to live in the tower. As a bellboy, he had the obligation to ring his bell every time the lord viceroy passed through the plaza of the convent. Which Jorge Escoiquiz did not do one afternoon, that the Count of Alba de Liste, the viceroy, passed near his atalaya.

Surprised by the silence of the bells that did not celebrate it, the Count looked towards the tower and divided the bellman who was sleeping carefree, as if only the air passed. Definitely, that was a great disattention for the representative of the king in Peru. The Viceroy gave his complaints to the prior of the convent, reminding him that it was not the first time that the church showed lack of respect for his position.

The Prior, to calm the waters, promised to punish the bellboy. Most likely, Skoy Kiss did not want to play. But before the Prior, he defended himself by saying that he did not play the bells because the blessed bronze should not be happy for the presence of a heretic virey. The argument was good and the Prior knew that the private life of the virey did not deserve bells. But the punishment was already agreed.

So several slaps fell on the backs of the bird of the tower. He received them knowing that with it the prior and the monks were contenting the virey. And right there he began to plan his revenge. Not a week passed when the bellman woke up with the sound of a carriage crossing the square. It was midnight and it was the virey who was now trying to pass unnoticed.

The bellman saw it and immediately came to his mind the rumors that said that he was in secret love with an anonymous but aristocratic lady. Then it was true. Skoyki smiled and threw himself to ring the bells with such enthusiasm that it seemed that the same Pope was passing. Such was the noise that the neighbors woke up from their dreams and began to look out the windows.

confirming with his own eyes that the Viceroy was indeed in love trattles in the middle of the night. Later the Viceroy called the handsome man to the palace and asked him not to ring the bells during his night walks. The bellman agreed, but in exchange for a small favor. "I intercede to your Excellency," he told the Viceroy, "so that the prior of the convent will admit me again to the noviciado."

The king's representative fulfilled his promise. And so it was like the bellboy Jorge Escoiquiz, finally managed to get off the tower and could become a priest. Palma ends the tradition of the heretic viceroy saying: "And here I make a point and a rubric, taking out of this advice the following moral: that there is no small enemy." Settled in Lima, Palma continues to do journalism.

It seems that he has found the necessary tranquility to investigate and write the first series of his traditions. He does not know yet that he will have to defend Peru in two wars. In 1264, Palma sails again, but now the ship has as its destination the Old World. He was making the longed-for trip of the writers of that time.

For almost a year he travels through Paris, Rome and London where he links with other writers and publishes "Harmonies", his book of poems. On his return to his country, war awaits him. The port of Callao was blocked by a Spanish squad that had come with intentions of restoring the viceroyalty in Peru. Palma disembarks in Paita and hurries to reach Lima by land.

wants to collaborate with his friend and old comrade of curses Don José Galvez who is now Minister of War and directs the preparations in Callao to face the Spanish on the day of the combat May 2, 1866 Palma, at the request of Galvez, is in charge of the telegram has to inform Lima of the course of the actions of the confrontation one of the messages he sends is particularly painful

the death of Galvez in the Torreón de la Merced. But the final transmission is a triumph. The Spanish squad has retired with all their damaged ships. Palma continued to investigate and write. After a brief passage through Parliament as a senator, he published in an almost uninterrupted way four series of his beautiful traditions. His success goes beyond Peru. It is commented and imitated throughout Iberoamerica.

Don Miguel de Unamuno, in a letter, confesses that he has delighted and laughed with the light and sumbón spirit of traditions. How could the great Spanish writer and philosopher not laugh? Who also confessed hard of jaw for laughter, with such funny anecdotes. And it seems that the one he liked the most was the story of a priest named Father Núñez, who saved his life thanks to his great disposition to eat and drink.

Do you want to listen to it? Lady of much cascabel and more temple than the Toledano steel was Doña Ana de Borja, wife of the Count of Lemus, Viceroy of Peru in the middle of the 18th century. She occupied for ten months the husband's office when he traveled to the distant Puno to solve problems with a miner.

In the exercise of power, Doña Ana left the women's pavilion very well placed. For those days, a Portuguese fraile named Núñez had arrived in Lima. As soon as the priest stepped on Peruvian soil, the Viceroy received an anonymous in which they denounced that the fraile was not such a fraile, but a spy or secret commissioner from Portugal, a country that at that time had many problems with Spain.

The listeners, or counsellors of the Viceroy, thought that immediately, and without much contemplation, he would throw his glove at the little father and hang himself in the public square. But the sage lady resisted to take things to such an extreme, and told them, "Leave it, gentlemen, on my account, that without the need for noise, I will know whether he is a friar or a spy." And she added, "Let a messenger tell him that he is invited to have lunch at my table."

For the figure it was seen that Fraile was a man of great appetite, but this time he brought it duplicated. Father Núñez did not eat, devoured. He made full honor to all the dishes of salt and sweet, of the sea and the earth. The Viceroy looked pleased to the comelón and winked his eye to the listeners as if saying: "If it comes to swallow, Fraile is."

After the dishes, the guest took a sip of water and started to drink to his taste. It seemed that he had the thirst of a sandalwood and he paid it like a real friar. While he drank, the queen encouraged him smiling. Drink father, drink, that gives you life. They saw him eat. What do you think now, ladies? The vireina asked. The listeners answered almost in chorus.

who is a true friar. Then the ingenious woman said: "Let the blessed priest go in peace." In conclusion, whoever eats and takes as a priest, is a priest. In 1876, in full maturity, Don Ricardo Palma marries. The single man in a stupor, the friend of gallant adventures, but the enemy of marriage, married Cristina Román.

a 28-year-old lady with beautiful green eyes. He went to live with Cristina at the Miraflores Balneary, where he would live away from the political activity of which he was disappointed. In the future, he would only dedicate himself to literature. In the peace of the Balneary, he began to write a novel that would be called Los Marañones. But shortly after, it would be interrupted. Chile had declared war on Peru.

and Palma knows that the homeland needs him again in the front of battle. The last months of 1880, after several confrontations with the Peruvian army, the Chilean troops continued to advance towards Lima. Then the civilian population of the capital began to prepare to resist the invasion, along with the ten thousand national troops.

In the trenches or relics, along with the most humble workers, was the best of the Lime youth and the main representatives of national thought. There was Palma, far from the pen and paper, once again ready to defend the homeland. The writer had been advised to move the belongings of his house of miraflores to a safer place.

It is feared that once the resistance is defeated, the Chilean soldiers will be dedicated to the looting of the residences. But Palma trusts that Lima, his Lima, will defeat the invader and refuses to change, explaining with a very much his phrase that at this time excessive precautions are demoralizing and a terrible example and continues in his position in the reducts located on the outskirts of Miraflores.

The fighting in the reducts were brutal and brutal. Inexperienced civilians tried to stop with the few weapons that were left, the hordes of enraged enemies to enter Lima. Combatants of Lima cannot avoid the disaster of a defeat. And the antes risueñas, populations of Chorrillos, Barranco and Miraflores begin to fall into the hands of enemies. Defeated all resistance, Palma goes to his house to try to save some things.

But he doesn't have time. The Chileans are a few kilometers from his home. He has to leave what he appreciates the most: his books and manuscripts. Moments later, the invaders loot and reduce the rooms to ashes, where he once thought to find the peace to write. Among the flames that consumed his house, the originals of his novel, "The Marañones", also disappeared.

where he narrated the adventures of the Spanish conqueror Lope de Aguirre in the Amazon rainforest. Lived in a house in the center of Lima, Palma survives during the occupation writing for foreign newspapers. The Bonaerense newspaper La Prensa counts him among its collaborators with the largest number of readers. And it doesn't take long for a proposal from the same newspaper. They invite him to join the permanent body of journalists, for which he must move to Buenos Aires.

A friend writer writes to him: "Come, Mr. Palma, here you will receive it with a bell ring." When he was preparing his trip, peace was signed with Chile. And the president of then, General Miguel Iglesias, sends him a call: "I would like to claim from you a work of culture and patriotism," he said. "Accept the appointment of director of the National Library." In reality, there was no National Library.

Chilean soldiers had looted their shelves and turned their reading rooms into squares for their horses. Of the 80,000 volumes, only about 2,000 remained on the ground. Palma left the well-paid journalism of Buenos Aires and changed it for the modest reconstruction salary of the most important library in his country. Without money to buy books, he began an intense correspondence asking for donations. His name called for support.

He received books from governments, institutions, and the men of American and Spanish letters. "I have obtained in the country and abroad more than 35,000 volumes, without spending for the exquisite treasure of Peru," he proudly wrote. On July 28, 1884, the "Mendigo Library Man," as he liked to be called, lovingly opened the doors of the new National Library.

The same determination that he showed in the trenches, he also showed in civil life. Only by force of commitment, he rebuilt a library that the war had reduced to ashes. In 1892, he travels to Spain, invited to the celebrations of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America.

but the real goal of his trip was to present to the academy of the Spanish language a list of Americanisms or common words in this part of the world Spanish academics, lack of perspective, did not accept them Palma was very optimistic at the sessions of the academy he was a brilliant figure undoubtedly I do not know what other more brilliant figure of Hispanic America may have been however

met with an ugly resistance of Hispanic purism, right? And proposals were rejected of such essential verbs, for example, to budget or to dictate or to democratize. But a few years later they had to give him the reason and more than 150 proposals at that time by Don Ricardo

appeared accepted in the dictionary of the Royal Academy. For example, to undress. So in Spain they say, "Why undress? If there is undressing." And Palma answers, "Not all barrancos have peñas." There may be barrancos that are made of sand. So one undresses, but does not undress. So he says, "To undress." And he says, "Why undress if there is undressing?" He says, "It is not the same as undressing than undressing. One undresses and can stay in underwear."

but when you get undressed, you take off your underwear. Reintegrated to the National Library, where he would remain for 29 years, he continued with his creative work. He continued publishing new series of traditions, but he kept the ones he grouped under the title of "Tradiciones en Salsa Verde", a group of stories and anecdotes that, according to him, should not be read by mojigata people.

But there it lets us see that the grandparents or great-grandparents were not the gazmoños or the cucufatos that sometimes you think of an old old Lima, no, but they were also quite liberal people. These traditions in salsa verde were found in the archives of the National Library and later published. They are a sample of the great literary vein of Palma.

who was not only a prominent writer but also a collector of stories and popular anecdotes. Captain Ramirez was a soldier of that time in which our army lived divided into two sides, the military up and the military down. He was one of the fallen and lived from the very poor pay that the fiscal served them from time to time.

This captain was married to a poor and virtuous girl who every night waited for him in her small and miserable room. The poor woman lived waiting for her husband to bring some pesetas to cook some puchero in the brazier. But that miracle only happened a few times a month. And it was rather a custom for the captain to arrive without a copper in his pockets, without having found someone to give him a loan.

Las cosas van a mejorar, le decía a su joven esposa, cuando gobiernen los míos, mariquita. Recuerda, mi amor, que Dios aprieta, pero no para siempre. Ya vendrán días de abundancia. Pero ahora, ¿qué comeremos?, preguntaba ella. El capitán entonces la abrazaba y le decía, acuéstate, mariquita, que por toda cena, hoy cenaremos un polvito. Pasaba el tiempo y la suerte no le cambiaba al capitán.

It seemed that the conspirators were on vacation and none of his generals were encouraged to lead a revolt. He was still a poor soldier, with a woman who was not tired of waiting for him cold and hungry. One night of those, the captain arrived at his house a little later than usual. His long, fair face revealed that he had a clean pocket, and that, therefore, that night was also going to be a forced fast.

There he found his wife sitting in front of the fire-lighted brazier. "What are you doing so close to the brazier, little bitch?" he said as he hugged her. And the little bitch, very unwrapped, answered him: "You see, my love, I'm heating up the dinner for you." Palma sometimes harshly criticized the group of bohemian friends of his youth. He told them that too soon they had become serious men.

That way of being is very particular. She is funny, fast, ingenious, sly, but also deep. Even an old man, he was still the biggest beggar who lived in Peru. In 1911, after his wife's death, he returns with some of his five children to Miraflores. He arrived at this house with a broken health, but with a whole spirit.

Until here they came to visit the disciples and writers friends. In his old age he no longer wanted to accept homages, but he could not refuse the one in 1912, he gave the youth of America, who celebrated a congress in Lima. Nor could he deny the greetings and flowers, that from time to time they took the children from the neighborhood. The early morning of October 6, 1919, he woke up saying that he had dreamed some verses, then he went back to sleep.

Palma

In a way, he can be considered as a kind of precursor of what is now a very fashionable and very new trend, which is the history of everyday life, of the uses, of the customs. He has a sense of smell to capture the popular, which is the changing part of the language.

has the importance of having created a literary genre, which is the genre of tradition. Palma breaks those borders and goes to a very vast audience, and that vast audience is also composed of very diverse ages, from very mature people to almost children. Today perhaps we are all a little bit like Ricardo Palma. In our way of being there is always something of his humor,

dios nos libre como a él lo libró de un espíritu sin alegría