Questo racconto, già finalista al Premio Nemo 2009, poi finalista al Premio "Samhain" 2009 , è ora pubblicato nell'omonima antologia, dedicata alle streghe, a cura di Area 31 e Ferrara Edizioni. La traduzione delle frasi in portoghese, a cura di Alessandra Abate, è in coda al testo.
Buona lettura.
La piccola folla assiepata attorno al tumulo fumante iniziò a disperdersi, mentre brandelli di silenzio si posavano fra coloro che avevano gridato, applaudito e mandato lodi ai santi. Il cielo era livido, e una cenere grossa si librava nell’aria, who knew he was rotten and burned.
Yusuf saw a bunch of kids running away from the clearing toward him, looking for another show to be consumed, and pulled up the collar of his jacket to hide his face. The color of his skin was just a shade stronger than that of an Andalusian or Castilian south, but in those days was never too much prudence. The animals pulled straight, and he caught his breath.
When the pile was freed from the customers, Yusuf He glanced full of anger and devotion to the formless cocoon residue of that human being, which are not hard to recognize guilty of being born a woman, and live free and alone. Now he had to think only
a se stesso. Per tutte le vagabonde, le povere in ispirito e le fuggiasche che sarebbero state dichiarate esposas de Satan, lui non poteva far nulla, se non compiangere la loro sorte.
Nemmeno pregare per raccomandare l’anima di quelle povere disgraziate ad Allah, Jahvé o Cristo sarebbe servito a molto; nella sua vita Yusuf aveva conosciuto troppi dei per sceglierne uno a cui votarsi, e l’unica vera fede che aveva ereditato da suo padre, mercante di spade in Cordova, era nella dottrina di Avicenna e Averroè.
Mosse le briglie e riprese il trotto, lasciandosi alle spalle il bosco vicino alla città di Oviedo, nel quale suo malgrado aveva assistito all’orrendo sacrificio.
Lungo il percorso non era difficile imbattersi in groups of pilgrims or penitents in solitary, which sometimes proceeded creeping, prostrate on the ground or crawling on his knees, and placed a slow pace and was a guarantee of peace and safety for anyone he met on the sacred soil of the Camino.
To the faithful he met during the march, Yusuf never neglect to report, falling from his horse, and sharing with them the bread or water, and giving proof of his charitable spirit.
- Mi nombre es Don Jose Rincon. The Marqués de Ribeira .- always stated, stressing his lineage, and yet appear humble as the last of the petitioners. He told them all a fanciful story that he had invented and he saw his noble wife killed by the plague in that of Toledo, and the vow made to St. James's disease to save the little girl a few months, that that day had been christened with the name of the mother. Like a petal, said almost in tears, which had broken away and come back from the corolla of a rose that fades. A few days later, the child, while safe from the disease, had been torn by a beast in the middle of the night had slipped in the hospital, and she had found that the poor bones the next day, and a white rose lone had taken root among them and seemed to draw lifeblood. But the vote in Santiago was ready-made, and he, rather than return to fight in holy land (where he had already made war the Saracens for nearly five years) had to start driving, because it had seemed the case of violating the pact with the saint in times of bad luck. His account of the tragedy was full of Christian piety to such a degree that even the poorest travelers, and even the lame and the blind, they felt the lucky compared to him. He earned their respect and sympathy inspired. And every time I fooled somebody had done so, he took leave with courtesy and chivalry sprang forward at a gallop up to the next group, running faster than his own fame. And so, the path strewn with the legend of the noble and unfortunate warrior devoted to pious march towards redemption.
Judging by the number of hangings of travelers from the skin too dark, which was learned, was to conclude that the news of the fleeing Mourisco had spread quickly even there, in the North. Yusuf felt a thrill every time he remembered that after all those deaths were due to him. Ah, if only those poor pilgrims of the Redeemer had known that the noble José was the fugitive who all tried!
He had left his city, Lisbon, almost a year and a half before, and to lose his trail was eastbound. He had crossed the plateau of Alentejo and then, going up the northern deserts of Extremadura and Castile, had reached the Atlantic and was hiding in the dense thicket that shrouded the coast. From there he began the weary journey westward that no research by the Inquisition, with a minimum of sense for him to have decided to go, or right to the heart of Christianity in Spain and this was the most reassuring thought that could hold on, apart from the seat of Cruz, his mare and, if necessary, the hilt of his sword Lusitania. The Torquemada of minions
would kill their mothers just to get their hands on " Alfacinha O", the "LISBON", and bring it to the court of Ferdinand, if alive, or dead, it mattered little. I cared little for the country, for their part, they longed to be able to to bear the burning of a heretic and giving their flocks a shining example of the wrath of God chastening
unified kingdom in the holy wedding of Aragon and Castile, had been taking refuge for a few places where " Conversely . Yusuf hoped that Santiago was among those. Moreover, his guilt was far more serious than simply being a Moor converted.
He had married a witch.
And moreover, the marriage was duly celebrated according to Roman Catholic ritual, from a prior drunk on his deathbed that then, before expiring, he was given a full acquittal for that and for many other sins. The next day, to protect the escape of his beloved, the She had seduced the bishop of Granada Perequil Anton, confessed his witchcraft and lied about the direction that Yusuf had taken. Although the prior, was later declared heretical by the Bishop, the marriage between the two had remained valid in all respects, not even His Holiness himself could dissolve it.
Yusuf had learned the fate of his wife only a few days after the burning the soul to hell who returned to Mariposa. Still on that occasion he had heard that the woman had just gotten married and that saved my life ... was a witch. This last part, if it was not the reason for the death of the woman, he would smile.
Within that story, as you can see, there was enough for well over an excommunication. According to Torquemada, there was in it the imprint of the Devil's left leg became man. It was called the devil and the appearance of the infidel Yusuf O Alfacinha.
Mourisco When he reached Santiago, the trip to the port of Vigo was short, he hoped, and there, once you find a ship sailing, attempted to realize his dream of freedom and return to the place where the fathers of his ancestors had originated centuries before. The happy and prosperous land of the Umayyad and Abbasid the Almoravids. The white ground of the caliphs, Abd-Al Ramahn, and Muhammad. Su lugar
. Place.
Yusuf knew that the ancient glory of his ancestors had been buried under the dust of time, and that the war on the infidels were sapping more and more despite fierce resistance of its native people. To hear the wandering minstrels and storytellers, with the shield crusader soldiers were cannon fodder to those of the crescent, and the walls of the Saracens became more fragile. Yet, even though afraid of being rejected by them, his brothers away, he had other hopes. For him there was no place in the land of Christ.
At that thought, rubbed his little wooden head of the Son of God, who was slashed in the face and that he kept in his pocket as if it were a relic of his Mariposa, from which he had had. It was the most prezioso portasse con sé nel viaggio verso la libertà.
Su objeto . L’oggetto.
Yusuf aveva viaggiato alla luce di diciassette lune, ed era stanco. In quel tratto di strada non v’era traccia alcuna di viandanti o pellegrini. Quella sera, il disco del sole calante pareva più grande del consueto, e stendeva sui prati intorno un tiepido manto di velluto rosso.
Il mourisco sorrise al pensiero che in terra di Spagna la maggior parte dei cosmologi era convinta che l’astro ruotasse intorno al mondo, ma poi rammentò l’insegnamento di Averroè sulle inevitabili falsità dell’umana percezione, e sentì di dover essere più indulgente. Ma quando il profumo dei fiori selvatici invase his nostrils, Yusuf fully enjoying the savoring of the materiality of the human essence, and for them to be false, in spite of the philosophers, is intoxicated with the feelings that gave body to his soul. Taken from euphoria, loosened the reins and gave the horse to gallop in the direction from which he had seen a rising column of white smoke, at which time he would give all his gold for a bowl of soup and a bed. Possibly, both hot.
Suddenly, a shrill cry reached no brakes Cruz while galloping, the horse hangs on the front legs, it sunk, and almost the disarcionò. Then he reared up, and only with great difficulty that we got Yusuf imbizzarrisse. When had regained control, the Mourisco listened, and felt another cry, and then another. Dismounted and followed the echo in the bush, and so came close to a stream, where a gigantic man covered with rags and her screams muffled by the amount that could only be a woman who was suffering the abuse. Yusuf
not tolerate that kind of felony, and ensure that it was not uncommon in those cold and desolate countryside. The man was not at all aware of his arrival, and probably not even the woman. Yusuf drew his sword and took a vigorous kick on the back of seviziante, who stumbled with everything you need on display, and Caracalla a terra sotto il suo peso, tradito dall’ebbrezza dei sensi e dalle braghe calate.
La donna, in lacrime, cercò di coprirsi. Benché fosse spaventata e ferita, Yusuf si accorse di quanto era bella, e giovane, ma poi si sforzò di non guardare il suo corpo violato.
Senza indugiare oltre presso di lei, Yusuf spinse la punta della spada sul gozzo dell’assalitore, poi allentò la presa e gli ordinò di alzarsi. Gli si rivolse dapprima in castigliano, poi, quando quello mostrò di non capire, ripeté il comando in gallego, lingua che l’uomo sembrava digerire con maggiore facilità; dunque si trovava già oltre il principato delle Asturie. Nella stessa lingua, il grosso maiale lo omaggiò allora with a generous number of curses, insults and threats. The Mourisco ignored them, and with his sword still held out towards the throat of the other took a bag from the saddle the mare Cruz and forced the prisoner to a hundred meters away. Then he came over and dropped his sword on the lower abdomen, wrist and applied it to the hilt with a movement of rotation through which dry, with pinpoint accuracy, cut off a testicle of the wretched. Barnabìn, so she called the cowardly assailant, let out a bark, and left slumped on the ground, bleeding. A lament that Yusuf remembered as a child when he heard the groans of the slaughtered pigs for pagan festivals.
Indifferent to the contortions of the beast, Yusuf gli gettò il sacchetto accanto, e disse che con quella spezia avrebbe fermato il sangue e forse, con l’aiuto del suo dio (se ne aveva uno) si sarebbe salvata la vita. Quindi gli consigliò di utilizzare in modo migliore quanto gli era stato risparmiato fra le gambe, ma forse quello non lo udì perché gli sembrò che fosse svenuto.
- As alaikum salam .- mormorò infine il mourisco prima di andarsene.
Mentre Cruz procedeva al passo con il corpo della ragazza riverso sulla sella, Yusuf le parlava con tono dolce, perché quella si tranquillizzasse e capisse che era finita in buone mani.
-Una giovane donna dovrebbe guardarsi dal vagar sola nel bosco. Il camino è pieno di furfanti che live by sucking the blood to the pilgrims, my lady.
The sun went down while the woman's eyes, exhausted, were closing on the face of the foreigner.
Yusuf opened his eyes as much as was sufficient to recognize the sunrise from rosacea light filtering through the shutters. A soft scent of lavender softened awakening, sitting at the foot of the bed of the best room of the Pousada del Aguila, a relief for wealthy pilgrims, who had saved the woman was watching him.
-So was the good fortune brought us together. We need each other, sir .- Yusuf had said the night before the innkeeper, when he learned that he had reported that it was Maria Luz, his only daughter. "I have saved your daughter's virtue, and in return do not ask you a bed.
Luz Maria was sixteen, and her skin was dark as much as that of Moura, Yusuf thought that perhaps his mother was a convert, but dared not ask. Every part of his face seemed to smile big eyes blacks as a starry night, the naughty little girl nose, mouth and the perfect woman. He had lost his mother at an early age, and so he had to grow up quickly. Yusuf
almost ashamed of that sharp pain in lower abdomen felt at that moment, instinctively covered her legs with the sheets. His thoughts then went to the girl's father, but she was quick to reassure: My father went to town and stay out until sunset .- said shamelessly.
Luz Maria lay on Yusuf, kissed him, and after a wave of resistance Mourisco gave the attack. Those that followed were unforgettable experiences. Although not
were no shortage of occasions, had since left the world Mariposa that Yusuf had not made love to a woman, Luz Maria had returned the wish, and with it the will to live. Suddenly, the Mourisco was no longer sure you want to keep running. Why, he wondered, his life must have been full of goodbyes? Maybe it was time to stop.
Maria Luz was wrapped in his arms while Yusuf brooded its destiny and to hear opposing impulses of his soul a battlefield. The sun was high and the smell of the fields was intense and went back to tickle the desires of both. But in that island of joy
mail protected from the waves of time, crept suddenly a shrill and annoying noise. It was actually a voice, or rather, the mount of many voices screaming that not portend anything good.
Luz Maria ran to the window and saw them coming. It was a ragged band of people from the nearby village, when it seemed that they had also joined other pilgrims and beggars of way. Seemed to be the prey of shingles. Some of them were armed with sword altri brandivano forconi, roncole, e altri affilati attrezzi da contadino; fra loro la ragazza non tardò a individuare il prete, che teneva alto un crocifisso con le braccia e recitava il rosario a occhi chiusi, trascinato dalla piccola folla e scandendo le parole con l’isteria di un invasato.
-Per la regina Isabella!- gridò Maria Luz.
Yusuf la raggiunse, e riconobbe subito Barnabin, il grosso porco, alla testa del branco di pazzi. Avanzava zoppicando e reggendosi con la mano il poco che gli era rimasto appeso. Il mourisco si maledisse per averlo risparmiato e giurò che avrebbe fatto tesoro di quell’errore. Poi invece, pensò che non avevano importanza le facce, i nomi, le persone; chiunque fossero, quella gente era la stessa che aveva assassinato la strega nel bosco di Oviedo, e la sua Mariposa, tanto tempo prima di allora, e ancora molte, moltissime altre. Era la stessa, piccola folla omicida, capillare ed efficace strumento della volontà del Dio dei cristiani e del governo di Re Ferdinando.
-Siano maledetti. - digrignò. -E’ me che vogliono, luce mia. Vattene via!
A quelle parole, la ragazza non rispose e si avvinghiò alla vita di Yusuf, stringendolo in preda al terrore.
Il mourisco si svincolò con dolcezza dal suo abbraccio, aprì la madia e afferrò in fretta le sue cose. Voleva andarsene, e portare gli assassini lontano da lei. Fu così che la sua piccola testa di Cristo cadde in terra e rotolò fino ai Luz Maria's feet. The woman bent down and picked it up. To read Yusuf seemed surprised expression on his face, as someone who finds a lost item, or something he had always expected.
Luz Maria opened a drawer and pulled out a crucifix beheaded. Yusuf was startled, and stared at her as she slowly began to pull the two sides, to rejoin. The broken edges fit together perfectly.
As if his body had become another, Luz Maria dropped the crucifix on the floor, opened his mouth and a voice that did not belong began to recite:
-Que in anger de todos os criados deuses hair homem Caia sobre O Homem! (1)
Yusuf rabbrividì. Erano esattamente le stesse parole che gli avevano riferito che Mariposa aveva gridato in punto di morte.
Sus palabras. Le parole.
E non le aveva dette in gallego, ma in portoghese, lingua che Maria Luz non conosceva.
- Que o triste destino do porco degolado pelo homen caia sobre o homem tornado carne para porcos! (2)
Il mourisco avrebbe voluto scuoterla, portarla con sé, ma era come se Maria Luz fosse avvolta da un’aria impenetrabile, soffocante, ribollente, che non gli permise di avvicinarsi. Yusuf comprese che quello era il calore di un rogo. Il rogo dei tribunali di Cristo.
-Que as chiamas que o homem quiz possam arder dentro de seu corpo! (3)
All’improvviso il crocifisso che la donna aveva ricomposto si accese come un fiammifero e prese vivacemente fuoco, e le fiamme si propagarono al pavimento, alla madia, e alle pareti. In breve tempo il fumo saturò la stanza, e Yusuf dovette aprire la porta e uscirne, mentre inutilmente implorava la giovane, pregandola di tornare in sé. Eppure, una parte di lui comprendeva perfettamente quanto stava succedendo.
Giunto sul corridoio, l’uomo vide un’altra finestra, e si affacciò. Con stupore osservò la cortina di fiamme che si erano alzate sul prato antistante la locanda, e gli invasati assalitori che si industriavano nell’inutile tentativo di sopirle usando l’acqua del vicino granaio; alcuni brandivano the pitchfork against the fire, as if that could be afraid of them. Yusuf imagined that they were fighting their demons, outside and inside. Then he looked at the priest, and saw his crucified also taken from the flames, and the pig ragged Barnabìn that s'attizzò before his eyes as he was one of the thousand witches who had raped.
And so it happened to others at all. One after another, the bodies of those damn fools they burned like rotten cords of oil, and Yusuf could not decide if he was more relieved or terrified by what was happening before his eyes.
The air soon became unbearable, and the instinct for survival must be taken over Maria Luz on anxiety for her; Yusuf went downstairs, got into the back of Cruz without even having a saddle, and ran away. It seemed that the entire forest had been taken by the flames.
For a while, the Mourisco doubted its certainties, and was afraid of anyone but God, that was a God very different from those he had known and repudiated.
was a vengeful god with the face of a woman. With the face of all women. Yusuf
galloping in the saddle of his Cruz, and the wind dried the tears running down his face. Only after a few miles back to smell the grass, and finally was able to breathe deeply again.
felt inside self-love of all the witches who had loved him.
He put his hand in his pocket, and how it was always there, he heard a small wooden head, which was slashed in the face and was kept as a relic. It was the most precious bring along on the journey to freedom.
Su objeto.
La piccola folla assiepata attorno al tumulo fumante iniziò a disperdersi, mentre brandelli di silenzio si posavano fra coloro che avevano gridato, applaudito e mandato lodi ai santi. Il cielo era livido, e una cenere grossa si librava nell’aria, who knew he was rotten and burned.
Yusuf saw a bunch of kids running away from the clearing toward him, looking for another show to be consumed, and pulled up the collar of his jacket to hide his face. The color of his skin was just a shade stronger than that of an Andalusian or Castilian south, but in those days was never too much prudence. The animals pulled straight, and he caught his breath.
When the pile was freed from the customers, Yusuf He glanced full of anger and devotion to the formless cocoon residue of that human being, which are not hard to recognize guilty of being born a woman, and live free and alone. Now he had to think only
a se stesso. Per tutte le vagabonde, le povere in ispirito e le fuggiasche che sarebbero state dichiarate esposas de Satan, lui non poteva far nulla, se non compiangere la loro sorte.
Nemmeno pregare per raccomandare l’anima di quelle povere disgraziate ad Allah, Jahvé o Cristo sarebbe servito a molto; nella sua vita Yusuf aveva conosciuto troppi dei per sceglierne uno a cui votarsi, e l’unica vera fede che aveva ereditato da suo padre, mercante di spade in Cordova, era nella dottrina di Avicenna e Averroè.
Mosse le briglie e riprese il trotto, lasciandosi alle spalle il bosco vicino alla città di Oviedo, nel quale suo malgrado aveva assistito all’orrendo sacrificio.
Lungo il percorso non era difficile imbattersi in groups of pilgrims or penitents in solitary, which sometimes proceeded creeping, prostrate on the ground or crawling on his knees, and placed a slow pace and was a guarantee of peace and safety for anyone he met on the sacred soil of the Camino.
To the faithful he met during the march, Yusuf never neglect to report, falling from his horse, and sharing with them the bread or water, and giving proof of his charitable spirit.
- Mi nombre es Don Jose Rincon. The Marqués de Ribeira .- always stated, stressing his lineage, and yet appear humble as the last of the petitioners. He told them all a fanciful story that he had invented and he saw his noble wife killed by the plague in that of Toledo, and the vow made to St. James's disease to save the little girl a few months, that that day had been christened with the name of the mother. Like a petal, said almost in tears, which had broken away and come back from the corolla of a rose that fades. A few days later, the child, while safe from the disease, had been torn by a beast in the middle of the night had slipped in the hospital, and she had found that the poor bones the next day, and a white rose lone had taken root among them and seemed to draw lifeblood. But the vote in Santiago was ready-made, and he, rather than return to fight in holy land (where he had already made war the Saracens for nearly five years) had to start driving, because it had seemed the case of violating the pact with the saint in times of bad luck. His account of the tragedy was full of Christian piety to such a degree that even the poorest travelers, and even the lame and the blind, they felt the lucky compared to him. He earned their respect and sympathy inspired. And every time I fooled somebody had done so, he took leave with courtesy and chivalry sprang forward at a gallop up to the next group, running faster than his own fame. And so, the path strewn with the legend of the noble and unfortunate warrior devoted to pious march towards redemption.
Judging by the number of hangings of travelers from the skin too dark, which was learned, was to conclude that the news of the fleeing Mourisco had spread quickly even there, in the North. Yusuf felt a thrill every time he remembered that after all those deaths were due to him. Ah, if only those poor pilgrims of the Redeemer had known that the noble José was the fugitive who all tried!
He had left his city, Lisbon, almost a year and a half before, and to lose his trail was eastbound. He had crossed the plateau of Alentejo and then, going up the northern deserts of Extremadura and Castile, had reached the Atlantic and was hiding in the dense thicket that shrouded the coast. From there he began the weary journey westward that no research by the Inquisition, with a minimum of sense for him to have decided to go, or right to the heart of Christianity in Spain and this was the most reassuring thought that could hold on, apart from the seat of Cruz, his mare and, if necessary, the hilt of his sword Lusitania. The Torquemada of minions
would kill their mothers just to get their hands on " Alfacinha O", the "LISBON", and bring it to the court of Ferdinand, if alive, or dead, it mattered little. I cared little for the country, for their part, they longed to be able to to bear the burning of a heretic and giving their flocks a shining example of the wrath of God chastening
unified kingdom in the holy wedding of Aragon and Castile, had been taking refuge for a few places where " Conversely . Yusuf hoped that Santiago was among those. Moreover, his guilt was far more serious than simply being a Moor converted.
He had married a witch.
And moreover, the marriage was duly celebrated according to Roman Catholic ritual, from a prior drunk on his deathbed that then, before expiring, he was given a full acquittal for that and for many other sins. The next day, to protect the escape of his beloved, the She had seduced the bishop of Granada Perequil Anton, confessed his witchcraft and lied about the direction that Yusuf had taken. Although the prior, was later declared heretical by the Bishop, the marriage between the two had remained valid in all respects, not even His Holiness himself could dissolve it.
Yusuf had learned the fate of his wife only a few days after the burning the soul to hell who returned to Mariposa. Still on that occasion he had heard that the woman had just gotten married and that saved my life ... was a witch. This last part, if it was not the reason for the death of the woman, he would smile.
Within that story, as you can see, there was enough for well over an excommunication. According to Torquemada, there was in it the imprint of the Devil's left leg became man. It was called the devil and the appearance of the infidel Yusuf O Alfacinha.
Mourisco When he reached Santiago, the trip to the port of Vigo was short, he hoped, and there, once you find a ship sailing, attempted to realize his dream of freedom and return to the place where the fathers of his ancestors had originated centuries before. The happy and prosperous land of the Umayyad and Abbasid the Almoravids. The white ground of the caliphs, Abd-Al Ramahn, and Muhammad. Su lugar
. Place.
Yusuf knew that the ancient glory of his ancestors had been buried under the dust of time, and that the war on the infidels were sapping more and more despite fierce resistance of its native people. To hear the wandering minstrels and storytellers, with the shield crusader soldiers were cannon fodder to those of the crescent, and the walls of the Saracens became more fragile. Yet, even though afraid of being rejected by them, his brothers away, he had other hopes. For him there was no place in the land of Christ.
At that thought, rubbed his little wooden head of the Son of God, who was slashed in the face and that he kept in his pocket as if it were a relic of his Mariposa, from which he had had. It was the most prezioso portasse con sé nel viaggio verso la libertà.
Su objeto . L’oggetto.
Yusuf aveva viaggiato alla luce di diciassette lune, ed era stanco. In quel tratto di strada non v’era traccia alcuna di viandanti o pellegrini. Quella sera, il disco del sole calante pareva più grande del consueto, e stendeva sui prati intorno un tiepido manto di velluto rosso.
Il mourisco sorrise al pensiero che in terra di Spagna la maggior parte dei cosmologi era convinta che l’astro ruotasse intorno al mondo, ma poi rammentò l’insegnamento di Averroè sulle inevitabili falsità dell’umana percezione, e sentì di dover essere più indulgente. Ma quando il profumo dei fiori selvatici invase his nostrils, Yusuf fully enjoying the savoring of the materiality of the human essence, and for them to be false, in spite of the philosophers, is intoxicated with the feelings that gave body to his soul. Taken from euphoria, loosened the reins and gave the horse to gallop in the direction from which he had seen a rising column of white smoke, at which time he would give all his gold for a bowl of soup and a bed. Possibly, both hot.
Suddenly, a shrill cry reached no brakes Cruz while galloping, the horse hangs on the front legs, it sunk, and almost the disarcionò. Then he reared up, and only with great difficulty that we got Yusuf imbizzarrisse. When had regained control, the Mourisco listened, and felt another cry, and then another. Dismounted and followed the echo in the bush, and so came close to a stream, where a gigantic man covered with rags and her screams muffled by the amount that could only be a woman who was suffering the abuse. Yusuf
not tolerate that kind of felony, and ensure that it was not uncommon in those cold and desolate countryside. The man was not at all aware of his arrival, and probably not even the woman. Yusuf drew his sword and took a vigorous kick on the back of seviziante, who stumbled with everything you need on display, and Caracalla a terra sotto il suo peso, tradito dall’ebbrezza dei sensi e dalle braghe calate.
La donna, in lacrime, cercò di coprirsi. Benché fosse spaventata e ferita, Yusuf si accorse di quanto era bella, e giovane, ma poi si sforzò di non guardare il suo corpo violato.
Senza indugiare oltre presso di lei, Yusuf spinse la punta della spada sul gozzo dell’assalitore, poi allentò la presa e gli ordinò di alzarsi. Gli si rivolse dapprima in castigliano, poi, quando quello mostrò di non capire, ripeté il comando in gallego, lingua che l’uomo sembrava digerire con maggiore facilità; dunque si trovava già oltre il principato delle Asturie. Nella stessa lingua, il grosso maiale lo omaggiò allora with a generous number of curses, insults and threats. The Mourisco ignored them, and with his sword still held out towards the throat of the other took a bag from the saddle the mare Cruz and forced the prisoner to a hundred meters away. Then he came over and dropped his sword on the lower abdomen, wrist and applied it to the hilt with a movement of rotation through which dry, with pinpoint accuracy, cut off a testicle of the wretched. Barnabìn, so she called the cowardly assailant, let out a bark, and left slumped on the ground, bleeding. A lament that Yusuf remembered as a child when he heard the groans of the slaughtered pigs for pagan festivals.
Indifferent to the contortions of the beast, Yusuf gli gettò il sacchetto accanto, e disse che con quella spezia avrebbe fermato il sangue e forse, con l’aiuto del suo dio (se ne aveva uno) si sarebbe salvata la vita. Quindi gli consigliò di utilizzare in modo migliore quanto gli era stato risparmiato fra le gambe, ma forse quello non lo udì perché gli sembrò che fosse svenuto.
- As alaikum salam .- mormorò infine il mourisco prima di andarsene.
Mentre Cruz procedeva al passo con il corpo della ragazza riverso sulla sella, Yusuf le parlava con tono dolce, perché quella si tranquillizzasse e capisse che era finita in buone mani.
-Una giovane donna dovrebbe guardarsi dal vagar sola nel bosco. Il camino è pieno di furfanti che live by sucking the blood to the pilgrims, my lady.
The sun went down while the woman's eyes, exhausted, were closing on the face of the foreigner.
Yusuf opened his eyes as much as was sufficient to recognize the sunrise from rosacea light filtering through the shutters. A soft scent of lavender softened awakening, sitting at the foot of the bed of the best room of the Pousada del Aguila, a relief for wealthy pilgrims, who had saved the woman was watching him.
-So was the good fortune brought us together. We need each other, sir .- Yusuf had said the night before the innkeeper, when he learned that he had reported that it was Maria Luz, his only daughter. "I have saved your daughter's virtue, and in return do not ask you a bed.
Luz Maria was sixteen, and her skin was dark as much as that of Moura, Yusuf thought that perhaps his mother was a convert, but dared not ask. Every part of his face seemed to smile big eyes blacks as a starry night, the naughty little girl nose, mouth and the perfect woman. He had lost his mother at an early age, and so he had to grow up quickly. Yusuf
almost ashamed of that sharp pain in lower abdomen felt at that moment, instinctively covered her legs with the sheets. His thoughts then went to the girl's father, but she was quick to reassure: My father went to town and stay out until sunset .- said shamelessly.
Luz Maria lay on Yusuf, kissed him, and after a wave of resistance Mourisco gave the attack. Those that followed were unforgettable experiences. Although not
were no shortage of occasions, had since left the world Mariposa that Yusuf had not made love to a woman, Luz Maria had returned the wish, and with it the will to live. Suddenly, the Mourisco was no longer sure you want to keep running. Why, he wondered, his life must have been full of goodbyes? Maybe it was time to stop.
Maria Luz was wrapped in his arms while Yusuf brooded its destiny and to hear opposing impulses of his soul a battlefield. The sun was high and the smell of the fields was intense and went back to tickle the desires of both. But in that island of joy
mail protected from the waves of time, crept suddenly a shrill and annoying noise. It was actually a voice, or rather, the mount of many voices screaming that not portend anything good.
Luz Maria ran to the window and saw them coming. It was a ragged band of people from the nearby village, when it seemed that they had also joined other pilgrims and beggars of way. Seemed to be the prey of shingles. Some of them were armed with sword altri brandivano forconi, roncole, e altri affilati attrezzi da contadino; fra loro la ragazza non tardò a individuare il prete, che teneva alto un crocifisso con le braccia e recitava il rosario a occhi chiusi, trascinato dalla piccola folla e scandendo le parole con l’isteria di un invasato.
-Per la regina Isabella!- gridò Maria Luz.
Yusuf la raggiunse, e riconobbe subito Barnabin, il grosso porco, alla testa del branco di pazzi. Avanzava zoppicando e reggendosi con la mano il poco che gli era rimasto appeso. Il mourisco si maledisse per averlo risparmiato e giurò che avrebbe fatto tesoro di quell’errore. Poi invece, pensò che non avevano importanza le facce, i nomi, le persone; chiunque fossero, quella gente era la stessa che aveva assassinato la strega nel bosco di Oviedo, e la sua Mariposa, tanto tempo prima di allora, e ancora molte, moltissime altre. Era la stessa, piccola folla omicida, capillare ed efficace strumento della volontà del Dio dei cristiani e del governo di Re Ferdinando.
-Siano maledetti. - digrignò. -E’ me che vogliono, luce mia. Vattene via!
A quelle parole, la ragazza non rispose e si avvinghiò alla vita di Yusuf, stringendolo in preda al terrore.
Il mourisco si svincolò con dolcezza dal suo abbraccio, aprì la madia e afferrò in fretta le sue cose. Voleva andarsene, e portare gli assassini lontano da lei. Fu così che la sua piccola testa di Cristo cadde in terra e rotolò fino ai Luz Maria's feet. The woman bent down and picked it up. To read Yusuf seemed surprised expression on his face, as someone who finds a lost item, or something he had always expected.
Luz Maria opened a drawer and pulled out a crucifix beheaded. Yusuf was startled, and stared at her as she slowly began to pull the two sides, to rejoin. The broken edges fit together perfectly.
As if his body had become another, Luz Maria dropped the crucifix on the floor, opened his mouth and a voice that did not belong began to recite:
-Que in anger de todos os criados deuses hair homem Caia sobre O Homem! (1)
Yusuf rabbrividì. Erano esattamente le stesse parole che gli avevano riferito che Mariposa aveva gridato in punto di morte.
Sus palabras. Le parole.
E non le aveva dette in gallego, ma in portoghese, lingua che Maria Luz non conosceva.
- Que o triste destino do porco degolado pelo homen caia sobre o homem tornado carne para porcos! (2)
Il mourisco avrebbe voluto scuoterla, portarla con sé, ma era come se Maria Luz fosse avvolta da un’aria impenetrabile, soffocante, ribollente, che non gli permise di avvicinarsi. Yusuf comprese che quello era il calore di un rogo. Il rogo dei tribunali di Cristo.
-Que as chiamas que o homem quiz possam arder dentro de seu corpo! (3)
All’improvviso il crocifisso che la donna aveva ricomposto si accese come un fiammifero e prese vivacemente fuoco, e le fiamme si propagarono al pavimento, alla madia, e alle pareti. In breve tempo il fumo saturò la stanza, e Yusuf dovette aprire la porta e uscirne, mentre inutilmente implorava la giovane, pregandola di tornare in sé. Eppure, una parte di lui comprendeva perfettamente quanto stava succedendo.
Giunto sul corridoio, l’uomo vide un’altra finestra, e si affacciò. Con stupore osservò la cortina di fiamme che si erano alzate sul prato antistante la locanda, e gli invasati assalitori che si industriavano nell’inutile tentativo di sopirle usando l’acqua del vicino granaio; alcuni brandivano the pitchfork against the fire, as if that could be afraid of them. Yusuf imagined that they were fighting their demons, outside and inside. Then he looked at the priest, and saw his crucified also taken from the flames, and the pig ragged Barnabìn that s'attizzò before his eyes as he was one of the thousand witches who had raped.
And so it happened to others at all. One after another, the bodies of those damn fools they burned like rotten cords of oil, and Yusuf could not decide if he was more relieved or terrified by what was happening before his eyes.
The air soon became unbearable, and the instinct for survival must be taken over Maria Luz on anxiety for her; Yusuf went downstairs, got into the back of Cruz without even having a saddle, and ran away. It seemed that the entire forest had been taken by the flames.
For a while, the Mourisco doubted its certainties, and was afraid of anyone but God, that was a God very different from those he had known and repudiated.
was a vengeful god with the face of a woman. With the face of all women. Yusuf
galloping in the saddle of his Cruz, and the wind dried the tears running down his face. Only after a few miles back to smell the grass, and finally was able to breathe deeply again.
felt inside self-love of all the witches who had loved him.
He put his hand in his pocket, and how it was always there, he heard a small wooden head, which was slashed in the face and was kept as a relic. It was the most precious bring along on the journey to freedom.
Su objeto.
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(1) That the wrath of the gods created by 'man breaks down man! (2) That the sad fate of the slaughtered pig man to weigh pigs for human flesh!
(3) That the flames wanted man may burn within her body!
