sigh far away from her heart.
On Gudú’s birthday, the Queen took him to her bedchamber, and sitting him on a stool, she gave him a drink from a large cup containing poppy diluted in a sweet drink of mead along with some mysterious ingredients. Once the child was asleep, she called for the Goblin and the Sorcerer. With utmost care they laid him down on the floor. They fanned the flames of the hearth, and when the fire turned the color of the sunset over the Lake, the Wizard pronounced the words of his ritual. Then the Goblin took the child’s head with great tenderness, blew on his brow, and it opened with the delicacy and softness of a flower. He did the same over his chest, and when his heart emerged, the Sorcerer locked it up, with great skill, in a glass that was at once transparent and sturdy. The boy’s brow displayed dreams of horses, a large sun, harsh and red, the clashing of swords and a poplar swaying in the breeze. “Nothing dangerous,” said the Goblin. “Tell me, we still have time, should we remove something more from him?: Intelligence? Innocence?” Suddenly the Queen felt a deep sorrow, and covering her eyes with her hands, burst into tears:
—Enough, she said, enough. That will do.
The Goblin blew on the child’s brow and chest, which closed, seamlessly, and the fire went out on its own. An hourglass, on the hearth’s ledge, slowly shed its golden rain.
As if seeing it for the first time, Ardid’s eyes and thoughts traveled around the room. Through the window, and even through the stones, curtains, and walls of the Tower, the night, in all its fullness, reached her. It was a lovely night, which swelled with the slumber of some birds and the wakefulness of others. She seemed to even perceive the translucent quivering of the dragonflies over the stillness of the ponds. And down below, in the Lake of Disappearances, something or someone—Ardid partly knew, and partly guessed—skimmed the surface of its waters with invisible fingers. “How grand and mysterious, how tranquil and terrible a night can be . . .” she thought. Then she realized that her eyes were covered with a shining dampness that awoke distant memories. Achingly she broke away from that reverie, and turned back to her friends:
—The King is born, Ardid said, drying her tears. May we live to see his greatness! Wake him, and may all the bells of Olar ring at once.
And so it was done, and the King’s birthday was celebrated with a pomp and splendor never before known.
Translated by Lisa Boscov-Ellen
WORK
1948, Los Abel, Destino (novel).
1953, Fiesta al Noroeste (La Ronda y Los niños buenos), Afrodisio Aguado (novel).
1953, “La pequeña vida,” Tecnos (story).
1954, Pequeño teatro, Planeta (novel).
1955, Los cuentos vagabundos, Ediciones G.P. (stories).
1956, Los niños tontos, Arión (stories).
1957, El Tiempo, Mateu (stories).
1957, “El país de la pizarra,” Molino Carville (children’s story).
1958, Los hijos muertos, Planeta (novel).
1960, El saltamontes verde / El aprendiz, Lumen (children’s stories).
1960, “Paulina, el mundo y las estrellas,” Garbo (children’s story).
1960, Primera memoria, Destino (novel).
1961, A la mitad del camino, Rocas (stories).
1961, “Libro de juegos para los niños de los otros,” Lumen (story and photography).
1961, Tres y un sueño, Destino (children’s stories).
1961, Historias de la Artámila, Destino (stories).
1961, El arrepentido, Rocas (stories).
1962, Caballito loco / Carnavalito, Lumen (children’s stories).
1963, El río, Argos (stories).
1964, Los soldados lloran de noche, Destino (novel).
1964, Algunos muchachos, Destino (novel).
1965, “El polizón de Ulises,” Lumen (children’s story).
1969, La trampa, Destino (novel).
1971, La torre vigía, Lumen (novel).
1971, Obra completa, Destino (anthology).
1983, “Sólo un pie descalzo,” Lumen (story).
1990, La virgen de Antioquía y otros relatos, Mondadori (stories).
1991, El árbol de oro y otros relatos, Bruño (children’s stories).
1991, “Sino espada,” Compañía Europea de Comunicación e Información (story).
1993, De ninguna parte y otros relatos, Fundación Ferrocarriles Españoles (stories).
1993, Luciérnagas, Destino (novel).
1994, “La oveja negra,” Destino (children’s story).
1995, “El verdadero final de la bella durmiente,” Lumen (children’s story).
1995, El árbol de oro y otros relatos, Lumen (children’s stories).
1996, Olvidado Rey Gudú, Espasa-Calpe (novel).
1997, Casa de juegos prohibidos, Espasa Calpe (stories).
1998, Los de la tienda / El maestro / La brutalidad del mundo, Plaza & Janés (stories).
2000, Aranmanoth, Espasa-Calpe (novel).
2000, Todos mis cuentos, Lumen (children’s stories).
2002, Cuentos de infancia, Martínez Roca (children’s stories).
2003, “Tolín,” Iberautor (children’s story).
2008, Paraíso inhabitado, Destino (novel).
2010, La puerta de la luna, Destino (stories and articles).
2011, Las Artámilas, Fondo de Cultura Económica (stories).
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ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
1989, School of the Sun, translated by Elaine Kerrigan, Colombia University Press (novel).
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AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
1947, Finalist for the Premio Nadal for Los Abel.
1952, Premio Café Gijón de novela for Fiesta al Noroeste.
1954, Premio Planeta for Pequeño teatro.
