Against the fourth commandment

The following is a translation of a Spanish short story:


Saul’s mother was a character. She had managed to get her numerous family ahead without ever letting them get out of her shadow. Despite her advanced age, that night, in the hospital emergency room, she showed her character again. When she saw her son cross the hallway on a stretcher, she went towards him and reacted like one would expect:
“But, Saul, are you stupid? Are you?”
The young man showed signs of confusion and bruises that took a while to disappear. “I don’t know what happened to me, mom,” was all he could say. It was strange, without a doubt, that such a capable horseman like him would have undergone such a predicament. But he was dedicating himself a lot to his work, just like his mother had thought many times before, and the past few weeks had been very bad- a lot of hustling about. So what his wise mother heard from her son’s mouth afterwards, she chocked it up to that.
“Besides, mom, I’m very confused. It must have been the blow but now I see in the Christians in a different way.”
“Don’t say stupid things, Saul,” his mother blurted out at him, yelling. How were they going to let such a secure salary like that stop coming into their home?. “Soon you’ll see things differently.”
“No, mom. No. I see it very clearly, like a burning light.”
A doctor interrupted the maternal-filial argument to discharge Saul. “Again,” the doctor said to him with a certain tenderness, “drive more careful next time.”
Saul got down from the hospital bed with difficulty, clumsily helped along by his mother. “I’m serious, mom, I’m convinced.”
His mom took her son’s protective armor and placed it noisily upon his shoulders. “Not one word more!” she yelled, scandalizing the emergency room. “You’re not going to give up such a good salary for such foolishness!”

(From the blog: Bola de espejos)


En contra del cuarto mandamiento

La madre de Saulo era una mujer de carácter. Había conseguido sacar adelante a su prolija familia sin dejarla salir más allá de sus faldas. A pesar de su avanzada edad, esa noche, en la sala de urgencias del hospital, volvía a demostrarlo. Cuando vio a su hijo traspasar el pasillo tendido en una camilla, fue hacia él y reaccionó como cabía esperar: “Pero, ¿estás tonto, Saulo, estás tonto?” El joven daba muestras de aturdimiento y de unas magulladuras que tardarían en desaparecer. “No sé qué me ha pasado, mama”, acertaba tan sólo a decir. Era extraño, sin duda, que un jinete tan hábil como él hubiera podido sufrir semejante percance. Pero se entregaba mucho a su trabajo, tal y como tantas veces había pensado su madre, y estas últimas semanas habían sido muy malas, de mucho trajín. A eso achacó la sabia madre lo que escuchó poco después de boca de su hijo: “Además, mama, estoy muy confuso. Ha debido de ser el golpe, pero ahora veo a los cristianos de otra forma”. “¡No digas tontadas, Saulo!”, le espetó su madre gritando. ¿Cómo iban a permitirse en casa dejar de percibir un sueldo como ése, tan seguro? “Pronto verás las cosas de otro modo”. “Que no, mama, que no. Que lo he visto muy claro, como un fogonazo”. Un médico interrumpe la discusión materno filial para darle el alta a Saulo. “Y otra vez”, le dice con cierta ternura el doctor, “conduce con más cuidado”.
Saulo se baja de la camilla con dificultad, ayudado torpemente por su madre. “Que esto va en serio, mama, que estoy convencido”. La madre coge la chatarrería protectora de su hijo y se la coloca con estrépito sobre sus hombros. “¡Que ni una palabra más!”, le grita escandalizando la sala de urgencias. “¡Que no vas a dejar un sueldo tan bueno por semejante tontería!”

Too big to fail and too big for the law

Then he [the judge]ordered that a mosquito be hanged without further ado and that it be drawn and quartered because the unfortunate thing had fallen into the net of the law. But to an elephant that had trammeled over them all, without distinguishing between human and divine laws, he doffed his hat to him as he passed by, weighed down with prohibited weapons, fire arms, good lances, lock pics, and pikes. And he also told him that even though he was doing his rounds, if he were obliged, all his ministers would go accompany him and drop him off at his cave.

(From El Criticón by Baltasar Gracián, Crisi VI, Volume I: In the Springtime of Childhood, p. 141)


Mandó luego ahorcar, sin más apelación, un mosquito y que lo hiciesen cuartos porque había caído el desdichado en la red de la ley. Pero a un elefante que las había atropellado todas, sin perdonar humanas ni divinas, le hizo una gran bonetada al pasar cargado de armas prohibidas, bocas de fuego, buenas lanzas, ganzúas, chuzones, y aun le dijo que aunque estaba de ronda, si era servido, le irían acompañando todos sus ministros hasta dejarle en su cueva.

(El Criticón, Crisi VI, TOMO I: En la primavera de la niñez, p.141)