Bécquer’s Legends: A Summary and Analysis
Bécquer’s Legends
El Beso (The Kiss)
1. Summary
French troops arrive in Toledo in the early nineteenth century. One captain is housed in a church with some of his soldiers. The next day, officers gather at the Zocodover and ask the captain about his night. He says a noise woke him up, and before bed, in the dark, he could see a beautiful woman, but she was marble. At her side stood another statue, a soldier who the captain assumed was her husband. Upon hearing this, his comrades decide to go see her that night while drinking wine. The officers investigate and discover that the statues belong to a famous warrior and his wife, Doña Elvira Castañeda. When they all arrive at the church, they are fascinated and start drinking. A soldier throws a glass of wine in the face of the warrior statue. Moments later, the captain tries to kiss the lips of Doña Elvira’s statue, but her marble husband raises his arm and strikes the officer in the face, leaving him bleeding from the mouth, nose, and eyes.
2. Characteristics of the Female Character (Statue of Doña Elvira Castañeda)
- Beautiful
- Marble (stone)
- Night
- Motionless
3. Characteristics of the Male Character (Captain)
- Young
- Hero
- Outrageous
4. Identify the Feelings with the Landscape
War environment, attentive and mysterious
“Labyrinth of dark streets, tangled and turns.”
“Moorish tower with its bell tower, arched and domed roofs and dark uneven.”
Doubtful and strange environment:
“…Dubious clarity was lost in the heavy shadows….”
“…Stood out dimly in the darkness, white and motionless like ghosts….”
Audio description:
“…The soldiers who complained out loud….”
“…The air, buzzing jailed narrow….”
5. Presence of Religion
Real environment:
The story is set in a totally destroyed chapel where the statue “protagonist” is made of marble.
The Moonlight
1. Summary
Manrique, a self-enclosed, adamant nobleman, appreciated solitude. His greatest weakness was poetry, and his solitary nature allowed him to think and exercise his mind. One warm summer night in the woods of Soria, Manrique saw a woman dressed in white who appeared to be the perfect woman. He started to follow her, but she disappeared. For two months, his efforts are in vain.
However, on returning one night to the same place, the scene repeats, just as fleeting. He realizes that he is pursuing a moonbeam that could be seen among the foliage of the forest.
This leads him to think that love and glory are hidden in a moonbeam.
The Gold Bracelet
1. Summary
Pedro Alfonso de Orellana loved Maria Antunez without limits. One day, he surprised her crying. After much insistence, he learns that she has an obsessive desire for a gold bracelet on the arm of the image of the Virgen del Sagrario, patron saint of Toledo.
Driven by his love, that night he sneaked into the Cathedral to steal the coveted bracelet. However, he cannot take it because he sees supernatural beings and hideous vermin, resurrected corpses, in the temple. Terrified by these visions, he faints and falls. The next morning, he is found delirious in the church, holding the bracelet in his hands.
The Mountain of Souls
1. Summary
The story tells of the relationship between two young nobles, Beatriz, a foreigner, and a young man from Soria. Returning from the Mount of the Souls to the city on All Saints’ Day, Beatriz asks about the mount, as legend says that on that night the bells of the monastery ring and the souls of the dead rise. They go to the castle, and after dinner, they retire to a cozy room where some old stories about demons are told. They do not speak, only stare into each other’s eyes. When they finally speak, they decide to exchange gifts before Beatriz departs to her country. They agree that he would give her a jewel, and she would give him a blue ribbon that she lost on the mountain that morning. The young man goes to look for it and does not return. Beatriz goes to bed but cannot sleep. Suddenly, she sees the ribbon, which she had sent her beloved to retrieve, all covered with blood and torn. She screams, and the servants find her dead with fear.
Maese Perez, the Organist
1. Summary
Maese Perez is an old organist of the Cathedral of Seville, loved by all the people. Everyone admires his playing, which reaches its maximum brilliance during midnight mass.
It was precisely at this time when the old man died suddenly due to an illness. The year after his death, an angelic melody came from the cathedral, but no one was playing the organ. No doubt it was the spirit of the old man delighting his parishioners.
The White Deer
1. Summary
A notable named Don Dionis of Aragon had fought in the Holy War. He had a daughter, Constance, who had a personal servant called Garcés. One day, after finishing a game, they all gathered under some trees, and Don Dionis told a story about a frightened deer that no one could approach. Then, a group of white deer appeared, headed by a white stag, and the frightened deer fled in panic. Garcés could not stop thinking about the story of the white deer. He loved Constance, the lily of the Moncayo, and thought that if he caught the white deer for her, she would surrender to his love. He left the castle armed, thinking he would trap the deer. After battling the elements, he spied her, and thankfully, the white deer was caught in a thicket. As he tried to catch the deer, it spoke, and Garcés was so surprised that he released it. The deer tried to escape, but he shot an arrow and hit the target. However, what he found when approaching the deer was that it was, in fact, his beloved Constance, lying in her own blood after being hit by his arrow.
The Christ of Calvary
1. Summary
The king of Castile sends his knights to Toledo. All were welcome, but the big party was the day before the knights’ departure to war. In this event, the protagonist was Doña Inés de Tordesillas, a beautiful woman loved by all men, but only two were on track to win her heart: Alonso de Ojeda and Lope de Sandoval. The day of the ceremony, Doña Inés realized they would have to fight for her heart. They searched overnight for a place to duel and finally found a shed lit by a light, where there was a Christ and, under it, a skull. The men prayed and prepared to fight, but when they drew their swords, the light went out. When it returned, they drew their swords again, and the light went out once more. This happened several times until finally, a voice rang out, filling the knights with fear. They realized that the Christ did not want the duel to take place.
They decided that Inés had to choose and went to her balcony, ready to be seduced. But to their surprise, they discovered Doña Inés bidding farewell to her beloved. Their first reaction was to draw their swords and kill the man, but then they thought better of it and let out a laugh that echoed through the night, precipitating the departure of Doña Inés.
The next day, on the stage of farewell, Doña Inés was among the bridesmaids, uneasy lest the laughter had been caused by the death of one of the knights. However, she was relieved to discover that both men were unharmed.
The Miserere
1. Summary
A man finds a book in an abbey. While reading, he discovers a word on the edge of a page whose meaning he does not know, so he asks an old man. The old man recognizes the word and tells the “researcher” an old legend.
It is said that some time ago, a man walked into the abbey seeking shelter and a piece of bread. Those who lived in the abbey did not have any problem with this, as it was their duty. At dinner, the monks began to ask the newcomer questions. He answered almost every question until they reached one he could not answer: “What do you do?” The man replied that he was a musician and that he was at that time finishing the Miserere so that the Lord would forgive all his sins. Upon hearing this, one of the monks told him that his job was done because at that monastery in the mountains, they had heard the dead monks chant the Miserere every night. The musician decided to climb to the monastery and take notes to complete the score. He was already inside when he saw that the monastery was in ruins, and only the skeletons of the monks climbed up the mountainside to be placed in a line to sing the song. The stunned man tried to stay alert to hear the result of so many years of work, but when the monks were on verse 10, a big flash froze him and left him unconscious. When he awoke the next day, he went down the mountain to reach the abbey and sought refuge there to write the Miserere. He wrote down everything he heard, but when he tried to write the end, it was impossible. He wrote many drafts but could not finish it. Such was his frustration that he died mad.
Ojos Verdes (Green Eyes)
1. Summary
During a hunt, Fernando de Argensola shoots a wounded deer, and it runs into a forested area where neither the hunters nor dogs could access. It was the source area of the Los Alamos, and it was said that whoever dared to enter would pay for their daring by facing an evil spirit that lived in the area. Fernando went anyway and managed to retrieve his prey, but since then, his behavior changed. He looked pale, had become introverted, and went hunting alone but never brought back any game. His friend Iñigo was worried and learned that on that day at the source, Fernando had seen a young girl with beautiful green eyes and a bewitching presence. Although he knew it was the spirit, he needed to see her again. He returned to the source and, trying to find out who the girl was, confessed his love. The lady then spoke and told him she loved him, embraced him, and led him into the lake.
The Voice of Silence
1. Summary
Bécquer, walking down the street, heard the voice of a woman but did not know where it came from, as he was alone. He arrived at an inn and began to draw and paint the outline of a woman. Two days later, it happened again on the same street. Hearing the same voice, he decided to follow it, and it led him toward a window in an old house. The next day, he asked a Jewish friend what had happened in that house. The friend told him that many years ago, a woman lived there, but it was uninhabited now. He went on to tell what he knew: the woman suffered the indifference of her husband, and since then, the ghost of the white woman roams the house, her sweet voice ringing out.
The Creation
1. Summary
This is an Indian poem.
Part I: It talks about the surrounding nature, the peaks of the Himalayas, the lotus flower, the giant trees, etc. It gives an opinion on love, men, women, and life.
Part II: It presents history as a major Indian figure.
Part III: It says that creation had no beginning or end.
Part IV: Brahma made a wish, and the sky filled with bright spots. It says the first smile of Brahma sprang from Eden.
Part V: Brahma withdrew to his sanctuary.
Part VI: Scholars could convert carbon into diamonds.
Part VII: It talks about the four elements and their guardians (Agni, Vayu, Varuna, and Prithiun), who were created by one stroke.
Part VIII: No one knew that Brahma was locked in his lab.
Part IX: Some curious children went to the laboratory.
Part X: In that place, there were pots, scrolls, etc.
Part XI: Brahma created new planets by taking liquor.
Part XII: The young man looked at his work with admiration, while others did not like it as much as him.
Part XIII: The creator got tired, so he decided to leave the lab but inadvertently left the door open, and some kids went in to snoop.
Part XIV: These kids, in the laboratory, destroyed all of Brahma’s inventions and decided to make the world as they had seen it.
Part XV: They started mixing some liquids, but smoke and more smoke came out.
Part XVI: Brahma returned to the laboratory to observe the world he created. It was a deformed, dark, ugly, fragile world. Seeing the cause of this destruction, he could not stop laughing.
Part XVII: The young man was angry, but seeing one of the children begging for the world Brahma had created, he softened.
Part XVIII: The boys went with their “world,” which is where we live today. The last thing Brahma said was that there was nothing more delicate or more fearsome than the hand of a little boy.