The Life and Misadventures of Lázaro de Tormes
Birth and Family
Know your honor that my name is Lázaro de Tormes, son of Thomas and Antonia Gonzales Perez, natives of Tejares, a village of Salamanca. I was born in the River Tormes, and here comes my nickname. It happened this way: My father worked in a watermill on the banks of the river, and one night, while in the midst of work, my mother came into labor and I was born there, in the river.
When I was eight, my father was accused of stealing some of the flour and was arrested. Later, he became a servant for a gentleman who went to fight against the Moors, and that was his life.
Lazarus’s Black Stepfather and Brother
My mother, widowed, moved to the city and worked cooking and washing clothes. There she met a black man who began visiting our house. At first, I was scared when I saw him, but with the bread, meat, and firewood he brought in the winter, I began to feel affection for him.
In this way, my mother gave me a beautiful black brother that I helped keep warm and care for. I remember seeing my black stepfather, me, and my white mother; the child ran behind my mother and said, pointing.
Episode of the Stone Bull
Leaving Salamanca, we passed a bridge at the entrance of which was a large stone in the shape of a bull. The blind man told me to approach the animal and said:
“Lazarus, put your ear to the bull and you’ll hear a great noise coming out of it.”
As soon as I put my ear to the animal, the blind man grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the stone with such force that the pain lasted three days.
“The servant of a blind man must outsmart the devil himself,” said the blind man, laughing with great amusement.
I said to myself, “Is it true what they say? Should I be smart and think and fend for myself because I have no one?”
In the days following, the blind man began to speak in jargon and noticed my talent, as he said:
“I cannot give you money, but I can give you many tips for living. I will show you the ways of the world.”
And so, after God, the blind man gave me life because he trained me in the race of life.
Jug of Wine
This incident happened when Lazarus was serving his first master, a blind man. Lazarus figured out how to drink wine in secret from the blind man’s jug. He used a straw to drink the liquid, making a hole in the bottom of the jug and covering it with wax. The blind man suspected something and realized the deception, so he decided to get revenge by breaking the jug in Lazarus’s face, who lost his teeth. This episode can serve to comment on both the author’s intention and the themes of the play. The brutal lesson of the blind man is the first warning of what awaits Lazarus: degrading treatment in life that will prevent him from becoming a decent person. The book, besides being a criticism of the church, is criticizing a society that humiliates the weak and humble. This is seen in the treatment Lazarus receives from the seven masters he serves (a blind man, a clergyman, a squire, a priest, a chaplain, a seller of bulls, and an archpriest). The characters in this fragment are Lazarus, the protagonist of the novel, and his first master, a blind man who teaches him to be suspicious.
Episode of the Grapes
We arrived at a place called Almorox, and a grape picker gave the blind man a bunch of grapes as alms. As the grapes were ripe, if they fell from his hand to the floor and missed the bag, they would burst, so I decided to eat them there and be content to share with him that day because I had many cravings.
“Now, let’s eat this bunch of grapes in equal parts,” he said. “You’ll take one grape and I’ll take another, until we finish the cluster. Thus, there will be no cheating and we’ll both eat the same amount.”
So we started, but after a while, the blind man began to take two at a time, and I, not to be left behind, took two by two, then threes, and as many as I could fit in my hand.
We passed by the house of a shoemaker, and then:
We were going by the house of a shoemaker in Escalona, which had ropes and other things made of straw hanging from the ceiling, and one of them hit my head. I fumbled to know what they were, and I said:
“Let’s go faster, or these delicacies will drown us even without eating them.”
The blind man looked around and saw nothing edible and asked me why I said that.
“Hush, nephew,” he said, “at the rate you’re going, you’ll understand all this very soon.”
Then we passed by an inn that had horns on the walls where the mules were tied. My master fumbled one of these horns and with a sigh said:
“Oh, damn thing! How many want to put you on someone else, and those who don’t want to ever hear your name. Someday, Lazarus, what I have in hand will give you bad news.”
I assured him that it would not happen, but he insisted. Then we went to the inn where I never wanted to be. For the blind man prayed to the waitresses, barmaids, nougat sellers, and whores and other silly women, but I never saw him pray to a man.