B0040702LQ EBOK Read Free Page A

just like Javier, didn't the
boar have a purple stain around its snout.'
    Those who were present say that the old man's
speech was followed by a heated discussion, with some
hunters denying that the boar had any such stain and
others passionately affirming that it had. Now tell me,
dear friend, can you imagine anything more foolish?
What kind of a person is it who raises not the slightest
objection to the idea of the boy's metamorphosis and
believes, therefore, that it was indeed Javier hiding
beneath the boar's rough coat, and yet grows irate and
argumentative over the incidental detail of a birthmark? But, as you well know, superstition still lingers in places
like Obaba and just as the stars continue to shine long
after they are dead, the old beliefs ...

    The first ten lines of the sixth page are completely illegible
and we can learn nothing of what happened in the days
following the boar's first appearance. We can, on the other
hand, find out what took place later, since the latter part of
page six and the whole of page seven are perfectly conserved.
    ... but one night the boar returned to Obaba and,
gliding through the shadows, made its way to a solitary
house situated some five hundred yards from the square.
Once outside the house, it began to beat and gnaw at the
door, emitting such furious grunts that the people who
had been sleeping inside were dumbstruck and unable to
call for help, so great was the terror that gripped them.
    I should not say that the animal acted with criminal
intent for I know it is wrong to attribute to animals
faculties that are proper only to men. And yet I am
sorely tempted to do so. How else can you explain its
determination to enter the house? How else explain the
damage it caused to the livestock when it saw that it
could not break down the door? ... for I should tell you
that, before disappearing back into the woods, the boar
killed a horse and an ox kept by the inhabitants in a
nearby outhouse. But I am not proud and I know that
only our Father can know the true reasons behind such
behaviour.
    After what had happened, the hunters' anger was
roused and many who until then had remained calm
decided to throw in their lot with the hunting parties
that had already been established. And, as ever, old
Matias was the one dissenting voice. He went out into
the streets and pleaded with those setting off for the
woods:
    `Leave the boar in peace! You'll only enrage him by
doing this! Javier will recognise you!'

    The hunters responded with violence, forgetting it
was an old man they were dealing with, an old man
speaking to them, moreover, out of his delirium. Then
they continued on their way. But you should not judge
their rudeness and their intemperance too harshly. For,
as I explained, they were quite beside themselves with
terror. They feared the boar would continue to attack
their livestock, livestock which is on the whole of the
poorest quality, so poor it barely provides enough to
feed and clothe them. But Matias had his reasons too:
    `Javier has nothing against you! He only attacks those
who did him harm before!'
    Unfortunately for everyone concerned, what the old
man said was not pure madness. For the family the boar
had attacked was the least Christian in Obaba, its members having for generations been much given to cruelty,
a propensity they gave full rein to during the recent
war. Often, when they got drunk at the inn, they had
made Javier the butt of their cruelty, mocking and even
beating him, for evil always vents itself on the weak. But
was there a connection between the two facts? Should I
entirely disregard what the old man said? These were the
questions I asked myself, the questions that tormented
me.
    Mothers in Obaba tell their children a story in which
a daughter asks her wicked father if he believes he will
ever die. The father tells her that this is most unlikely
because, as he explains: `I have a brother who is a