THE PEARL

Summaries

CHAPTER No.1

Kino woke up when it was still dark. He opened his eyes, looked at the door and then at the hanging box where his son Coyotito slept. And at last he turned his head to Juana, his wife, who was also awake. Kino heard the chirping of little birds and the little splash of morning waves on the beach. He closed his eyes again to listen it. In Kino’s head there was a clear and soft song of the Family.

Juana arose almost soundlessly and went to the fire pit and got busy in preparing the breakfast. Kino wrapped his blanket about himself and went outside to watch the dawn. He sat down out side and watched different things. He saw the specks of Gulf cloud flame high in the air. And a goat came near and sniffed at him and stared with its cold yellow eyes. The dawn came quickly now. As the sun rose, Kino looked down to avoid the glare. Juana took Coyotito out of the hanging box, cleaned and fed him. She sang softy an ancient song. The people of the other houses were also awake. Kino arose and went in to his brush house. Juana put Coyotito back in his hanging box and combed her hair and braided it. Kino squatted by the fire pit and began to eat his simple breakfast. When Kino had finished, Juana came back and ate her breakfast. A ray of the sun fell on the hanging box.

They suddenly saw a tiny movement on the rope of the hanging box. Kino and Juana were frightened. Juana repeated an ancient magic but Kino was in motion. His body glided quietly across the room. His hands were in front of him, palms down and his eyes were on the scorpion. Coyotito laughed in the hanging box and reached up his hand towards it. It sensed danger and stopped. Kino stood perfectly still for a moment and his hand went very slowly towards the scorpion. Just at that moment Coyotito laughed and shook the rope and the scorpion fell. Kino’s hand leaped to catch it, but it fell past his fingers on the baby’s shoulder and struck. Then, Kino had it in his fingers and rubbed it into a past.

Coyotito screamed with pain. Juana had the baby in her arms. She found the puncture with redness starting from it already, she put her lips down over the puncture and sucked hard and spat. The screams of the baby brought a big crowd including Kino’s brother Juan Tomas and his fat wife Apolonia to their hut. They were informed that a scorpion had stung the baby.

CHAPTER NO. 2

Kino and Juana slid the boat down the beach. Juana climbed in, while Kino pushed the stern in and waded beside it until it floated. Then in co-ordination Juana and Kino drove their paddles into the sea and the canoe creased the water and hissed with speed. The canoe reached the bed of oysters where men had dived down for centuries and looked for pearls.

Kino tied one rope to a heavy stone and the other to a basket. He removed his clothes and laid his hat in bottom of the canoe. He took the rock in one hand and his basket in other, and he slipped his feet in to the water and the rock carried him to the bottom. Kino moved cautiously so that the water would not be obscured. He hooked his foot in loop of his rock and his hands worked quickly, tearing the oysters loose. He laid them in the basket. In some places they clung to one another so that they came free in lumps when he pulled them. Above in the canoe Juana was making the magic of prayer. Kino could remain down over two minutes. So that he worked thoughtfully and selected the largest shells only. Suddenly he saw a very large oyster lying by itself under a little rock. It was partly open. In its lip-like muscle Kino noticed a ghostly gleam. Kino’s heart began to beat fast. He forced the oyster loose and held it tightly against his breast. He kicked his foot free from the rock loop and came to surface. He reached over the side of the canoe and laid it in the bottom. Juana helped him climb in to the boat. Kino was much excited and she sensed it but she pretended to look away. She knew it was not good to want a thing too much. Sometimes the jealous gods drive the luck away.

Very deliberately Kino opened his knife. He looked thoughtfully at the basket for a moment. He took a small oyster from the basket, cut the muscle, searched the folds of the flesh, and threw it in the water. Then he seemed to see the great oyster for the first time. Kino was a bit unwilling to open it. He feared that what he had seen might be an illusion. Juana had fixed her eyes on him and she could not wait. She put her hand on Coyotito’s head and asked Kino to open it. Kino slipped his knife into the edge of the shell. The muscle parted and the shell fell apart. Kino lifted the flesh and there he found the great pearl, perfect as the moon. It was as large as a sea-gull’s egg. It was the greatest pearl of the world. Juana caught her breath and moaned a little with excitement. Kino picked the pearl from the dying flesh and held it in his palm. Juana stared at it. Then Kino closed his fist over the pearl and could not control his emotions. He put back his head and howled. His eyes rolled up and he screamed and his body was rigid. Then the men in other canoes raced towards Kino’s canoe to see what happened.

Before Kino and Juana and the other and other fishers came to Kino’s brush house, the news had spread among the villagers and the people living in the town of stone and plaster that Kino had found the great Pearl. All manner of people took interest in Kino and in his Pearl. Everyone wanted to have his share of the Profit. The town was filled with jealousy and hopes.

The news came to the priest. He thought of certain repairs necessary to the church. He wondered what the pearl would be worth. And he wondered whether he had baptized Kino’s baby or married him for that matter.

The news came to the shopkeepers. They looked at men’s clothes that had not sold so well.

The news came to the doctor. He sat with a woman whose illness was age, though neither she nor the doctor would admit it. He suddenly became interested in it. His reaction was very typical. His lust and greed rose high and he said that Kino was his client and he was treating his child. He saw himself sitting in a restaurant in Paris and waiter was just opening a bottle of wine.

The news came to the beggars in front of the church. They giggled a little with pleasure. They knew that when a poor man became suddenly rich then there was no greater alms-giver then him.

The news came to the Pearl buyers who often bought Pearls from the fishers at the lowest possible price. Their fingertips burned and sat in their little offices waiting impatiently for Kino to bring his Pearl there for sold.

Next in the Pearl he saw fine clothes for his little family. He saw his wife in new shawl and a new skirt. He himself was dressed in new white clothes and carried a fine black felt hat while Coyotito appeared in a blue sailor’s uniform, a yatching cap and a silken tie. Then he saw their little things in the surface of the Pearl, a harpoon and a gun for example. Thus his imagination suddenly jumped and he saw Coyotito at a desk in a school. His son was dressed in a jacket and had a white collar and a broad silken tie. Kino looked at the neighbours fiercely and said, "my son will go to school". The neighbours were surprised at all this wild imaginations but they were silent. They sat there till late in the evening and then left for their cottages.

Almost the dark spread and Juana’s fire threw shadows on the brush walls when the whisper came that Priest is coming. Then men uncovered their heads and stepped back from the door and the women gathered their shawls about their faces and cast down their eyes. Kino and Juan Tomas stood up. He was an old man but peculiar shine in his eyes. He softly told him that it was given in the books that he was named after a great father of the church. Kino looked down at Coyotito’s head and his mind said that some day his son would be able to tell him what things in the books and what things were not. The Priest mentioned the pearl. Kino opened his hand and showed him his pearl and priest gasped a little at the size and beauty of the pearl. He reminded Kino of his duty to the church and thanking God for the treasure he had given to him. Kino nodded dumbly and it was Juana who assured the priest that they would be married in he church. The priest went back after giving his blessing to them.

Kino finished his evening meal and then strolled the door of his cottage. Suddenly he saw two men approach, one of them carried a lantern which lighted the legs of the man. As they came near Kino saw that one of them was the doctor and the other his servant. He burned with hatred and rage. The doctor came near and said,"I was not in when you came this morning. But now at the first chance I have come to see the baby". Kino replied harshly that the baby was well now. The doctor smiled and told him that sometimes the Scorpion sting had a curious effect. A man could be blind or have a withered leg or a crumpled beck. He even could die after a few days. Kino was trapped by the doctor’s conversation. He stood aside and let the doctor and his man enter the cottage.

He examined the wound on the baby’s shoulder for a moment. He also rolled back his eyes and looked carefully at the eyeball. He was lost in thoughts for sometime and then spoke slowly that it was as he had thought. The poison had gone inward and it would strike soon. He then showed Kino the eyes of the baby and pointed out that these were blue because of the effect of the poison. He handed the baby to him and then opened his bag he took a bottle of white powder, which he filled in a capsule and gave it to the baby. He looked again at the baby’s eyeball and seemed to think something. He then said that the poison would attack him within an hour. But he

When doctor had gone and all the neighbours had reluctantly returned to their houses. Kino sat near the fire hole and listen to the night sound. He listened the sound of the little waves on the shore and the distance barking of dogs, the creeping of the breeze through the brush house roof and the soft speech of his neighbours in their houses. His eyes searched some hidden danger and the music of evil was sounding in his head. He was fierce and afraid. After he had examined the night with his senses and then he went to the place where the pearl was buried. He dug up it and brought it to his sleeping –mat and under his sleeping –mat he dug another little hole in the dirt floor and buried the pearl and covered it. After a while they lay down on the sleeping –mat and went to sleep. But Kino’s brain burned even during his sleep. He dreamed that coyotito was reading from a book as large as a house with letters as big as dogs and the words galloped and played on the book. Suddenly darkness spread over the page. At this Kino stirred in his sleep and when he stirred Juana’s eyes opened in the darkness. And then Kino awakened with the evil music. Kino listened a soft sound from the corner of the house. After sometime the sound came again. Kino felt danger. His hand moved towards his breast where his knife hung on a string. He opened the knife and sprang like an angry cat on the dark thing. He attacked at it with his knife but missed. He attacked again and felt his knife go through cloth and then somebody struck at his head. Kino could feel warm blood running down from his forehead. He could hear the Juana’s voice and there was terror in her voice. Kino said, "I am all right. The thing has gone."

In La Paz, it was known in the early morning that Kino was going to sell the great pearl. It was known among the neighbours, the fishers and the grocers. The altar boys, nuns, and beggars spoke of it for they would be there to take the one tenth. And most of all the pearl buyers knew about it. When the day had come each pearl buyer sat alone in their offices. The pearl buyers were agent of one man and worked for him.

The sun was hot yellow that morning. The fishermen did not go out to dive for pearls. The neighbours sat long over their breakfasts and they spoke of what they would do if they had found the pearl.

For Kino and Juana it was the most important day of their lives. It could be compared only to the day when the baby had been born. Juana dressed Coyotito in the clothes she had prepared for his baptism. Juana combed and braided her hair and tied the ends with two little ribbons. She put on her marriage skirt and waist. Kino was dressed in white rags. The neighbours watched Kino’s door through the holes of their brush houses. They were dressed and ready too. The neighbours considered it their moral duty to accompany Kino and Juana on such historic day. Juana put on her head shawl carefully. In the hammock of the shawl she placed Coyotito so that he could see everything and perhaps remember.

Kino stepped out of the house and Juana followed him, carrying coyotito. The neighbours joined them. Juan Tomas cautioned Kino to take care and not to be cheated. He told him of a former attempt by the fishermen to get more money for their pearls. But they failed. Kino knew the story, priest told it every year. The failure was a punishment because they broke the natural order of the universe, and tried to rise above their stations. The gathering procession was solemn. Any children who tried to cry or fight were hissed to silence by their elders. The procession left the brush huts and entered the city.

The pearl buyers were waiting for Kino. A jolly slow man sat in an office waiting. His eyes twinkled with friendship. He was shaved close to the blue roots of his beard. His hands were clean and his nails were polished. He was practicing legerdemain with a coin. Kino came to his office and told him that he had a pearl. The neighbours watched and reported to each other about the progress of bargaining. He asked Kino to show the pearl and promised to give him the best price. Slowly Kino brought out the pearl from a secret pocket. Kino held his breath and the neighbours held their breath. Pearl buyer examined and tossed the great pearl back in the tray. He told Kino that it was too large and had no worth. It was only curiosity. But he offered to pay him one thousand pesos. Kino became angry and blamed him for cheating. At this he sent for the others to confirm his opinion. The buyer waited for the arrival of the other dealers. His eyes were fixed at the wonderful pearl. Kino’s neighbours whispered together. They had been afraid of something like this. After all, a thousand pesos were quite a huge amount of money. But Kino had grown tight and hard.

The crowd allowed the three pearl buyers to let through. The dealers did not look at each other. The first dealer took it up, rolled it between thumb and forefinger, and then threw it back into the tray. He declared to be excused to take part in the bid. The second dealer took a magnifying glass from his pocket and inspected it. Then he laughed softly. He remarked that the pearl was soft and

chalky, it would lost its colour and die in a few months. The third dealer offered five hundred pesos.

In his own hut Kino felt lonely. He had lost one world and had not gained another. Kino remained silent for a long time. Juan Tomas came in and squatted down beside Kino and remained silent for a long time, until at last Kino demanded, "what else could I do? They are cheats." Kino told his brother that he decided to go to the capital for selling the pearl. Juan Tomas agreed. Long after Juan Tomas had gone Kino sat brooding on his sleeping-mat. Juana watched him with worry. But she knew she could help him best by being silent, and by being near.

Kino suddenly sensed evil outside the hut. He went out with his knife. She raised her hand to stop him. Juana heard the little rush, the struggle and the blow. She froze with terror for a moment. Then she set Coyotito down on the ground. She seized a stone from the fireplace and rushed out. But it was over. Kino lay on the ground. He was struggling to rise. There was no one near him. Juana dropped the stone and put her arms around Kino and helped him to his feet and supported him in to the house. Kino was wounded and only half conscious. He shook his head from side to side. His shirt was torn open and his clothes were half pulled off. She wiped his face with her skirt. She brought him pulque to drink. She asked him who they were. He replied in the negative. She wanted to tell him that the pearl was evil and would destroy them. She begged him to destroy it. He refused and re-affirmed his decision to sell it in the capital. Then they lay down to sleep a little.

CHAPTER NO: 5

The first rooster had not yet crowd. Kino opened his eyes in the darkness. He sensed movement near him, but he did not move. Only his eyes searched the darkness and in the pale light of the moon, he saw Juana arise silently from beside him. She moved towards the fireplace. She worked so carefully that he heard only the lightest sound. She took the pearl from the hiding place and went out. Kino became angry to see her. He rose up and followed her as silently as she had gone. She moved fast towards the beach. She became aware of him, so she ran fast and reached the shore. His brain was red with anger. Her arm was up to throw when he leaped at her. He caught her arm and wrenched the pearl from her. He struck her in the face and she fell among the stone. He kicked her in the side. In the pale light he could see her lying in the waves of the water. He turned away from her and walked up the beach and through the brush line. His senses were dulled by his emotions.

Juana dragged herself up from the rocks on the edge of the water. Her face was dull with pain and her side ached. There was no anger in her for Kino. She steadied herself on her knees. She stood thinking for a while. She climbed painfully to her feet. She washed her face with the salty water and went after Kino. She saw the glimmer of the great pearl in the path behind the rock. She sank to her knees and picked it up. She considered for a moment whether to go back to the sea and finish her job. Meanwhile the moon appeared again and in the light she saw two dark figures lying in the path ahead of her. She leaped forward and saw that one was Kino and the other was a stranger with his throat cut. Juana knew that the old life of peace was gone forever. A dead man in the path and Kino’s knife. There was nothing to do but to save themselves.

Her pain was gone now. She dragged the dead man from the path in to the shelter of the brush. She went to Kino and sponged his face with her wet skirt. Kino opened his eyes and said, "They have taken the pearl. I have lost it. The pearl has gone." Juana quieted him by showing the pearl and told him that he had killed a man. She tried to make him realize the seriousness of the situation. She proposed to escape before the dawn appeared. Kino tried to give some reason but she stopped him and said that his explanation would not help. Kino replied that she was right.

Kino told Juana to go to the house and bring Coyotito and all the corn they had. And he would drag the canoe in to the water and they would go. Kino then moved with difficulty towards the beach and came to his canoe. He saw that a great hole had been knocked in the bottom. He was deeply shocked, he was an animal now, for hiding, for attacking and he lived only to preserve his family. He ran to his brush house. He saw a little glow a head of him. Kino broke into ran. It was his brush house, which was burning. He saw Juana running to him with Coyotito in her arms and Kino’s blanket clutch in her hand. The baby moaned with fright, and Juana’s eyes were white and terrified. She told him that as she was inside the hut, someone put the fire to the cottage. The flames rose high and the light made him afraid, he remembered the dead man lying among the rocks. He thought for a moment and then holding the hand of his wife, they came to the house of Juan Tomas. He slipped in to the doorway and drew Juana after him. They sat in the corner of the house. They could see the leaping flames through the walls. Apolonia was the nearest relative of Kino so she raised a formal lament for the dead of the family. Apolonia realized that she was wearing her second best head shawl and she rushed to her house to get her fine new one. When Apolonia came in the cottage, she was surprised to see them. She asked them how they had come there. Kino forbade her to question any more. He asked her to go and bring Juan Tomas there and not to tell anyone else. She paused for a moment and then went out.

She returned with Juan Tomas after a few moments. Kino explained briefly that he was attacked and in the fight he had killed a man. Juan Tomas blamed the pearl. Kino told his brother that his boat had been damaged. Kino requested his brother to hide him until the day had passed. He agreed and Kino spent the whole day there. Through the walls of the house they could watch their neighbours. Juan Tomas went out among the neighbours and gave them the ideas of what had happened to Kino and Juana. And after each trip he borrowed eatables for Kino. When evening approached, Juan Tomas talked long with his brother. And then Kino, Juana and Coyotito set off to an unknown destination.

CHPTER NO. 6

Kino and Juana left the village. They walked carefully and they avoided the center of the town. They turned north and found the sandy road to Loreto. The wind was blowing hard and Kino was glad that there would be no tracks left behind them. They were walking in a wheel rut. They knew that one big cart going to the town in the morning would wipe all the tracks of the passage. They continued walking through out the night without changing their pace. They were conscious of the evil and danger. Some animals thing was moving in him so that he was cautious and wary and dangerous. At dawn the moon rose and the wind died down. Kino walked carefully in a wheel rut, and Juana followed in his path.

When the dawn appeared, Kino searched the roadside for a place to hide in during the day. He easily found such a place among the trees where they decided to sit and rest. Kino broke a branch and carefully wept the footprints that led to their hiding place. Juana gave her husband the soft corn cake. Then she slept on the ground for sometime while Kino sat near her and kept a watch on the things around. Coyotito also slept. When Juana awakened, Kino told her things she knew already. She said, " Will they follow." Kino replied that they would try in order to take the pearl. Juana said perhaps the dealer could be right and the pearl has no value. At this Kino said if it were so they would not have tried to steal it. Kino reached in to his clothes and brought out the pearl. He put it on his palm and looked in to it to find his vision. He saw dark body on the ground with shining blood dripping from its throat. Then he thought of those things which he desired to have after selling it. But in the pearl he saw a dead man dripping blood from his throat, and Juana’s beaten face and Coyotito’s swollen face from the medicine. Kino put the pearl back in to his clothes. He was much tired and now it was his turn to lay on the ground. He relaxed and covered his eyes with his hat and wrapped his blanket about his face to keep the flies off, and he slept and Juana kept the watch. She sat quiet as a stone. When Coyotito awakened she placed him on the ground in front of her and watched him wave his arms and kick his feet.

Kino stirred in a dream. He sat up suddenly and listened hard. He was awakened and stood up silently and threaded his way through the brush towards road. But he did not step in to the road. He crept in to the cover of a thorny tree and peered out along the way he had come. He saw three trackers. Two of them were on foot and one was riding a horse and had a rifle across the saddle. One would pass and look at the earth, while the other joined him. They were trying to trace his passage. Kino lay as rigid as the tree limb. He was much worried and his eyes went to the place where he had swept out the track. Even this sweeping might be a message for the trackers and could help them to reach his hiding place. He drew his knife and decided to kill horseman first then he would take his gun and kill the rest of the two. Juana back in her hidden place heard the pad of the horse’s hoofs and Coyotito gurgled. She took him up quickly and put him under her shawl and fed him and he was silent.

They came near. He could see their legs and the legs of the horse too from under the fallen branches. They stopped at the swept place and studied it. The horse turned his head towards the bushes and snorted. The trackers look to that side and Kino got ready with his knife. Then they made a mistake and went away. Kino knew that they would come and would find their trail. He must escape from the place. He ran to his wife and said, "Trackers---come."

They gathered their little bags and run to the west towards the mountains. This was a panic flight and Kino did not try to conceal his passage. They ran for sometime and succeeded in putting a little distance between them and the trackers. They began to climb the mountain. It was a difficult task but they have to do it to save their lives. After sometime they decided to sit and have some rest. They were feeling much thirsty, but there was water only for the baby to quench his thirst. After rest for a few moments they began to clime again and finally came to a pool of water. They drank long. Then Juana fed the baby while Kino went to the edge of the rock and searched the distance carefully. He saw them coming up slowly. They found a cave where they decided to slip in and hide for the night as the evening was fast approaching now.

The trackers came to the same pool and squatted near it. They saw Kino’s tracks and decided to wait there till morning. Kino could see them from above through the rock. They were eating and talking softly. Then darkness fell deep and two of them went to sleep while the horseman sat near them with his gun between his knees. He lighted a cigarette and in the momentary light of the match Kino saw their position. Two of them were sleeping curled up like dogs while the third sat on the sand.

He decided to come down and attack the gunman and then kill the rest of the two. His wife asked him to strip off his white clothes as they could be seen in the dark. Kino moved down like a lizard. He was very cautious even the slip of a small pebble could make the gunman suspicious, there was just a distance of twenty feet between them and Kino tried to recollect their position. The moon was not in the sky and it was the best moment for him to attack. He held his knife tightly but before attack on the enemy the moon appeared in the sky. Kino sank back behind the bush. Meanwhile he heard a little cry of Coyotito. The watcher turned up his head to listen. The other two trackers also woke up. They asked him what it was? The gunman replied that it should be a human cry. One of them said that it could be young one of wolf crying like a baby. At this the gunman raised his gun saying that fire would make it silent. As he fired Kino leaped forward and struck him on the neck and chest. He died on the spot. Kino took the gun from him. He then turned around and struck the head of the seated man. The third man jumped in to the pool and Kino aimed at him, fired and killed him. He was free now. But he stood uncertainly. He felt that something had gone wrong. His instinct told him that all was not well. He moved up and went to the entrance of the cave. He found that Coyotito was dead. The bullet of the gunman had hit him.

BEAUTY