Review of Six Legends by Gustavo Alfonso Becquer
http://phistars.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-of-six-legends-by-gustavo.html
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| The Kiss or El Beso |
El Beso or The Kiss by Gustavo Alfonso Becquer
Aside from being a poet, Becquer wrote a few legends. The one that I will review today is known as "El Beso" or "The Kiss". The story focuses on a young knight who falls in love with a statue. The statue of this maiden he discovers while stationed inside an empty gothic Cathedral. This statue was in a private mortuary chapel of an unknown knight. His wife was buried with him. One day, the knight got a bit too drunk. He used to observe the praying maiden statue from far away. This time he got brave and went to see her up close. As he got close, he noticed that the maiden had male knight statue looming over her.
The drunken knight started flirting with the maiden. He went as far as to throw a bottle at her husband. Staggering over, he put his arms around the maiden. He asked the Statue if he did not mind if he gave a smooch to his wife. Laughing, he gave a sweet kiss to the marble stone that looked so much like flesh under the candlelight. At that moment, the marble knight gave a terrible punch to the drunken knight. The end!! Its interesting how love persist beyond the grave. If you ask me, that insolent young knight got whats coming to him. Can you imagine being struck by a marble statue (well, Don Juan can tell you all about it). The description too is rather eerie. Becquer knows how to set an eerie mood rather well. In any case, this short story legend deserves 5 star rating.
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| Los Ojos Verdes |
Los Ojos Verdes or the Green Eyes by Becquer
This one is the most infamous of Becquer's legends. The story is about a noblemen who saw green eyes at the bottom of a grotto. He kept coming back and he saw more and more of the person beneath the water. One day, there was a beautiful maiden with green eyes waiting for him. He happen to mention this to his servant. The servant alarmed told him never to see her again. He called her a demon. Not heading his servant's warning he saw the girl one last time. This time the maiden was waiting inside the water. She held her arms out and she kissed her lover. The kiss was frigid. In the end, the nobleman drowned in the embrace of the maiden with the green eyes.
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| Los Ojos Verdes de Becquer |
This story is quite romantic. It has the forbidden love element to it. Here a young man fell in love with a water nymph. She took him into the water to live with her. The story implies that the nobleman died. However, even if he shed his mortal coil his spirit still lives on with the nymph. Such kinds of tragic nymph x human love is quite common. During Becquer's time, Greek literature had started to circulate in Spain. Drawing from these ancient myths, Becquer wrote this ghostly romance. In any case, this legend deserves 5 star rating.
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| Rays of the Moon Bathing a Dark Forest |
El Rayo de Luna or The Rays of the Moon by Becquer
This legend is rather short. A young man saw a silver maiden walking under moonlight in a forest. He heard her beautiful voice and fell in love. He tried following her many times. However, he always lost her near the river. One day he got really close. As he almost reached her, he saw the moon reflected in the water. He realized that his eyes had been playing tricks on him. The sweet voice was proceed from a hollow in a tree near the river. He came to realize that his love was simply a reflection in the water. An illusion and nothing more.
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| Lovely Black and White Photo with a Moon |
This lil legend can be easily apply to modern times. Time and time again we fall in love with an illusion. An idealized someone created just for us. That idealized someone can come in the form of a TV character, someone we ran into in a street, a voice we thought we heard, a shadow, a reflection in the water... What's important is that this love does not really exist. Its such a real pity. In any case, this lovely legend of Becquer deserves 5 star rating.
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| Works just as well |
La Cruz del Diablo or The Devil's Cross by Becquer
This one is not too far out there. Still, it is rather bizarre legend. So, basically, a young man went to pray in front of a cross. An old man passing by asked him not to. He then told him the story of the Devil's Cross. Once upon a time, there was a wicked Prince that returned from the crusades with a band of bandits. He started pillaging his old town. Eventually, he was slain and his castle ransack. Some time passed and then a man bearing his armor started attacking the village. When he was stopped and arrested they looked inside his armor and found it empty.
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| Random Armor Head |
Time and time again, they buried his armor, locked it in random places but the armor kept putting itself together. Eventually, the priest suggested they melt the armor into a cross. It sounded simple enough, except the cross kept kicking around while the iron was still hot. They spent days trying to get the cross to stay crossed shaped. Well, they made the cross and placed it in the ruins of the old castle. Well, that's the story of the Devil's Cross. I frankly, liked the story because it was so random. Plus, I guess the whole empty armor thing was derived from this story or from a Brothers Grimm Story. In any case, this lil number deserves 5 star rating.
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| Church Organ photo |
Maese Perez el Organista or Maese Perez the Organist
This legend is about the organ piano of Maese Perez. One day, Maese Perez falls ill. An organist who was envious of Perez volunteers to play "La Misa del Gallo" ( This is the mass performed in December 24. Its called "La Misa del Gallo" because it last until the rooster sings (i.e until 5PM)) for him. Perez refuses because he wanted to play the organ one last time before dying. The description of the music was beautiful. I heard organs before, thus I did not have a hard time imagining the music being described by Becquer. The organ then went silent when Perez dies.
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| Classical Baroque Organ Keyboard |
The next year a new organist comes to play the mass. The new organist plays the organ exactly like Maese Perez. After the mass, the organist says that he will never play THAT organ again. The next year, the Mother Superior asks the daughter of Maese Perez to play the organ. The maiden plays it, however, she notices during the Consecration of the Host that her father was beside her. She gets off the organ and the spirit of her father plays the rest of the piece.
This Legend this a bit longer than the others. It can almost pass off as a novella. This story shows the power of music, specially organ. When it is played properly it can tap into the power of the soul. The organ of Maese Perez was imbued with his life essence. In the most important part of the mass, once again Maese Perez came forth to play his organ. Its truly quite the mysterious, sacred legend of Becquer. In any case, this legend deserves 5 star rating.
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| Two Wedding Bands of Promise |
La Promesa or The Promise by Becquer
The Promise is the last 5 star worthy Legend of Becquer. Once upon a time, a Lady was in love with the guardian of the Count. He promised to Mary her when he returned from the crusades. The day the Count was marching she fainted because she realized that her lover was indeed the count. Some time passes, and the count with his troops is meditating. Time and time again a maiden's hand with an engagement ring had saved him from near death. That night a juglar (or traveling singer) arrives to the camp with a legend.
He tells the story of a maiden who had discovered that her lover was a Count. She feared that he taken her honor with him (i.e he had slept with her and he outranked her so much that there was no freaking way that he could marry her). With this realization, the brother of the maiden had slain her. The moral of the juglar's story was that women should not trust the promises of men. After hearing this, the Count went to the grave of the maiden. He took a priest with him and married the maiden. Thus, her hand rose from the grave no more.
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| Juglar or traveling Singer pop during medieval times |
Well, the theme in this Legend was well spoken by the juglar. A woman should never trust the promise of a man. That's how they get you. You remember Don Juan? In this story, we get a good perceptive of the mores of honor during Medieval times. Well, you know, virginity. The reason why it was valued was due to honor lineage. By making certain of purity, then there would not be a shadow of a doubt the purity of the bloodline of all the children. There is also the matter of rank. Count had to pretended to be a commoner to see his lover. He obviously could not marry her because he was the Count. Ah, what a pity. In any case, this legend deserves 5 star rating. Well, I hope that you enjoyed this blog about this Spanish (as being from a country called Spain) writer. I think his books are translated to English.
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