Leporella by Stefan Zweig

Leporella by Stefan Zweig

Leporella is one of those short cynical tragic love stories of Stefan Zweig. The story is about an ugly,horse faced maid named Crescence. She was stubborn and hardworking. All she desired out of life was to make enough money to avoid life in a retirement home. She had no family, no friends, not even a cat. This old 35 year old virgin was one day recruited by a rich maid visiting the lodge. This gave Crescence the opportunity to make more money and move to a new city. The first day, she was distraught by the place. She only bothered to learn the way to the marketplace and church.

In any case, her new masters were this rich lady and husband. The Lady of the house used to get nervous break downs because of her husbands infidelities. Crescence was like the 10th housekeeper (all the others had left because they could not stand the wife). The husband was not bad. He just grew resentful because his wife , who was richer than him kept denying him spending money.  Thus, since she withheld cash, he withheld sex.  Despite this, the husband was a pretty nice guy.

Anyhow, Crescence started falling in love with the husband because he was really nice to her. Well, she interpreted his courtesy as niceties. She started taking a lot of extra care of the needs of the husbands (like she cooked his fav meals, his clothing always ironed, ect.). This new and first bond helped Leporella open up to others. She started joking and making pals with her co-workers. Love made her into a real person. Any lil gift she would get from the husband she could worship like the relic of a saint. At times, she went as far as to assist the husband in his affairs.

One day, the wife went into an insane asylum for a while. That month was perfect for Crescence. The husband was sleeping at the time with a ballerina. The Ballerina gave Crescence the nickname, Leporella. The husband liked it so he started calling her as thus. Leporella is the feminine version of the character Leporello. He was the pal of Don Giovanni (Mozart's version of Don Juan Teronio)  who facilitated all of his affairs. Anyhow, the wife returned one day. The husband ,resentful, said that he wished his wife was dead. Hearing this, Leporella made his wish come true. She fumigated the wife.

There was no proof of Leporella's crime. With the wife's history, it seemed as if she killed herself. However, the husband (rightly) suspected of Leporella. Fearing her, the husband fired her. Leporella quietly left. She left a note asking for her box with her savings and relics be given to the husband upon her death. The next day her body was found floating in the river. The End!! This short story shows how love either makes or breaks us. It really is quite the depressing story. However, it would not be Stefan Zweig's work if the story had a happy ending. When it comes to Zweig, think tragedy!! In any case, this short story deserves 5 star rating.