Raised from the Ground

Mau-Tempo sees that his eyes are immortal, for there they are again after a long peregrination, even he doesn’t know where they started out, where they came from and how, he knows only that there are no other such eyes in Monte Lavre, in his own family or elsewhere, my daughter’s children are definitely my grandchildren, while those of my son might and might not be, none of us is free of such popular malice, but who can doubt those eyes, look at me, look into my blue eyes, and now look at those of my granddaughter, who is to be called Maria Adelaide and is the image of her ancestor more than five hundred years ago, for those eyes come from that foreigner, that deflowerer of virgins. All families have their myths, some of which they do not know, as is the case with this Mau-Tempo family, who should, therefore, be very grateful to the narrator.

The second of the magi arrived when night had already fallen. He came straight from work to find no light on in the house, the fire out, and so no hope of a full stewpot, then his heart turned over and did so again when he met the same neighbor who told him, Your sister has had a little girl, your father and mother are there, because by now the whole of Monte Lavre knows that it’s a baby girl and is vastly amused to know she has blue eyes, but the neighbor says nothing about this last point, she’s a kind woman who believes that surprises have their time and place, why tell António Mau-Tempo, Your niece has blue eyes, she would then be denying him the pleasure of seeing this with his own brown eyes. The guards have returned to the barracks, no one is there to present arms to António Mau-Tempo, well, if you thought there would be, more fool you, but he is, nevertheless, a flesh-and-blood king walking down the street, as dirty as befits someone who has come straight from work, he hasn’t had time to wash, but he doesn’t forget his brotherly obligations and picks a daisy from a whitewashed can-cum-flowerpot beside a door, and so that it doesn’t wilt in his fingers, he puts it between his lips to water it with his saliva, and when he finally goes into the hut, he says, For you, sister, and gives her the marguerite, what could be more natural than for a flower to change its name, it happened earlier with the geranium and the pelargonium, and will happen again one day with the carnation.^*

It’s just as well that António Mau-Tempo wasn’t expecting to see those blue eyes. The child is sleeping peacefully, her eyes are closed, her decision, and she will open them again only for the third wise man, but he will arrive much later, in the dead of night, because he is coming from far away and on foot, he’s made this same journey for the past three days or three nights, because for those who like to know the facts, Manuel Espada is now on his third night with little sleep, and he’s used to that, as all these people are, but perhaps we should explain. Because Manuel Espada works far from home, he usually sleeps there, in a shepherd’s hut or a cabin, it doesn’t really matter, but as the time of the birth drew nearer, what did Manuel Espada do, he stopped work at sunset, reached home after midnight, where his child was still nothing but a swollen belly, lay down for an hour or so beside Gracinda Mau-Tempo, then got up halfway between night and morning and went back to work, and this is the third such night, but third time lucky, for when he arrives, he will see his wife and his newborn child, isn’t that good.

Faustina, João and António Mau-Tempo killed a chicken to celebrate, and Gracinda Espada drank some of the broth, which is good for mothers who have just given birth, and meanwhile, more uncles and aunts and other relatives came and went, Gracinda needs to rest, at least today, bye, see you tomorrow, what a lovely little girl, the image of her grandfather. The church clock chimed midnight, and if no misfortune has befallen the traveler, if he has not slipped down a hill or into a ditch, if no impatient ne’er-do-well has broken the rule about not attacking someone as poor as himself, then it should not be long before this third wise man arrives, what gifts will he bring with him, we wonder, what cortege, perhaps he’ll be mounted on an Arab steed with hooves of gold and a bridle of silver and coral, perhaps, instead of some bearded scoundrel stepping out onto the road, he will meet his fairy godmother, who will say, Your daughter has been born, and because she has blue eyes, I give you this horse so that you can see her all the sooner, before life drains the color from those eyes, but even were that fairy godmother to intervene, which is, after all, pure fantasy, these paths are difficult, and even more so at night, the horse might tire or break a leg, and then Manuel Espada would have to make the journey on foot anyway, through the great, vast, starry night full of terrors and indecipherable murmurings, but the three kings still have the magical powers they learned in Ur and Babylon, how else explain the two fireflies that go ahead of Manuel Espada, he can’t get lost, he simply has to follow them as if they were the two sides of the path, how are such things possible, how can such creatures guide a man, they go up hill and down dale, they skirt ricefields and fly across plains, we can see the first houses in Monte Lavre now, and there the fireflies have alighted on top of the door frame, at head height, to light