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• The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in the Garden : SCENE ONE , SCENE TWO

The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in the Garden (1990), translated by David Johnston

SCENE ONE

Edition

García Lorca, Federico. 1990. Yerma and The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in the Garden, trans. David Johnston. London, Hodder and Stoughton

pp. 86-7

Context:

This except takes place during scene 1 after Don Perlimplín has wed Belisa. Two Sprites, or Duendes as they are called here, have drawn a curtain over the marital bed to allow the couple some privacy on their wedding night. Before the curtain is drawn across the marital scene, five whistles have been heard. Now, the Duendes mention five balconies and five cold flowers. These point to the revelation in the next scene that during the wedding night Belisa has been visited by five different men.

Sample text

DUENDE 2:

Do you know Don Perlimplín?

DUENDE 1:

Ever since he was a boy.

DUENDE 2:

And Belisa?

DUENDE 1:

Oh yes! Her bedroom used to exude such a heavy perfume that I fell asleep once and woke up just as her cats were about to pounce. (They laugh.)

DUENDE 2:

This whole business was ...

DUENDE 1:

Crystal clear.

DUENDE 2:

Everybody had a good idea of what was going on.

DUENDE 1:

And so the murmurings and gossip soared beyond imagination into the realm of mystery.

DUENDE 2:

That’s why our screen must remain, with not a gap, not a chink of light, the very height of social discretion.

DUENDE 1:

Nobody must know.

DUENDE 2:

Perlimplín’s soul, like a newborn bird, is filling with life and flight even as we speak.

(They laugh.)

DUENDE 1:

The audience is getting restless.

DUENDE 2:

And rightly so. Shall we go?

DUENDE 1:

Yes, let’s go. The breeze is growing cold on my back.

DUENDE 2:

And the dawn has opened five cold flowers on the bedroom walls.

DUENDE 1:

Five balconies open to the town. (They stand up and put on their huge blue cloaks.)

DUENDE 2:

Don Perlimplín. Shall we play a trick on you ... or give you a treat.

DUENDE 1:

A treat ... it’s not fair to parade the misery of a good man before the greedy gaze of the public.

DUENDE 2:

You speak well, my friend. To say ‘I have seen’ is not quite the same as ‘I hear that’.

DUENDE 1:

But by tomorrow it’ll be on everyone’s lips.

DUENDE 2:

What more could we ask? Our very hearts’ desire.

DUENDE 1:

As rumour runs amok.

Copyright

"Amor de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín" / "The Love of Don Perlimplin for Belisa in the Garden" by Federico García Lorca copyright © Herederos de Federico García Lorca. Translation by David Johnston copyright © David Johnston and Herederos de Federico García Lorca. All rights reserved. For information regarding rights and permissions please contact lorca@artslaw.co.uk or William Peter Kosmas, Esq., 8 Franklin Square, London W14 9UU, England.

SCENE TWO

Edition

García Lorca, Federico. 1990. Yerma and The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in the Garden, trans. David Johnston. London, Hodder and Stoughton

p. 91

Context:

This is the beginning of scene 2. Marcolfa laments the extent of Belisa’s infidelity. Don Perlimplín, however, insists he is happy. This excerpt reveals the extent of Don Perlimplín’s willingness to overlook his wife’s flaws because of his flourishing love.

Sample text

(PERLIMPLIN’s dining room. The perspectives are delightfully distorted, as though in some primitive ‘Last Supper’.)

PERLIMPLIN:

Will you do exactly as I say?

MARCOLFA: (Weeping.)

Yes

PERLIMPLIN:

Marcolfa, why all these tears?

MARCOLFA:

Sir knows perfectly well why. On your wedding night five different men were in here, five different races from every corner of the world. The European, with his beard, the Indian, the Black, the Chinaman, even an American. And you sleeping like a baby through it all.

PERLIMPLIN:

It doesn’t matter.

MARCOLFA:

And if that weren’t enough ... I saw her yesterday, with another one.

PERLIMPLIN: (Intrigued.)

You saw her ...?

MARCOLFA:

And the ... she didn’t even try to hide.

PERLIMPLIN:

But Marcolfa, I’m happy.

MARCOLFA:

Sir, I just don’t understand.

PERLIMPLIN:

Happy in a way that you couldn’t understand. I’ve learned so many things ... and there are so many things that I can conjure up in my imagination ...

MARCOLFA:

You love her too much.

PERLIMPLIN:

Not as much as she deserves.

Copyright

"Amor de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín" / "The Love of Don Perlimplin for Belisa in the Garden" by Federico García Lorca copyright © Herederos de Federico García Lorca. Translation by David Johnston copyright © David Johnston and Herederos de Federico García Lorca. All rights reserved. For information regarding rights and permissions please contact lorca@artslaw.co.uk or William Peter Kosmas, Esq., 8 Franklin Square, London W14 9UU, England.

Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 12 May 2011.

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