BÉA GONZALEZ
The
MAPMAKER’S OPERA
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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First published in Canada by HarperCollinsPublishers 2005
A paperback original 2006
Copyright © Béa Gonzalez 2005
Béa Gonzalez asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007207794
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780007386505
Version: 2016-08-24
For Andrew, who taught me to look up at the sky, and our dear pingüinos, Will and Andre, who bring such joy to our lives.
| No soy d’esta tierra | I’m not from this land, |
| Ni en eya nasí: | Nor was I born here; |
| La fortuniya, roando, roando | Fate, rolling, rolling |
| M’ha traío hasta aquí. | Brought me this way. |
| Ar campito solo | To the fields |
| Me voy a yorá; | I wander to weep; |
| Como tengo yena e penas | Filled with such sorrow and grief |
| El arma | It is only solitude |
| Busco soléa. | I seek. |
| Las cosas del mundo | The things of this world, |
| Yo na la jentiendo. | I just don’t understand |
| La mitad de la gente llorando | Half of the people cry, |
| Y la otra riendo. | While the other half laugh. |
| Horas de alegría | The happy times |
| Son las que se van | How fleeting they are, |
| Que las penas se queden | While the sad times |
| Y duran | Last and last |
| Una eternidad. | An eternity at least. |
| Arbolito del campo | The little tree in the field |
| Riega el rocío | Is watered by dew |
| Como yo riego | Like I water the cobblestones |
| De tu calle | Of your street |
| Con llanto mío. | With the weight of my tears. |
| Cuando yo me muera | When I die |
| Mira que te encargo: | I ask you do this for me: |
| Que con la jebra de tu | Take a strand of your |
| Pelo negro | Brilliant black hair |
| Me amarres las manos. | And bind my hands with it. |
| Emilio, a seminarian | Tenor |
| Mónica, governess in the house of Don Ricardo Medina | Mezzo-soprano |
| Remedios, mother of Emilio | Contralto |
| Doña Fernanda, wife of Don Ricardo Medina | Contralto |
| Don Pedro, priest and confidant of Doña Fernanda | Baritone |
| Raimundo, master of the Medina house | Bass-baritone |
| Don Ricardo Medina, head of the Medina clan | Baritone |
| Alfonso, bookseller and Emilio’s uncle | Bass |
|
Diego, son of Mónica and Don
|