big mama's funeral

Big

head. way special

"Nothing," replied made

miss Communion." up the

the basket and woman. like do toilet, asked. They

were in suspense replied to question: "I to shit."

blind the

good exc1.1Se," murmured, into the kitchen. would convinced it weren't first

in your ever heard swear." mother was coming along corridor opposite direction, her

of

going asked. said "But apparently you

thought long as stones."

Funeral

all the unbeliepcrsJ the afBig absolute sovereign the Kingdom of who Jived ninety-two years, and died in the odor of sanctity one Tuesday

September, whose funeral attended Now to vitals,

recovered its balance; now that Jacinto, smugglers rice planters the prostitutes of Caucamayal wizards of Sierpe, and banana workers

Aracataca folded tents to recover the

exha1.1Sting vigil have serenity,

dent of the Republic and Ministers and all those who reprepublic supernatural most magni

funeral occasion recorded the annals of history have regained control of their estates; now that Holy Pontiff has risen Heaven in body soul; now impossi

ble to walk around in Macondo because of the empty bottles,

the cigarette the gnawed bones, the cans and rags and excrement that crowd which came to burialieft behind; now is the time to a stool against the door and relate

196 M: Mama's Funeral

raising her "And supposing that's the it is. What's so about it?"

the blind woman. "Only that it you first-Friday Big MatTIa's

With both hands Mina picked the spool of thread, scissors, and a fistful of unfinished stems and roses. She put it all in faced the blind "Would you me

to tell you what I went to in the then?" she

both until Mina her own went take a

The woman threw three little keys into the basket. "It would be a she going

"You have me if the time life fve you Mina's This is,for world's trta tUCfJU'llt M4ma,

the in the arms of Macondo, for

full of bouquets thorned flowers.

"What's on?" she last and was by the Pope. " "fm crazy, the blind woman. that the nation, which was shaken its has

haven't of sending me to the madhouse so I the bagpipers of San the

don't start throwing of Guajira, tlle of Simi, the the

(1962) of have up their from and regained their and the Presi

his

sented the and powers on the ficent in

the

up to and and that it is

butts,

the the lean front

to

poultices,

tard leeches, and weak with to seat her her

so could wishes. \vas the

needed to do morning, with

intervention of Farher Anthony had

sonl ill order, ,md to put her worldly

nieces and sole

who around priest, him

hundredth

room. take Mama's

bedroom, it decided that

not have him

last minute, Nicanor, eldest and

khaki and spurred long-barreled

revolver holstered look fur the mansion,

generations

paralyzed In hooks

time had been

slaughtered equipment and awaiting the

mules of

The rest of the living room.

were exhausted inheritance proceedings

lack kept

-';;' ,'- -<- -.",:::-.

Big Mama)s Func1'ai

uncles

until sanguinitywas tormed, turned procreation vicious circle. Magdalena, youngest the nieces, managed

hallucinations, Father Anthony Isabel exorcise head, renounced glories and vanities novitiate of Mission District.

nortis,

without godchildren, of Mama.

imminence stirred exhausting don, accustomed dience, bass the dosed

far-fhmg corners the hacienda. No one was indifferent death. During century, Big Mama had center of gravity, had her broth

parents parents which

real estate, everyone u�ed believing was owner

rain poles, leap she

right she balcony in air, Witll all weight of her beily -

k .

authority her old rattan rocker, she seemed,

the

,

J

198 M: Big Mama's Funeral

Fourteen weeks ago, after endless nights of mus

plasters, and the delirium of her

death agony, Big Mama ordered them in old

rattan rocker she express her last It only

thing she before she died. That the Isabel, she put the affairs of

her now she needed only affairs in order with her nine nephews, her heirs,

were standing her bed. The talking to

self and on the verge of his birthday, stayed in the

Ten men had been needed to him up to Big

and was he should stay there so they

should to take him down and then take up again

at the the nephew, gigantic savage, dressed

in boots, with a .38-caliber

The enormous two-story fragrant from molasses and

oregano, with its dark apartments crammed with chests and the

odds and ends of four turned to dust, had become

since the week before, in expectation of that moment.

the long central hall, with on the walls where in

another butchered pigs hung and deer were

on sleepy August Sundays, the peons were sleeping

on farm bags of salt, order to saddle

the to spread the bad news to the four corners the huge

hacienda. the family was in The

women limp, by the

199

matriarchal rigidity had surrounded her fortUne and her name with a sacramental fence, within which married the daughters of their nieces, and the cousins married their aunts, and brothers their sisters-in-law, an intricate mesh of con

which into a

Only the of to

escape it. Terrified by she made her) shaved her ,md the

of the world in the the On the margin of the official family, and in exercise of the

jus pri'f1UJe the males had fertilized ranches, byways, and settlements with an entire bastard line, which circulated among the servants surnames, as employees, favorites, and proteges Big

The of her death the expecta The dying woman's voice, to homage and obe

was no louder than a orgatl pipe in room, but it echoed in the most of

to this this been Macondo's as

ers, her parents, and the of her in the past, in a dominance covered two centuries. The town was founded on her surname, No one knew the origin, or the limits or the

value of her but was to that Big Mama the of the waters, numing and still, of

and drought, and of the district's roads, telegraph years, and heat waves, and that had furthermore a

hereditary over life and property. 'When sat on her the cool afternoon the

erful matron in world.

from the beginning the details of this national commotion, before the historians have a chance get at it.

under his shirt, went to notary.

and squeezed into in tmth, infinitely rich and powerful, the richest and most powand of sleep; they a strict mourning which was thc

culmination of countless accumulated mournings. Big Matna's

occurred

members Anthony

more hundred grandmother, War

fronted of Colonel AmeJiano barricaded April

would not of liquidating, an open skirmish, horde Federalist Masons.

week pain, the doctor maintaind was a

tary his

lifetime establishment in other

had atthritis him

patients calling

installed himself the sick woman

was

three

stimulants, masterful applied site

morning he face having

the His

Funeral

creaking rocker, the great bell the

the inhabitants

Macondo.When plaz;\ in

Mama's house like counn" It memo[v Until

with prolonged carnivals Demijobns

rum \vere placed the sacrificed public

for without

century, Colonel

Aurdiano camped, blood puddings

meat buns, nougats, tod

along trinkets, knick

and tickets. In midst

confusion agitate.d M.una's likeness

festivities and of her birthday, with the thunder

dance at

the pianola with style.

linen

pillows, her with fingers. night

marriages

out balcony,

200 !Vat Big Mama's Funeral

It had not to anyone to think that Big Mama was

mortal, except the of her tribe, and Big Mama herselt prodded by the senile premonitions of Father Isabel. But she believed that she would live than a years, as did her maternal who in the of 1885 con

a patrol Buendia's, in the kitchen of the hacienda. Only in of this year did Big Mama realize that God grant her the privilege personally

in a of During the first of family

her with mustard plasters and woolen stockings. He heredidoctor, a graduate of Montpellier, hostile by philosophical

conviction to the progress of science, whom Big Mama had accorded the privilege of preventing the Macondo of any doctors. At one rime he covered the town

on horseback, visiting the doleful, sick people at dusk, and Nature accorded him the privilege (>fbeing dle father of many anoth

er's children. But kept stiff-jointed in bed, and he ended up attending to his without on them, by means of suppositions, messengers, and errands. Summoned by Big Mama, he crossed the plaza in his pajamas, leaning on two canes, and he in '$ bedroom. Only when he realized that Big Mama dying did he order a chest with porcelain jars labeled in Latin brought, and for weeks he besmeared the dying woman inside and out with all sorts of

academic salves, magnificent and suppositories. Then he bloated toad, to the of her pain, and leeches to her kidneys, lmtil dIe early of that day when

had to me dilenuna of either her bled by the barber or exorcised by Father Anthom' J sabel.

Nicanor sent for priest. ten best men carried him fi-om the p,lrish hotlse to Big Mama's bedroom, seated on a

Big Mama)s !Vat 201

willow under mildewed canopy reserved

for occasions. The little of the Viaticum in warm

September dawn was the first notification to of

the sun rose, the littie front of Big

looked a flir. was like a of another era. she was seventy,

Big Mama used to celebrate her birthday the most and mmultuous within memory,

of at townspeople'S disposal, cattle were

in the plaza, and ,\ band installed on top of a table played three days stopping. tInder the dusty

almond trees, \\'here, in the first week of me Buendia's troops had stalls were set up

which sold banana liquor, rolls, chopped tried meat, pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, corn

breads, puff paste, longanizas, tripes, coconut rum

dies, with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, and

knacks, cockfights and lottery the of the

of the mob, prints and scapularies Witll Big were sold.

The used to begin two days before end on the day of fireworks and a family

Big Mama's home. The carefully chosen guests and the

legitimate members of tile family, generously ,mended by dle

bastard line, danced to beat of the old which was

equipped tile rolls most in Big Mama presided over the party from the rear of the hall in an easy chair with

imparting discreet instructions with right hand,

adorned rings on all her On that the coming

year's were arranged, at times in complicity \vith the

lovers, but almost always counseled by her own inspiration. To

finish off the jubilation, Big Mama went to the

202 Mama's

the family becalL'>e of

the instability years. The stories celebrations.

functionary

Authority, enjoying even

moment of the so as min Dutch

flounced skin starched cambric old

remembered, hallucination OUt of YOllth, two

were down manorial

afternoon

Castaneda y Montero attended her funeral and

along matted street new and

turned the age twenty-t\vo. medieval

only to past to the

past. remote, on

balcony, afternoons,

Mama her authority exer

cised through Nicanor. tacit promise existed, formulated

tradition, sealed the heirs

declare public merrymaking. at

known that decided not her last wishes

thought seriously

about possibility ing, awakened the Viaticum,

Macon not Mama was

tal but also that she was dying

Her hour her in her linen bed, bedaubed

aloes dust-laden canopy of

one out any life in the respira-

.'

l.1ama's Funeral

tion Mama, rejected was

enough suckle herself, was childless. extreme unction, Father Anthony had help order to her hands, since beginning 1\;lama had dosed. attendance struggle,

dying pressed hand precious stones and fixed

colorless the nieces, "Highway robbers." Then saw Fadler Isabel

implements, conviction "1 dying." Then she took the witb the great diamond and gave Magdalena, novice,

whom belonged since That was

end tradition: Magdalena had inheritance Church.

asked with her last an hour, perfect

mand of her she about conduct instructions disposition of her body,

concerned herself wake. "You have

open," she Jock key, because many

moment later, with the priest, she made confession, sincere detailed, and on rook Communion

presence nieces and was then that she asked them to seat her in her rattan rocker so that she could express her wishes.

had prepared, twenty-four \vritten very clear scmpulous her possessions. Breath-

M: Big Funeral

which was decorated with diadems and Japanese lanterns, and

threw coins to the crowd. That tradition had been interrupted, in part because of the

successive mournings of and in part

political of the last few new generations

only heard ofthose splendid They never man

aged to see Big Mama at High Mass, fanned by some

of tile Civil the privilege ofnot kneeling,

at the elevation, not to her

and her petticoats. The people

like a their the hun

dred yards of matting which laid from the

house to the main altar the on which Maria del Rosario

father's returned

the endowed with a radiant dignity,

into Big Mama at of That

vision belonged then not the familys but also

nation's Ever more indistinct and hardly visible

her stifled by the geraniums on hot Big

was melting into own legend. Her was

The by

that the day Big Mama her will would

three nights of But the same time

it was she had to express

until a few hours before dying, and no one

the that Big Mama was mortal. Only this morn

by the tinkling of did the inhabitants

of do become convinced only that Big mor

had come. Seeing with up to her ears, under the Orien

tal crepe, could hardly make thin

Big M: 203

of her matriarchal breasts. Big who until she was

fifty the most passionate suitors, and who well endowed by Nature to her whole issue all by

dying a virgin and At the moment of Isabel to ask for in

to apply the oils the palms of for the

of her death throes Big had her fists The of the nieces was usdess .. In the

for the first time in a week, the woman against her chest the bejeweled \:I:ith her

look on saying,

she Andlony in his liturgical habit and the acolyte with tht� sacramental and with calm

she murmured, am off ring it to the

to it she was the youngest heir.

the ofa renounced her in favor of the

At dawn Big Ma11la to be left alone Nicanor to

impart instructions. For half in com

faculties, asked the of her affairs. She gave special about the and finally \\<i.th the to keep

your eyes said. "Keep everything of value under and people come to wakes only to steal." A

alone an extravagant and later

in the of her nephews. It

last Nicanor on folios in a

hand, a account of

property,

Reduced its proportions, the real

districts, a\varded

intricate marriages

convenience, the control Mama. that without

which comprised five which not one

three

lives

state : rent. Seated of her

payment lands, her

trom the

collection with

and chickens, and first of the

since hectares.

cumstances it that within boundaries

Macondo prosper,

seat,

property "which pertained

itself Big

paid her, just had to pay her

the citizens

..

with

familiar

solid one bothered

explain, of the had progressively emptied war, lately milking been installed in

Aside from enunlerated, she mentioned in her will three

during

laborious

extraordinary kept generation

generation, each which of

sessions. bedroom, voice dying woman

signature, hearts

beginning

almond trees of

listing of

supreme

dlev raised up on

mental domineering sincere voice, in her memories, the notary this of her invisible


ing calmly, with the doctor and Father Anthony Isabel as wit

nesses, Big Mama dictated to the notary the list of her

the supreme and unique source of her grandeur and authority.

to true estate was limited to

three by Royal Decree at the founding of the Colony; with the passage of time, by dint of

of they had accumulated under of Big In unworked territory, definite borders,

townships and in single

grain had ever been sown at the expense of the proprietors,

hundred and fifty-two families as tenant farmers. Every

year, on the eve of her name day, Big Mama exercised the only

act of control which prevented the lands from reverting to the

the collection of on the back porch

house, she personally received the for the right to live

on her as tlX more thana century ancestors had

received it ancestors of the tenants. When the three

day was over, the patio was crammed pigs, rur

keys, with the tithes and fruits land

which were deposited there as gifts. In reality, that was the only

harvest the family ever collected from a territory which had been

dead its beginnings, and which was calculated on first

examination at a hundred thousand But historical cir

had brought about those

the six towns of district should grow and

even the county so that no person who lived in a house had

any rights other than those to the

house since the land belonged to Mama, and the rent

was to as the government for the

use made of the streets. On the outskirts of dle settlements, a number of animals,

never counted and even less looked after, roamed, branded on

Big Mama's Funeral M: 205

the hindquarters the shape of a padlock. This hereditary brand, which more out of disorder than out of quantity had become in distant districts where the scattered cattle, dying of thirst, strayed in summer, was one of the most supports of the legend. For reasons which no had to the extensive stables house

since the last civil and sugarcane presses, parlors, and a rice mill had dlem.

the items the existence of containers ofgold coins buried somewhere

in the house the War of Independence, which had not been found after periodic and excavations. Along with the right to continue the exploitation of the rented land, and to receive the tithes and first fruits and all sorts of donations, the heirs received a chart up from to

and perfected by generation, facilitated

the finding the buried treasure.

Big Mama needed three hours to emmlerate her earthly posIn the stifling the of the

seemed to dignify in its place each thing named. When she affixed her trembling and the witnesses affixed theirs below, a secret tremor shook the of the crowds which were to gather in tront of the house, in the shade of

the dusty the plaza . The only thing lacking then was the detailed her

immaterial possessions. Making a efi(1rt-the same kind dlat her forebears made before died to assure the dom

inance of dleir line-Big Mama herself her monubuttocks, and in a and lost

dictated to list estate:

The wealdl of the subsoil, the territorial waters, the colors


traditional man, civil rights, the of

appeal, Congressional recommendation, records, tl'ee beauty queens, transcendental

huge demonstrations, distinguished ladies, punctilious Illustrious

Eminence, the Supeeme Court, whose importation liberal meat purity the

language, setting good example, A111ens South America, the

demcx'racy, shortage th(� asylum, the Communist menace, of

high republican traditions, c1a ses, statements support.

laboriou,> her last breath.

formulas ti:x constituted the moral the pmvcr, loud

and afternoon the inhabitants of the somber

capital picture of a twenty-year-old on

editions, and thought that it new beauty queen. Mama momentary of photograph, enlarged COhm1l1S retouching, her hair caught up atop her ivory comb

diadem linage, captured a \vho Macondo at the beginning

newspaper's morgue many years in the persons , \vas destined

endure in the memory generations. dilapidated buses, elevators at the Ministries, and rooms hung with pale whispered with .vel1-

Big Manta)s Funeral 207

eration and about personage sultry,

in

few had

word. passers-by misgiv

All chtlrch belJs tolled dead. The

Republic, taken surprise by the news when

way to commencement exercises cadets, sug

gested Minister, in own

of he conclude his speech with minute

of had

who v,.·as aftccted urban feelings if

through purifying filter,

from car in momentary to certain vision

silent consternation Only

remained Cathedral f()J' nine

days offuneral rites. At beggars

newspapers shelter of columns

dle starnes Presidents, lights Congress

lit. When President his moved

of capital mourning, Ministers funereal garb, standing, paler more

usual. that night and the following ones would later

identified a histork lesson. Not because the Chris

tian which inspired most public

power, but also because abnegation with dissimilar

judgments conciliated in com

mon goal of burying body. Big had guaranteed and political

by of the full forged CI rtificates formed. estate. The

expired.

of the flag, national sovereignty, the parties, the rights of the nation's leadership, right

hearings, letters of historical elections, speeches, young proper gentlemen, militaly men, His

goods was forbidden, ladies, the problem, the of

a the free but responsible press, the of public opinion, lessons of

Christian ITlorality, 111c of foreign exchange, right of the ship state,

the cost of living, the underpriviJeged of political

She didn't manage to finish. The enumeration cut

ofr Drowning in the pandemonium of abstract which twO centuries had jus

tification of family's Big Mama emitted a belch

That distant and saw the woman the first

page of t11e extra was a

Big lived again the youth her to four and with needed

abundant skull with an

and a on her lace collar. That by street photographer passed t11rough

of the century, and kept in the tor section of unidentified to

of future In the in the in the dismal tea

decorations, peopk

!!lIEt

respect dle dead in her

malarial region, whose name was unknown the rest of the

country a hours before-before it been sanctified by the

printed A fine drizzle covered the with

ing and mist. the for the Pre$i

dent of the by on his

the for the new

to the War in a note his hand on the

balck the telegram, that a

silent homage to Big Mama.

The social order been bru-;hed by death. The President

of the Republk himself, by as

they reached him a m aged to perceive

his a but a extent brutal

the of the city. a few low cafes

open; the Metropolitan was readied

the National Capitol, where the

wrapped in slept in the the Doric

and silent of dead dlC of

were the entered office, by the

vision the in his were waiting for

h.iim dressed in and solemn

than The events of

be as only of

spirit the lofty personages of of the which

interests and conflicting were the the illustrious For many years

1-1a111a the social peace harmony of

her empire, virtue three trunks of electoral

which part of her secret men in

L

1

208

and younger,

rights suffrage

century. She traditional power the

over common transcendence divine

peace, canonries, benefices,

and watched associates, she had to resort maneuvers or election traud

obtain troubled partisans,

the highest

honors t()r President Republic had consult

with his advisers in graviIY of the Palace and paved

whidl had served the garden of dark cypresses

himself our of love in the Colony. Despite coterie

press uncertainty

full awareness historical

he decreed nine mourning, and posthumous honors Mama rank heroine who died fatherland on field

he it morning to his national

vision network, the trusted that the funeral

Big Mama would for the world.

grave inconveniences. structure

those \vhich statutes,

in formula which wonkl permit President of attend The upper strata

politics, financiers lived through entire alarm. In Congress, century

�1bsrract oil paintings National Ileracs

proportions, while harsh rime, people

of rattan

plasters, they pure, distilled Interminable filled with word." words, words,

which the made prestigious the printed Until, endowed with a

sense reality assembly of aseptic lawgivers, the historic blahblahblah by the reminder that Big Mama's

their 1040 shade. the tace that

of while formulas adduced, viewpoints

reconciled, amendments burial.

much that discussions the ders, and blew like an omen pontific.il ,lpartments Castel Gandolfo. Recovered from the drowsiness of August, Supreme Pontiff

M: Big Mama's Funeral

her service, her proteges tenants, elder and exer

cised not only their own of but also those of electors dead for a exercised the priority of

over transitory· authority, predominance of class the people, the of wis

dom over human improvisation. In times of her domi· i

nant \:vilJ approv('d and disapproved andI I sinecures, over the welfare of her even

if to clandestine in order to it. In times, Big Mama contributed secredy t()r weapons for her but came to the aid of her victims in public. That patriotic zeal guaranteed

her. The of the not needed to

order to weigh the his responsibility. Between reception hall the little patio

viceroys as a cochh'c, there was an interior where a Portuguese monk had hanged

the last days of his noisy ofbemed.ued officials, the President could not sup

a slight tremor of when he passed that Spot after dusk. But that night his trembling had the strength of a

premonition. Then the of his destiny

dawned on him, and days ofnational for Big ar the befitting a

had for the the of battle. As expressed in the dramatic address which he delivered that compatriots over the radio and tele

Nation's Leader rites for set a new example

Such a noble aim was to collide nevertheless with certain The judicial of the country, built

Big Mama)s Flmerai M: 209

by remote ancestors of Big Mama, was not prepared for events such as began to occur. Wise Doctors of Law, certified alchemists of the plunged into hermeneutics and syllogisms search of the the

the Republic to the funeral. of the clergy, the days of

the vast semicircle of rarefi(�d by a of legislation, amid of and busts of Greek thinkers, the vocation of Big Mama rcached unheard-of her body filled with bubbles in the Macondo September. For the first spoke

her and conceived of her without her rocker, her afternoon stupors, and her mustard and saw her ageless and by legend.

hours were resOlmded throughout Republic,

by spokesmen of the word. of in that

was interrupted corpse awaited decision at in the No one batted an eye in of eruption of common sense in the pure atmosphere the written law. Orders were issued to

embalm the cadaver, were

were or constitutional were made to

pertuit the President to attend the

So had been said the crossed bortraversed the ocean, through the

at of the torpid days the

Was at the window watching the lake where the divers were searching for the head of a decapitated young girl. For the last few weeks, the evening newspapers had been concerned with

Death

the universe was to prolong the waiting for many

daguerreotype

Throne

centuries

was

tanning

things in

...

,JIIIJk

Funeral

of

announced of

continued conventional symbols,

themselves

momentous

in

administrative

Public

.,


nothing else, and the Supreme Pontiff could not be indifferent

to an enigma located such a short distance from his summer

residence . But that evening, in an unforeseen substitution, the

newspapers changed the photographs of the possible victims for

that of one single twenty-year-old woman, marked off with

black margins . "Big Mama," exclaimed the Supreme Pontiff,

recogIDzing·instandy the hazy which many years

before had been offered to him on the occasion of his ascent to

the of Saint Peter . "Big Mama," exclaimed in chorus the

members ofthe College of Cardinals in their private apartments,

and for the third time in twenty there was an hour of

confusion, chagrin, and busde in the limitless empire of Chris

tendom, until the Supreme Pontiff installed in his long

black limousine en route to Big Mama's fantastic and far-off

funeral. The shining peach orchards were left behind, the Via Appia

Antica with warm movie stars on terraces without as yet having heard any news of the commotion, and then the somber promontory of Castel Sane Angelo on the: edge of the Tiber. At dusk the resonant pealing of St. Peter's Basilica mingled with the cracked tinklings of Macondo. Inside his stifling tent across the tangled reeds and the silent bogs which marked the boundary between the Roman Empire and the ranches of Big Mama, the Supreme Pontiff heard the uproar of the monkeys agitated

all night long by the passing of the crowds. On his nocturnal itinerary, the canoe had been filled with bags of yucca, stalks of green bananas, and crates of chickens, and with men and women who abandoned their customary pursuits to try their luck at sell

ing at Big Mama's ftmeral. His Holiness suffered that night, for the first time the history of the Church, from the fever of insomnia and the torment of the mosquitoes. But the marvelous dawn over the Great Old Woman's domains, the pri-

Big Mama's M: 211

meval vision of the balsam apple and the iguana, erased from his memory the suffering his trip and compensated him for his sacrifice.

Nicanor had been awakened gy three knocks at the door which the imminent arrival His Holiness. had taken possession of the house. Inspired by successive and

urgent Presidential addresses, by the feverish controversies which had been silenced but to be heard by means of

men and congregations the world over dropped everything and with their presence filled the dark hallways, the jammed passageways, the stifling attics; and those

who arrived later climbed up on the low walls around the church, the palisades, vantage points, timberwork, and parapets, where they accommodated as best they could. In the

central hall, Big Mama's cadaver lay mummifYing while it waited for the decisions contained in a quivering mound of telegrams . Weakened by their weeping, the nine

nephews sat the wake beside the body an ecstasy of reciprocal surveillance.

And still more days. In the city-council hall, fitted out with four leather stools , a jug of purified water, and a burdock hammock, the Supreme Pontiff suffered from a perspiring insomnia, diverting himself by reading memorials and orders in the

lengthy, stifling nights. During the day, he distributed Italian

candy to the children who approached to see him through the window, and ltmched beneath the hibiscus arbor with Father Anthony Isabel, and occasionally with Nicanor. Thus he lived for interminable weeks and months which were protracted by the waiting and the heat, until the day Father Pastrana appeared with his drummer in the middle ofdle plaza and read dle proclamation of the decision. It was declared that Order was

disturbed, ratatatat, and rata

tatat, had prerogatives, Mama's funeral,

tatat,

day had In the crowded with f(xkis, lottery and men snakes

wrapped which definitively life; tied little where crowds and unrolled sleeping dapper Authori

There were, moment:

washerwomen Jorge,

VehL the fishermen Cienaga, shrimp fishermen from TaSd]era, the salt it'om

the tine the musicians Pelayo,

from Sabanas dandies from the of Magda

lena, the from addition enumerothers,

veterans camp-the Marlborough at their with and

claws and teeth--GverCc1mc centenarian of Mama

President of their veterans'

pensions the\' had little which swelter

snn,

out Dignified, their

cutaways hats, and hi:; Ministers, Supreme

Fzm·(;ral

traditional and representatives Banking, appearance around and chubby, President Republic paraded

eyes crc)wds who him gurated without W,18 and nov;'

the archbishops gravity ministry, military

with armored medals, Nation exuded unmistakable

second rank, mcmrning national been

Stripped their by universal queen:

the qneen, the me,il queen, the kidney

bean queen, the 255-mile-long-string-of-ig1.lana-eggs the who are account

interminahle.

from reality turnbuckles, Mama thar 1l1( H11ent too

absorbed in formaldehyde eternity magnitude the splendor which had

the insomnia was fulfilled t(Jrty-eight which symbols the paid Pontiff himsdt whom she delirium

orriage, with honored his

Supreme Dignity funeral in

discern covetous the


that the President of the Republic,

in his power the extraordinary ratatatat,

which permitted him to attend Big ratatatat,

tatatat, tatat.

The great arrived. streets ('.H"ts, hawkers of fried and stalls, with

around their necks who peddled a balm would cure erysipelas and guarantee eternal in the mot

plaza the had set up their tellL';

their mats, archers cleared the ties' way. they awaiting the supreme the

of San the pead fishers from Cabo de 1a from the

the sorcerers from Mojajana, miners

Manaure, the accordionists from VaUedupar, horsemen

of Ayapel, ragtag from San the cock breeders from La Cueva, the improvisers de Bolivar., the Rebolo, oarsmen the

shysters Monpox, in to those ated at the bl�ginning of this chronicle, and many Even the of Colonel Aureliano Buendia's Duke of head, the pomp of his furs tiger\ their hatred Big and those of her line and came to the funeral to ask the the Republic tor the payment of

which been waiting for for sixty years, A before eleven the delirious crowd was

ing in the held back by an impemlrbable elite force of war

riors decked in embellished jackets and filigreed morions,

emitted a powerful roar of jubilation, solemn in and top the President of the Republic

the delegations tl'om Parliament, the Court,

Big Mama's M: 213

the Council of State, the pa11:ies the clergy, and of Commerce, and Industry made their

the corner of the telegraph office, Bald the old and ailing of the

before the astonished ofthe had seen inau knowing who he who only could

give a true a,,'Count of his existence. Among enfeebled by the of their and the men

robust chests with the Leader of the the air of power.

In the paraded the will be. of

qin a serene array of crepe,

ueens of all things that have or ever

earthly spkndor for the first rime, they marched by, preceded the the soybean queen, the green-squash queen, banana yucca queen, the guava queen, the coconut

queen, and all others omitted so as not to make this

In her coffin draped in purple, separated bY eight copper Big was at

her to realize the of her grandeur. All she dreamed of on

balcony of her house during her heat-induced by those glorious hours during all the of age homage to her memory. The Supreme

in her imagined floating above the gardens of the Vatican in a resplendent C011-

quered the he u a plaited palm tan, and with the greatest the world.

Dazzled by the show of power, the common people did not

the bustling which occurred on rooftop of

house agreement was grandees'

wrangling the into the street

shoulders grandest which through the

did notice grandees passed trai n

street. one noticed that nephe\JV"s, godchildren, servants,

\vas taken out, dismantled nails out planks, and up the toundations divide house. only thing \vhich not anyone

(,.- .;

of that was the thunderous which crowd loose tourteen exaltations,

were the those aware

understand that witnessing birth new

Now Supreme Pontiff ,1scend Heaven body his fulfilled,

RepUblic could down govern according judgment, the all things that been will

marry birt11 to sons, ,lnd the common people set tents where

,veil pleased in Mama, them

PO\:<"CT to had a

onl) someone to lean against doorway to tell story, and fi)f generations,

did not know the Mama, tomorrow,

Wednesday, come and will up the hmcral, and eyer.

Erendira Her Heartless

the Rllbassa

The Incredible and Sad '"Tale of Ilillocent and

Grandmother

Translated fnrm Spanish fry Gregm-y


tile when imposed on the town and catafalque was taken on the

of the of them alL No one saw the vigilant shadow of dIe buzzards followed the cortege Ill,sweltering lime streets of Macondo, nor they that as

the they left a pestilential of garbage in the No the

and proteges of Big Mama closed the doors as soon as the body and the doors, pulled the of

thl� dug to up the

The was missed bv amid the noise .. .'

flUlcral sigh of relief the let vI/hen days of supplications, and dithyr'lmbs over, and romb was sealed with a lead plinth. Some of present were sufficiently as to

they \verc the of a era. the could to in .md

soul, mission on eard1 and the President of the sit and to his good

,md queens of have or ever be

could and be happy and conceive and give many could up their

the\ damn the limitless domains of Big because the only one \\"ho could oppose and had suHicienr

do so begun to rot beneath lead plinth. The thing left then was for a stool the

tillS lesson eXanlp1e fumrc so that not one of tile world's disbelievers would be left

who story of Big because the garbage men \'vill s\veep

garbage from her foreyer

(1962)

big mama's funeral

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