ACT II

[The town square in Fuenteovejuna]

(Enter Esteban and Village Alderman Cuadrado.)

ESTEBAN:	We’ve still abundant stocks of wheat reserved	860
	But really mustn’t raid our granaries more.
	These recent forecasts have us all unnerved
	And I believe our strength lies in this store
	Though some don’t see what good these stocks
	have served.
CUADRADO:	I’ve always been of one mind on this score;	865
	Abundance means there’s governance in peace.
ESTEBAN:	We’ll tell Fernán Gómez, then, this must cease.
	These fool astrologers do irritate!
	Though ignorant of the future, they’ve a hoard
	Of unconvincing prattles that relate	870
	Grave secrets vital only to the Lord.
	They think they’re theologians and conflate
	Before and after into one accord:
	Ask any one about the present, though,
	And you’ll soon learn how little any know!	875
	What, do they own the clouds that dot the air
	Or the trajectory of the heavens’ light?
	How can they see what’s happening up there
	To give us all an endless case of fright?
	They tell us when to plant our crops and
	where—	880
	Wheat there, now greens, your barley to the
	right,
	Here mustard, pumpkins, now cucumber beds—
	I swear to God that they’re the pumpkin heads!
	First, they predict a herd of cows will die
	And die they do—in Transylvania!	885
	They forecast that our wine yield won’t be high
	But see beer flowing in Westphalia.
	The cherry frost in Gascony they spy
	And hordes of tigers in Hyrcania.
	Plant what we will, though, blessed by them or
	cursed,	890
	The year still ends December thirty-first.

(Enter the university graduate Leonelo and Barrildo.)

LEONELO:	Looks like the gossip corner’s doing well;
	The tardy pupil can’t be teacher’s pet!
BARRILDO:	Was Salamanca grand?
LEONELO:	I’ve much to tell.
BARRILDO:	You’ll be a second Solomon.
LEONELO:	Not yet.	895
	Salami-maker, maybe. But I dwell
	Upon what’s doctrine for the jurist set.
BARRILDO:	I’m sure you studied with the utmost care.
LEONELO:	I tried to gain important knowledge there.
BARRILDO:	So many volumes are in print today	900
	The multitudes imagine they are wise.
LEONELO:	Yet they know less, it saddens me to say,
	For so much wisdom’s hard to summarize
	And all their vain attempts to find a way
	Just make the letters swim before their eyes.	905
	The more a person reads the printed word
	The more the letters on the page look blurred.
	I don’t doubt that the art of print has saved
	The best cuts from this cloth of rhetoric
	By salvaging sage works from Time’s depraved	910
	Consignment of all earthly things to quick
	Oblivion; this the printing press has staved.
	To Gutenberg we owe this curious trick,
	A German from the town of Mainz whose fame
	Is more than any Fame herself can claim.	915
	Some writers who were once deemed erudite,
	Though, lost their erudition on the page
	While dumber men who never learned to write
	Have published using names of men more sage.
	Still others have penned treatises so trite	920
	That, overcome by jealousy and rage,
	They’ve signed their rivals’ names to these poor
	works
	To make their readers think these authors jerks!
BARRILDO:	They couldn’t do such things!
LEONELO:	It’s natural
	For fools to reap revenge on real success.	925
BARRILDO:	Still, Leonelo, print is notable.
LEONELO:	We’ve lived for centuries without the press
	And I don’t see these modern times more full
	Of St. Augustines or Jeromes, do you?
BARRILDO:	Let’s sit a while before you start to stew.	930

(Enter Juan Rojo and a Villager.)

JUAN ROJO:	If what we’ve seen is true, you couldn’t raise
	A dowry out of what four farms would yield.
	Now anyone who’d know the truth can gaze
	Upon our town’s disruption unconcealed.
VILLAGER:	Peace, friend. What news of the Commander’s
	days?	935
JUAN ROJO:	He cornered poor Laurencia in a field!
VILLAGER:	That lecherous animal! I’d love to see
	The villain hanging from that olive tree!

(Enter the Commander with Ortuño and Flores.)

COMMANDER:	God keep you, townsfolk, in His grace.
CUADRADO:	My lord.
COMMANDER:	Good villagers, at ease	940
	Now, as you were.
ESTEBAN:	Your lordship, please
	Be seated in your wonted place.
	We’ll stand, as this suits everyone.
COMMANDER:	I’ll order you to sit down, then.
ESTEBAN:	You honor us as only men	945
	Of honor can, as men who’ve none
	Can scarcely proffer what they’ve not.
COMMANDER:	Come, sit. I’d like us to confer.
ESTEBAN:	Have you received the greyhound, sir?
COMMANDER:	The dog continues to besot	950
	My valets, magistrate, and stuns
	The servants with its noble speed.
ESTEBAN:	A fine example of its breed!
	Good lord, that noble creature runs
	As fast as any suspect or	955
	Delinquent that the law pursues.
COMMANDER:	Well, given but the choice, I’d choose
	To have you point the dog straight for
	A certain frisky little hare
	Too swift for any but this hound.	960
ESTEBAN:	I will, but where might she be found?
COMMANDER:	I’m speaking of your daughter there.
ESTEBAN:	My daughter?
COMMANDER:	Yes.
ESTEBAN:	How could she be
	A consort suitable for you?
COMMANDER:	Do give her a good talking to.	965
ESTEBAN:	Why, pray?
COMMANDER:	She’s set on vexing me.
	A lady here in town you’d call
	Distinguished noted my designs
	And, at the first sign of my signs,
	Succumbed.
ESTEBAN:	Then she disgraced us all.	970
	If you don’t mind me saying, sir,
	Your language ought to be less free.
COMMANDER:	The rustic speaks so loftily!
	Ah, Flores! Have this villager
	Read one of Aristotle’s tomes,	975
	The Politics.
ESTEBAN:	We of the land
	Are glad to live by your command
	And seek but honor for our homes
	As Fuenteovejuna, too,
	Can boast distinguished residents.	980
LEONELO:	(Aside.) To hear that villain’s insolence!
COMMANDER:	Has what I said offended you
	Or any gathered here today?
CUADRADO:	Commander, this is most unjust.
	You’re wrong to say such things and must	985
	Not stain our honor in this way.
COMMANDER:	Your what? Who do you think you are,
	The Friars of Calatrava, then?
CUADRADO:	No doubt that Order numbers men
	Who wear the cross with bloodlines far	990
	Less pure than simple townsfolk own.
COMMANDER:	So should our lines mix, theirs would be
	Forever fouled?
CUADRADO:	Iniquity
	Defiles, not cleanses—that’s well known.
COMMANDER:	Whatever reasoning you seek,	995
	Your women should be honored so.
ESTEBAN:	Such words do shame us all, and no
	One thinks you’d do the deeds you speak.
COMMANDER:	These peasants can be tiresome!
	In cities they know how to treat	1000
	A man of qualities and meet
	His every wish when he is come.
	There, husbands deem it flattery
	When other men pursue their wives.
ESTEBAN:	You say this so we’ll all live lives	1005
	Of equal moral laxity.
	God still inhabits cities, though,
	Where vengeance is more swift and clean.
COMMANDER:	That’s it! Be on your way!
ESTEBAN:	You mean
	You wish the two of us to go?	1010
COMMANDER:	No, I don’t want to see a soul!
	Now clear the square and don’t come back!
ESTEBAN:	We’re leaving then.
COMMANDER:	Not in a pack!
FLORES:	Sir, please, a little self-control.
COMMANDER:	They’ll plot against me left alone,	1015
	Each boor a co-conspirator.
ORTUÑO:	Have patience with these rustics, sir.
COMMANDER:	I marvel at how much I’ve shown.
	Go severally home now, all of you—
	I won’t have anything amiss.	1020
LEONELO:	(Aside.) Just heavens, will you suffer this?
ESTEBAN:	It’s time that I returned home, too.

(Exit the Villagers.)

COMMANDER:	Men, don’t you find these clods absurd?
ORTUÑO:	They know you scarcely deign to mask
	Your condescension when they ask	1025
	That their petitioning be heard.
COMMANDER:	So now they think us peers of sorts?
FLORES:	Who equals whom does not pertain.
COMMANDER:	How does that crossbow thief remain
	At large, unsentenced by our courts?	1030
FLORES:	I thought I’d spied him lingering near
	Laurencia’s doorstep late last night,
	Though now I know I wasn’t right:
	I slit some knave’s throat ear to ear
	When I mistook his cloak to be	1035
	Frondoso’s in the eventide.
COMMANDER:	I can’t imagine where he’d hide.
FLORES:	Oh, he’ll turn up eventually.
COMMANDER:	Would anyone who tried to kill
	A man like me remain close by?	1040
FLORES:	The heedless bird will blithely fly
	Into a snare lured by a trill,
	The foolish fish swim toward the hook.
COMMANDER:	It galls me that a lowborn pest
	Could point a crossbow at the chest	1045
	Of this brave captain, whose sword shook
	Granada and Cordova both.
	It’s at an end, this world we knew!
FLORES:	He acted as love bid him to.
	You’re still alive, so by my oath,	1050
	I think you’re in the peasant’s debt.
COMMANDER:	I swear, Ortuño, had I not
	Disguised my feelings toward this lot,
	Two hours would not have passed by yet
	And I’d have run the whole town through.	1055
	Until I judge the time is right,
	I’ll keep the reins on vengeance tight
	And then do what I need to do.
	What says Pascuala?
FLORES:	She replied
	That any day now she’s to wed.	1060
COMMANDER:	If she’d still care to lend her bed …
FLORES:	She’s sending you where they’ll provide
	Your lordship with such things for cash.
COMMANDER:	What says Olalla, then?
ORTUÑO:	The girl’s
	A lively one.
COMMANDER:	Her quips are pearls.	1065
	To wit?
ORTUÑO:	She and her husband clash
	Of late because, she’d have you know,
	He’s jealous of the notes I bring
	And mad that you’d go visiting
	His wife with manservants in tow.	1070
	Just wait until he drops his guard
	And you’ll be first inside again!
COMMANDER:	This knight is glad upon it, then.
	The peasant watches her but hard.
ORTUÑO:	It’s true, though his attention strays.	1075
COMMANDER:	And sweet Inés?
FLORES:	Who?
COMMANDER:	Anton’s bit.
FLORES:	Her offer stands most definite
	And ought to liven up your days.
	We spoke in the corral outside—
	Go round the back and in that door.	1080
COMMANDER:	Loose women I’ve a soft spot for
	But less so once I’m satisfied.
	Ah, Flores, if they only were
	Aware of what their charms are worth!
FLORES:	As letdowns go, there’s none on earth	1085
	Like plain capitulation, sir.
	A woman’s quick surrender blights
	The pleasure men anticipate,
	Though certain girls corroborate
	A wise philosopher who writes	1090
	That females crave male company
	As form desires material shape,
	Which shouldn’t leave your mouths agape
	For this is but reality.
COMMANDER:	A man whom ardor’s heat lays waste	1095
	Is glad to have his pleasure sealed
	By lady friends who readily yield,
	Though he disdain them for this haste.
	The surest course for love to run
	Once all delight has been bestowed	1100
	Is down oblivion’s well-worn road
	Of favors far too easily won.

(Enter Cimbranos, a soldier.)

CIMBRANOS:	Is the Commander hereabouts?
ORTUÑO:	What, don’t you see him standing there?
CIMBRANOS:	Oh, brave Fernán Gómez! Throw off	1105
	Your hunter’s cap and be prepared
	To strap your battle helmet on!
	Replace your cloak with armor now!
	The Master of Santiago and
	The Count of Cabra’s troops surround	1110
	Young Don Rodrigo Girón in
	Support of the Castilian queen
	At Ciudad Real. Good sir,
	I’m certain you can plainly see
	That all the blood your Order’s lost	1115
	Will be for naught should they succeed.
	Our forces can already glimpse
	The figures on their coats of arms:
	Castile’s two castles paired with lions
	By Aragon’s heraldic bars.	1120
	So while the King of Portugal
	Would like to honor staunch Girón,
	The youth would do well just to reach
	Almagro and be safely home.
	Quick, saddle up your charger, sir;	1125
	They’ll head back to Castile as soon
	As you ride boldly into sight.
COMMANDER:	Be still while I think what to do.
	Ortuño, have the trumpet sound
	So all may hear it from the square.	1130
	How many soldiers have I here?
ORTUÑO:	Some fifty horsemen stand prepared.
COMMANDER:	Inform them that we sally forth.
CIMBRANOS:	If we don’t start out now, good sirs,
	Then Ciudad Real will fall.	1135
COMMANDER:	Fear not, we shan’t let this occur.

(Exit all.)

[An open field in Fuenteovejuna]

(Enter Mengo, Laurencia, and Pascuala, fleeing.)

PASCUALA:	Oh, please don’t leave us here alone!
MENGO:	How can these fields inspire such dread?
LAURENCIA:	I think it’s best for us to head
	To town now, Mengo, on our own—	1140
	Just women, unaccompanied—
	In case we should cross paths with him.
MENGO:	He couldn’t make our lives more grim
	Were he the very demon’s seed!
LAURENCIA:	He’s sure to hound us till we’re his.	1145
MENGO:	Oh, lightning bolts, cast down your fires
	And purify these mad desires!
LAURENCIA:	A bloody beast is what he is,
	Our arsenic and pestilence
	In town.
MENGO:	Laurencia, I’ve been told	1150
	That poor Frondoso grew so bold
	In championing your innocence
	He aimed at the Commander’s chest.
LAURENCIA:	You know how much I’ve hated men
	But, Mengo, I confess since then	1155
	I’ve realized he’s not like the rest.
	How valiant Frondoso was!
	I fear this bravery might mean
	His death.
MENGO:	He never can be seen
	In town, whatever else he does.	1160
LAURENCIA:	I love the man, although it’s plain
	That I, too, know that he must flee.
	Still, he responds to such a plea
	With raging anger and disdain
	While our Commander wastes no breath	1165
	Affirming he’ll hang upside down.
PASCUALA:	Will no one garrotte him in town?
MENGO:	I’d rather see him stoned to death.
	Sweet heavens, if I only knew
	Some way to use my sling, I vouch	1170
	Just stretching back this leather pouch
	Would good as crack his skull in two!
	You wouldn’t find depravity
	Like his in Rome’s own Sabalus.
LAURENCIA:	You mean Heliogabalus,	1175
	Whose reign surpassed indecency.
MENGO:	Sir Gawain’s misdeeds were no worse.
	Though history’s outside my ken,
	Our own Commander’s crueler than
	This legendary rogue of verse.	1180
	Has nature spawned another man
	The likes of Fernán Gómez?
PASCUALA:	No.
	A savage tiger cannot show
	The fury that this miscreant can.

(Enter Jacinta, a village woman.)

JACINTA:	For God’s sake, if you hold our oath	1185
	Of friendship dear, just help me hide!
LAURENCIA:	Jacinta, you look petrified!
PASCUALA:	You may rely upon us both.
JACINTA:	That vile Commander bade his men—
	Armed more with natural infamy	1190
	Than by their swords’ nobility—
	To have me waiting for him when
	He reaches Ciudad Real.
LAURENCIA:	Jacinta, God preserve you, but
	If he would fancy you his slut,	1195
	He’ll surely use me as his moll.

(Exit Laurencia.)

PASCUALA:	A man might help you to escape;
	I can’t defend you in distress.

(Exit Pascuala.)

MENGO:	I’ll have to act like one, I guess,
	As I’m a man in name and shape.	1200
	Come by my side and never fear.
JACINTA:	But have you arms?
MENGO:	The oldest known
	To man.
JACINTA:	A sling without a stone?
MENGO:	Jacinta, there are stones right here.

(Enter Flores and Ortuño.)

FLORES:	Thought you could run away, did you?	1205
JACINTA:	Now I’m as good as dead!
MENGO:	Good sirs,
	How can these honest villagers …
ORTUÑO:	So, mustering up the derring-do
	To champion a lady’s cause?
MENGO:	I’d first defend her with my pleas,	1210
	As I’m male kin, but failing these,
	Would look to force and nature’s laws.
FLORES:	Enough, now. Run the beggar through.
MENGO:	Compel me to unsling my sling
	And you will rue the day I fling	1215
	A volley of these rocks at you.

(Enter the Commander and Cimbranos.)

COMMANDER:	A person of my rank alight
	To settle such a petty case?
FLORES:	The rabble in this horrid place,
	Which you could purge by every right	1220
	For giving you no end of grief,
	Now brandish arms against our own.
MENGO:	Good sir, if you cannot condone
	Such conduct, as is my belief,
	Then punish these vile soldiers who’d	1225
	Abduct this woman in your name.
	Her husband’s and her parents’ fame
	Bespeaks the highest rectitude.
	Now, by your leave, I’ll take the girl
	Back home where all her family wait.	1230
COMMANDER:	My leave, you want? Retaliate,
	Men, by my leave, against the churl.
	Come, drop the sling.
MENGO:	My lord, they bade …
COMMANDER:	Peace! Flores and Ortuño, bind
	His hands. Cimbranos, help in kind.	1235
MENGO:	You’d act thus, called to virtue’s aid?
COMMANDER:	What do the townsfolk think of me
	In Fuenteovejuna, cur?
MENGO:	How has our village or I, sir,
	Offended you so grievously?	1240
FLORES:	Are we to kill him, then?
COMMANDER:	Why draw
	Your swords to sully steel you’d grace
	With honor in a better place?
ORTUÑO:	What are your orders?
COMMANDER:	Whip him raw.
	There, lash the peasant to that oak	1245
	And, when his back is bared, go seize
	Your horse’s reins …
MENGO:	Have mercy, please,
	Sir! Mercy! You are gentlefolk.
COMMANDER:	… And flog this man relentlessly
	Until the studs fly off the straps.	1250
MENGO:	Do heaven’s righteous laws collapse
	To grant these deeds impunity?

(Exit Flores, Ortuño, Cimbranos, and Mengo.)

COMMANDER:	You, girl, what are you running for?
	You find a clod that tills the earth
	More pleasing than a man of worth?	1255
JACINTA:	Is this the way you would restore
	Lost honor when it was your plan
	To have me carried off by force?
COMMANDER:	So, I desired you?
JACINTA:	Of course,
	Because my father is a man	1260
	Well spoken of, though not your peer
	In birth, with manners gentler still
	Than any you possess.
COMMANDER:	This shrill
	Effrontery will not, I fear,
	Assuage my wrath or aid your plight.	1265
	Now, come along at once.
JACINTA:	With you?
COMMANDER:	Correct.
JACINTA:	Pay heed to what you do.
COMMANDER:	I’ll heed your detriment, all right.
	Who needs you? Why should I deprive
	The troops of coveted supplies?	1270
JACINTA:	Not all the force beneath the skies
	Could make me suffer this alive!
COMMANDER:	Come on now, strumpet, move along.
JACINTA:	Have mercy!
COMMANDER:	Mercy won’t exist.
JACINTA:	Then I’ve no choice but to enlist	1275
	The heavens to redress this wrong.

(The Commander exits as soldiers carry Jacinta off. Enter Laurencia and Frondoso.)

LAURENCIA:	How can you show your face around
	Here unafraid?
FRONDOSO:	I thought that some
	Such recklessness would make you come
	To see the troth to which we’re bound.	1280
	I watched the dread Commander part
	While hiding in the hills above
	And, seeing you deserve my love,
	Lost all the fear that plagued my heart.
	I hope he goes far off to thrive!	1285
	Good riddance, too!
LAURENCIA:	Don’t waste your breath.
	Besides, the more men wish your death,
	The longer you’ll remain alive.
FRONDOSO:	If that’s so, then long life to him,
	For both sides profit by this quirk:	1290
	I live while our best wishes work
	Against him in the interim!
	Laurencia, is there any place
	For me in your affections, dear?
	I need to know if my sincere	1295
	Devotion’s found its port of grace.
	I mean, the village speaks as one
	By now, considering us a pair,
	And it astounds the townsfolk there
	To see our coupling left undone.	1300
	So put aside these harsh extremes
	And tell me if there is or not.
LAURENCIA:	I swear to both you and that lot
	That all will soon be as it seems.
FRONDOSO:	For this great mercy, let me kiss	1305
	Your lovely feet, my future wife!
	You’ve granted me a second life,
	I must confess, in saying this.
LAURENCIA:	Enough with blandishments! We mince
	Words when it’s evident to us	1310
	That you have only to discuss
	The matter with my father since
	He comes now with my uncle, see?
	Frondoso, don’t lose faith, for I’m
	To be your wedded wife in time—	1315
	That much is sure.
FRONDOSO:	God bolster me!

(They hide. Enter Esteban, Alonso, and Juan Rojo.)

ALONSO:	So, in the end, the townsfolk rose
	In vocal protest on the square,
	And rightly so, for they’ll not bear
	More crimes from him resembling those.	1320
	The scale of his intemperance
	These days can scarcely fail to stun
	While poor Jacinta’s now the one
	Who suffers his incontinence.
JUAN ROJO:	All Spain will soon be governed by	1325
	The Catholic Kings, whose well-earned fame
	For piety bestows their name,
	Which they do both exemplify.
	Soon, too, brave Santiago will
	Reach Ciudad Real’s razed lands	1330
	And win it back from Girón’s hands
	By marshaling his general’s skill.
	I’m sorry for Jacinta, though,
	A stalwart lass in every way.
ALONSO:	They whipped old Mengo’s hide, you say?	1335
JUAN ROJO:	No ink or flannel that I know
	Of ever looked more black or blue.
ALONSO:	Enough! You know my blood begins
	To boil just picturing the sins
	That make his reputation true.	1340
	Why should I carry this baton
	Of office if it serves no use?
JUAN ROJO:	His men inflicted the abuse,
	So why should you feel woebegone?
ALONSO:	Well, what about the time they found	1345
	Redondo’s wife in this deep glen,
	Left raped by the Commander’s men,
	Among whom she’d been passed around
	Detestably when he did cease
	To take by force what she’d deny?	1350
JUAN ROJO:	I hear someone! Who’s there?
FRONDOSO:	Just I,
	Who look for leave to speak my piece.
JUAN ROJO:	Frondoso, as my house is yours,
	Speak freely if you feel the need.
	You owe life to your sire’s seed	1355
	But I’m owed what your grace ensures.
	You’re like a son to me; I reared
	You with much love.
FRONDOSO:	Then, sir, I seek—
	Based on this love of which you speak—
	A gracious favor volunteered.	1360
	You know who fathered this proud son.
ESTEBAN:	Were you aggrieved by that crazed beast
	Fernán Gómez?
FRONDOSO:	To say the least.
ESTEBAN:	I thought as much—another one.
FRONDOSO:	This pledge of love that you confide	1365
	Now moves me likewise to profess
	I love Laurencia and express
	My wish here that she be my bride.
	This tongue deserves a reprimand
	For hastiness, which you’ll excuse,	1370
	As usually another sues
	The sire for his daughter’s hand.
ESTEBAN:	Your swift return here is a boon,
	Frondoso, and prolongs my years.
	Dispelling what my heart most fears,	1375
	Your coming is most opportune
	And so I thank the skies above
	That you’ve emerged to cleanse my name
	And thank your passion just the same
	For showing purity in love.	1380
	It’s only right that your good sire
	Should learn at once what you’ve proposed.
	For my part, I am well disposed
	To help you realize this desire.
	I would consider myself blessed	1385
	If this sweet union came to pass.
JUAN ROJO:	Well, first we’d better ask the lass
	To verify she’s acquiesced.
ESTEBAN:	You needn’t go through all that fuss;
	In this case nothing is untoward:	1390
	The two were firmly of accord
	Before he pled his case to us.
	We may as well, then, at our ease,
	Discuss the dowry that is due.
	The sum I gladly offer you	1395
	Was saved up in maravedís.
FRONDOSO:	If I decline, don’t feel forlorn;
	What I don’t need can pass unwept.
JUAN ROJO:	You should be thankful he’ll accept
	The girl as bare as she was born.	1400
ESTEBAN:	That may be, but in any case,
	I’ll ask the maid if she approves.
FRONDOSO:	Good thinking, as it ill behooves
	Your pressing what she won’t embrace.
ESTEBAN:	Sweet child! Laurencia!
LAURENCIA:	Father dear.	1405
ESTEBAN:	I’m sure she will, though you decide.
	You see how promptly she replied?
	My child, Laurencia! Only sheer
	Love urges me to ask today—
	Come closer, girl—would you commend	1410
	Frondoso marrying your friend,
	Good Gila? He’s some fiancé,
	The most upstanding of our men,
	Proud Fuenteovejuna’s son.
LAURENCIA:	What? Gila wed … ?
ESTEBAN:	If any one	1415
	Among our maids deserves him, then …
LAURENCIA:	I do commend their union, yes.
ESTEBAN:	Yes—though she’s ugly, which makes some
	Believe Frondoso should become
	Your husband. That we all could bless.	1420
LAURENCIA:	Oh, father! Still inclined to jest
	And gibe at your advanced age, too!
ESTEBAN:	You love him, child?
LAURENCIA:	He knows I do
	And, though his love’s likewise professed,
	Unpleasant actualities …	1425
ESTEBAN:	Should I inform him you consent?
LAURENCIA:	Yes, bring him news of my intent.
ESTEBAN:	So then it’s I who hold the keys?
	Well, said and done! Let’s all away
	To seek our good friend in the square.	1430
JUAN ROJO:	Let’s go.
ESTEBAN:	My lad, as for a fair
	Amount in dowry, would you say
	Four thousand might work like a charm?
	I’ve that much in maravedís.
FRONDOSO:	How can you speak of such things? Please,	1435
	You do my honor grievous harm.
ESTEBAN:	Come now, son, you’ll feel otherwise
	Within a day for, by my word,
	A dowry that’s left unconferred
	Goes wanting in some other guise.	1440

(All exit except Frondoso and Laurencia.)

LAURENCIA:	Frondoso, are you happy, dear?
FRONDOSO:	Just happy? I’m so overjoyed,
	The state I’m in leaves me devoid
	Of all my senses when you’re near!
	The smiles to which my heart is prone	1445
	Pour out in gladness from my eyes
	To think, Laurencia, my sweet prize,
	That I can claim you as my own.

(Exit Frondoso and Laurencia. Enter the Master, the Commander, Flores, and Ortuño.)

COMMANDER:	Sir, flee! We can’t do more to hold our ground!
MASTER:	The weakness of these city walls before	1450
	Their army’s forces brought about our fall.
COMMANDER:	The blood it’s cost them, and the countless lives!
MASTER:	They failed to seize our standard, though, to
	count
	The Calatravan colors mid their spoils,
	Though it had brought great honor to their toils.	1455
COMMANDER:	Your stratagems are at an end, Girón.
MASTER:	What can I do if turns of fate from night
	To morn appear to be blind Fortune’s will?
VOICES:	(Within.) A victory for the monarchs of Castile!
MASTER:	Our foes now crown the battlements with lights,	1460
	Emblazoning the windows in the towers
	Above with standards marking victory.
COMMANDER:	And well they might, for all the blood it’s cost.
	Their joy seems tragic given what they’ve lost.
MASTER:	I’ll set back out for Calatrava, then.	1465
COMMANDER:	And I to Fuenteovejuna while
	You ponder whether to support your kin
	Or pledge allegiance to the Catholic king.
MASTER:	I’ll write when I’m resolved of my intent.
COMMANDER:	Here Time itself will be your guide.
MASTER:	Ah, youth!	1470
	May your deceptions keep me not from Truth!

[Esteban’s house]

(The wedding is in progress. Enter Musicians, Mengo, Frondoso, Laurencia, Pascuala, Barrildo, Esteban, Alonso, and Juan Rojo.)

MUSICIANS:	Oh, many happy years
	To you, sweet bride and groom!
	Oh, many happy years!
MENGO:	You dashed that off in seconds flat,	1475
	Now didn’t you? It’s not much good.
BARRILDO:	What? You don’t mean to say you could
	Compose a better song than that?
FRONDOSO:	He’s more familiar with the lash
	Than with the melodies of verse.	1480
MENGO:	Don’t shrink, but some have suffered worse.
	One man that blackguard didn’t thrash
	Was taken to the vale one day …
BARRILDO:	Stop, Mengo, please! Be merciful!
	That homicidal animal	1485
	Dishonors all who pass his way.
MENGO:	A hundred soldiers—not one less—
	Administered my pummeling.
	I’d nothing on me but my sling
	And never suffered such duress.	1490
	But, as I was just saying, a
	Fine man whose name I won’t evoke,
	Esteemed by all the village folk,
	Was given quite the enema
	Of ink and pebbles all in one.	1495
	Who’d stand for vileness of that sort?
BARRILDO:	The savage looked on it as sport.
MENGO:	Well, enemas are far from fun
	And, while they are salubrious,
	I’d rather that my death come fast.	1500
FRONDOSO:	So, may we hear now at long last
	The ditty you’ve composed for us?
MENGO:	Oh, many happy years to you,
	Dear newlyweds! God’s grace decree
	That envy and vile jealousy	1505
	Should never come between you two!
	And when your years on earth are through,
	Depart this life from satiety!
	Oh, many happy years!
FRONDOSO:	A curse upon the rhyming hack	1510
	Who dashed off such a poor refrain!
BARRILDO:	It did sound hasty.
MENGO:	Let me deign
	To say a word about this pack:
	You know how fritter-makers throw
	Their bits of batter in the oil	1515
	And add more as they watch it boil
	Until the kettle’s filled with dough?
	How some look swollen when they’re turned,
	Misshapen and a sorry sight,
	Some lumpy on the left or right,	1520
	Some nicely fried but others burned?
	That’s what I’ve come to understand
	A poet does to draft a strain,
	Material sprung from his brain
	Like dough he forms with pen in hand.	1525
	Then, whoosh! He plops the poetry
	On sheets—the role the kettle plays—
	Assuming that a honey glaze
	Will mute the public’s mockery.
	Though once the audience takes a look,	1530
	There’s scarce a buyer to be found
	Because the only one around
	Who’ll eat that rubbish is the cook!
BARRILDO:	I think we’ve heard enough of this;
	It’s time the lovers made a speech.	1535
LAURENCIA:	Give us your hand, sir, we beseech.
JUAN ROJO:	Sweet child, my hand you wish to kiss?
	First ask your father for this grace
	On both yours and Frondoso’s part.
ESTEBAN:	I pray God sees it in His heart	1540
	To fold them in His fond embrace
	And bless the new life they’ve begun.
FRONDOSO:	May you both bless us all life long.
JUAN ROJO:	We shall. Come, lads, let’s have a song
	For now these two are joined as one!	1545
MUSICIANS:	The maid with flowing tresses roamed
	Through Fuenteovejuna’s vale
	And all the while, unknown to her,
	A Knight of Calatrava trailed.
	She hid within the leafy wood,	1550
	Pretending she had spied him not
	And, by turns bashful and abashed,
	Concealed herself amid the copse.
	‘Why do you steal away, fair lass?’
	He asked the maiden in the grove,	1555
	‘You know full well my lynx-eyed love
	Has penetrated walls of stone.’
	The knight approached the maiden who,
	Abashed and quite disquieted,
	Began to fashion jealousies	1560
	From boughs entangled overhead.
	But just as anyone who loves
	Will think it insignificant
	To cross the mountains and the seas,
	The knight asked his fair maid again:	1565
	‘Why do you steal away, fair lass,
	My lovely maiden in the grove?
	You know full well my lynx-eyed love
	Has penetrated walls of stone.’

(Enter the Commander, Flores, Ortuño, and Cimbranos.)

COMMANDER:	Don’t stop the feast on my account.	1570
	Calm now, no need to be distraught.
JUAN ROJO:	We recognize you’re in command,
	But this, sir, is no game you halt.
	Sit here if you would stay. What cause
	Is there for such warlike array?	1575
	Had you some triumph? But, why ask?
FRONDOSO:	Stars, I’m a dead man! Send me aid!
LAURENCIA:	Frondoso, flee while you’ve the chance!
COMMANDER:	Not this time. Bind the peasant tight.
JUAN ROJO:	Resign yourself to prison, son.	1580
FRONDOSO:	I’ll never leave the place alive!
JUAN ROJO:	Why? What is your offense?
COMMANDER:	I’m not
	The sort to kill without due cause
	For, if I were, this cur who stands
	Before us would by now have lost	1585
	His life, run through here by my guard.
	Confine him to a prison cell
	Until his father should pronounce
	The punishment his crime compels.
PASCUALA:	Please, sir, not on his wedding day.	1590
COMMANDER:	Why should these nuptials change my mind?
	Are there no other men in town?
PASCUALA:	You’re able to forgive his crime;
	You have that power.
COMMANDER:	Were I the one
	Aggrieved, Pascuala, then I could.	1595
	But Master Téllez Girón was
	Insulted by this criminal,
	His Order and his honor both,
	And it’s imperative that all
	Bear witness to this punishment	1600
	In case some other foe feels called
	To raise a standard versus his.
	You may have heard one afternoon
	He aimed a crossbow at the chest—
	My vassals, such a loyal group!—	1605
	Of your esteemed commander here.
ESTEBAN:	Sir, if a father-in-law may
	Defend a deed of his new son,
	It isn’t hard to contemplate
	How someone so in love as he	1610
	Might well have rankled with chagrin
	If it is certain you conspired
	To take his wife away from him.
	What swain would not have done the same?
COMMANDER:	You’re talking nonsense, magistrate.	1615
ESTEBAN:	I speak for your own virtue, sir.
COMMANDER:	I’m innocent of all you claim;
	She wasn’t yet his wife back then.
ESTEBAN:	You’re guilty, sir. I’ll say no more
	But rest assured the king and queen	1620
	Who rule Castile will issue forth
	New orders for disorder’s end.
	They’d be remiss, though now at rest
	From war, to suffer that their towns
	And far-flung villages let men	1625
	As powerful and cruel as you
	Display a cross so grandiose.
	This sign is but for noble breasts
	So let it grace the monarch’s robes
	And not the cloaks of lesser men.	1630
COMMANDER:	You, there! Relieve him of the staff.
ESTEBAN:	Obedient, I surrender it.
COMMANDER:	(Striking Esteban.) I’ll use it on you as I’d lash
	An untamed and unruly horse.
ESTEBAN:	As you’re my lord, I must submit.	1635
PASCUALA:	You’d cudgel an old man like that?
LAURENCIA:	He thrashes him because he is
	My sire. Avenge yourself on me!
COMMANDER:	You, take her to the prison grounds
	And station ten guards at her cell.	1640

(The Commander exits with his men.)

ESTEBAN:

Sweet heavens, send your justice down!

(Exit Esteban.)

PASCUALA:

The wedding has become a wake!

(Exit Pascuala.)

BARRILDO:	Who’ll speak? Are there no men around?
MENGO:	I took my licks, thanks much! The welts
	Are red as cardinals on my back	1645
	So save yourselves that trip to Rome!
	Let someone else provoke his wrath.
JUAN ROJO:	We’ll speak to him as one.
MENGO:	Perhaps,
	Though now we’d best let silence reign;
	Don’t you recall they whipped my cheeks	1650
	Till they were pink as salmon steaks?