In this fifth instalment of Il Drago, Don Paolo comes back to life. After the unexpected battle between the Old Dragon and the Witch, the children’s old lives with her have been swept away. Don Paolo’s long dead daughters, Lisa and Giovanna, have risen from the grave. And the Old Dragon has much to do. The previous instalments of Il Drago are accessible at the end of this article.
The Resurrection of Don Paolo
Within two days the house was unrecognizable. In one room, two made up beds could be seen, one next to the other. The Old Dragon had put them together, assisted by the two girls, who had entertained themselves helping him as they could. Don Paolo dragged the mattresses up into the sun on the terrace above. He had beaten them, and then remade the beds, digging through the drawers for bed sheets (although they were yellowed with age).
The first night, however, the children had had to make do sleeping in their clothes on a mattress spread out on the chairs. It was an improvised bed, but better than the miserable cubicle in which the Witch had had them sleep.
Don Paolo was a new man; with smiling eyes, and a face glowing with his unexpected happiness. He came, he went, tidying, cleaning, sweeping, saying:
“Lisa, do this. Giovanna, do that”.
It was like a time long ago, when his daughters were alive, and he had wanted them active, industrious, never with idle hands, so that they would turn out to be good homemakers.
He didn’t think of his wife much. He remembered her as sickly, shrunken by her confinement to her sitting chair where she would pass the entire day coughing and lamenting the hundred ills that afflicted her. To him, it seemed she was better off in the next world, where there were neither respiratory nor other illness.
The illusion he had created that his daughters had sprung back to life, was enough for him. And so from moment to moment he would call out:
“Lisa, Giovanna, are you hungry? The bread is over there; and cheese as well.”
The children lacked confidence to take it for themselves, so he would open the drawer, pulling out the loaf and cutting two generous pieces. He carved off two slices of cheese and offered it to them with a maternal gesture, smiling when he saw that they had a good appetite.
“I’ll have a mouthful myself.” And he ate together with them.
He felt youthful again.
Image
On the Doorstep by Giuseppe Bruno. 1880s, photograph taken in Limina, in the province of Messina.
In this third instalment of Il Drago by Luigi Capuana we learn how Don Paolo became "Dragone". Who is this fearsome old man who chased the children away when they begged in the streets? And took them in, in what all said was a miracle? And how was it that the Dragone was unmade? The Making and Unmaking of Don Paolo Dragone…
From a master of Italian verismo comes a classic short story of the genre, but with a twist. As characters come into conflict with each other, and “the Dragon” with himself, Capuana weaves together the grimness of real life with threads of subtle fairytale. For the first time translated into English by Michael Curtotti, The Dragon the Witch and the Daughters, transports us…
From a master of Italian verismo comes a classic short story of the genre, but with a twist. As characters come into conflict with each other, and “the Dragon” with himself, Capuana weaves together the grimness of real life with threads of subtle fairytale. For the first time translated into English by Michael Curtotti, The Dragon the Witch and the Daughters, transports us…
From a master of Italian verismo comes a classic short story of the genre, but with a twist. As characters come into conflict with each other, and “the Dragon” with himself, Capuana weaves together the grimness of real life with threads of subtle fairytale. For the first time translated into English by Michael Curtotti, The Dragon the Witch and the Daughters, transports us…
From a master of Italian verismo comes a classic short story of the genre, but with a twist. As characters come into conflict with each other, and “the Dragon” with himself, Capuana weaves together the grimness of real life with threads of subtle fairytale. For the first time translated into English by Michael Curtotti, The Dragon the Witch and the Daughters, transports us…
From a master of Italian verismo comes a classic short story of the genre, but with a twist. As characters come into conflict with each other, and “the Dragon” with himself, Capuana weaves together the grimness of real life with threads of subtle fairytale. For the first time translated into English by Michael Curtotti, The Dragon the Witch and the Daughters, transports us…
From a master of Italian verismo comes a classic short story of the genre, but with a twist. As characters come into conflict with each other, and “the Dragon” with himself, Capuana weaves together the grimness of real life with threads of subtle fairytale. For the first time translated into English by Michael Curtotti, The Dragon the Witch and the Daughters, transports us…
In this third instalment of Il Drago by Luigi Capuana we learn how Don Paolo became "Dragone". Who is this fearsome old man who chased the children away when they begged in the streets? And took them in, in what all said was a miracle? And how was it that the Dragone was unmade? The Making and Unmaking of Don Paolo Dragone…
