ANTONA GARCÍA

 AntGar  

Escena: ¿En toro y sus cercanías en Salamanca? Salamanca to Medina del Campo inn of Mollorido.

REPARTO

I

During the Guerra de la Beltraneja Queen Isabel is involved in a campaign to retake Toro and Zamora. She, the Almirante de Castilla, and Don Antonio de Fonseca meet some villagers celebrating the wedding of Antona García and Juan de Monroy. Antona declares her loyalty to the Queen; the Queen advises her to be an obedient wife and gives her a chain. Also present at the wedding is Bartolo, who wants to marry Gila, one of the village girls.

After the departure of the Queen and her party, the Conde de Penamacor and Don Basco come by, and the Count, who is Portuguese and therefore lovesick (seboso), admires Antona's beauty and decides to make her acquaintance by pretending to be waiting there for someone. In fact, he is on a secret reconnaissance expedition for the Portuguese, and he sends Basco on ahead to carry on the mission and to wait for him. The Count engages Antona in a conversation in which he flatters her and flirts with her, but she rebuffs him, telling him that she is married. His attraction to her and her powers of persuasion are such that she is able to convert him temporarily to the cause of Fernando and Isabel. The return of Basco with the news that Toro has declared itself in favor of Juana brings him back to reality, however, while Antona vows that Fernando and Isabel will reign in Toro.

II

The Count appears, carrying the Portuguese flag and accompanied by Don Basco, Doña María Sarmiento, Juan de Ulloa, and some nobles. At the same time a group of peasants, carrying the flag of Castile, arrive from another direction. Juan de Ulloa informs the peasants that he is in charge in Toro and that they should follow his lead and that of the nobles, who know best, and accept Alfonso and Juana. His wife, María Sarmiento, then makes a more impassioned speech, calling the villagers "bárbaros" and making threats of violence against them if they do not agree to support the Portuguese, at the same time mentioning that the Portuguese would not tax them. Following María, Antona speaks, identifying herself with the people as uneducated, but guided by God. She asks why they should accept Juana, the dead King's doubtful daughter, when they can have Isabel, who is his certain sister, as their queen. She points out that the Duque de Albuquerque, Don Beltrán de la Cueva, supports Isabel's claim to the throne - and surely he ought to be able to answer the question of Juana's legitimacy.

The villagers declare themselves for Isabel, and Antona advises them to fight Juan de Ulloa and the others if Ulloa so chooses. The villagers, who are unarmed, have to use farm implements and sticks to defend themselves. Antona uses a flagpole as a weapon, but the Count intervenes and tries to stop the fight between her and some soldiers. María drops a large rock on Antona from above knocking her down and rendering her unconscious. The Count protects her from María, who wants to kill her. Finally María agrees to let Antona be the Count's prisoner, after he swears not to let her go. María still wants Antona dead, however, because she believes that Alfonso cannot capture Toro as long as Antona lives.

In the meantime, the Queen is awaiting Fernando, who hopes to conquer Zamora with the aid of his followers there. Bartolo brings her the news that Antona has been captured, Juan de Monroy has been killed by the Portuguese, and Bartolo's donkey has been taken captive. Antonio promises him a mare to replace the donkey, but Bartolo, who is very fond of his lost mount, is not consoled. In order to satisfy Bartolo, Antonio says that he will give him enough money to buy two donkeys. Alvaro de Mendoza arrives at this point to tell them that Fernando has taken Zamora and is on his way to join them.

Still a prisoner, Antona tells the Count that she likes him but that there are obstacles to their relationship: 1) she is married; 2) he is Portuguese; and 3) she is a peasant and he, a count. She learns from the Count of the death of her husband, and, although saddened, she does not weep. Rather, she vents her feelings by getting angry with the Count and telling him to leave. After his departure she conceives a plan to set fire to her straw bed with a candle and to escape in the confusion in order to avenge herself on María. Meanwhile, María is trying to convince the Count that Antona must be done away with in order for them to take Toro and keep the peasants on the Portuguese side. He is still in disagreement with her when Antona starts the fire, escapes, and comes to threaten María with a bedpost. The Count protects María, interposing himself between the two women and telling Antona to flee. Antona leaves, calling out to the peasants in support of Fernando and Isabel.

III

On her way from Salamanca to Medina del Campo in search of the Queen, Antona meets her cousin, Pero Alonso. Since Antona has not eaten all day, they stop at the Inn of Mollorido although Pero says the food there is bad. Four Portuguese travelers are at the inn, talking to the innkeeper's wife, when Antona and Pero arrive. Shortly afterward, several Castilians arrive and strike up a conversation with the Portuguese. Having eaten something, Antona joins this conversation, revealing who she is and eventually driving the Portuguese, who have not yet eaten, from the Inn with a wooden bench.

Antona invites Pero and the Castilians to join her in finishing her meal, but before she is able to start eating again she tells them that she is about to give birth and will eat later. The innkeeper's wife takes Antona to another room, saying that Antona will have to stay in bed a month, but Antona scoffs at that idea. Soon Velasco and Padilla arrive at the Inn, bringing the Count with them as their prisoner. Antona and the innkeeper's wife return after Antona has given birth to a baby girl. Although Antona wants to care for her daughter herself, she is concerned about the war and asks the innkeeper's wife to take charge of the baby. She fears that it is a bad omen that the baby was born in an inn, but the innkeeper's wife disagrees.

Antona learns from the Count that Alvaro de Mendoza defeated him near Toro and took him prisoner. She wants to free him, since he had saved her, and she asks the innkeeper’s wife to feed him and Pero to saddle a mount so that he can return to Toro. She has to handle Velasco and Padilla roughly to get them to accede to this idea. At this point Antona begins to feel bad again and concludes that she is about to have another baby. She again goes with the innkeeper's wife and delivers another girl. When she returns after the birth of her second daughter, Antona tells the Count that she is fond of him and would marry him, except that having babies is so painful. She finally agrees to marry him on the condition that he will have the boys, and she the girls. With the babies strapped to her like saddlebags, Antona then departs to continue her search for the Queen, while the Count is to return to Toro.

In the meantime Fernando and Isabel, along with their followers, are on their way to Toro. They plan to forgive all their enemies, because they realize that many believed that Juana was the rightful heir to the throne. Bartolo explains that there is a way to enter Toro by fording the Duero river and the climbing a steep precipice that the Portuguese have left unguarded in the belief that the Castilians could not get through it. Bartolo, however, has taken his sheep that way many times and assures them that they can scale the precipice. Antona appears, with the twins still strapped to her, vouches for Bartolo's loyalty and urges them to follow his plan. Leaving the babies with the Queen, Antona joins Antonio and Bartolo in the expedition over the precipice, and they are successful in getting through. They kill the Portuguese guards so that the Castilians can cross the bridge to enter Toro. Then the three of them appear on the wall as the Castilians are defeating the Portuguese and taking Toro. Antona is anxious to find María to make her pay for Juan's death. Antona states that this is only half the story, that Tirso will tell the rest in a second volume.