ESCARMIENTOS PARA EL CUERDO

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REPARTO

I

Manuel de Sosa has come to Goa, a Portuguese possession near India, from Dío, where he has serve for three years. García de Sá, the governor of Goa, hears from Manuel of the feats of the Portuguese against the Turks in Dío and learns that the Indian rulers, King Safidín and Queen Rosambuca, are to be baptized as Christians. Carballo, Manuel's lackey, recognizes María, who is dressed as a man and serves Da. Leonor, García's daughter, as a page. María explains to Carballo that she has come seeking Manuel, who promised to marry her and who has with him their son, Diaguito.

In the meantime, García tells Manuel that he wants Leonor to marry Juan de Mascareña, but she is not interested. He says that Leonor admires Manuel very much, after having met him when she and her father visited him in Dío nine months before. He wants Manuel to intercede with Leonor on behalf of Juan. Manuel agrees, but he really loves Leonor himself. Leonor gives María a note for Manuel, which María reads. It tells Manuel that Leonor runs a great risk and must see him to tell him of it. María, upset and jealous, plans to tell García.

García gives Juan hope of marrying Leonor and sends him to escort Safidín back to Tanor. Isabel, Leonor's cousin, appears in the dark, and mistaking García for Manuel, hands him a baby that she says is his. García, confused, cannot think how Manuel could have fathered a child in Goa. Then he remembers that Leonor was in Dío nine months before, as was Isabel. He is perplexed as to which is the mother. Manuel comes, and García hands him the baby. Carballo tells Manuel that María is there -- now Manuel has two wives and two children!

II

Manuel promises María that everything will be all right, telling her that he loved her first and will love Leonor for her, but he says she must sail with Juan to Tanor so that he can straighten out things and join her there. She is suspicious, but agrees. Meanwhile, García talks to Carballo, who, fearing that otherwise he will be tortured, tells him that Leonor is the baby's mother. Furious, García thinks of killing all three, but concludes that everyone would know his dishonor that way, so he decides it is best to have Manuel and Leonor marry and thus save his honor. Confronted with this decision, Manuel worries about María but has no choice. Just before the marriage he trips and cuts his hand on his sword, which he interprets as a bad omen. García says that they will save his honor and he will give Leonor a big dowry, but he does not want to see them until he gets over his anger, so they are to go to Portugal.

In the meantime María, Juan, and Diaguito are on a ship ready to go to Tanor when Carballo comes and asks that Diaguito go to see Manuel for a little while. He says that Manuel is to sail to Portugal, that Leonor and Juan are to marry, and that María and Manuel will be able to live in Portugal. Manuel wants Diaguito to visit him for a few minutes. Diaguito goes and then the servants bring letters to Juan and María saying that Manuel and Leonor are married and on their way to Portugal, taking Diaguito with them. Diaguito calls to María from the ship as it sails by. She wishes all evil to the ship, but retracts the curse because, after all, Diaguito is on board.

III

Juan says that he will set out to find Manuel and Leonor so that García, who is upset because he now knows María's story, can avenge his honor. In the meantime, a storm throws Manuel and the others ashore in Mozambique among cannibals. Since there are five hundred of the Portuguese, they think they can last the winter. The natives capture Carballo, however, and tigers and a lack of food kill nearly four hundred Portuguese. The natives say that if they will turn over their weapons they will feed them through the winter. Although they are suspicious, Manuel thinks they should acquiesce in order to stay alive. Leonor, incidentally, has been very courageous through all these tribulations. Finally Manuel gives their arms to the natives, over the protest of the others. The natives immediately attack them. Manuel takes Leonor and the children to a safe spot and goes back to look for the others to make weapons of wood and whatever they can find. The natives take Leonor and a tiger gets Diaguito. Manuel returns and does not know which of the two to try to save, but it is really too late for either.

Juan, María and García, who have been searching for them, have to stop to ride out a storm nearby. Carballo comes and tells them to hurry to help Manuel and the others, but a sailor arrives and says it is too late. The tiger killed Diaguito, Leonor buried herself alive to avoid the attacks of the natives, who had forced her to undress, and Manuel ran off into the forest and no doubt is dead by now. They are all saddened by this most unhappy news, with María and García deeply grieved.