QUIEN NO CAE, NO SE LEVANTA

QuNoC

Escena: En Florencia y sus inmediaciones

REPARTO

Todos son italianos menos Da. Clara y Arrebata-capas.

I

Cleandro, who is about to leave Florence to go visit his dying sister, admonishes his daughter, Margarita, to be careful while he is gone. She complains that he scolds her too much and threatens to become a nun, whereupon he apologizes to her and asks her not to enter a convent. After he leaves, Alberto, dressed as a peddler, comes and leaves a note for Margarita. The message is from Valerio, Margarita's lover, who has been away for a year because Cleandro caught him with Margarita and he has been afraid to come to see her. He has heard that Cleandro is out of town, though, and therefore is sending a sedan chair with two black men to bring Margarita to him that night. Leonela, Margarita's servant, is attracted to Alberto.

In the meantime, Lelio, whose house Valerio plans to use for his meeting with Margarita, also is in love with Margarita. He has gotten the black men drunk, and he and Britón have blackened their faces and plan to take the sedan chair to steal Margarita for Lelio. On the way they meet Alberto, who goes along with them. They get Margarita, and Alberto plans to return later to see Leonela. In order to get rid of Alberto (so that he will not know that they are taking Margarita for Lelio), Lelio and Britón pick a fight with him and chase him away. While they are occupied with Alberto, Cleandro returns, having decided not to go to visit his sister, opting instead to stay home and protect his honor. Seeing the sedan chair, he gets into it. Lelio and Britón come back and pick up the chair, but at this point Valerio appears and opens the door of the sedan chair, only to be greeted by Cleandro, who tells him that Margarita has told him of his plan to meet with her. Valerio flees, thinking that he has seen the devil, not Cleandro.

II

Lelio urges his wife, Lisarda, to give him her jewels, swearing that he hoes not want them for gambling. She refuses, telling him that she thinks he wants them for Margarita and that she is jealous. Her uncle, Roselio, defends her, but Lelio takes the jewelry, slaps Lisarda and knocks Roselio down and kicks him. Valerio, who is Roselio's son, arrives soon after Lelio's departure, and upon hearing the story of what has happened, he swears to make Lelio pay.

Elsewhere Leonela advises Margarita that she ought not to associate with Lelio, because he is married. Margarita is unconcerned, however, saying that she has had affairs with bachelors and now she would like to try a married man. Soon after this, when Margarita is left alone, a voice speaks to her and tells her that she should not be that way, that she has two choices, the flowery road to a crown of fire or the religious and righteous road to a golden crown of glory. Margarita has a vision of the crown of fire and then of the crown of glory. Frightened by what she has seen and heard, Margarita decides to take the way to God and glory. Fights erupt between Lelio and Valerio (because of Lelio's treatment of Roselio and Lisarda), between Roselio and Cleandro (because Roselio does not want Valerio to marry Margarita) and between Britón and Alberto (over Leonela). Margarita then learns from Britón that Lelio has wounded Valerio seriously and that Roselio has wounded her father, though not too badly. Lelio has taken refuge in a church. She decides to go there to see him, and she hears Fray Domingo de Guzmán speaking there. He is an excellent speaker, and she is very moved by what he says and begins to take off her jewels and clothing in order to give them to the poor. She is now convinced that she will follow the religious life.

III

For a year Margarita has been devout and stayed at home and prayed, as has Leonela. Now Lelio and Britón return, and Lelio bribes Leonela to let him hide in Margarita's room. Meanwhile, Valerio, pretending to be unconscious on account of having been thrown by a horse, is brought in by Pinardo and Alberto. He tries to persuade Margarita to let him make love to her, but she, instead, calls for help and Lelio appears. Valerio, of course, assumes that she knew Lelio was there all the time. Valerio challenges Lelio to a fight, but before leaving, Lelio tells Margarita that she must let him come back because he loves her so much he cannot live without her. She consents, and they embrace. Cleandro enters at this moment and, upon seeing them, is beside himself with rage, planning to burn down the house in order to restore his honor and even threatening to kill himself. He departs in a rage, and Lelio suggests to Margarita that they flee to Naples, leaving her to think about this idea. She is undecided; at first she plans to stay, then, to go with Lelio, but when she starts to follow him, she falls. This happens three times. A handsome guardian angel comes and picks her up and tells her that it is not too late for her to get up again, saying "Quien no cae, no se levanta." She loves him deeply on sight, and when he goes to the bed she goes to him. He takes her hand and they rise together toward heaven.

Valerio and Lelio are fighting, in spite of the fact that Lisarda and Roselio beg them not to, when Cleandro comes to tell them that Margarita has resisted temptation and has given herself to God. She is then seen, as in a vision, in a garden with many roses, with her hair loose and her eyes toward heaven, in a pose reminiscent of Mary Magdalene. They all admire the transformation. Lisarda and Lelio reconcile their differences and vow to be a happy couple from now on. Cleandro and Roselio are to serve a religious order, as are Leonela, Britón and Alberto. Valerio is to marry Matilde, Lelio's sister, and at the end Cleandro points out that Margarita serves as a good example of how one who never falls never rises.