Lillian Morris, and Other StoriesSienkiewicz, Henryk
General
Lillian Morris, and Other Stories
Sienkiewicz, Henryk
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction; Short stories, Polish -- Translations into English
On the arena remains the motionless body, which, lying now on its
side, seems wonderfully flat. The intestines are carried out quickly
in a basket which is somewhat like a wash-tub, and the public clap
their hands with excitement. Enthusiasm begins to seize them: “Bravo
el toro! Bravo picador!” Eyes are flashing, on faces a flush comes,
a number of hats fly to the arena in honor of the picador. Meanwhile
“el toro,” having drawn blood once, kills a number of other horses. If
his horns are buried not in the belly but under the shoulder of the
horse, a stream of dark blood bursts onto the arena in an uncommon
quantity; the horse rears and falls backward with his rider. A twofold
danger threatens the man: the horns of the bull or, in spite of his
armor, the breaking of his neck. But, as we have said, the body of the
horse becomes a protection to the rider; hence, every picador tries
to receive battle at the edge of the arena, so as to be, as it were,
covered between the body of the horse and the paling. When the bull
withdraws, the picador advances, but only a few steps, so that the
battle never takes place in the centre.
All these precautions would not avail much, and the bull would pierce
the horseman at last, were it not for the capeadors. They press on
the bull, draw away his attention, rush with unheard of boldness
against his rage, saving each moment the life of some participant in
the fight. Once I saw an espada, retreating before the raging beast,
stumble against the head of a dead horse and fall on his back; death
inevitable was hanging over him, the horns of the bull were just ready
to pass through his breast, when suddenly between that breast and the
horns the red capes were moving, and the bull flew after the capes.
It may be said that were it not for that flock of chimpanzees waving
red capes, the work of the picadors would be impossible, and at every
representation as many of them as of horses would perish.
It happens rarely that a picador can stop a bull at the point of a
lance. This takes place only when the bull advances feebly, or the
picador is gifted with gigantic strength of arms, surpassing the
measure of men. I saw two such examples in Madrid, after which came a
hurricane of applause for the picador.
But usually the bull kills horses like flies; and he is terrible when,
covered with sweat, glittering in the sun, with a neck bleeding from
lances and his horns painted red, he runs around the arena, as if in
the drunkenness of victory. A deep bellow comes from his mighty lungs;
at one moment he scatters capeadors, at another he halts suddenly
over the body of a horse, now motionless, and avenges himself on it
terribly,—he raises it on his horns, carries it around the arena,
scattering drops of stiff blood on spectators in the first row; then
he casts it again on the stained sand and pierces it a second time. It
seems to him, evidently, that the spectacle is over, and that it has
ended in his triumph.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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