or back to the map of the Vega of Granada
This village is worthy of mention for being the birthplace of Dolores Cuesta, "La Colorina" (the Goldfinch). A maid in the Lorca household from the time she came to Fuente Vaqueros as wetnurse for Francisco (b.1902), her colourful way of talking, her sense of humour and her vitality are frequently reflected in the poet's works.
There is certainly something of her in the "old pagan woman"
in Yerma and in Doña Rosita la soltera the housekeeper
is modelled on her. (All the maids in Lorca's works, says Francisco, bear some
ressemblance to her, while the one in Doña Rosita... is almost
identical.(see the extract below from Doña Rosita, which reveals
the character of the housekeeper.)
She had an innate sense of social justice which derived from an elemental Christian
feeling (says Paco García Lorca, In the Green Morning...). Her
father was known in Láchar as "el pae santo" (the blesséd Father).
Yet this Christian feeling was not meek and submissive; it was outspoken and
independent. She had a certain natural morality, but not hypocritical, and tolerant
of sexual transgressions.
Lorca liked to dress up the maids in extravagant theatrical costumes. Once he dared Dolores to go to the main door of the Cervantes Theatre in Granada dressed in a particularly bizarre attire, which she did without hesitation, buying a bag of peanuts from the kiosk to prove she had been there.
When Lorca spoke of the role of the maids as being a source for bourgeois children of popular songs and folklore, it was principally of Dolores he was thinking (says Paco).
Dolores stayed with Lorca's family until the children were all grown up and then she went to live with a married sister. But she always maintained her friendship with the family. When Lorca's travelling theatre group La Barraca performed in Granada in October 1932, Dolores was invited to a first-row seat to see La vida es sueño.
| AMA: (...) A mí las flores me huelen
a niño muerto, o a profesión de monja, o a altar de iglesia.
A cosas tristes. Donde esté una naranja o un buen membrillo, que
se quiten las rosas del mundo. Pero aquí... rosas por la derecha,
albahaca por la izquierda, anémonas, salvias, petunias y esas flores
de ahora, de moda, los crisantemos, despeinados como unas cabezas de gitanillas.
¡Qué ganas tengo de ver plantados en este jardín en
peral, un cerezo, un caqui! TÍA: ¡Para comértelos! AMA: Como quien tiene boca... Como decían en mi pueblo: La boca sirve para comer, las piernas sirven para la danza, y hay una cosa de mujer... (Se detiene y se acerca a la TÍA y lo dice bajo.) TÍA: ¡Jesús! (Signando.) AMA: Son indecencias de los pueblos. (Signando.) |
HOUSEKEEPER: (...) For me, flowers smell
of dead children, of nuns, or of church altars. Of sad things. Give me an
orange or a good quince any day, and you can keep all the roses in the world.
But here... roses to the right, bazil to the left, anemonies, sage, petunias
and these modern flowers that are all the rage, chrisanthemums, with their
hair sticking up like little gypsy children. How I'd like to see a pear
tree, a cherry tree, or a kaki planted in this garden . AUNT: So you can eat them! HOUSEKEEPER: As may anyone who has a mouth...As they say in my village: You have a mouth so you can eat and legs so you can dance ans a woman has a certain thing (She breaks off and whispers in the aunt's ear.) AUNT: Lord Almighty! (Crossing herself.) HOUSEKEEPER: The vulgarities of country folk. (Crosses herself.) |
