The Princess and the Puma, by O. Henry

Audiobook

Analysis

Summary

SUMMARY, by Nora Carranza

This O. Henry story occurs in a region with farms, cowboys, ranchers and varied animals, including very dangerous ones.
It is strange to think about a princess in this context, but in fact there existed a complete “royal family”.

The king was an old, terrific farmer, a man who became richer and richer, and finally owned a large extension of land, the Espinosa Ranch, with uncountable cattle, and thus he, Ben O’Donnell, was called “the Cattle King”.
As for the queen, a Mexican girl became a good wife, and somehow succeeded teaching Ben how to behave better or how to manage his thunder-like voice. When the family prosperity arrived to an oppressive point, she quietly abandoned realm and life.

They had a daughter, Josefa, the Princess, who inherited some positive aspects from her parents, being a mild, beautiful, intelligent girl. Moreover, she was incredibly skilled with weapons like few men could be.

An attractive and rich heiress, Josefa was in the marriage plans of Ripley Givens, an Espinosa’s foreman.

One day, Givens arrived to a place called White Crossing; he was tired and far away from the Ranch, and he decided it was better to pass the night there. There was a river with nice water running and great trees. Near the river banks, it grew suitable grass for the horse to eat, and it could be a comfortable bed for Givens himself. The rancher had tobacco and coffee and felt satisfied with his circumstances. Anyway, he laid the pistol belt on the grass: it was necessary to be watchful about the Mexican lions.

Givens was approaching the river for water, when suddenly he discovered unexpected presences. There was a side saddled pony, and rising from the edge of a water hole was Josefa. Not only the pony and Josefa were there, but, at short distance, a terrifying Mexican lion stay hidden in the vegetation. Givens had to do something… his six-shooter was not at hand… so, crying loudly, Givens jumped between the Princess and the beast. At the same time, the man heard two shots and was flattened to the ground by the heavy lion.

While Josefa calmly reloaded her silver mounted 38, with a sarcastic smile in her face, Givens could move from under the dead animal, feeling a defeated knight, his dream about the girl lost and burnt.

Anyway, he immediately came out with a curious explanation, and while touching tenderly the dead lion, he exclaimed “poor old Bill!” Givens version sustained that Bill, his innocent pet, had escaped from the camp, probably exhausted because a little annoying terrier arrived to the site and frightened him. And now poor Bill was hungry, and perhaps he expected Josefa would help him. Josefa couldn’t have known, Givens said, but some reproach appeared in his face.

Josefa seemed deeply ashamed and guilty, also admired Givens, who had risked his life to protect his pet. With tears in her dark, sweet eyes, she asked forgiveness. And Givens yielded.

It was already dark, Josefa should be accompanied to the Espinosa Ranch; consequently, both rode their ponies side by side, hand in hand, along the prairie.

The King appreciated Givens courtesy and offered him to pass the night in the ranch, but the foreman declined and trotted away.

At that point, Josefa proudly referred to her father how she had set two bullets to that killer Mexican lion, the “Gotch-eared Devil”; she recognized the animal for the slice on the left ear that old Gonzales had cut off with his machete. From the dark royal chamber, the thunder royal voice expressed the sincerest approval to the Princess.

QUESTIONS

-Who was Danaë and with is it her relation with the story? And Momus?

-Why didn't Givens tell Josefa the truth about the lion?
-Why did Josefa pretend to believe Givens's lie?
-At the end of the film Speed, after overcoming all the dangers, the male protagonist says to the female star that relationships that arise from extreme situations don't usually last. What is it your view about it?
-According to your opinion, what animals could be treated as pets and which ones not? Do you think animals must have some rights?

VOCABULARY

six-shooters, rattlers, prickly pear, cow-puncher, outfits, yearling, mesquite, gar, sacuista, jar, gouging, rastle, wrangler, quarry, demurred, steers, settled his hash, Bully for you!

The Thing's the Play, by O. Henry

Audiobook

SUMMARY

The story starts with a conversation between a journalist and the narrator. They are in a theatre watching a show. On the stage, there is a man playing the violin. The journalist tells our narrator he had to write a humorous column about the violin player, but his story was so sad that he only could be able to write a tragedy.

But after hearing the story, our narrator disagreed and said he could make a funny tale of it. And here you go:

Frank Barry and John Delaney were bosom friends. They both were in love with the same woman, a girl of 18 called Helen. But as Helen only loved Frank, she got married to him and John was just the best man. However, after the wedding ceremony, when the happy couple were on the point of going on their honeymoon, John ran to see Helen while she was alone in her room to declare his passionate love for her, entreating her to run away with him and forget her husband. But Helen didn’t think at all about forgetting her husband and rejected Frank outright. John, desperate, apologized and said he would disappear into exotic countries to try to make up for his disappointment.

But casually, Frank saw John kissing Helen’s hand to say goodbye forever and thought his just married wife was having an affair with his best friend. Frank, desperate, run away from Helen’s home and never came back.

Twenty years passed by without any news from Frank or John. Helen Barry was now the owner of her mother’s shop and lived alone. She was 38, but her beauty never had faded. She got proposals, but her answer was always, “I’m a married woman.”

However, the business didn’t go so well as before, and she had to rent two rooms of her house.

She didn’t have to wait long for tenants. One of them was a violin player called Ramonti who was looking for a quieter place to live in, and Helen’s house was perfect for his ears.

After a time, another tenant came. This man was very chatty and told Helen a lot of stories and showed certain admiration for the landlady. Helen thought that he could be her lost husband, but she didn’t want to betray herself so early: he wanted to punish him a little for his long absence.

But one evening, Ramonti stated his love for Helen. He was a quiet and friendly man, but he had amnesia: he didn’t know exactly who was and what was his previous life because he had had an accident and had lost all his old memories. He only knew how to play the violin and that he loved her devotedly.

Helen felt joyous again, as when she was young. Still, she rejected him with the old sentence “I’m a married woman”, and he had to go back to his room and play the violin.

An hour later, the second tenant appeared and revealed to Helen who he was: he was John Delaney and his love for her was intact. He knelt down before her as twenty years before and kissed her hand asking her to marry him. He also told her that that fateful wedding day he met her husband on the street and, out of irrepressible jealousy, punched him; Frank fell down, hit his head on the ground, was unconscious and had to be carried to a hospital. Nevertheless, John didn't know for sure if Frank was dead or alive.

And all of a sudden, all was clear for Helen ―she knew what she had to do.

 

 

QUESTIONS?

-Is it possible to love two men or two women at the same time? Have you seen the film Keeping the Faith?

-The narrator says one should get elated if one had had a secure husband and, in addition, a devoted admirer. Would you feel the same way? Have you seen Beröringen, by Bergman?

-In which context does Hamlet say the sentence “The play is the thing”: I’ll have grounds / More relative than this —the play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King? What does the phrase exactly mean? Why in our story is it the other way round, “The thing is the play”?

-What do you know about The House that Jack Built?

-What stories do you remember about amnesic people?

 

VOCABULARY

fell down on, write up, hooks, curtain raiser, stationery, best man, gibbering, hominy, fire-escape, babble, amaranth, galluptious, legal cap, quaint, innuendo