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DCF III-1, Doc. 120
YESTERDAY AND TODAY
HONTEM E HOJE
The Lady of Fátima
A Senhora da Fátima
On a rainy, gloomy autumn Saturday, an ill-fated thirteenth, when, as punishment for our sins, the sunlight did not lay its velvet over the landscape in soft, pale golden tones, the people of my home town, given to superstitions and miracles, to mystical delights and singular supernaturalisms, all set off on the long trek, bundles on their heads, skirts hitched up, legs showing, the flower of innocence perfuming their breasts. There was a portentous apparition at Fátima.
Num sabado chuvoso e sorumbatico de Outono, num funesto dia treze, em que para castigo das nossas culpas a luz do sol não aveludou a paizagem em macíos e palidos tons dourados, a gente da minha terra afeita a crendices e a milagres, a misticos gosos e a sobrenaturalismos singulares, foi-se toda ela de longada, taleigos á cabeça, saias alteadas, de perna a vêr-se, a flôr da ingenuidade a perfumar-lhe o peito. Havia uma aparição portentosa na Fátima.
For many long hours they streamed past: swarms of the deluded and the good, likeable legions of the curious, and shaggy herds of fanatics, greedy to the point of voracity for the lofty blessings of heaven. All of them, old men, beggars, lads and lasses, thrilled with the same sincere emotion and felt themselves brothers in sharing the same Happiness.
Durante muitas longas horas passaram chusmas de iludidos e bons, legiões simpaticas de curiosos, e manadas hirsutas de fanaticos, avidos até á voracidade das altas bençãos divinas: todos, velhos, mendigos, rapazes, cachopas, vibravam na mesma emoção sincera, e sentiam-se irmãos na partilha da mesma Felicidade.
On reaching Leiria, some cut through the Anjos quarter and up the steep slope of Pouzos, others went straight on towards Cortes and the barren heaths of Reguengo. But they did not stop, did not waste even the moment of a glance, and cared nothing for what was going on around them. They stood out for their churchy, sanctimonious, feeble droning.
Chegados a Leiria uns cortavam pelo bairro dos Anjos e pela ingreme ladeira dos Pouzos, outros seguiam em direitura ás Cortes e ás charnecas safaras do Reguengo — mas não paravam, não esbanjavam o instante duma olhadela, não queriam saber do que em torno ia. Faziam-se notar pela sua lenga-lenga padresca, beata e chóchinha.
What was it all about?
De que se tratava?
What were all these exertions for?
A que vinham tamanhas canceiras?
What mysterious power of suggestion was drawing them?
Que misteriosa força de sugestão os atraía?
A rare episode. It so happened that out Fátima way, on a patch of uncultivated ground, the Virgin had promised to come down and speak to the people of Portugal. With her almighty and beneficent love she would dry the tears in the eyes of the sorrowful, opening in them the Elysian look of Joy; she would wipe the oppressive blackness of their affliction from dark hearts, and mouths drawn in a rictus of infinite pain would blossom, pure and fresh, into the faltering music of Laughter. The Virgin, alighting hieratic and serene on the top of an oak, was to sanctify the world and deliver it from its ills. And so the blind, the paralysed, the sick, the whole leprous throng of the surrounding district, were surely carrying there the nauseating misery of their flesh, in the indestructible hope that it would throb once more with surges of healthy life. And so the people of my home town, given as they are to superstitions, to miracles and to credulities, set off, taking the cross for a new pilgrimage.
Um episódio raro. É que p'rás bandas da Fátima, num pedaço de chão inculto, a Virgem prometera descer, e falar ao povo de Portugal: com o seu amor omnipotente e benefico secaria as lagrimas nos olhos dos tristes, rasgando neles a elisea expressão da Alegria, limparia nos corações negros o negrume opressivo da sua aflição e bôcas contraidas num rictus de infinita dôr desabrochariam puras e frescas para a musica titubeante do Riso. A Virgem, ao pousar hieratica e serena no cocuruto duma carvalheira, havia de santificar o mundo e livral-o de seus males: por isso cegos, paraliticos, doentes, toda a gafaria dos arredores lá levava decerto a miseria nauseante da sua carne, na esperança indestructivel de que ela de novo palpitaria em assomos de vida sã. E o povo da minha terra porque é afeito a crendices, a milagres, e a superstições, vá de cruzar-se para uma nova romaria.
Many went, as many as could: a superb, silent cohort of visionaries, dressed in rags, as lacking in beauty as it was rich in illusions and messianic dreams!
Foram muitos, quantos puderam: sobre cohorte silenciosa de visionarios, coberta de andrajos, tão falha de beleza como rica de ilusões e sonhos mespianicos!
They reached the friendly, protective shade of the oak and, like herds of wild beasts, lay down to rest, dead tired, and with their bundles beside them told their beads over and over. The Virgin would cure them. The Virgin was good and merciful, and would without doubt come to their aid. And they never stopped praying, with the devout recollection of medieval pilgrims. The Virgin had even promised to announce the end of the war*; some of the more pessimistic thought that this end would not be the end of the war but the end of the world.
Chegaram á sombra amiga e protectora da carvalheira, e, como manadas de feras, repouzaram mortos de fadiga, e com os taleigos ao lado desfiaram muitas vezes as camandulas. A Virgem havia de os curar. A Virgem era boa e piedosa, e sem duvida havia de socorrel-os. E não cessavam de rezar num devoto recolhimento de peregrinos medievos. A Virgem até prometera anunciar o fim da guerra: pensavam uns certos mais pessimistas, que este fim não era o da guerra mas o do mundo.
And then, what bizarre emotions! Were the tragic scenes, the sinister episodes of the year one thousand* about to be repeated?! Nothing definite was known, but for everyone something tremendous was in the air. Were Aeschylus and Shakespeare perhaps collaborating on a colossal work of unheard-of novelty and hair-raising intensity?
E então que emoções bizarras! Iam-se repetir as scenas tragicas, os lances sinistros do ano mil?! Nada se sabia de positivo, mas para todos andava coisa tremenda no ar. Esquilo e Shakespeare acaso colaboravam numa obra colossal de inedito e de arripiante intensidade?
What would come of it? Where were they hurling us?
Que resultaria? Onde nos pricipitavam?
And from the countryside the crowds poured out in ceaseless cascades. The whole world was descending on Fátima. In September fifteen thousand people were counted, but now the frenzy was whirling through people's minds like a cyclone, Faith had risen on a stronger tide, and there was no dyke that could hold back the wave.
E dos campos as multidões jorravam em catadupas incessantes. O mundo inteiro desabava na Fátima, em setembro contaram quinze mil pessoas, mas agora a vertigem ciclonava mais os espiritos, a Fé subira em maré mais forte e não havia dique que detivesse a onda.
And black waves of misery, livid, choppy waves of terror rolled in one after another...
E ondas negras de miseria, ondas lividas e crespas de terror rolaram umas após outras...
* * *
* * *
And what happened on that patch of uncultivated ground where the Virgin had promised to come down and speak to the people of Portugal? At about two in the afternoon, one of the three children, who were praying beside the oak, made a sign, and the whole mob knelt down at once. Then the sun, breaking through the clouds, blazed up with a brighter glow and girded itself with a dark ring. It soon took on a moon-like pallor, and then became stained with a fluid blue, a sickly yellow and other faded hues. Finally it was shaken by irregular, jerky movements: it trembled, trembled, and then lay still and silent. With the sudden changes of colour the landscape altered and lost its sharpness, and its harsher outlines softened into a vague haze.
E que sucedeu naquele pedaço de chão inculto, onde a Virgem prometera descer e falar ao povo de Portugal? Cerca das duas horas da tarde uma das tres creanças, que oravam junto da carvalheira, acenou e a turba-multa ajoelhou a um tempo. Então o sol, rompendo das nuvens acendeu-se num fulgor mais vivo, cingiu-se de um circulo escuro, ganhou logo uma palidez de lua, que em seguida se manchou dum azul fluido, dum amarelo doente, de outras tonalidades esmaiadas. Sacudiram-n'o por fim movimentos irregulares, descompassados — tremeu, tremeu, e quedou silencioso. Com as bruscas mudanças de côr a paizagem modificou-se, perdeu a sua nitidez, suavisaram-se numa bruma vaga os seus contornos mais duros.
The women clenched their hands together, white with amazement, fixed their imploring eyes on the sky and struck poses dishevelled with fervour and ecstasy. "Lovely sun! What a lovely thing! There she comes!" were the exclamations that rose in a volley of ohs and ahs. And that was that. The miracle had been confined to magical changes of scenery, singular gymnastics of the sun, dazzling pyrotechnics in the clouds and the most outlandish decompositions of light: an all-too-ethereal miracle, hovering at a certain height, to be looked at from afar, the way one sees Braga*, and one that did not deign to come down as far as the tops of the hills and the oaks. But all my informants swear that they saw extraordinary things in the sun, which in no way disturbs my own critical judgement.
As mulheres enclavinhavam as mãos, brancas de assombro, pregavam no ceu os olhos implorativos, e tinham atitudes desmanchadas de fervor e extasi: "Lindo sol! Que linda coisa! Ali vem ela!" eram as exclamações que subiam numa esfusiada de ohs e ahs. E pronto. O milagre restringira-se a mutações feericas de scenario, a ginasticas singulares do sol, a pirotecnias relumbrantes feitas nas nuvens, ás mais estramboticas decomposições de luz — um milagre etereo demais, pairante a um certo nivel, para vêr de longe como se vê Braga e que não se dignou descer até aos cocurutos dos montes e das carvalheiras. Mas todos os meus informadores juram que viram no sol extraordinarias coisas — o que nada perturba a minha critica pessoal.
I know well how poetic our people are, and how given to consoling mirages: they would rather live in the fleeting enjoyment of happy images than in tormenting contact with bitter realities. How many dozens of miracles are told of the time of the Restoration*? How many old men, worn down by grief, did not glimpse in the distant mists of the sea the heroic, chivalrous, youthful figure of Dom Sebastião*? And how many others did not nurture the hope of the Fifth Empire*?
Eu bem sei como o nosso povo é poeta e afeito a consoladoras miragens: prefere viver no gozo rapido de ledas imagens do que no contacto supliciante de amargas realidades. Quantas dezenas de milagres se contam na época da restauração? Quantos velhos ralados de desgosto não surpreenderam nas nevoas distantes do mar a figura heroica, cavalheirosa, e moça de D. Sebastião? E quantos outros não alimentaram a esperança do Quinto Imperio?
There have always been miraculous things among our romantic common folk, from gnomes, vampires and the philosopher's stone to witches, werewolves and goblins, and it is with these old deceptions that life is embellished and tinged with charm. Today, as yesterday, no one can do without the miracle; and so, when there is none, one is invented in the literature of a Julio Verne, a Wells or a Poe. Nobody goes without a miracle: everyone laughs at Fátima and everyone goes there, some this month, the rest the next. I myself, were it not for the lingering effects of an illness, would have gone along with my friends. And why not? It is in the setting where we feel best, most enchanted and closest to ourselves that we are all unrepentant miracle-seekers.
Coisas milagrosas houve-as sempre entre o povo romantico desde os gnomos, os vampiros, a pedra filosofal, até ás bruxas, lobis-homens e aos duendes — e destas velhas trapaças é que a vida se embeleza e se tinge de sedução. Hoje, como hontem, não se dispensa o milagre: e assim quando ele não existe, inventa-se na literatura dum Julio Verne, dum Wells e dum Poe. Ninguem passa sem um milagre: todos se riem da Fátima e todos lá vão, este mez uns, no outro os restantes. Eu mesmo se não fossem vestigios de doença, teria ido na companhia dos amigos. E porque não? É no meio, onde nos sentimos melhor, mais encantados, mais proximos de nós mesmos que sômos uns milagreiros impenitentes.
An illustrious doctor* from my home town, who was once the finest flower of local Jacobinism*, shouted, so I am told, like a man possessed, hands clasped, eyes turned up to heaven: "There goes the Virgin! There she goes!" And I should not be surprised if the man did see her. And a merchant, who is a freemason and an atheist but does not take himself for a fool, palmed off scapulars and paper saints on the gullible yokels, and it seems to me that at Fátima he hit the jackpot.
Um ilustre doutor da minha terra, que foi já a mais fina flor do jacobinismo local, dizem-me, que gritava como um possesso, mãos cruzadas, olhos em alvo "Lá vai a Virgem! Lá vai". E não me admiro se o homem a viu. E um negociante, que é maçon e ateu, mas que não se julga tolo, impigiu bentinhos e santas de papel aos papalvos dos labrostes e parece-me que na Fátima lhe saiu a sorte grande.
— Well, alongside these I came across an office porter hoisted up to councillor*, a hunched figure, a shrewd old man, who did not go to Fátima because, as he sees it, the Deity has not appeared, does not appear and never will appear. And so he cut the knot of the question with one decisive stroke. A formidable councillor!
— Pois ao lado destes topei com um continuo guindado a conselheiro, figura adunca, velho esperto, que não foi á Fátima, porque, no seu pensar, a Divindade não apareceu, não aparece, nem aparecerá. Assim, cortou dum golpe decisivo o nó da questão. Terrivel conselheiro!
As I was hurrying away, a venerable old man with a great white beard and a sparkling wit leapt out from a street corner to ask me: — And then?
Quando á pressa me esgueirava, salta duma esquina um veneravel ancião, de grandes barbas brancas e espirito scintilante, a perguntar-me: — e depois?
— Then...
— Depois...
— Bah! Nonsense! The sun, when it rises, rises for everyone*. Ergo...
— Ora! lérias! O sol, quando nasce, é para todos. Ergo...
And while these comments were ringing in my ears, the people of my home town, given to superstitions, to miracles and to illuminisms, were returning from Fátima, bundles on their heads, skirts hitched up, legs showing; and from their churchy, sanctimonious, feeble droning one learned that St Joseph had blessed the perverse world and that our soldiers would come home from the war any day now, covered in glory, strong, golden-haired as idols, and brimming with health and youth.
E emquanto estes comentarios ressoavam aos meus ouvidos, a gente da minha terra, afeita a crendices, a milagres, e a iluminismos, regressava da Fatima, taleigos á cabeça, saias alteadas, perna a vêr-se, pela sua lenga-lenga padrêsca beata e chóchinha sabia-se que o S. José abençoara o mundo preverso e que os nossos soldados voltariam da guerra qualquer dia proximo, cheios de gloria, fortes, loiros como idolos, e resumbrando saude e mocidade.
Amen.
Amen.
Leiria, October 1917.
Leiria, Outubro, 1917.
ALFREDO DE CARVALHO.
ALFREDO DE CARVALHO.
Editors' notes
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