Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (García Márquez)
Short Summary
In a coastal town, during a prolonged rainstorm, Pelayo and his wife Elisenda found a decrepit old man with enormous wings in their courtyard. After consulting with a neighbor, they concluded he was an angel who had come for their sick child.
The couple imprisoned him in their chicken coop and began charging admission to see him. Despite Father Gonzaga's attempts to determine if he was truly an angel, crowds flocked to see him, though his only apparent miracles were strange and ineffective. When a traveling carnival arrived featuring a woman who had been transformed into a spider, the angel lost his appeal.
Years passed, and the family grew wealthy from their initial earnings. The old man became a fixture in their lives, eventually moving from the chicken coop to a shed. After surviving a severe illness, he began to grow new feathers. One morning, while Elisenda was cutting onions, she saw him attempt to fly.
She kept watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life.
Detailed Summary
Summary sections do not match original text structure.
The Arrival of the Mysterious Old Man
During a period of endless rain, Pelayo discovered a strange old man with enormous wings face down in the mud of his courtyard. He had been killing crabs that invaded his house, believing they caused his newborn's fever.
He had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn't get up, impeded by his enormous wings.
Pelayo called his wife Elisenda to witness the strange sight. They observed the old man's pitiful condition - his nearly bald head, few teeth, and dirty, half-plucked wings.
The Angel's Captivity and Public Spectacle
A neighbor woman identified the creature as an angel, likely coming for their sick child. Despite initial plans to set him adrift, the couple kept him captive in their chicken coop when crowds began gathering to see him.
They found the whole neighborhood in front of the chicken coop having fun with the angel, without the slightest reverence, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if weren't a supernatural creature.
Father Gonzaga arrived to investigate and found the old man's inability to understand Latin suspicious. He warned people about the devil's tricks while promising to consult church authorities.
The Rise and Fall of the Angel's Fame
Elisenda began charging admission to see the angel, and the couple grew wealthy from the crowds. The old man endured various torments from visitors, displaying remarkable patience.
His only supernatural virtue seemed to be patience. Especially during the first days, when the hens pecked at him... and even the most merciful threw stones at him, trying to get him to rise.
The angel's popularity waned with the arrival of a traveling show featuring a woman transformed into a spider for disobeying her parents. Her tragic story and willingness to interact with visitors overshadowed the angel's presence.
The Angel's Decline and Departure
As years passed, the angel became a fixture in the household, though increasingly decrepit. He survived a severe illness and began growing new feathers. One morning, Elisenda watched him attempt clumsy flight maneuvers in her garden. Despite initial struggles, he gained altitude and disappeared over the horizon, bringing relief to the household.
The majority understood that his passivity was not that of a hero taking his ease but that of a cataclysm in repose.
Meanwhile, Pelayo and Elisenda had used their wealth to build a two-story mansion with iron bars on the windows to prevent more angels from entering. Their child grew up alongside the angel, who tolerated the boy's presence with the same patient indifference he showed to all humans. A doctor who examined them both was amazed to find the angel alive despite his poor health, and wondered why all humans didn't have such logical wings.
The doctor who took care of the child couldn't resist the temptation to listen to the angel's heart... What surprised him most was the logic of his wings... he couldn't understand why other men didn't have them too.