1
Kino lived
in a modest brush house by the sea with Juana, his wife and Coyotito, his
infant son. Across the brush fence were other brush houses. In Kino’s head
there was a song, clear and soft, and if he had been able to speak of it, he would
have called it the Song of the Family.
Kino went outside to watch the dawn, while Juana prepared their simple
breakfast, a hot corn-cake with sauce. In the company of a goat and a dog, Kino
stared “with the detachment of God” at a group of industrious ants underfoot.
Kino heard his wife routine activities. She was sang an ancient song when she
nursed Coyotito. This was her habit, and Kino could see these things without
looking at them. Her song was simple, and it moved Kino to contemplation.
They ate their simple breakfast, without conversation between them, only
a contented sigh from Kino. Suddenly, Kino and Juana froze in their position.
They saw a scorpion moved slowly down the rope towards Coyotito’s hanging box. Frightened,
Juana recited an ancient magic to protect Coyotito, while Kino moves forward to
catch the scorpion very slowly. Coyotito laughed and reached up his hands to
grab it, then Coyotito shook the rope of the hanging box, and the scorpion fell
and landed on the baby’s shoulder and stung him. Kino immediately had scorpion in
fingers then threw it down and beat it into the earth floor with his fist, and
at the same time Coyotito screamed with pain in his box.
Juana grabbed Coyotito, and she sucked hard the puncture with her lips and
spat, for several times. The scream of the baby brought the neighbours, including
Kino’s brother, Juan Tomás, and Juan Tomás’s wife, Apolonia. They knew that baby
could easily die from the poison. Juana asked Kino to call the doctor,
impossible. And she decided to take Coyotito to the doctor, their neighbors followed
them.
Kino talked about the situation to the servant of the doctor who was the
same race with him but refuse to talk in their old language. As they already
estimated before, the doctor refused to cure the baby for free. They only had
little pearls that were worthless for the doctor. Angry, Kino struck the gate with his fist and
the blood flowed down between his fingers.
2
The town lay on a broad estuary, its old yellow plastered building
hugging the beach and a set of blue and white canoes sits in the sand. Kino and
Juana came slowly down the beach to Kino’s old canoe. It’s the only precious
thing he had and it was the heritage from his paternal grandfather.
Juana laid Coyotito on the blanket and covered him from the hot sun with
her shawl. He was calm now, but the
swelling on his shoulder had continued up his neck and under his ear and his
face was puffed and feverish. She then wades into the water and collects some
seaweed, which she applies gently to Coyotito’s wound. They are going to search
for big pearls, Juana had prayed that they might find such a pearl that valued
enough to hire the doctor to treat the poisoned Coyotito.
Kino and Juana slid the canoe into the water, Juana climbs in, and Kino
pushes the boat away from shore. Once Kino boards, they begin paddling out to
sea in search of pearls. In a few moment Kino could see the other pearlers
clustered the haze around the oyster bed. This was the bed that had raised the
King of Spain to be a great power in Europe in past years, had helped to pay
for his wars and had decorated the churches for them. Kino made a dive into the
water to collect oysters, while Juana stayed in the canoe, prayed for luck. Kino
could remained under water for over two minutes. He moved next to the hummock
and he saw a very large oyster lying by itself, not covered with its clinging
brothers.
Climbing back into the canoe, his eyes were shining with excitement and
Juana sensed it but pretended to look away, because it’s not good to want a
thing too much, might drove the luck away. Kino was reluctant to open the big
one. But Juana could not wait, she asked him softly to open it while she put
her hand on Coyotito’s head. Kino cuts the shell and there it lay, the great
pearl, perfect as the moon. It was as large as a seagull’s egg and it was the
greatest pearl in the world. He picked the pearl from the dying flesh and held
it in his palm and Juana came near to stare it. Then Juana went to Coyotito to
see the swelling, it was going out of the baby’s shoulder, the poison was
receding from its body. Kino, overcome with emotion, he screamed and his body
was rigid. The men in the other canoes were curious and they raced towards Kino’s
canoe.
3
News goes so fast about “the Pearl of the World.”, even before Kino
returns to his brush house. Like everyone else, the doctor who refused to cure
Coyotito, desires the pearl too. Buyers in the town waited that pearl so one of
them could get a new start of life. They didn’t realize that everyone were
jealous with the fortune. Kino planed a proper marriage in the church, new
clothing, a harpoon, and a rifle, and also school for Coyotito. But he a little
bit afraid with his feeling.
Closed to the dark, the priest came. He spoke softly sound like a
benediction. He blessed the household
then asked to see the pearl. He gasped and reminded him always thanking and
praying. Juana announced the plans and the priest left them with a kind word. The
evils song was in his ears after the priest left.
The neighbors slipped away to their houses, the doctor and his servant
came to cure Coyotito’s wound. At first Kino refused it, but frightened with
the bad effect, he allowed the doctor to examine the baby. And the doctor was
right, he gave the baby a capsule and promised to come back in an hour to check
on Coyotito’s progress.
Suddenly, Coyotito becomes visibly ill, an evil feeling fills Kino once
again. Hurried, the doctor cured the baby. Coyotito sighed deeply and went to
sleep. Then he asked for his payment. Kino explain about selling the pearl for
the payment, the doctor pretended to be surprise about the pearl, but he
offered to keep it in his safe and Kino declined the offer, the doctor knew
where he kept it.
Kino was in fear. In a fit of precaution, he dug up the pearl and
reburied it beneath his sleeping mat. Then he fall asleep, sweet dream at
first, ended with the bad one. He sensed an evil, there were intruders. He took his knife and struggled with the dark
thing in the corner. The intruders escaped.
While Juana cured Kino, she asked Kino to throw the pearl, because it was
a sin, an evil that would destroy them. But Kino hushed her and told her that
the pearl was for their better and would be sold in the morning.
4
In La Paz, it was the day to sell the pearl. There was excitement among
the pearl buyers, the one who bought the lowest price would be the happiest. The
fishermen did not go out to dive for pearls, they wanted to be the witness of
the transaction.
Over breakfast that morning, Kino, Juana, and Coyotito wore their best
clothes for the occasion. From their house, the neighbours watched and dressed,
ready too. Juan Tomás walked at the front with Kino and warned him about the
cheating buyers. Kino acknowledged this problem but had no idea to solve it.
The first buyer said that the
pearl is worthless, like fool’s god. The man made an offhand bid of one thousand pesos. Kino reacts angrily to this lowball offer
and insists that the pearl is worth fifty thousand. Then he invited others buyers for others opinion. There
were three buyers. Two of the buyers had the same opinion with the first one,
and the last one made an offer for only
five hundred pesos. Angry, Kino took the pearl and announced them to
sell it in the capital. Worried, one of the buyers, offer fifteen thousand.
Dead locked, Kino went home.
There were pro and contra opinion among the situation. Meanwhile, in his
brush house, Kino has buried the pearl under his sleeping mat and Juana watched
it while he cleaned Coyotito and nursed him, later she made the corncakes for
supper.. He was afraid of the capital
Juan Tomás came to warn him of the dangers in the capital, but Kino insisted to sell it at
capital for Coyotito’s better future. Unable to convince Kino to heed his
warning, Juan Tomás went home.
Kino passed his supper. He sat awake to protect the pearl, suddenly, he sensed
an evil presence. He moved toward the doorway, went out. There was a fight. Juana
seized a stone to help him but it was over. Alone, Kino lay on the ground,
struggling to rise. She helped Kino and cured him. Again, Juana asked to
destroy the evil pearl or throw it back in the sea where it belongs. Kino
rejected, he insist to keep the fortune and in the morning they will set out in
the canoe for the capital. Juana dutifully submits to her husband’s plan, and
they both go to sleep.
5
Before dawn, Kino opened his eyes in the darkness, but did not move. He saw
Juana woke up silently towards the
fireplace then the door. And she was gone towards the shore. Kino followed her
in silent. Getting caught, she run and prepared to throw the pearl, but Kino
caught her arm and took the pearl from her. Angrily, he struck her in the face
and he kicked her in the side, then he hissed her and left her without a word.
Toward the brush house, a group of men assaulted him. Struggling, Kino
and the other man sprawled on the ground. Meanwhile, Juana got up and walked
toward the brush house. Midway, she saw the pearl lying in the path then picked
it up and considered to finish her job. But she saw two dark figures lying in
the path and one of them was Kino. Kino has killed a man. She dragged the dead
body into the brush and then helped Kino, who moaned about losing his pearl.
Juana showed the pearl and asked him to escape because of the murder.
They prepared to escape, but the canoe was being broken. He went back to
his house but his house was burning. The neighbours tried to control the fire
and to save their own houses while Kino, Juana, and Coyotito toward into Juan
Tomás’s house.
Inside Juan Tomás’s house, they listened to the speculation about their
dead. Apolonia returned to her house to change her head shawls, and surprised
to see them. Kino asked her to bring Juan Tomás to them and to be silent about
them. Juan Tomás arrived moments later, and asked Apolonia to watch the door
while he talked with Kino. Kino explained the story in detail. He asked Juan Tomás to hide them in his house
for a night, until it safe for them to go. Juan Tomás hesitated to bring danger
upon himself but finally agreed to shelter them and keep silent about it.
They left quietly in the dark before the moon had risen. Kino planed to
travel to north and Juan Tomás suggested just avoid the shore so that no one
seen them.
6
The wind blew fierce and strong when they went into the north. They
walked carefully and avoided the centre of town so that no one seen them. They walked
hour after hour and made camp in a roadside shelter at sunrise. After eating a
small breakfast, Juana rested until midday.
Juana asked if they being followed. Juana then started to doubt Kino’s
conviction the pearl value, but Kino pointed out that his attackers would not
have tried to steal the pearl were it worth nothing. Kino looked into the pearl
to find his vision. He lied to Juana, about what he saw with the pearl, about a
rifle, a marriage in a church, and an education for Coyotito. All he saw just a
body bleeding on the ground, Juana making her way home through the night after
being beaten, and Coyotito’s face swollen as though he were sick.
Kino slept soundly, while Juana was restless. Suddenly Kino awake and
asked them to keep quiet. He crept forward and spots a trio of trackers
pursuing their trail. The trackers grew nearer, and he was ready to attack them
if necessary. The trackers scuttled along, stopping, looking and hurrying on
and they would be back, Kino knew that.
Panic with the situation, they were frightened to be killed because of
the pearl. Kino took them to the mountains. As they climb, Kino realized that was
only a temporary fixed to their problem. Then Kino found a series of caves that
they could not be seen from the outside. Kino made a fake tracks up the cliff
and hoped that the trackers would follow the tracks and when they past them,
they would climb down the hill and out of range. Kino instructs Juana to keep
Coyotito quiet, and they lie silently in the cave as twilight settles over the
land.
By evening, the trackers arrived at the pool, where they made camp and eat.
In the cave, Coyotito grew restless, and Juana quieted him. Kino noticed that
two of the men have settled in to sleep, while the third kept watch. Kino
realized that if he could manage to stifle the lookout, they would have a
chance to escape. Juana scared for Kino’s life, but Kino explained that they have
no other choice. He instructed her to run to the nearest town should he be
killed, and they part reluctantly.
Kino stripped naked to avoid being seen by the watchman, and, after a
moment surveying his route, he moved forward and Juana prayed for him. He
stopped a moment to ponder his next move, but he knew he must be quickly before
the moon rises. He prepared his knife to attack. Just then, the moon appeared,
and he realized that his opportunity was lost. Waiting for a moment when the
watchman’s head is turned, Kino got ready to take a much riskier approach.
Suddenly, Coyotito cried and awoke one of the sleeping trackers. At first,
they confused whether that’s a baby or the cry of a coyote. The watchman
decided to silence the noise by directing the gun to the cave. The gun crashed,
the bullet hit and killed Coyotito. As the watchman shot, Kino attacked the
trackers, stabbing the watchman and seizing the rifle. He moved fast and brave.
The third man scrabbled away like a crab and began to climb frantically. Kino
became as cold and deadly as steel, so he raised the gun and aimed deliberately
and fired. Gathered his consciousness, Kino noticed the silence of the
surrounding and finally heard the hysterical cry from his wife, mourning the
death of Coyotito.
Later the next day, it was late in the golden afternoon, when the first
little boy ran hysterically into the town and spread the word that Kino and
Juana were coming back. Everyone hurried to see them. Kino ahead, and Juana
behind, as usual but side by side. Kino had a rifle, and Juana carried a heavy
dead bundle over her shoulder. The shawl was crusted with dried blood. Their
face was hard and lined and leathery with fatigue.
Juan Tomás raised his hands in greeting and did not say the greeting and
left his hand in the air for a moment uncertainly. They kept move towards to
the sea. When they came to the water’s edge they stopped and stared out over
the Gulf. Then he pulled out the pearl from his pocket. The pearl was ugly, it
was grey, like malignant growth. Then Kino flung the pearl with all his might.
They saw the little splash in the distance, and they stood side by side
watching the place for a long time.
CHARACTERS
Kino - The protagonist character
who is a Mexican-Indian man, dignified, hardworking, impoverished native who
works as a pearl diver. He is a simple man who lives in a brush house with his
wife, Juana, and their infant son, Coyotito. He loves them very much. After
Kino finds a great pearl, he becomes increasingly ambitious and desperate in
his mission to make a better future. His ambition brings him to a state of
animalistic violence, and his life is reduced to a basic fight for survival and
at the end he lost his baby.
Juana - Kino’s wife. Her baby
is being stung by a scorpion. Need a bunch of money to cure the baby, she prays
for good fortune and a giant pearl is the answer. Juana slowly becomes convinced
that the pearl is in fact an agent of evil. His husband being insult previous
time and at the end she has to lose her baby.
Coyotito - Kino and Juana’s only
son, who is stung by a scorpion while resting in hanging box one morning. His
parents doesn’t have enough money to pay the doctor. His parent’s efforts to cure
him by owning a big pearl, ended with his death.
Juan Tomás - Kino’s older brother.
Deeply loyal to his family, he supports Kino with warns him several time
related with the pearl.
Apolonia - Juan Tomás’s wife and
the mother of four children. Like her husband, Apolonia is sympathetic to Kino
and Juana’s plight, and she agrees to give them shelter in their time of need.
The doctor - A fat, arrogant,
inhuman doctor that doesn’t want to cure coyotito. Ones he wants to cure the
baby just to own the big pearl.
The priest - The local village
priest that just interested in exploiting Kino’s wealth as everyone else,
hoping that he can find a way to persuade Kino to give him some of the money he
will make from the pearl.
The dealers - The extremely
well-organized and corrupt pearl dealers in La Paz systematically cheat and exploit
the Indian pearl divers who sell them their goods. They desperately long to
cheat Kino out of his pearl.
The trackers - The group of violent
and corrupt men that follows Kino and Juana when they leave the village, hoping
to waylay Kino and steal his pearl.
SETTING
The setting is in and around La Paz,
Mexico. At the brush house, the beach, the mountain, the gulf.
