LA HONRA
Había amanecido nortiando; la
Juanita limpia; lagua helada; el viento
llevaba zopes y olores. Atravesó el llano.
La nagua se le amelcochaba y se le hacía
calzones. El pelo le hacía alacranes negros
en la cara. La Juana iba bien contenta,
chapudita y apagándole los ojos al viento.
Los árboles venían corriendo. En medio del
llano la cogió un tumbo de norte. La
Juanita llenó el frasco de su alegría y lo
tapó con un grito; luego salió corriendo y
enredándose en su risa. La chucha iba
ladrando a su lado, queriendo alcanzar las
hojas secas que pajareaban.
El ojo diagua estaba en el fondo de
una barranca, sombreado por
quequeishques y palmitos. Más abajo, entre
grupos de güiscoyoles y de ishcanales,
dormían charcos azules como cáscaras de
cielo, largas y oloríferas. Las sombras se
habían desbarrancado encima de los
paredones; y en la corriente pacha,
quebradita y silenciosa, rodaban piedrecitas
de cal.
La Juanita se sentó a descansar:
estaba agitada; los pechos —bien ceñidos
por el traje— se le querían ir y ella los
sofrenaba con suspiros imperiosos. El ojo
diagua se le quedaba viendo sin parpadear,
mientras la chucha lengüeaba golosamente
el manantial, con las cuatro patas ensam-
bladas en la arena virgen. Río abajo, se
bañaban unas ramas. Cerca, unos
peñascales verdosos sudaban el día.
La Juanita sacó un espejo, del
tamaño de un colón, y empezó a espiarse
con cuidado. Se arregló las mechas, se
limpió con el delantal la frente sudada; y
como se quería, cuando a solas, se dejó un
1
Or “The size of a dollar bill”, but I kept Colón to maintain Salarrué’s linguistic register.
THE HONOR
It had been windy well before
dawn; Juanita was clean; the water was
cold; the wind was carrying vultures and
smells. It crossed the plain. Her skirt
whirled around her so that it became one
with her body. Her hair was blowing into
her face like black scorpions. Juana was
walking very happily; her blushed cheeks
caused the wind to close its eyes. The trees
were running towards her. In the middle of
the valley she was caught by the northern
gale. Juanita filled up the bottle with her
happiness and covered it with a cry; then
she left, running and being wrapped up in
her laughter. Her dog was barking by her
side, trying to reach the dry leaves that
were flying like birds.
The spring was at the end of a
ravine, shaded by quequeishque trees and
small palms. Further down, among groups
of güiscoyoles and ishcanales, like the skin
of the blue sky, large, fragrant pools were
sleeping. The shadows had fallen on the
mountain walls; and in the shallow current,
broken and silent, small lime stones were
rolling.
Juanita sat down to rest: she was
agitated; her breasts –very constrained by
her dress- wanted to break free yet she
would rein them back sharply with
imperious breaths. The spring pond
watched her without blinking, while her
dog was guzzling the spring with her
tongue, with her four legs buried in the
virgin sand. Down the river, the sun was
bathing the branches. Nearby, some
greenish rocks were sweating the day.
Juanita took out a mirror, the size of
a Colón1, and started to carefully check
herself. She fixed her unruly hair, wiped
her sweaty forehead with her apron; and
beso en la boca, mirando con recelo
alrededor, por miedo a que la hieran
ispiado. Haciendo al escote comulgar con
el espejo, se bajó de la piedra y comenzó a
pepenar chirolitas de tempisque para el
cinquito.
La chucha se puso a ladrar. En el
recodo de la barranca apareció un hombre
montado a caballo. Venía por la luz, al
paso, haciendo chingastes el vidrio del
agua. Cuando la Juana lo conoció, sintió
que el corazón se le había ahorcado. Ya no
tuvo tiempo de escaparse; y sin saber por
qué, lo esperó agarrada de una hoja. Él de a
caballo, joven y guapo, apuró y pronto
estuvo a su lado, radiante de oportunidad.
No hizo caso del ladrido y empezó a
chuliar a la Juana con un galope
incontenible como el viento que soplaba.
Hubo defensa claudicante, con noes
temblones y jaloncitos flacos; después
ayes, y después... El ojo diagua no
parpadeaba. Con un brazo en los ojos, la
Juana se quedó en la sombra.
***
Tacho, el hermano de la Juanita,
tenía nueve años. Era un cipote aprietado y
con una cabeza de huizayote. Un día vido
que su tata estaba furioso. La Juana le bía
dicho quién sabe qué, y el tata le bía
metido una penquiada del diablo.
—¡Babosa! —había oído que le
decía— ¡Habís perdido lonra, que era
lúnico que tráibas al mundo! ¡Si biera
2
“Jugar al cinquito” is a game where a player throws five seeds into a hole from a
starting line. The winner is the one who gets all five seeds at once in one toss.
3
A horse was the symbol of the colonizers, the Spaniards, the powerful class.
4
Or “when he took her” but I decided to keep the biblical ambiguity of the word.
since she was vain, when she was alone,
she kissed her mouth to the mirror, looking
around very cautiously fearful that
someone might have seen her. After she
had made her breast line commune with her
mirror, she got off the rock and started to
collect small tempisque seeds to play
cinquito2.
The dog started to bark. A man
riding a horse3 appeared from the side of
the ravine. He came through the light,
slowly, fragmenting the glassy water.
When Juanita knew4 him, she felt that her
heart had asphyxiated. She had no time to
escape; and, without knowing why, she
waited for him holding onto a leaf. The
rider, young and handsome, hurried his step
and was soon by her side, radiant with
opportunity. He cared nothing about the
barking; instead he began to pay
compliments to Juana with an
uncontainable gallop just like the wind that
was blowing. There was a defense as
strong as iron, with shaky no’s and weak
pulls; ouches followed, and later… the
spring would not blink. With an arm over
her eyes, Juana was left in the dark.
***
Tacho, Juanita’s brother, was nine
years old. He was a skinny kid with spiky
hair. One day he saw that his pa was
furious. Juana had told him who knows
what, and his father had beaten her like
hell.
“What a stupid girl!” –he overheard
his father tell her. You lost the honor, that
sabido quibas ir a dejar lonra al ojo diagua,
no te dejo ir aquel diya; gran babosa!...
Tacho lloró, porque quería a la
Juana como si hubiera sido su nana; e
ingenuamente, de escondiditas, se jue al
ojo diagua y se puso a buscar
cachazudamente lonra e la Juana. Él no
sabía ni poco ni mucho cómo sería lonra
que bía perdido su hermana, pero a juzgar
por la cólera del tata, bía de ser una cosa
muy fácil de hallar. Tacho se maginaba
lonra, una cosa lisa, redondita, quizá
brillosa, quizá como moneda o como cruz.
Pelaba los ojos por el arenal, río abajo, río
arriba, y no miraba más que piedras y
monte, monte y piedras, y lonra no
aparecía. La bía buscado entre lagua, en
los matorrales, en los hoyos de los palos y
hasta le bía dado güelta a la arena cerca del
ojo, y ¡nada!
—Lonra e la Juana, dende que tata
la penquiado —se decía—, ha de ser
grande.
Por fin, al pie de un chaparro, entre
hojas de sombra y hojas de sol, vido brillar
un objeto extraño. Tacho sintió que la
alegría le iba subiendo por el cuerpo, en
espumarajos cosquilleantes.
—¡Yastuvo! —gritó.
Levantó el objeto brilloso y se
quedó asombrado.
—¡Achís! —se dijo—No sabía yo
que lonra juera ansina...
Corrió con toda la fuerza de su
alegría. Cuando llegó al rancho, el tata
estaba pensativo, sentado en la piladera.
En la arruga de las cejas se le bía metido
una estaca de noche.
—¡Tata! —gritó el cipote jadeante
—: ¡Ei ido al ojo diagua y ei incontrado
5
“Ansina” sounds like “así no”.
6
Or literally “He had a stake in the wrinkles of his brows”
was the only thing you brought to this
world! If I known you was going to leave
your honor at the spring, I wouldn’t have
let you go that day; you stupid girl!...
Tacho cried, because he loved Juana
as if she were his mom; and ingenuously,
without being seen, he left for the spring
and started looking very conscientiously for
Juana’s honor. He had little to no idea
what the honor his sister lost looked like,
but judging from his father’s rage, it must
be a very easy thing to find. Tacho thought
of the honor as a smooth, round, maybe
shiny thing, perhaps like a coin or like a
cross. He widely opened his eyes by the
shore, down the river, up the river, and
nothing but rocks and wild grass, wild grass
and rocks, and the honor had not been
found. He had searched for it in the water
in the bushes, in the hollows of the trees
and deep in the sand by the spring, and
nothing!
“Since her father had beaten her
unmercifully, Juana’s honor must be big” –
he said to himself.
Finally, at the foot of a chaparro
bush, between patches of leaves and
patches of sun, he saw a strange object
shine. Tacho felt a wave of happiness pass
through his body.
“That’s it!” –he shouted.
He picked up the shiny object and
was astonished.
“Darn!” –he said. “I didn’t know
that the honor was like that5…”
He ran with all the might of his
happiness. When he came to his house, his
father was far away in thought, seated by
the washboard. He couldn’t sleep that
night.6
“Father!” –shouted the child
lonra e la Juana; ya no le pegue, tome!...
Y puso en la mano del tata
asombrado, un fino puñal con mango de
concha.
El indio cogió el puñal, despachó a
Tacho con un gesto y se quedó mirando la
hoja puntuda, con cara de vengador.
—Pues es cierto... —murmuró.
Cerraba la noche.
panting: “I went to the water pond and I
found Juana’s honor; don’t beat her
anymore, here, take it!”
And he put a fine dagger with a
shell handle on his father’s hands. The old
man7 took the dagger, dismissed Tacho
with a gesture, and stared at the blade, with
revenge on his face.
“Well, it’s true…” –he grumbled.

The night ended.

7
Neither “indian” nor “indigenous person” fit to describe the “old man” or indio –as
people call older and stubborn people in El Salvador.