GABRIEL Garctfa MARQUEZ erie Margue (1928-) was bor in rac, Colombe: moved to Mess in 1954 in 1967 wok up permanent rede in Barna, Cama High ei {958 awrite when he wa nnn but wa ot publ wo pe en, in 1955 (ronda Leaf Storm, 1972). May of i dorprg e ee Spifiaesngwek One Hundred Yeats of Soll (1967, mene 190) oi eg abet cum of Macs which rome crits been ea coumegon einen meant Cot, Trane nl proc a enema Leah ne as ei, Jbl and fray in fc sat expand oh ea final clean Hs ether noes nade In El Flow (1968 pa Poh ae faa ofthe Patch (1975, ant. 1979, Chronic ofa Desh Potord (oe, Wats 1982), and Love in the Te of Cholera (1987 mane [389, Fao, Sa fe Cole Str (984) and ina reer elton fares ee ime (1973) 1982 be was aearded the Nebel Pc fn tren => The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World! A Tale for Children listeners te the dark and slinhy bulge approaching through the Sse themselves think twas an empty ship, Then they sw it hed wo flags or662 © Gabriel Garcia Marques rm maybe the ability to eee shape gave one to supp in the house, but they hat 1 a crust of mud They did not even have to clean off his face to know vasa seanger. The village was made up of ony teenty-0 ards with no flowers and which were 5 cape. There was so little land that mé about with the fear that the wind would carry off their chi dead that the years had caused among them had to But the sea was calin and bow their imagination, the village large enou use for his wake. The fattest ones’ Sunday shi the biggest feet. Fascinated by his huge decided to make him some pants from a large piece of shirt from some bridal brabant linen so that he c ceiling, and the strongest floor, his bedstead would hav midst frame held together by iron bolts, and his wife we happiest woman. They tho he could have draw fish he would have put so much work into his onthe el 'y compared him to alii ‘were incapable of doing what hea they ended up dismissing them deep in their hearts as the weakest, meanest, ee ‘The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World * 663 ind most useless creatures on earth. They were wand # fantasy when the oldest woman, who as the oldes drowned man with more compassion than passion, sighe “Hle has the face of someone called Esteban.” twas true. Most of them had only to take another look at hun t be Lautaro, But it was a vain illsion. There had not been enough ca poorly cut and worse sewn pants were too tight, and the hidden stren heart popped the buttons on his shirt. After midnight the whistling of died down and the sea fell into its Wednesday drowsiness, The sence put an end to any last doubts: he was Esteban. The women who had dressed him, who haved him were unable to hold back ‘when they had to resign themselves to his being dragged along ground. It was then that they understood how unhappy he must have beer hhuge body since it bothered him even after de ied to death, sit here, Esteban, please don't bother, ma'am, I'm fine where heels raw and his back rozsted from having done the same thing so nes whenever he paid a visit, don't bother, ma'am, I'm fine where 1 jst to avoid the embarrassment of breaking up the chair, and never know ng perhaps that the ones who said don't go, Esteban, at least wait til Hiee's ready, were the ones who later on would whisper the big boob final how ni . That was what the women were dawn. Later, when they covered his ‘would not bother him, he looked so their men thet the frst furrows of of the younger ones who began the weeping The other, coming to, went From sigh fo wal, andthe me bed the more they felt like weeping, because the drowned man was be ng all the more Esteban for them, and so they wept so much, for he was the most destitute, most peaceful, and most obliging man on earth, poor Esteben So when the men returned with the news that the drowned man was not from w neighboring villages either, the women felt an opening of jubilation in the tnidst of their tears “Praise the Lord,” they sighed, ‘The men thought the fuss was A the difficult nighttime inquiries, al the newcomer once and for all before the sun grew * day. They improvised litter with the remains of foremasts and gals, {ing it together with rigging so tha t would bear the weight ofthe body ey reached the cliff. They wanted to tie the anchor from a cargo ship to him at he would sink easily into the deepest waves, where fish are blind and664 ™ Gabriel Garcla Marques and after a great deal of the way, look, you almost made me fal undersized child, and with th They only had to take th galleon around my neck and staggered off a cliff like things in order not to be upsetting people now with this We as you people say, in order not to be bothering anyone ccold meat that doesn’t have anything to do with me. The even the most mistrustful men, the teress of endless nights at sea fearing that their women wo about them and begin to dream of drowned men, ever huddered in the marrow of their bones en saw the dead man, and they brou and so many people tha pained and they chose and uncles and some sailors who heard weeping courte, and ahr (182-1618, EEE EEEEEEEEESSSSS:'SS€ “== The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World = 665 course and people heard of one who had himself tied to the main bering ancien ables about sens ing him on their shoulders along the steep escarpment women became suare forthe fst time the declan of hog ied, because they were going to paint their house fronts gay colors to Esteban's memory eternal and they were going to break their backs digging for rings among the stones and planting flowers on the cliffs so that im 5 Sepp who led marin to thet dente, i Cec nd Roman slog,