Cleffy: Before we start, I want you to ask first if How are you today girls?

Jenny & Adriana: (Smile)We’re good, we’re good. How about you? How are you?
Cleffy: I am good too. Well…………..

Cleffy: So the story awakened my interest, can you tell me how it started?

Jenny/Pelayo: Actually It has been raining for three days, and crabs are coming into our house. I
throw the many crabs I and my wife have killed back into the sea because our child, a newborn, has
a fever and we are worried of course because of the smell of all the dead crabs inside.

Cleffy: (kay mag tando2 raka or pwede ra mo ingon kag “OKAY”)

Jenny/Pelayo: When I return home, I notice something moving in the mud in the courtyard. As I get
closer, I see it is a very old man. The man is lying face down and is unable to get up because he is
"impeded by his enormous wings."

Cleffy: So what did you do?

Jenny/Pelayo: I get my wife because I am frightened by his sight. So, we stare at the old man, who
is "dressed like a ragpicker," or a person who collects trash for money. Despite the grandeur of his
enormous wings, he resembles a "drenched great-grandfather." Upon closer examination, his wings
are "dirty and half-plucked" and stuck fast in the mud. Me and my wife speak to him, and he
responds in an unfamiliar language.

Cleffy: What language?

Jenny/Pelayo: We are not sure but it sounds like a sailor, which leads us to conclude he was
shipwrecked during the storm. However, when we call the neighbor woman over, she informs us that
the old man is actually an angel—a very old one.

Cleffy: So what happened after that day?

Adriana/Elisenda: By the next day, everyone in the village has heard the news. The neighbor is
convinced the old man is a celestial fugitive who should be put to death, but the villagers do not have
the heart to kill him. So my husband Pelayo watches over the old man all day, and at night he drags
him out of the mud and locks him in the chicken coop.

Cleffy: For him to become safe?

Adriana/Elisenda: Exactly. And that night our child's fever breaks. Pelayo and I feel "magnanimous"
and decide we should put the old man on a raft with enough food and things for three days and send
him back out to sea. When we go out to the chicken coop in the morning, however, we discover the
villagers teasing the old man, tossing him food as though he is an animal in the circus.

Adriana/Elisenda: Father Gonzaga arrive

Jenny/Father Gonzaga: I was alarmed by the news of the old man with wings. More villagers have
joined the throng in front of the chicken coop and are speculating about the old man's future.I go into
the chicken coop and greet the old man because the old man response’s very unintelligible.

Cleffy: What happened next?

Jenny/Father Gonzaga: I suspect as an impostor, not really an angel. Otherwise, I would

understand Latin, the "language of God."

Jenny/Father Gonzaga: Upon leaving the chicken coop I warned the crowd of how sometimes the
devil uses tricks of disguise to confuse innocent people. I reminded them that other things besides
angels have wings. I promise to write a letter to my bishop, who can take it up the religious chain of
command. I hope the church will hand down a verdict as to whether the old man really is an angel.
However, the crowd ignores my caution and grows.

Cleffy: Since the crowd ignores Father Gonzaga, what decision have you (Elisenda) made for the
crowd?

Adriana/Elisenda: Since there is too much garbage in our courtyard, I decided to fence in the yard
and charge five cents to anyone who wants to see the old man with enormous wings. People arrive
from all over, many seeking cures for mysterious ailments. After a week, Pelayo and I are
exhausted, but we are happy because they are now rich, and there is still a line of pilgrims waiting to
see him.

Adriana/Old Man: I take no part in the spectacle. I turned down most food other than mush. I am
very patient and don't react to the provocations of the visitors.

Cleffy: How is Father Gonzaga?

Jenny/Pelayo: He continues his endless communications with the church's hierarchy, enduring a
litany of seemingly useless questions about the old man.

Adriana/Elisenda: There is a traveling show in our town. It features the spider woman—a woman
who was changed into a spider for disobeying her parents. Her show charges less than the
admission to see the old man, and she allows people to examine her and ask questions. The
miracles attributed to the old man seem mostly like strange luck.

Jenny/Pelayo: Our courtyard becomes empty of seekers as we leave to visit the spider woman
instead.

Adriana/Elisenda: After a few months Pelayo and I are happy, however, because we have saved
enough money to build a two-story mansion. We still keep the old man in the chicken coop, and our
child, now a young boy, visits him there. This results in both him and the old man coming down with
chicken pox. When the doctor listens to the old man's heart, he is shocked that the old man is still
alive.
Cleffy: Why?

Jenny/Pelayo: Because he is old already then he is sick. Then the chicken coop collapses, I really
take pity on the old man, I allow him to sleep in the shed. The old man gets sick but survives, and
after winter some of the feathers begin to grow back on his wings. One morning Elisenda feels a sea
wind blow into the kitchen, and when she looks out the window, she sees the old man trying to fly.
After a few failed attempts, he takes off over the sea.

Adriana/Elisenda: And now, he can live freely on his own.

Cleffy: Wow, what a beautiful story. As I’ve listened to you guys I do realize that A man who
continues to do whatever he must do to the best of his ability, no matter what tribulations befall him.
While challenges and setbacks can strip a man of all outward signs of success, still his spirit can
remain undefeated.

Cleffy: What have you learned in the story?

Adriana: I learned that do not treat others who are different from you in a harsh manner,
instead treat them how you would want to be treated. Instead of treating the angel with
reverence or sympathy, the townspeople are cruel to him; they keep him in wretched
conditions, hurt him in order to rouse him into more entertaining behavior, and exploit his
suffering by turning him into a ticketed spectacle.