Carmen Lyra

Carmen Lyra’s “Pastor’s Ten Little Old Men” is a story about the power of storytelling.  When Soledad meets Pastor, he is talking to the “old men,” his ten toes.  He tells Soledad the stories of these old men, from their days turtle fishing at Tortuguero to their days pearl diving in the Gulf of Papagayo to their many treks across Costa Rica.  These stories influence Soledad, as Pastor blends fantasy and reality to deposit in the young child a “sediment of poetry.”

What could you expect of a child like this little girl, who spent all day wandering along the irrigation ditch or perched among the tree branches?  She wanted to know where the water came from and where it went, and she loved it when the wind rocked her in the branches.  She talked with the water and talked with the wind.  So why should it be strange that she understood the toes of a peon who had wandered all over Costa Rica?

Pastor’s last story is a sad one and a reality that will stay with Soledad as long as his fictional tales will.

Carmen Lyra is the pseudonym used by María Isabel Carvajal, who moved to Mexico at the end of her life.  She is known for her children’s stories as well as her writing for adults.  She is the author of Los cuentos de mie Tía Panchita.

Photo Credit: Giulia Marotta / CC0 Public Domain
Source: Ras, Barbara, ed. Costa Rica: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. San Francisco: Whereabouts, 1994.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2014 at 10:29 am. It is filed under Costa Rica, Creative Culture, Nature, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.