Dawn in Copacabana

DAWN IN COPACABANA

Text based on that found in the Cuarta parte de Comedias nuevas (Fourth Part of the Comedias) of Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Madrid: Buend´â, 1672). Spanish text edited in electronic form by Ezra Engling and then transferred to HTML format for presentation in the AHCT collection of digital texts by Vern Williamsen en 2000. For a complete edition with variants, notes, and an extensive introduction, see the edition prepared by Ezra Engling and published in London by Tamesis Ltd. in 1995.

English translation prepared by Duke students in Spanish 142, “Translating the Comedia” taught by Professor Margaret R. Greer, Fall, 2006. Participating students: Jenna Claunch, Rebecca Crotty, Mirels Davila, Pratiyancha Gupta, Brooke Jandi, Kellyann Jones, Bronwym Lewis, Nneka (Diana) Okpala, Michele Peppers, and Jorge Suárez

Readers: If you note corrections that should be made, please send word to me:

Cast of Characters

Pizarro

Almagro

Candia

Inca Guáscar, king

Yupangui, Indian gallant

Tucapel

Guacolda

Glauca

Indian Priest

Idolatry

Sailors

Solders

Several Indians

Two angels

Four (Indian) Priestesses

Count of Coruña, don Lorenzo de Mendoza

Governor, don Jeronimo Marañón

A gilder

Indian named Andrew

A youth

Accompaniment

Musicians

ACT ONE

Instruments and voices backstage, and all those who can enter together, dressed as Indians, singing and dancing; Yupangui, an Indian gallant, a Priest, Glauca, and Tucapel and, behind them all, the Inca Gúascar, king. All with bows and arrows

YUPANGUI: On the fortunate day

that Inca Guáscar celebrates

the ages of the Sun that were

his glory and our blessing,

let the festivities proceed! 5

Music: Let the festivities proceed

and acclaiming both deities,

the Sun in the heavens, and the Inca on earth,

let echoes repeat the sound of our voices,

may he live, may he reign, may he triumph and conquer. 10

Inca: How greatly I esteem seeing that in honor

of the sacred peak

that rests on the clouds

above Copacabana,

in abundant gratitude 15

for having been the first

cradle of the child of the Sun

from whose illustrious ancestry

my origin comes, you demonstrate

such joy!

Yupangui: We could hardly 20

fall short in our obligation

to such an inherited debt.

Five centuries have passed, great sir,

of a gift as sublime

as giving us his son 25

so that from him you descend

and today marks another five

that all your people every year renew

the memory of that day,

demonstrating how much we owe to your light.

And thus, do not thank us for

celebrations that are born today

from two causes: one, that you should

be our monarch, and the other, 35

that you come in person to our worship

to which effect we come to Tumbez

where the Sun displays his temple,

to receive you, proclaiming with many voices … 40

Yupangui and Music: May you live, may you reign,

may you triumph and conquer.

Inca: Both one and the other cause, bind you

in no small part, Yupangui

since you are not unaware

that you too descend from that 45

first light,, by which as an Inca,

if not of royal grandeur,

you are of royal stock.

Yupangui My greatest fortune is that

(Although my greatest fortune

Aside if I were to consult my suffering), Aside 50

is not that but rather the happy

day that I came to see Guacolda,

lovely priestess of the sun,

!Oh, what a kindness, 55

that after a year and a day,

is happily remembered!)

Sacerdote: Until we reach

the foothills of the highland

where it is well that the priestesses 60

of this temple come,

since the sacrifice of the caged beasts

we carry for their bloody altar, 65

takes place there today let the singing proceed.

Glauca Well said.

May the dancing, Tucapel, resume.

Tucapel: It shows off, Glauca, how much

you enjoy making a move.

Yupanqui: You two always have to quarrel! 70

Together: Well, who has fun without quarreling?

Yupanqui: And who besides me, would have the

patience to put up with you?

Music: Let the festivities proceed

and acclaiming both deities,

the Sun in the heavens, and the Inca on earth,

let echoes repeat the sound of our voices,

may he live, ...

Within, from a distance

Voices: Land! land!

Inca: Listen! What strange voices are

those whose articulation sounds

human, without our knowing

what they are saying to us?

Yupanqui: You should not find it strange that such new ones

are heard in these woods

since there are as many idols here 85

as peaks in their jungles.

From here to Copacabana

there is not a flower, leaf, stalk or stone

in which some lesser god

does not pay obedience to the Sun. 90

And thus here, not only does one hear

ambiguous responses

of languages we do not understand

but also sees different wild beasts

whose eyes and mouths 95

exhale fire and breath smoke.

And perhaps what greater one than

seeing a scaly snake

that curls completely around, 100

spiraling in a circle

until it bites its tail,

as if to give us to understand how

mysterious is the jungle

that shelters such

prodigies? 105

Inca: That being so

should not make it a reason to

upset or astound me.

Let the festivities proceed!

Music: Let the festivities proceed 110

Dancing And acclaiming both deities,

the Sun in the heavens, and the Inca on earth,

let echoes repeat the sound of our voices,

may he live, may he reign, may he triumph and conquer.

Within, at a distance, Pizarro and Spaniards

Pizarro: Now that we see land, come on, 115

lower the sails.

to reach the shore

All: Lower the sails.

Indians stop dancing

Inca: Be quiet; the voices are returning,

in case you can understand them.

One: Silence!

Another Silence!

Within

Guacolda: Oh, how sad! 120

Inca: What new echo is now lamenting

in our own language?

Tucapel: A woman’s voice

and, by all indications,

a priestess.

Yupanqui: (Guacolda Aside 125

is the one who comes speaking.)

Guacolda come in as if frightened

Guacolda: Valiant sons of the Sun,

whose illustrious descendants

extend to today in the great

Inca who reigns among you,

suspend the sacrifices 130

that you are preparing to

your supreme deity, and all of you, respond

to my voice and come to the

seashore to see the wonder

that is approaching our woodlands. . 135

Inca: Lovely priestess

whose divine beauty

qualifies you above

all those whom your cloister encloses 140

consecrated to your deity,

what is this? (I can scarcely speak Aside

astonished by such rare

beauty.) When such a throng

awaits your offering

your rich gifts, 145

instead of arriving festively

and accompanied by beautiful

nymphs of the Sun, alone, sad,

confused, absorbed and astonished

you come to upset them..

Guacolda: Don’t 150

blame me until you know the

cause, noble Gúascar

Inca.

Inca: What is the cause?

Guacolda: It is . . .

Yupanqui: (Who would believe that I am dying Aside 155

to know it and not to know it?)

Guacolda: From that temple that on the shore

of the sea shines in competition

with the one that also on the shore

of the lagoon that lies near

the valley of Copacabana, 160

in sight of the peak

on whose eminent summit

the Sun one beautiful dawn

rose to give us his son, 165

so that no less noble should be

the cacique who has dominion

over the seventy-two nations that today,

--after dividing the inheritance

with your brother Atabaliba-- 170

you command, rule, and govern.

From that temple, again I say,

I came with all those priestesses who,

dedicated to the Sun, until

on his death they merit 175

being his victim some day,

live attending his worship

with the desire of arriving

so surrendered to your presence

that my soul and my life 180

might be the first gift of the offering,

when turning my eyes

toward the sea we saw in its sphere

a strange marvel, whose

details particulars I do not know how to give you.

Because if I say that it is

a reef that travels

I speak in error, since its violence belies as a reef

it being a reef;

if I say a pregnant cloud 190

that thirsty, decends to

drink the sea, I am in worse error,

because it comes without a storm;

if I say a seagoing fish,

the wings with which it comes

flying must belie me; if I say

a sailing bird that comes swimming,

it must belie me as well;

so that in every aspect

it is a monster of such strangeness

that it is a reef in stature,

a cloud in its lightness

and a monster of the sea and wing,

since in varying species 205

it seems a fish when it swims

and a bird when it flies.

The cries that it pronounces

are voices of a strange language

we have not heard before today. Seeing it,

all the priestesses fled in haste

to save their lives, seeing

that if it does come to land,

flight will not serve to

shelter or defend them, 215

for that which travels so fast

by sea, who will it do on land?

I alone, not such much controlled by

courage as by fainting,

stayed fixed by it; and seeing

that they had closed the doors

of the temple to my retreat,

neither fully alive nor dead

I have come to this site where,

so that you will not believe

my voice more than your eyes,

I ask you to turn them toward the sea.

Look at it, to see how horribly

it now approaches the shores.

Let flight save you, your highness 230

since defense cannot do so.

Inca: Let flight save me,

against whom earth, water,

air and fire engender their

threats in vain? Prepare arrows

that we use against other animals—

although not of equal ferocity—

poisoned with a thousand

venomous plants

against this one; for I 240

will be the first to undertake

to make my shot good.

Yupanqui: May my breast

be the shield for your life.

(Oh, Guacolda, if you understood Aside

the ambivalent service

that as loyalty, obliges me

and as love. forces me!)

Guacolda: (Oh, if you, Yupanqui, could see Aside

the suffering that you cost me!)

All: We will all do the same.

Tucapel: Except me, Glauca. . .

Glauca: What’s your intent?

Tucapel: . . . that you put yourself in front,

with which you will solve things for all of us.

Glauca: I, for everyone?

Tucapel: Yes.

Glauca: How?

Tucapel: Because

if he catches you first, 255

he will be so stuffed

by you, that he will not

be hungry for the rest.

Inca: Now that your loyalty

sets itself to my defense,

let it not be in my offense.

Together with all we will form

a wing, and let the cloud

of our arrows be so thick

that it rains frozen hail 265

of stones and feathers on its

scales, that it may die

bled to death in the waves.

Within

Pizarro: Put down the anchor and tie fast,

saluting this wilderness with a salvo 270

Guacolda: What are you waiting for, when you are

exposed to their shots?

As they shoot toward the tiring room, a firearm is shot within, and all the Indians are frightened. Voices within

Voices: Fire it.

Some: How astounding!

Others: What horror!

All: What sorrow!

Tucapel: What a fine timbered voice

the lady beast has! 275

Inca: A monster that complains

with such a roar on seeing

itself wounded, doubtless

is a monster.

Guacolda: Since the armed

wrath of our bows and arrows 280

are useless against it,

let the thickness of our wilds

defend us.

Todos: Let the brambles

shelter us.

the Indians exit, and the Inca and Yupanqui remain alone

Inca: Cowards,

you leave your king like this!

But, what does it matter if I remain

myself?

Yupanqui: Consider, your highness.

that while all say that placing life

knowingly at risk is courage, 290

no one calls it prudence.

In such surpassing dangers

which force cannot touch,

industry prevails.

Inca: How?

Yupanqui: Order let loose the fierce beasts

that are caged in several

grottos for the sacrifice;

and let them struggle, beast against beast,

letting this wonder sate itself

first on them rather than 300

on people.

Inca: Your counsel me well;

let vigor yield to reason

for once. (I should say rather Aside

let it yield to desire, since I accept

it only to save the life of that

lovely priestess.)

Yupanqui (Beautiful Guacolda Aside

I have now fulfilled my obligation to loyalty

let me now satisfy [love’s] courtesy.

Where has fear taken you?)

Voices: To the woods, to the woods!

A ship is revealed, with Pizarro, Almagro, Candía and sailors on it.

Pizarro: The land

that is visible from here

is not, like the others, the barren land

we left behind, for, crowning all 315

with most lofty summits

we see it covered with people.

Almagro: Thanks be to God, great Pizarro

that after so many fortunes

destroyed, shipwrecks, becalming, 320

hunger, thirst and storms

as we have suffered

since, opening the route

from the sea of the north to the south,

we crossed New Spain 325

and in Panama

we set sail.

Again, thanks be to God

and a thousand times I say it,

that after so many risks 330

worries, frights and tragedies

we have succeeded in

discovering these

Indies unknown until today,

Only studious geography

knew of them, whose knowledge

showing the globe to be round,

found necessary the existence

of that remote portion,

hidden as long as no ship

sailed around the world,

Pizarro Since we only came to discover it,

let it suffice us to see it 345

for now, when we do not have

forces to conquer it.

And thus, since these news

are the objective of our enterprise,