El Fili 10

From I2008

Revision as of 22:35, 22 October 2008

JoseRizal.ph Summary

Sa bahay ni Kabesang Tales nakipanuluyan si Simoun. Ito’y nasa pagitan ng San Diego at Tiyani. Nagdarahop si Kabesang Tales ngunit dala nang lahat ni Simoun ang pagkain at ibang kailangan at dalawang kaban ng mga alahas.

Ipingmalaki ni Simoun ang kanyang rebolber kay Kabesang Tales. Nagdatingan ang mga mamimili ng alahas. Si Kapitan Basilio, ang anak na si Sinang at asawa nito, Si Hermana Penchang mamimili ng isang singsing na brilyante para sa birhen ng Antipolo. Binuksan ni Simoun ang dalawang maleta ng alahas. Mga alahas na may iba’t ibang uri, ayos, at kasaysayan.

Napatingin si Kabesang Tales sa mga alahas ni Simoun. Naisisp niyang parang sa tulong ng kayamanang iyon ay tinutudyo siya ni Simoun, nilalait ang kanyang kapahamakan. Sa bisperas pa naman ng araw ng kanyang pag-alis sa bahay niyang iyon isa lamang pinakamaliit sa mga brilyanteng iyon ay sapat nang pantubos kay Huli at makapagbigay ng kapanatagan sa matanda na niyang ama. Wala namimili isa man sa mga nagsitawad sa mga luma ang makasaysayang alahas ni Simoun.

Inilibas ni Simoun ang mga bagong hiyas. Dito namili sina Sinang at iba pa. Siya raw ay namimili rin ng alahas, ani si Simoun. Tinanong si Kabesang Tales kung may may ipabibili. Iminungkahi ni Sinang ang kuwintas. Tinawaran agad ni Simoun ng makilalang iyon nga ang kuwintas ng kasintahang nagmongha. Limandaang piso. O ipagpalit ng Kabesa sa alin mang hiyas na maibigan niya. Nag-isip si Kabesang Tales. Ani Hermana Penchang ay di dapat ipagbili iyon dahil minabitu pa ni Huli ang paalila kaysa ipagbili iyon. Isinangguni raw muna ni Kabesang Tales sa anak ang bagay na iyon. Tumango si Simoun.

Ngunit nang nasa labas na ng bahay ay natanaw ni Kabesang Tales ang prayle at ang bagong gumagawa ng lupa. Nangagtawanan pa iyon ng makita si Kabesang Tales. Tulad niya ay isang lalaking nakita ang kanyang asawa na kasama ang ibang lalaki at pumasok sa isang silid at nangagtatatwanang inaglahi ang kanyang pagkalalaki. Bumalik ng bahay si kabesang Tales. Sinabi kay Simoun na di niya nakausap ang anak.

Kinabukasan, wala si Kabesang Tales. Gayundin ang rebolber ng mag-aalahas-wala sa kaluban at ang naroroon ay isang sulat at kuwintas ni Maria Clara. Humingi ng paumanhin si Kabesang Tales sa pagkakahuha ng baril na kailangan daw niya sa pagsapi niya sa mgas tulisan. Pinagbilinan si Simoun na mag-ingat sa paglakad sapagkat pagnahulog ang mag-aalahas sa kamay ng mga tulisan ay mapapahamak ito. Ani Simoun-sa wakas ay natagpuan ko ang taong aking kailangan: Pangahas ngunit mabuti nga ito-marunong tumupad sa mga pangko.

Dinakip ng mg a guwardiya sibil si Tandang Selo. Natutuwa si Simoun. Tatlo ang pinatay ni Kabesang Tales ng gabing iyon. Ang prayle, ang lalaking gumagawa sa lupa, at ang asawa nito ay nagkaroon ng madugong pagkamatay-putol ang leeg at puno ng lupa ang bibig. Sa tabi ng bangkay ng babae ay may papel na kinasusulatan ng Tales na isinulat ng daliring isinawsaw sa dugo.

Full Version

Casual Summary by Some Person

Simoun visits the house of Cabesang Tales (located between the towns of San Diego and Tiani). Tales is impoverished, but Simoun brings food and other necessities, along with cases of jewelry. (Simoun did this because he wanted to get to know Tales better.)

Simoun shows off his revolver or pistol to Tales. Soon, the jewelry buyers arrive: Capitan Basilio (father of Sinang), Capitana Tika (mom of Sinang), Sinang (and her husband and child), and Hermana Penchang (who wants to buy a diamond ring for the Blessed Virgin at Antipolo). It's some kind of status symbol for them ~ they can say that they bought jewelry from the adviser of the Capitan Heneral. Ah, the travails of "branded" fashion...

Simoun opens the two pieces of luggage filled with jewelries of different types, shapes and histories.

Tales looks at the riches and feels that Simoun is using those to make Tales feel more miserable about his situation. To think all this was happening on the eve of Tales' eviction. All it would take was but one tiny diamond to ransom Juli from her employer and to sustain Tales' old father, Selo, till the end of his days. Tales feels insulted, to say the least.

(Folks, please read the description of the jewelry. Note also the "speech" Simoun made in not-so-good Tagalog. He must've looked really weird with his blue-tinted glasses and fiery speech about how a handful of his jewels can "drown in tears all the inhabitants of the Philippines!" Geez. Weirdo.)

Some of the jewelry mentioned:

• Necklace of Cleopatra
• Rings found in the ruins of Carthage
• Some treasures brought back by Hannibal after the Battle of Cannae
• Ring of Sulla
• Earrings found in the villa of Annius Mucius Papilinus in Pompeii
• Sapphire from Ceylon, emeralds from Peru, ruby, turquoises from Persia, diamonds (black, rosy, green)
• Ring of the Princess of Lamballe
• Pendants to a lady-in-waiting of Marie Antoinette
• Oriental mother-of-pearl
• Others from the Golconda mines

None of the buyers were interested in the old, historical jewels, so Simoun brought out the modern ones. No appreciation for antiquity, it seems. How can you blame the buyers? There weren't even enough museums at that time.

(This is probably Rizal's way of showing the lack of "culture" prevalent in Philippine society at that time. Hmmm... at that time? Heh.)

Simoun also wanted to buy something, so he asked Cabesang Tales if he had any jewelry for sale. Sinang reminds Tales about the locket given to Juli (recall that this locket was given by Maria Clara to a leper, who gave it to Basilio, who then gifted it to his sweetheart Juli... Whew!).

Simoun immediately offered Five Hundred Pesos (afterall, that was the locket of his love, Maria Clara, who had since become a nun). He alternatively offered any other jewel.

Hermana Penchang reminds Tales that Juli chose to become a maid/slave over selling that locket, so Tales decides to consult first with Juli.

Tales goes out to meet his daughter, but along the way sees the friar and the new tenant of Tales' land. Those insensitive two laugh at Tales when they see him. Tales felt as if some guy took his wife to a private room and laughed at him before entering the room.

Tales does not go to see his daughter. Instead, he follows those two men.

The following day, Tales is missing. And so is Simoun's revolver!

In the holster, Simoun finds a note from Tales (aka Telesforo Juan de Dios). Tales apologized for taking the revolver and explained he needed it because he was joining the bandits. Aside from the note, Tales also left--as payment--the locket Simoun wanted.

Simoun muses that he has finally found the man he's been looking for: a man of action, a man of integrity, a man who can keep his end of the bargain.

(When Tales swore that his land will be taken away over his dead body, his act of gun-stealing shows that Tales doesn't simply make threats; he keeps promises.)

Simoun orders his servants to proceed to Los Baños via the lake. He, on the other hand, decides to travel on land (along with his precious gems) because he hopes to meet the bandits so that he can invite them to his cause (revolution).

Simoun is delighted to discover that the guardia civil have arrested Old Man Selo. He realizes that this will anger Sales even more.

It turns out that Tales murdered three people the previous evening: the friar, the new tenant, and his wife. It was a gruesome murder: their mouths were filled with soil, the wife's neck was slashed, and the other two had been shot in the head.Beside the wife's corpse was a note with Tales' name finger-traced in blood.

The chapter ends with a sarcastic assurance to the citizens of Calamba that they will not be blamed for the crime committed by Tales. Rizal was hinting that these citizens were NOT the equivalent of Tales... for they had suffered more than Tales.

But these citizens are like Tales in the sense that they still have not obtained justice. There is also some reference to Mariano Herbosa, husband of Rizal's sister Lucia. Mariano's eldest daughter was Delfina Herbosa de Natividad (1879 to 1900) who, at the age of 7, helped sew the first Philippine flag!

(Mariano died from cholera, but was not buried in the town cemetery because he did not receive the Last Sacraments. Yeah, right. How convenient that Rizal's brod-in-law, because of some timing issue, had to be buried out of town [on the hillock Lichiria].)