cuentos de barro - DSpace Universidad Don Bosco

TraNquera
Como el alfarero de Ilobasco modela sus
muñecos de barro: sus viejos de cabeza
temblona, sus jarritos, sus molenderas,
sus gallos de pitiyo, sus chivos patas de
clavo, sus indios cacaxteros1 y en fin,
sus batidores panzudos; así, con las
manos untadas de realismo; con toscas
manotadas y uno que otro sobón rítmico,
he modelado mis Cuentos de Barro.
Después de la hornada, los más rebeldes
salieron con pedazos un tanto crudos;
uno que otro se descantilló; éste salió
medio rajado y aquél boliado dialtiro;
dos o tres se hicieron chingastes.
Pobrecitos mis cuentos de barro... Nada
son entre los miles de cuentos bellos que
brotan día a día; por no estar hechos en
torno, van deformes, toscos, viciados;
porque, ¿qué saben los nervios de línea
pura, de curva armónica? ¿Qué sabe el
rojizo tinte de la tierra quemada de lakas
y barnices?; y el palito rayador, ¿qué sabe
de las habilidades del buril?... Pero del
barro del alma están hechos; y donde
se sacó el material un hoyito queda, que
cU e n t o s /tA l e s
17
caTTle GaTe
As the potter of Ilobasco 2 sculpts his
figures of clay: his old people with shaky
heads, his little pitchers, his women
going to the mill, his rooster-whistles,
his goats crafted with legs of nails, his
figures of indigenous people carrying
cacaxtes 3 on their backs, and even his
figures of burly men beating mixtures
for cattle, for bread, for sugar mills...
Just like that, with realism all over his
messy hands; I have molded my Tales
of Clay with crude touches here, and
rhythmic touches there.
After the kiln, the most rebellious ones
came out with some pieces rather raw.
There were others that broke; this one
came out a little cracked, and that one
came out bad; two or three shattered
into a hundred pieces.
Oh my poor tales of clay... They are
nothing among the thousands of
beautiful tales that sprout daily. Since
they were not made on a potter’s wheel,
they go into the world deformed, coarse,
marred; because, what do his nerves
know about pure lines, about harmonic
curves? 4 What does the reddish tint of
burned clay know about lacquer and
varnishes? And the little stick that
makes figures, what does it know
1. RAE: cacastle. (Del nahua cacaxtli, armazón). 1. m. El Salv., Guat., Hond. y Méx. Armazón de madera para
llevar algo a cuestas.
2. Town in Central El Salvador known for producing the best pottery in the country.
3. A wooden frame worn on someone’s back to carry goods.
4. In physics, Harmonic curve or sine curve is a pictorial representation of a harmonic motion. Harmonic
motion is the movement of an object that repeats its motion over and over again.