An Anecdote in El condenado por desconfiado

who of course represents God, and El Rey were necessarily played by men. Thus El Labrador in our script became La Labranza, El Pobre became La Pobreza, etc. In our opinion, this change made no difference in the effectiveness of the play. In presenting an auto sacramental the most interesting problems are in the staging. This must be done with care, since the dignity and impressiveness of the piece demand a certain stateliness of places and installation;;, and indeed a spirit of reverence, particularly in the last scene. This auto affords many opportunities for skilful lighting: spotlighting , dimouts and blackouts, radiant floods, etc. The use of certain elevations for El Autor, El Mundo, La Discreción, and La Ley de Gracia was a feature of the Madrid production that we tried to imitate, to some extent, in our presentation. Costuming is important but does not need to be elaborate. Plain muslin tunics were worn by the worldly characters until they were invested with their positions of rank or calling. El Autor was in white and gold robes, with a high, gilded mitre. El Mundo wore a floral-printed tunic, green skirt, and a wreath of flowers and leaves, all intended to suggest life, fertility and abundance. The worldly characters are all given costumes and symbols by El Mundo, as part of the action of the play. Not the least oí the factors enhancing the tone of the piece was the music played before and after, and between scenes, changes of which must be done by quick work during dimouts or blackouts. We used Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, as sung by the Roger Wagner Chorale (Capitol Classics). Some dozen students served on the crews, and to them and to an earnest cast goes the credit for a good performance. All of the language departments urged attendance a. the plays, and for both evenings the theater was almost full. It was our intention to have the audience made up of the foreign-language students, of all levels, but of course we welcomed in addition people of the community and some colleagues and students from neighboring institutions. All of us felt that our greatest reward was in the high cultural experience of this great auto. The lines are beautiful, and in the sweep of its lofty conception and in the purity and eloquence of the poetry those who had anything to do with it felt the reverent creativity Calderón gave it. El gran teatro del mundo has been a favorite choice for presentation in modern times. A forthcoming article by Professor Sturgis Leavitt will note some of the recent occasions of its production. An Anecdote in El condenado por desconfiado h? . John J. Reynolds, University of Arizona Toward the middle of the second act of El condenado por desconfiado we find the following, hitherto unexplained dialogue between Paulo, the hermit-turned-bandit, and the gracioso, Pedrisco: Paulo. [Pedrisco], los hechos fieros de Enrico imitar pretendo, y aun le quisiera exceder. Perdone Dios si le ofendo i que si vno el fin ha de ser, esto es justo, y yo me ^entiendo. Pedrisco. [A] sí al otro le dezían que la escalera rodaua, otros que rodar le vían. Paulo's expression "yo me entiendo" in the sense of "I know what I'm doing" offers no problem, but what is the meaning of Pedrisco's words? First of all, the prose word order would be: "Así otros que Is veían rodar le decían al que rodaba la escalera ." Then, I believe the gracioso here alludes to the following anecdote, mutatis mutandis, (or to one very similar to it) : A este propósito se viene á la memoria lo del peón de albañíl, que viendo rodar á su maestro de un andamio muy alto y dando voces à ios de abajo que le socorriesen, respondió:— Déjenle hacer, que él es maestro y se entiende. Allá va Soria, maestro es. EI sabe lo que hace. This story, printed in Sales españolas, ed. ?. Paz y Melia, 2nd Series, Madrid, 1902, ç. 122, is from the Cuentos recogidos por don 13 Juan de Arguijo, the manuscript of which is dated 1619, though...