A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings is a magical realist story that examines the human response to those who are weak, dependent, and different. The story shows human nature-related curiosity, greed, and cruelty.
Once upon a time, after days of relentless rain, a humble couple named Pelayo and Elisenda discovered a strange sight in their backyard. Among the muddy grounds and dying crabs, they saw an old man who was unlike anyone they’d ever seen. He had enormous, filthy wings attached to his frail body. He was too weak to stand and barely spoke, mumbling in a language they couldn’t understand.
Pelayo was busy throwing dead crabs from his house into the sea. The smell was terrible, and they believed it was making their baby sick. The world felt gloomy, with the sky and sea blending into one gray mess. One afternoon, while cleaning up, Pelayo saw something moving in the muddy backyard. He got closer and was shocked to find an old man lying face-down in the mud. The man looked weak and tired, and, strangely, he had enormous wings tangled in the dirt. He was too weak to stand, and his wings were muddy and ragged.
Scared, Pelayo called his wife, Elisenda, to come and see. They examined the man. He looked like a sad, old beggar with barely any hair or teeth. His wings were muddy and missing feathers. At first, they thought he might be a sailor who had washed ashore during the storm. But a neighbor, who claimed to know all about life and death, declared, “He’s an angel! He must have come for your baby but was knocked down by the rain.”
Unsure of what to do, they called in their neighbor, who was known for her strong opinions. She immediately claimed the old man must be an angel, sent to take their sick child to heaven. This terrified Pelayo and Elisenda, but when the child’s fever miraculously broke, they started to believe there might be something special about this winged man.
By morning, crowds had gathered outside the chicken coop, curious and noisy. Father Gonzaga, the local priest, came to see if this strange man really was an angel. When the priest greeted him in Latin, the man didn’t understand. He smelled bad, had parasites in his wings, and seemed too human to be a real angel. The priest warned people not to be fooled and promised to write to the Church for guidance.
News spread quickly, and soon the whole town came to see the “angel.” The old man became a sensation. People flocked to Pelayo and Elisenda’s home, offering money (they would charge people five cents to see the angel) just to catch a glimpse of him. Instead of caring for him, the couple decided to profit from the situation. They built a chicken coop to keep him confined and started charging admission.
The old man, however, didn’t behave like the angel people imagined. He didn’t perform miracles or look majestic. In fact, he seemed annoyed by all the attention and often ignored the crowd. Sometimes, he acted like an ordinary, grumpy old man, and the villagers started to lose interest. Still, he became the talk of the town, with people debating his true nature. Was he an angel? A lost soul? Or just a strange freak of nature?
People from all over came to see him. Some came with hopes he would perform miracles, but his “miracles” were strange. For example, instead of curing a blind man, he gave him three new teeth.
Despite the chaos, the angel stayed quiet, enduring the heat, the noise, and even the chickens pecking at his wings. People tried to make him eat strange foods, like mothballs, but he barely ate anything. His patience amazed everyone, even as they treated him poorly.
As time passed, people grew bored of the old man. Their attention turned to a new marvel: a girl who had been turned into a spider after disobeying her parents. She was more entertaining and had a clear moral story to share, so the crowds left the winged man behind. Her sad story captured people’s attention, and the angel was forgotten. Pelayo and Elisenda didn’t mind. They had made so much money from the crowds that they built a big house and improved their lives.
Meanwhile, Pelayo and Elisenda grew rich from the money they had earned. They built a big house and moved on with their lives. They no longer cared much about the old man, who remained in his coop, neglected and weathered by time. Over time, the angel grew weaker. His wings lost feathers, and he looked like he might die. Despite everything, the old man survived.
One day, without any fanfare, the old man’s wings began to heal. Slowly but surely, he regained strength. He started attempting to fly again, flapping clumsily like a fledgling bird. Then, one morning, he managed to take off. Elisenda watched him soar into the sky, disappearing over the horizon. She felt relieved, not out of sympathy but because she no longer had to deal with him.
Elisenda watched him fly away, feeling relieved. The angel was gone, no longer a problem for them, just a distant speck on the horizon. Elisenda watched him go, relieved that the strange chapter of their lives was over. The angel was now just a distant memory.
Life went on, and the winged man became just a strange memory in their lives. Whether he was truly an angel or something else entirely, no one could say. All they knew was that he came and left, leaving behind a small, peculiar mark on their world.
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