The Barefoot Queen Read Online Free PDF Page A

enough of a profit.
    Which was why they tried to move away from the throng when Fray Joaquín, of the Order of Preachers, began his open-air sermon in front of what in time would be the imposing entrance of the church. At that moment, the pious Sevillians crowded on the stretch of ground weren’t interested in their fortunes or tobacco; many of them had come to Triana to listen to another of the controversial sermons given by that young Dominican, born of an era in which clear thinking was struggling to forge a path through the darkness of ignorance. From his improvised pulpit outside of the temple, he went beyond the ideas of Fray Benito Jerónimo Feijoo; Fray Joaquín spoke loudly in Spanish and without throwing in Latin phrases, sharply criticizing the atavistic prejudices of the Spaniards and inciting people with his defense of the virtue of work, even as a mechanic or an artisan, against the misunderstood concept of honor that drove Spaniards to laziness and idleness; he aroused women’s pride by opposing conventual education and supporting their new role in society and in the family; he affirmed their right to an education and their legitimate aspiration to intellectual development for the good of a civilized kingdom. Women were no longer servants to men, nor could they be considered imperfect males.They weren’t evil by nature! Marriage must be founded on equality and respect. In our century, maintained Fray Joaquín, quoting great thinkers, the soul no longer had a sex: it wasn’t male or female. People crowded together to hear him and it was then, Ana and Milagros knew, when the gypsy women took advantage of people’s fascination to steal their bags.
    They got as close as they could to the place from which Fray Joaquín addressed the multitude. He was accompanied by the twenty-odd Dominican friars who lived in the San Jacinto monastery. Many of them looked up every once in a while toward the leaden sky that, luckily, resisted unleashing its water; the rain would have ruined the celebration.
    “I am the light of the world!” shouted Fray Joaquín so he could be heard. “That was what Our Lord Jesus Christ announced. He is our light! A light present in all these candles you have brought and that should illuminate …”
    Milagros wasn’t listening to the sermon. She stared at the friar, who soon noticed the mother and daughter near him. The gypsy women’s brightly colored dresses stood out in the crowd. Fray Joaquín hesitated; for a moment his words lost their fluency and his gestures no longer held the faithful’s attention. Milagros noticed how he struggled, in vain, not to look at her; in fact at times he couldn’t help letting his eyes linger on her just a bit too long. On one of those occasions, the girl winked at him and Fray Joaquín stammered; on another, Milagros stuck out her tongue at him.
    “Child!” her mother scolded, after elbowing her hard. Ana gave the friar priest an apologetic glance.
    The sermon, as the crowd had been hoping, went on for a long time. Fray Joaquín, once Milagros had stopped hounding him, managed to make an impression once again. When he finished, the faithful lit their candles in the bonfire that the friars had built. The people dispersed and the two women went back to their schemes.
    “What were you trying to do?” her mother asked.
    “I like him …” answered Milagros, gesturing flirtatiously. “I like that he stammers, makes mistakes, blushes.”
    “Why? He’s a priest.”
    The girl seemed to be thinking. “I don’t know,” she responded with a shrug and then smiled.
    “Fray Joaquín respects your grandfather and because of that he will respect you, but don’t play around with men … even if they are religious,” her mother warned.
    AS WAS to be expected, the day was fruitful and Ana sold all the contraband tobacco she carried hidden in her clothes. The Sevillians began to cross the bridge or take the boats back to the city. They could still have