- Father, they've killed.
- Who?
- Us. In cross River. We booed the bullets until they killed them all.
- Where?
- There, at Paso del Norte, as we dazzled the lanterns, when we were crossing a river.
- Why?
- I did not know, father. Estanislao remembers? It was he that I mounted the head to get out of there. He told me it was the whole story and we went first to Mexico and from there to Paso. And we were passing the river, when we shot coi mauser. Mi girai perché lui mi disse: "Tirami fuori da qui, paisano , non mi lasciare". E allora era già a pancia in su, con il corpo pieno di buchi, senza muscoli. Lo trascinai come potei, a strappi, mettendomi da un lato delle lanterne che ci illuminavano cercandoci. Gli dissi: "Sei vivo?", e lui mi rispose: "Tirami fuori da qui, paisano ". E poi mi disse: "Mi hanno beccato". Io avevo un braccio rotto per il colpo di una pallottola, e l'osso se n'era andato da lì, da dove si unisce al gomito. Perciò lo afferrai con la mano buona e gli dissi: "Aggrappati forte qui". E mi morì sulla sponda, di fronte alle luci di un posto che si chiama Ojinaga, già da questo lato, among the rushes that continue to comb the river as if nothing had happened.
I took it on the bank and spoke to him: "Are you still alive?" And he did not answer. I did everything to revive Estanislao until it was day, the rubbed and massaged the lungs for breath but never came back even to say well.
- Who?
- Us. In cross River. We booed the bullets until they killed them all.
- Where?
- There, at Paso del Norte, as we dazzled the lanterns, when we were crossing a river.
- Why?
- I did not know, father. Estanislao remembers? It was he that I mounted the head to get out of there. He told me it was the whole story and we went first to Mexico and from there to Paso. And we were passing the river, when we shot coi mauser. Mi girai perché lui mi disse: "Tirami fuori da qui, paisano , non mi lasciare". E allora era già a pancia in su, con il corpo pieno di buchi, senza muscoli. Lo trascinai come potei, a strappi, mettendomi da un lato delle lanterne che ci illuminavano cercandoci. Gli dissi: "Sei vivo?", e lui mi rispose: "Tirami fuori da qui, paisano ". E poi mi disse: "Mi hanno beccato". Io avevo un braccio rotto per il colpo di una pallottola, e l'osso se n'era andato da lì, da dove si unisce al gomito. Perciò lo afferrai con la mano buona e gli dissi: "Aggrappati forte qui". E mi morì sulla sponda, di fronte alle luci di un posto che si chiama Ojinaga, già da questo lato, among the rushes that continue to comb the river as if nothing had happened.
I took it on the bank and spoke to him: "Are you still alive?" And he did not answer. I did everything to revive Estanislao until it was day, the rubbed and massaged the lungs for breath but never came back even to say well.
Juan Rulfo, Paso del Norte (from "The plain in flames", Einaudi 1990, p.. 114)
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