O Defunto

It takes place in 1474 in the Spanish city of Segovia and tells the story of the passion of D. Rui de Cardenas, devotee of Our Lady of the Pillar, for the beautiful Dona Leonor, wife of the “nobleman of great wealth and somber manners” D. Alonso, who keeps her practically cloistered at home, only allowing her to leave for brief trips to church. Although Leonor does not reciprocate Rui’s love and remains faithful to her fierce husband, he, driven by jealousy, decides to move to his farm in Cabril, two leagues from Segovia, and there, threatening his wife with a dagger, forces her to write a false “love letter” luring Rui into a trap. He only manages to escape thanks to the intercession of a deceased man from the Hill of the Hanged, who takes his place and receives the dagger blow intended to kill him. He becomes convinced of this, but the skull warns D. Rui and takes his place. The next day, D. Alonso cannot find the one he thought he had killed, but someone sees one of the skulls with his dagger, and it was not, evidently, D. Rui.

Eça’s foray into the realm of the fantastic.