UNINTERlingua 2023

61 A second difference is Lázaro’s double physical metamorphosis. While classical myth has its share of metamorphoses, as does more modern fantastic literatu- re, the idea of physical transformation is not otherwise linked with the descent into another world. It is a uniquely picaresque perspective that in response to Lázaro’s pleas to save his life, he is turned into a tuna fish, not just magically retuned to land. While the first metamorphosis saves his life, it also requires him to exercise the pícaro’s greatest skill: learning to survi- ve and adapt to his new environment by making use of his wit. Lázaro’s second metamorphosis, which allows him to return from his descent, could perhaps be expec- ted, though the method is certainly un- usual. The reason I say it could be expec- ted is that, logically, any return from this lower world would need to come about in a way similar to that which allowed Lázaro to survive his accidental descent, namely, his metamorphosis. A third difference is that Lázaro stays in the lower world for four years and actually starts a new life for himself. In other “des- cent” stories, the person is anxious to lea- ve as soon as possible and usually does so if an opportunity for departure occurs. The one exception is Persephone’s cyclical three months in Hades out of each year. In Lázaro’s case, he lived in the ocean as a fish for four years and was apparently re- signed to living out the rest of his life there. He had even taken a tuna wife and created a good name and reputation for himself. It was only through a freak accident that Lázaro was able to return to the world of men. I have been unable to find any other literary work in which a person making a descent to a lower world is able to stay such a length of time and then return to his/her original world. That brings up a fourth point. Lázaro does not have to “earn” the right or permission to return to earth. In fact, he neither re- quests nor works toward such a return. In the examples cited from mythology, Or- pheus’s musical skill earned permission to retrieve Eurydice, Heracles’s physical prowess convinced Death to relinquish Al- cestis, and intervention from the gods was required to secure Persephone’s partial re- lease. The only “skill” required in Lázaro’s case was getting caught in the fishermen’s nets and hanging on to his sword too stub- bornly. This, again, is typical of the pica- resque hero who often relies not just on his skill and wits, but also on the chance that fate or lady luck will smile upon him. It is also typical in the sense that the pícaro is able to make the best out of a seeming di- saster, like getting caught in the nets, and have the event turn out well. Finally, the last major difference is that the story of Lázaro has no overt nor obviously symbolic religious environment surroun- ding it. That is, there is no talk of saving or losing one’s soul, of gods or demons, or of eternal life. In the classical myths, many of the characters involved are gods or god- desses (Hades, Demeter, Zeus), and for the mortals involved in “descent” stories, it is a matter of life and death. For Eurydi- ce and Alcestis, they either dwell with the living on earth or with the dead in the un- derworld. Persephone, as a symbol of the seasons, is able to split her time between the two places. In Lázaro’s case, while he does pray to God to spare his life when he is about to drown and be eaten by the tuna fish, the request is granted in a uni- que way that forces Lázaro to continue his struggles to adapt to his environment. His other plea to God, while in jail, does have some religious overtones in that he repents for his apparent “sin” of having lied to lady Truth in order to regain his identity in the world of men. Imagen: «Orfeo conduciendo a Eurídice fuera del infierno» (1861), Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.