"The Cabbages of the Cemetery"

Pío Baroja.

Summary: On the outskirts of town there is a little tavern. The owner dies of near-drowning and pneumonia. His wife, with seven children, and another on the way, carries on. A former member of the community, Pachi, returns from America and becomes the central attraction in the tavern. He owns the land on which the town’s cemetery is located, deeds the land to the town on condition that he can become the grave digger and build a house on the grounds where he can live.

The wife of the tavern owner dies after childbirth. Pachi gathers up the children and rears them. In the cemetery plot, he has also planted cabbages and artichokes. He sells them to the towns people, and they are delicious, having been nourished by their forebears in the cemetery.

Comment: Well, it’s a story. RayS.

Spanish Stories and Tales. Ed. By Harriet de Onís. The Pocket Library, 1956.