Peruvian Folk Tales — Part 1: Well, I Am a Beauty — and a Castellanos · A Luxury Preacher · The Cayetanas · The Devil-Possessed
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
Four tales of old Lima from the Tradiciones Peruanas of Ricardo Palma (1833–1919), the Peruvian writer who gathered the legends, scandals and street wisdom of the viceregal capital into short, sly masterpieces — heard here in a fresh English translation made for this series from the First Series of 1872.
A kept beauty outshines the Viceroy's own beloved at the Feast of the Rosary, parading a lapdog in a collar of solid gold and diamonds — and then gives dog and collar away to save a hospital. A Dominican friar who has never preached in his life is hired cheap for the Good Friday sermon, and tells the town of Huacho first that they will all be damned, and then that they may yet be saved. A priest's house of devout women in cassocks and beaver hats is sung out of existence by the street boys of Lima. And in Ica, a road labourer turned moneylender buys himself the title of Don with an eight-day ball — then waits in terror for the Devil he believes is coming, while his friend who swore never to enter a church receives his funeral honours there all the same.
Stories in this episode:
0:35 Introduction
2:03 Well, I Am a Beauty — and a Castellanos
7:57 A Luxury Preacher
13:08 The Cayetanas
16:36 The Devil-Possessed
Source: Tradiciones Peruanas, Primera Serie (Lima, 1872) by Ricardo Palma, read in the Barcelona edition of 1893 — public domain; fresh in-house English translation. Narrated by Bruno.
Music: "Winter Palace Rhapsody" (instrumental) — opening and closing theme, with a short excerpt between stories.
