Misericordia

Set in late 19th-century Madrid, the novel follows Benigna de Casia, known as Benina, a servant who appears prematurely aged, and who secretly begs at a church door to support her destitute mistress. Through Benina's daily struggle against poverty, the story explores charity, loyalty, and ingratitude in a society sharply divided between rich and poor.

The narrative opens at the church of San Sebastián, where a community of beggars stakes out positions at the north entrance to solicit alms. A strict hierarchy governs them: La Casiana, the domineering senior beggar known as the Corporal, claims the best positions, while newcomers like the sharp-tongued Flora, nicknamed La Burlada, accuse her of hoarding wealth. Among them sits Benina, quiet and dressed in carefully mended black, who begs only occasionally. Her one companion is Almudena, a blind Moroccan from the region of Sus, south of Marrakesh.

On a bitterly cold March morning, Don Carlos Moreno Trujillo, a methodical retired shopkeeper, arrives for his monthly visit. After distributing coins with his usual precision, he breaks his lifelong routine by exiting through an unfamiliar door and asking specifically for Benina to visit his home the next morning.

Benina confides to Almudena that she desperately needs a duro, a coin worth five pesetas, and cannot return home without one. Benina pawns a suit belonging to Almudena while he searches his drunken roommate's clothing for coins. With barely enough, Benina races through the streets buying food and medicine, then climbs to the garret in Calle Imperial where she lives with her mistress, Doña Francisca Juárez de Zapata, known as Doña Paca.

The narrator provides Doña Paca's backstory. A native of the Andalusian town of Ronda, she married a quartermaster-general named Don Antonio María Zapata but could never manage money. Her spending destroyed the family fortune before Zapata died of pneumonia, leaving two children: Antonio and Obdulia. Benina entered service during this period, proving herself an excellent cook but also a habitual petty thief. Despite two dismissals, she always returned. During one crisis, Benina gave her mistress her life savings, though she kept a portion back, establishing the blend of generosity and self-preservation that defines her character.

The children's marriages brought no relief. Antonio reformed through marriage to Juliana, a formidable seamstress, but his earnings could not cover two families. Obdulia, who has epilepsy, eloped with the son of an undertaker and was soon abandoned. With resources exhausted, Benina began begging in secret, inventing a fictional employer named Don Romualdo, a pious priest from the province of Guadalajara, complete with a niece named Doña Patros. Through constant embellishment, Doña Paca came to believe completely in his existence.

At Don Carlos's apartment, Benina endures a lecture on bookkeeping. His gift: an account book, a pencil, and two duros per month. Benina represses her fury. At a café, Almudena describes a magic spell to summon King Samdai, ruler of the Underworld, who can grant unlimited riches. Benina is skeptical yet tempted. Almudena also recounts his past: he ran away from home at 15, went blind after swimming in contaminated water near Fez, and received a vision offering either treasure or a woman. He chose the woman and has been searching for her ever since.

Benina also cares for Frasquito Ponte Delgado, a ruined gentleman from Algeciras who once moved in fashionable society but now sleeps in cheap lodging houses. Ponte visits Obdulia in her bare garret, and the two share fantasies of elegance, with Ponte declaring Obdulia the image of Empress Eugénie, the celebrated last empress consort of France. Benina feeds them both and gives Ponte her last peseta.

When Ponte collapses from a seizure, Benina borrows 10 duros from La Pitusa, an old acquaintance who owes her a past favor, by pawning two rings. She installs the unconscious Ponte at Doña Paca's flat, attributing the money to Don Romualdo. Meanwhile, Almudena, consumed by jealousy over Ponte, moves to Las Cambroneras, a settlement of the destitute near the Puente de Toledo bridge. When Benina finds him, he strikes her with his stick, then collapses weeping and proposes marriage. Benina gently refuses, calling him "my son." He then confesses the spell works only for men.

Doña Paca reports that a priest named Don Romualdo, matching Benina's fictional description exactly, called at the flat while she was out. Later, at St. Andrew's church, Benina catches sight of this same priest and wonders whether her sustained lying has somehow brought a real person into existence. Meanwhile, Doña Paca recounts a vivid dream in which dead acquaintances announced that Rafael García de los Antrines, a bachelor relative, had named her family as beneficiaries in his will.

As her money runs out, Benina begs three times daily, wearing a veil and green spectacles in the evenings to disguise herself. One Saturday, police arrest her and Almudena in a round-up of unlicensed beggars, and they are transferred to a detention facility at El Pardo.

During Benina's absence, a real priest named Don Romualdo Cedrón arrives. He is the archpriest of Santa María in Ronda and executor of the will of Rafael García de los Antrines, the very relative of Doña Paca's dream. Rafael left the farm of Almoraima in usufruct, the right to use and profit from the property, to Obdulia and Antonio, and life pensions to Doña Paca, Ponte, and others, with an advance of 50 duros per month. Doña Paca drops to her knees. Cedrón admits he has seen a woman matching Benina's description begging with a blind North African, a revelation that horrifies Doña Paca.

Antonio's wife Juliana quickly takes control of the household, installing her cousin Hilaria as cook and managing finances with dictatorial efficiency. Antonio organizes a trip to free Benina and Almudena. On the return, Ponte falls from a horse, and the head injury triggers erratic behavior. He forces his way into Doña Paca's new flat raving about his honor. After Juliana threatens to throw him over the balcony, Hilaria and the chambermaid Daniela push him out. On the staircase, Ponte suffers a stroke and dies.

When Benina arrives home barefoot and in rags, she finds the flat transformed: unfamiliar servants, flowering plants, a glittering chandelier. Juliana stops her at the threshold. From the far end of the dining room, Doña Paca speaks faintly, acknowledging Benina's devotion but explaining there is no room for her. Doña Paca recoils at learning Benina brought Almudena. Juliana gives Benina a duro, suggests the Misericordia poorhouse, and promises leftovers delivered at the street door. Descending the stairs, Benina cries: "Ungrateful! Ungrateful! Ungrateful!"

Benina settles with Almudena in a hut south of the Puente de Toledo. She begs each morning at St. Andrew's while Almudena, who has a severe skin disease, stays home. Don Romualdo Cedrón provides daily food. Benina reflects that this priest is not the one she invented but resembles her creation exactly: "One invents things that turn out to be true, or else truth, before it becomes true, starts out as a big lie." From a doorway, she watches Doña Paca on moving day, looking crushed while Juliana herds the family along. Benina tells Almudena she still loves her mistress despite the ingratitude.

In the final scene, Juliana develops a tormenting obsession that her healthy twin sons are dying. She seeks out Benina, finding her surprisingly serene. Confessing that she has sinned, Juliana begs Benina to tell her the children are well. Benina replies: "Your children are not dying, they are healthy and strong. Stop crying. Now go home and sin no more."