El Perico 12/12/85 - page 2 first column
(Continued from p.1: "La Madre Celestina Nieto")

Of her physical characteristics - although her appearance is interesting we will only point out something that has no relation to her good instincts; a bulging belly and a big mouth indicating her fondness for the pleasures of the table; her thin lips and thin hands indicate her instincts of chastity and purity and the mouth is very similar to that of the chaste and virtuous Alexandre Dumas1, father. In her spacious forehead shines her intelligence, her eyes -those mirrors of the soul - ____________ I don't know; there's nothing I can say because she keeps them concealed behind dark black glasses; they escape the observation of the naturalist; it's probable that this prudent precaution is due to the fear that our virtuous Celestina harbors that her intentions might be discovered in her appearence and frustrate her saintly plans.

Among her scientific works that are a dazzling reflection of her gigantic intelligence: the art of cooking and necromancy; described in an admirable volume wherein one finds solutions to difficult problems that even modern chemistry has been unable to solve; an intimate mixture of thick oil reeking of politics mingled with the pure crystilene water of religion -all forming a single body! _____________ We are certain that once you get the news of this important discovery to Europe, scientific societies will rush to honor so illustrious an Ecuadorian!

But the most important work of this young scholar is the one entitled "The Bible interpreted according to the conveniences of certain clergymen" _________ where the ingenious necromantic author judiciously floats the idea that the kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ should be in this Christian Republic and therefore here on earth ...not in heaven as all until today had believed.

This mischievous collection disturbs the order in the world of religion and it will come to pass that the shaking will be social such that it could be attributed to the eruption of one of our volcanoes - coming from something so terrible as the lust of power

.

As for the points of reference that exist between this character and her progenitor Don Quixote, we must acknowledge that this visionary witch has imagined herself to be a minister of a kingdom that should exist here on the earth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein once her claims were established she would occupy a comfortable position which would provide ready fodder for her good instincts.

Later her gentle humility, brotherly love and other virtues which according to the Apostle of the Gentiles should adorn a little person invested with the sensitive ministry of our interesting Celestina; there are so many other good qualities of this type so remarkable and worthy of study in this era of bad habits and vices.

Woodpecker

1. Alexandre Dumas was a 19th century French Writer. He also had a son of the same name so it was customary to refer to the father as "Alexander Dumas, father" to distinguish him from his son who followed in his fathers footsteps and became a successful novelist and playwright. He was the author of several novels including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, ...etc. He was the opposite of "chaste and virtuous" ...after his marriage to an actress, he continued numerous liassons with other women from whom several children were born out-of-wedlock and his famous son of the same name was one of these children. So it's possible that the author's intent in comparing "Celestina" to the "chaste and virtuous" Alexandre Dumas is to lampoon some contemporary celebrity or archetypal individual of the pro-Catholic faction who pretends to be "chaste and virtuous" but who isn't. The cartoon of Celestina on page 3 of this issue of "El Perico" bears a resemblance to Dumas' photo.↑