Pelayo's Short Story: The Old Man

Summary of the narrative.
Pelayo finds an old man dressed like a ragpicker with large buzzard wings face down in the mud. After three days of constant rain the seaside was swarming with decaying crabs and the smell of stench. People were astonished by the old man wings and his inability to communicate causing them to question what he was. A neighbor woman thought he was an Angel that had come for the baby while Pelayo and his wife Elisen suspected that he was a castaway from a ship because of his robust sailor’s voice.
The following night Pelayo pulled the old man out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in a wire chicken coop. Folks wanted to see the old man and Elisenda came up with the idea to charge five cents to view him because of the clutter people left behind. Pelayo and Elisenda made a fortune and built a two-story mansion and shortly afterwards their newborn child fully recovers from his fever.

The old man was burned with a branding iron to arouse him. The town captivated around carnival attractions including a woman who disobeyed her parents and was transformed into a spider. After the spider women people lost interest in the “Old Man.” He survived the worst winter, but improved drastically during the beginning of summer. One morning Elisendra looked out the window and saw the angel trying to fly. Elisendra watch the angel until he was no longer possible to see him, because he no longer was an annoyance to her but an imaginary dot on the