When the Elephants Dance

His father struggling with malaria, 13-year-old Alejandro understands his responsibility: Along with his younger brother, Roderick, Alejandro takes to the streets of war-ravaged Manila whenever it is safe and barters cigarettes for food to help his family and their friends. Fifteen in all, they hide in the cellar of his family’s home to wait out what they hope is the last few weeks of a brutal three-year occupation by the Japanese. Today, Alejandro and Roderick make their way through the burned rubble and rotting corpses in the street.

The two brothers are intercepted by Japanese soldiers who question them concerning the whereabouts of Domingo, the elusive leader of the underground Filipino guerilla movement. That movement is suspected in the killing of a Japanese officer that morning. Alejandro denies knowing Domingo, although Domingo and his wife and children have taken refuge in the Karangalan cellar. The two brothers are then rounded up with others suspected of aiding the movement, among them Domingo himself (the Japanese do not know what he looks like). They are herded to the barricaded grounds of Fort McKinley on the outskirts of the city. The Japanese, determined to find the killers, use barbed wire to suspend Alejandro by his thumbs to make him talk. Even as he screams in agony, the soldiers arbitrarily select others to be shot. Unknowingly, they lead Domingo himself out to the woods; Alejandro hears a single shot. When another boy under similar torture admits to the killing, Alejandro is released.

Alejandro returns quickly to his family’s small, crowded cellar. Those gathered there struggle with sickness; they are terrified by the rolling thunder of artillery overhead; they are starving and thirsty. One of the older women wishes there was magic that would make the Japanese disappear. To help ease the anxiety and to pass the time, Alejandro’s father, Carlito, shares a story of magic from his childhood, a tragic love story about a magnificent church and a mysterious woman named Esmeralda Cortez.

Carlito, a sickly child growing up in poverty, adored his neighbor Esmeralda from a distance. An orphan raised by nuns, Esmeralda was reputed to have magical powers—neighbors brought their problems to her and she conjured potions from flowers and fruits to alleviate the suffering. She listened to their stories of heartache with compassion. Her magic was said to bring happiness, love, and peace. A local Catholic nun, however, decried Esmeralda as a threat to the church (later the same nun revealed to a stunned Esmeralda that she was, in fact, her mother). Esmeralda had a lover, the haughty and macho Tirso. Tirso, despite his passion for Esmeralda, had been negotiated into marriage with Catalina Marquez from a wealthy and established family.

Catalina knew of Tirso’s love for Esmeralda but believed that the infatuation would end with the marriage. Esmeralda was inconsolable even after Tirso coldly offered to continue their affair after he was married. Leave me, she said, and never come back. The day of the wedding Esmeralda, wearing a white gown, walked into the church, her beautiful face radiating calm. Even as the vows began, the ground itself commenced to rumble, and an earthquake swallowed most of the church and many of the guests, among them Esmeralda. Carlito uses the story to show that magic cannot solve life’s problems: “My infatuation with Esmeralda started small ripples in the quiet ocean of her life that soon turned into a tidal wave of misfortune” (66).

At story’s end, those in the cellar realize that Alejandro’s older sister, Isabelle, has not yet returned. They worry but decide to wait until dawn. The next morning there is still no sign of her. Rumors reach the cellar about the growing desperation of the Japanese, aided by the Makapili (a disparaging term for Filipinos who cooperate with the Japanese) as the Americans advance. Amid the consternation and hopelessness, Roman Flores, a journalist, shares a story from his childhood about a wizened fisherman named Minno.

Minno was rumored to possess magical powers that caused fish to obey him and leap into his nets. Roman grew up amid privilege but felt a strained distance from his father and disdained his family’s wealth. He bonded, however, with his grandfather who believed in the powers of Minno. Curious, Roman went into the woods to meet Minno. There many strange things happened. The sea appeared from nowhere and fish appeared everywhere. Roman was not sure whether they were visions or some alternative reality, but the fish were real. The boy began to bring home baskets of fish to his family. Roman, fascinated by the visions, became apprentice to Minno.

The boy was taught how to summon the fish. When Roman became involved with a girl in the neighborhood his family did not approve of, his father despaired of his son. Roman did not care. Under the influence of the wizard, Roman then abandoned his faith in the Catholic Church. Minno told the boy that in a special ritual during an upcoming eclipse the boy would officially be consecrated as his minion. However, during the strange ritual, the magic revealed itself to be malevolent and unnatural—Minno transformed into a grotesque giant catfish. In a moment of bravery, Roman’s grandfather interrupted the ceremony and stabbed Minno, thus saving the boy from a hideous fate. Roman’s story was intended to tell those in the cellar to stay faithful to their God and to their family against monstrous foes who only appear to be human.

His story finished, Roman agrees to lead a small party, including Alejandro, to find both Carlito and Isabelle. Once in the chaotic streets, they are detained by the Japanese at bayonet point and led away with others who have been rounded up for interrogation.