The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell Read Free Book Online Page A

father and felt proud that he had bested the four dealers.
    Then Father Gallardo recovered his voice and tried to speak calmly.
    "We will celebrate the pearl," he said. "It will be the most wondrous celebration La Paz has ever seen in all its history."
    But my mother was not pleased with the gift of the pearl nor was she pleased with the idea of celebrating the gift. She ran into the parlor after Father Gallardo had left and tears were in her eyes.
    "The beautiful pearl is gone," she sobbed.
    "Not gone," said my father. "It will be in the church for everyone to see. And you can go there and see it too."
    "I do not wish to see it again," my mother cried. "The Madonna has many pearls. You could have given Her a smaller one."
    "Because She has only small pearls, I gave Her a big pearl," my father said.
    My mother went over to where he stood and looked up at him and wiped the tears from her eyes.
    "That is not the reason," she said. "You gave the great pearl because you were angry with the dealers. You gave it away to spite them."
    "No, it was a gift from the House of Salazar," my father said proudly. "And for this gift of the great pearl, the greatest pearl ever found in all the Vermilion Sea, the House of Salazar shall be favored in Heaven, now and forever."
    My mother said nothing more, but when Father Gallardo held his celebration she felt a headache and stayed at home.

10
    F ATHER G ALLARDO'S CELEBRATION took place five days later.
    The church blazed with candles, and flowers decked the altar, and the air was sweet with incense. The young Madonna stood in Her niche dressed in a white satin gown, with garlands of daisies braided through Her hair. In Her outstretched hand lay the great black pearl.
    The church was filled and the people flowed through the big door and out into the plaza. Never before had our town of La Paz seen such a multitude. They came on foot, on burro and on horseback from as far away as Loreto in the north and Santo Tomás in the south. They even came by canoe from the bare islands of the Vermilion Sea. And there were also a band of Indians from the wild barrancas of the Sierra Morena dressed in rabbit skins. Their presence pleased Father Gallardo.
    "The pearl has worked a miracle," he said. "For many years I have tried to coax these savages into my church but failed."
    After the services the Madonna was placed on a bower festooned with flowers and borne twice around the plaza while the people sang and danced. Then She was carried down to the sea to bless the Salazar fleet.
    This was my father's idea, the blessing of the fleet. It was to show my mother that the great black pearl already had won the favor of Heaven, and a sign that the House of Salazar would always prosper.
    And this is why the Madonna was borne down to the sea, and on the shore Father Gallardo stood beside the Madonna with the crowd gathered around him. On the quiet water of the bay rode our five blue boats, each one fresh-painted and strung with streamers of bright paper.
    "We ask Your protection for these boats," Father Gallardo said, raising his arms. "Speed them to the pearling grounds and bring them safely home. We ask that You bless the House of Salazar that has so honored our church this day, that they may find another pearl as large as the one they have given."
    After Father Gallardo had blessed the fleet, the Madonna was carried through the streets again. In Her hand lay the Pearl of Heaven so that everyone could see it once more. And to the throng that gathered around the Madonna and Her pearl, as the procession wound back to the church, it was a wonderful day. For to those who had little and to those who had nothing, the pearl also belonged to each of them, to dream of the rest of their lives.
    When the Madonna was placed in Her niche, I knelt before Her and gave thanks that I had found the pearl that so many now would cherish for their own. And as I walked out of the church, if for a moment I imagined all the boats the pearl