The Mulatto Woman of Cordoba

A long time ago, during the Inquisition period, lived in the city of Cordoba a very beautiful woman. She had neither father nor mother; she was alone in this world. People called her “Soledad” (loneliness). We must add that she was a mulata (mulatto).

Having a skin color other than white was not well seen by the colonizers, so the indigenous and the black people brought from Africa enjoyed no rights; and this woman was the prime example of the union between two races. Her extreme beauty caused her many a mishap, turning her very shy. Women began spreading the rumor that she knew the secrets of witchcraft, magic and enchantments. They assured that at nights a very intense light and a strange, mysterious music came out from the windows of the hut she inhabited.

The Inquisition authorities and her own neighbors began spying on her in order to confirm her nefarious relationship with the Evil One. They saw that, on the contrary, she attended the Mass. This ended the rumors and eased the Inquisition authorities.

But this was not the case of Don Martin de Ocaña, Mayor of Cordoba, an elderly man who burned with desire for the Mulata. He confessed her love and promised her many gifts if she conceded him her body. The Mulata didn’t even smiled at him; much less show a sign of hope.

A spurned man is the worst enemy a woman may have. Even more so if this enemy is the city Mayor, and even worse if the woman lives in that city, and to top it all, she is a mulata.

To get rid of the source of his pain and suffering, the Mayor accused the Mulata of giving him a potion that made him loose his mind. He did this with the hope of watching her burn in the bonfire. If the didn’t belong to him, she would belong to nobody.

On that same night the Mayor, followed by his minions, assistants, policemen and even friends, surrounded her hut in the name of the Holy Inquisition. They ordered her to open the door, but she, filled with terror, didn’t reply. The display of power used to arrest her was enough to capture the groups of thieves that roamed the road leading from Cordoba to Veracruz.

She was finally caught and carried in an open cart, guarded by the Holy Inquisition. They took her to the unbreakable dungeons inside the castle of San Juan de Ulua, where she waited for her punishment.

Some say that it happened there, in San Juan de Ulua, Veracruz. Others that it was in the dungeons of the Holy Inquisition palace in Santo Domingo, Mexico, capital of New Spain. The truth is that soon after her quick trial she was found guilty of making pacts with the Devil. The sentence stated that Soledad, the Mulata from Cordoba, as she was known, was to be burned with fire from tender wood, before all the townspeople as an example of what may happen to anyone who acted against the Holy Church. It was a lesson for all those who planned to deviate from the “right” path.

All night long, instead of praying the appropriate prayers, which may show her repentance (although she would inevitably be immolated), Soledad spent her last hours drawing a boat on the wall with a piece of coal. She did this with such mastery, that the warden in charge of looking for her the next day was struck by the magnitude of this work of art.

Every little detail of a ship ready to set sail abroad was perfectly reproduced. Before the guard’s astonishment, she asked him: “What is missing from this ship?” To which the warden hastily replied: “To sail.”

“Well then, see how it sails.” said she, gracefully climbing the stairs leading into the ship. After this she turned towards her captors to wave her hand as a sign of goodbye. So the galleon disappeared before the guard’s amazed eyes.

Adapted by Marko Castillo