Incantation

After the burning in the Plaza, the neighborhood is filled with the noise of people shouting, throwing things, and smashing windows. Publicly, the town fathers accused the Jewish population of stealing from them, but Estrella is suspicious of this because she has seen the juderia, the neighborhood where Jewish people are forced to live. She has seen the poverty that exists in this segregated neighborhood and doesn’t understand why people accuse Jews of stealing just because some work in moneylending.

The turmoil in the village causes people to turn to Estrella’s grandfather for guidance, as he has a reputation as a great teacher. Despite his active role in teaching the boys of the community and counseling his neighbors, he has very little to do with Estrella. She sees him as an intimidating man who only teaches the smartest pupils. 

During the chaos outside, Estrella’s grandmother keeps her from going next door to see Catalina. She unexpectedly gives Estrella a beautiful pearl necklace that she and Estrella’s grandfather have been holding on to for a long time. Even though the two are not close, Estrella hugs her grandmother. She sees that fear and confusion have affected how her grandmother shows affection, and the pair reach a new understanding. 

That night, men are still gathered in Estrella’s grandfather’s study in a room under the stairs of the cellar, where Estrella is not allowed to go. Estrella is woken up from a sound sleep by her mother, who wants to go shopping in the Muslim quarter. Even though the Muslim neighborhood is separated like the Jewish one, people are free to go in and out of it to visit the stores. While Abra mostly uses her time in the quarter to sell her dyed yarn, she and Estrella always visit a particular woman there to share mint tea. This woman is the wife of a Muslim doctor, and she wishes to make a beautiful blue coat for her husband. Abra and this woman have a lot in common, including the love each has for her husband. In the garden where they sit is a red lily said to have turned red because of the perfect love the woman feels. On these visits Abra, who is a healer, brings her cures, as the woman is sick with a condition her husband cannot treat. When Abra and Estrella return home, Abra turns to her cards to ask fate what will happen to the woman. Though she says nothing, Abra is clearly unhappy with the answers she receives and doesn’t pull the cards out again for a long time.

Abra and Estrella take one of their many trips to the hills above the village to collect plants for Abra’s work. They go on this day because it is Rosh Hodesh, the beginning of the lunar month (though Estrella knows that this is a “secret name” for the occasion, she does not recognize it as a Jewish tradition). The plants they gather are used for healing or dying the wool that Abra sells. Estrella treasures these trips and tries to remember all that Abra teaches her. Catalina once asked about these trips, worried that there were witches at work in the hills. Estrella dismissed her easily and laughed at the idea.

From above, the village looks small, but Estrella’s mother only looks up to the sky, which she describes as the shade of “tears.”

Living with Catalina is Andres, her cousin. Estrella tries in vain to restrain herself from fondly watching him, because she believes Andres and Catalina are going to marry one day. As Catalina and Estrella pass the time by idly planning their future, Catalina catches sight of the pearl necklace Estrella is wearing underneath a scarf. Estrella makes up a story about wearing the necklace to show Catalina. In reality, Estrella wanted to wear the necklace to feel more assured around Andres. When she speaks to Andres she is able to make him laugh before she runs back to Catalina. Catalina remarks that Andre looks “foolish” and scolds Estrella for indulging his teasing, oblivious to the romantic undertones of their interaction. Estrella lies to Catalina for the first time by denying staring at Andres. 

When Luis, Estrella’s brother, returns home for a week’s break from seminary, the family celebrates. All the neighbors step out to greet him, and he makes time for every single one. At dinner, the family wears fancy clothes, and the priest from their church, Friar deLeon, joins them. Because it is Friday, the grandmother lights the candles, and Estrella questions why their family crosses themselves differently than their neighbors, including Catalina’s family. Luis answers, “We do it this way so God knows what’s in our hearts” (21). Estrella focuses on how Luis’s return makes the family very happily, even causing Estrella’s grandmother to pronounce the dish Estrella made “delicious.” 

Because Luis has returned, Estrella must sleep on a mat next to her mother’s bed, but because of Luis’s kind nature, Estrella doesn’t mind. Luis is exhausted from seminary but still finds time to help his mother. However, he doesn’t recognize Catalina when she comes by the yard and accidentally insults her by thinking she was a hired worker. This angers Catalina, who complains to Estrella. A distance grows between the friends, but Estrella tries to break the silence by pointing out a dove as they walk back from the well. Catalina is happy to correct Estrella’s mistake and tells her that the dove, which symbolizes good luck, is actually a hawk. 

Catalina invites Estrella over for dinner, saying that her mother has made hot sausages, and Estrella is surprised that Catalina doesn’t remember that Estrella never eats sausage (Estrella earlier says that her family “prefers” vegetables). She claims stomach issues to avoid dinner. 

After this interaction, Estrella finds comfort in her pet pig, Dini, and brings him along when spending time with Luis. On Luis’s last day home, Estrella returns to the fields to be alone. She recognizes the hawk that she saw with Catalina. It keeps the songbirds from the sky and cannot be enticed to come down even when offered bread and orange slices. 

The next day, she climbs an olive tree to speak to the hawk. Despite spending an hour there, she does not succeed in making the hawk into a pet and is disappointed. From this vantage point, she can see Andres working. She makes a silent bargain that if he walks over to her, they were meant to be together. Andres does indeed come over, and the two talk about their new distance from Catalina. Andres offers to be a person Estrella can talk to. They don’t look at each other but watch the sky. The hawk leaves.