The First Garment

The First Garment

Author	Guram Dochanashvili
Original title	სამოსელი პირველი
Language	Georgian
Genre	Novel Adventure fiction Allegory
Publication date	1975
Publication place	Georgia
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	670 pages
ISBN	9789941103179

The First Garment is a novel by Georgian writer Guram Dochanashvili which serves as a retelling of The Parable of the Lost Son from the Bible. The plot follows a young, inexperienced, adventure-seeking man named Domenico who is deeply affected by the appearance and stories of a mysterious refugee in his village, and thus decides to take his inheritance and leave the village to go on adventuring. Over the years, Domenico meets many different people and gets caught up in the War of Canudos.

Synopsis

This novel is based on the motif of the Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son. Its main hero is Domenic, the younger son of the most powerful villager. He is greatly influenced by the story told by the fugitive, a person gripped by a mysterious fear. Domenic demands of his father his share of the inheritance and leaves to get to know the world. In this novel, traditional motifs of good, evil, love, morality and the like are illuminated in a new light and unfold as dramatic narrative against a background of an odd merging of humour and aesthetics. There are many memorable characters in the novel. The narrative is easy-going and dynamic, and is accompanied by bold linguistic experiments that create a textual fabric that is utterly peerless and uniquely characteristic of Guram Dochanashvili.

Plot

Part 1 – At the Village

The novel begins with a mysterious refugee, who is apparently being chased, making his way through the rain and mud into an unknown village at night and taking shelter in one of its abandoned structures. As dawn breaks, he meets Father (lord of the village) who, despite the trespassing, treats the refugee kindly. He allows him to stay, gives him food, and introduces him to his sons.

Gvegve, the eldest son, is moody and belligerent, and does not appreciate the presence of the refugee. Domenico, the younger son, is delighted and spends his days listening to the stories the refugee tells him about his adventures. Domenico shows his complete inexperience and obliviousness about the world outside of the village, and is awed about the exciting (though not very pleasant) life of the refugee. The refugee tells Domenico how he had been kidnapped by pirates and became a white Maasai ("Lion Killer") in an African tribe.

When Domenico's village is ravaged by heat, the peasants fear that unless the rain falls, all of their crops will die. This almost ends up happening, but the rain comes just in time to save the crops and thus the village. The refugee laughs, saying that this was nothing compared to the heat he had to endure once while serving in an army. He tells Domenico about how he and his squad were trapped in the desert for days without water, and about their squad leader who died after encountering a soothsayer.

Meanwhile, the villagers are preparing for an annual tradition in which everyone except for Father goes over a hill and spends the night awake. In the morning they come back, after which Father asks if everyone is present, then blesses them and they make a big bonfire in the field. The villagers throw pieces of their clothing into the fire. The smoke is believed to carry all of the experiences and feelings of the people and take them into the sky, where their ancestors were; this is believed to be a way to communicate with the ancestors. After the ceremony, a group of jesters arrives at the village.

A peasant notices Gvegve's attraction to one of the ladies participating in the jester carnival. He talks to Father about it, and they decide it would be suitable to find Gvegve a wife. A peasant girl is chosen, and although her father is not happy about it, he agrees to the marriage. During the wedding, it becomes apparent that Gvegve has no love for his new wife; he treats her coldly and never kisses her, and later that night, as the time came to consummate the marriage, his attitude is unchanged, even as his wife begs him to kiss her first, he does not do it and proceeds to consummate the marriage without any shred of warmth or intimacy.

While the refugee and Domenico are in the garden away from the celebration, the refugee stops abruptly in the middle of one of his stories and tells Domenico that he has to leave immediately. He sends Domenico back to the celebration while he takes a secret path out of the village.

The Polish Rider — Possibly the prodigal son. The subject is of much discussion.

During the celebration, Domenico gets drunk and goes into a forest, where he experiences strange hallucinations and comes to a head of a river. Father then comes over to the riverbank, and his hallucinations and fears of the night stop. Father and Domenico talk about their family and Gvegve. Domenico shows particular interest about the laws of inheritance. Father tells him that he is indeed a very rich man due to the "First Garment," a robe covered in expensive jewels that is kept in a tower that Father visits once a year. He says that half of his possessions belongs to Domenico by right. Later that day, Domenico asks Father for his half of the inheritance; he reluctantly agrees.

The next morning the limping peasant, who acts as Domenico's guardian, escorts Domenico out of the village while Father watches them from a window in the distance. Before the departure, the peasant tells Domenico that Father asked him to give Domenico two gifts, and gives him a heavy bag loaded with 6000 drahcans which was obtained by selling the jewels that were embellishing the First Garment, all except for one amethyst. While Domenico expresses his disbelief and anxiety over receiving such a huge amount of money, the peasant slaps him across the face very hard, stating that this slap was the second gift from Father. Before Domenico departs, the peasant asks him to leave one drahcan in the village, so that if something goes wrong, he would have an excuse to come back to the village to collect it. However, Domenico doubts that he will be ever be coming back and does not leave the drahcan.

As he departs the village and starts riding through the forest, he is ambushed by one of the jesters who were performing at the village. He threatens Domenico with a knife and demands to know where the refugee has gone. Domenico, under pressure, unknowingly sets the jester on the same secret path the refugee used to escape the village, and the assailant runs away. Domenico continues his journey.

Part 2 – City of Beauty

Domenico makes his way down the mountain and into the city, referred to as the "City of Beauty." Even though the people there are reasonable and friendly, nobody trusts Domenico at first when he shows up asking for some food and a place to stay. That feeling of distrust is mutual, given the fact that Domenico is loaded with 6000 drahcans, which is equivalent to a small fortune, and his first days in the city are plagued by his constant paranoia - he can't sleep, fearing that someone will murder him in his sleep. Later, he gets the idea to bury his money in the ground and extract only a small amount of gold at a time, which he uses to buy himself some decent clothes and food and also make some friends.

Domenico soon becomes popular in the city due to his personality and open-handedness with money and befriends several citizens. One of his new friends, Tulio, helps Domenico get accustomed to the life in the city and warns him against people who are not to be trusted, like Arturo - Domenico's landlord, who finds ways to con some money off of Domenico. Another one, Teresa, is a carefree, beautiful young woman with whom Domenico starts an intimate relationship. There are also two insane characters: Ugo, who constantly threatens everyone with death, but for some reason, is afraid of Domenico, and Alexandro, who constantly professes his love for everyone around him, and tries to get everyone to love one another. For opposite reasons, both of these characters are considered insane by the citizens.

After hearing Domenico's story, Tulio tells him that he is lucky having come here and not in a neighboring city called Camoora, as in Camoora, Domenico would have been killed immediately for his treasure. This statement gains ground as one day, Domenico witnesses three Camoorians led by a Camoorian captain, Masimo, ambush a peasant, Santos, who was carrying medicine in his bag, and beat him up severely while Santos's son watches, unable to do anything. Nobody interferes on the behalf of Santos, as everyone is afraid of Masimo and his Camoorian friends. Another day, Domenico witnesses Alexandro tell a story about a boy whose father died, and whose mother married another man who was a violent drunk. After impregnating his mother, the man flies into a drunken rage and tries to kill her. The boy kills his stepfather instead. Mother gives birth to another boy and dies and after some time, the boy begins severely beating his younger half-brother who looked too much like his father and reminded the boy of the murder he committed. However, his younger half-brother still loved him no matter what, and over time, the boy was also "infected" with love. When Domenico inquires whether Alexandro himself is this older brother, Alexandro tells him that he is, in fact, the younger brother.

Over the time Domenico spends in the city, several notable events happen, including some marriages, celebrations and deaths. Domenico proposes to Teresa, but she rejects the offer, stating that she does not want to lose Domenico forever. Later, Domenico sees another woman, Anna Maria, a musician girl who lives quietly in the city and very rarely appears anywhere, and is instantly smitten by her. He obsesses over and can't stop thinking about Anna Maria and her music and would sometimes hide under her window to hear her play her harp. Later, he convinces Tulio to organize a hike in a forest and invite Anna Maria, which Tulio successfully accomplishes. During the hiking tour, Domenico professes his love for Anna Maria in front of the entire village and they eventually get married. However, despite Domenico's deep-rooted love for his wife, he is not happy with his marriage, as he can tell that for Anna Maria, music is more important than anything, even him. Over time, he becomes increasingly frustrated, and even cheats on her with a whore to "get back at her". His marriage is ended abruptly when he is at home and destroys her harp in anger, and at exactly the same time, Anna Maria herself is murdered by a madman, Ugo, who finally killed a person after endlessly threatening everyone. Encountering Domenico in the street, Ugo runs away, with Anna Maria's blood still on his hands. Domenico sees his wife's corpse and is absolutely devastated.

Despite his anger, Domenico still loved his wife dearly and when she dies, he is so broken that he decides to kill himself. He remembers what Tulio told him about Camoora, and decides to take his treasure and go there, so that some bandits would ambush him and kill him for money. He does not tell anyone about his plan, but right before he departs to dig his treasure out of the ground, Alexandro comes to him and brings Domenico his treasure to save him the trouble of digging it out, revealing that he has been keeping an eye on Domenico the whole time. He tells Domenico that his older half-brother, the one who killed his step-father, is currently living in Camoora and would keep an eye on Domenico while he is there. Domenico asks him if he really is insane, but Alexandro responds that he, on the contrary, is a "little too sane". He also tells Domenico that the bag he brought him contains around 4800 drahcans, and that he left another 1000 drahcans buried in the hole, in case Domenico needs it for his "another adventure in Canudos". Before Domenico departs, Alexandro slaps him across the face very hard, just like the limping peasant did in the village, then bids Domenico goodbye. Domenico is taken to Camoora by Arturo.

Part 3 – Camoora

At this point, the story diverges into two branches - on one hand, the story follows Domenico as he makes his way to a city of thieves and killers, Camoora. On the other hand, new characters are introduced, who are referred to as the "Five Great Canudosians". The first of the Five Great Canudosians, Manuelo Costa, is a peasant in Certana, a village near Camoora. He is very poor due to high taxes imposed on peasants by Camoorians, and serves them on their land. However, he is naturally light-hearted and optimistic and brave. As a result, he is very popular among the ladies in his village, Certana. After introducing the character, it is stated that Manuelo will become the first of the Five Great Canudosians. The second is Santos, a peasant who was ambushed by Masimo in the City of Beauty while Domenico was staying there. Santos was carrying medicine to his wife who was very sick, but, because he was ambushed and heavily injured, was unable to make it on time, and as a result, his wife died of sickness and his son died of shock of the ambush and the death of his mother. Everyone in Santos's village, Calabria, is sad over the death of Santos's wife. She was considered to be a very gentle, wise and beautiful woman, but nobody could guess why she chose Santos as her husband. It is stated that Santos's wife, Mirtza, was the kind of woman that could appreciate a man not necessarily for what he has done, but what he would do later in life, like becoming one of the Five Great Canudosians. Santos started spending his evenings standing over his family's graves and talking to his dead wife and son, while standing in his own grave in between them, with his hands on each of their graves, and spent his days swinging his axe, splitting apart logs with his bare hands and lifting cows. He was fueled by primal rage and desire for revenge against a Camooran captain, who, as he found out later, was named Masimo. He got himself a log, called it Masimo and spent his nights "choking" it with his fingers. Over time, Santos's physical strength became so great that he was able to lift cows with his hands, was able to split any log with a single strike of his axe and the log called Masimo had visible markings and deformations on it from Santos's fingers. It is stated that Santos later had his terrible revenge, and also became the second of the Five Great Canudosians. The third of the Five Great Canudosians is Ze Moreira, Manuelo's best friend. Ze has children and a wife who loves him very much, but disapproves of his friendship with Manuelo, whom she views as a drunk and "not a serious person". What she does not know is that whenever a bull goes rabid or a jaguar attacks the farm, Ze and his friend Manuelo are the ones who go out and kill the dangerous animals using ropes and spears. Usually it is Ze who does that, but he does not want his wife to know that he has been putting himself in danger, so he asks Manuelo to take credit for all of that. It is stated that Ze Moreira will become the third of the Five Great Canudosians.The fourth of them, Joao Abado, is also a peasant in Certana, just like Ze and Manuelo, but unlike them, he never had enough courage to fight rabid animals. He is instead a very mean person, always finding an excuse to yell at someone, whether they deserved it or not. He would even sometimes hide his own possessions, just so he could have an excuse to yell at his wife for losing them. Nobody in the village likes Joao aside from his wife and children, and yet it is stated that he would one day become the fourth of the Five Great Canudosians. All of these characters are poor, but that is not what torments them. What torments them all is their lack of freedom. They don't talk to each other about it, but they all feel the same. The identity of the fifth Great Canudosian is kept a secret.

Meanwhile, Domenico makes his way to Camoora. The thugs in the city led by one of the city's officials - Corporal Eliodoro capture him instantly and are moments away from slashing his throat, but they notice his bag full of drahcans and assume that he is somehow related to the Grand Marshall Edmondo Betancur, who has absolute power in the city and has assumed an almost godlike status among the inhabitants. The thugs, therefore, decide not to risk incurring the wrath of the Grand Marshall and let Domenico stay in an inn nearby sending one of the thugs, Ciccio, as Domenico's escort. As they walk to the tavern, Ciccio strikes up a conversation with Domenico, and realizes that Domenico is not from here and has no connections in the city and decides to kill him, but he is thwarted by a mysterious figure who throws a knife at Ciccio, disabling his hand. Over the next few days, Domenico is subjected to several more assassination attempts from different people including his new landlord, but he is protected by a shady figure who operates in such a way that nobody can see him, but he lets Domenico see him and introduces himself as Alexandro's older brother. He is wearing a mask so Domenico can't see his face. He is a very strict man and tells Domenico to obey his every word and to do exactly as he says or he will kill Domenico. At this point, Domenico no longer wishes to die after being in so many life-threatening situations, so he agrees. Indeed, following the masked man's instructions, Domenico makes it out alive out of several assassination attempts.

However, it does not take long for Camoorians to realize that Domenico is not, in fact, related to any of the marshals of the city or the Grand Marshall thanks to Ciccio, so the word about him gets out, and he is soon dragged against his will to meet Marshall Federico Cezar, and his violent second-in-command, Miccinio. Federico questions Domenico about the money, wondering if Domenico killed someone and stole the money, but Domenico is adamant that this money was a gift from his father. Federico and Miccinio mock Domenico about his father, stating that if he were here, he would protect Domenico from them, and start pushing him around, saying "Father does not exist". Frustrated, Domenico yells at his tormentors to kill him and get it over with, and while Federico is considering it, Miccinio tells him that it would be better to keep Domenico as a "pet" and make him sit on a shelf and make him pay for all of Marshall's women, food and wine instead of robbing him outright. Federico likes the idea, and although Domenico at first refuses to obey the Marshall's commands, Miccinio scares him into doing it. Domenico is forced to participate in Marshall's "game" because Miccinio scares him more than death itself, considering the rumors that he has heard about the man which imply that Miccinio is a sadist and a torturer and delights in killing the enemies of his city.

Some time later, after making Domenico participate in many of his bizarre and immoral activities, Marshall Federico attends a birthday party hosted by the Grand Marshall Edmondo Betancur. Several characters are introduced, most of whom hold positions of power in Camoora. Grand Marshall shows interest in Federico's little "toy", Domenico, and calls him over. Domenico is forced to talk to him and his harridan wife, but is so shocked over the treatment and the things he had to endure in the city that he starts hallucinating. Grand Marshall decides that Federico would have no use for him, since he has already spent his 4800 drahcans, but can not let Domenico out of the city since Domenico knows too much about the city's higher-ups, but can not kill him either as Domenico might come up with some more money over time. He therefore decides to assign Domenico as an assistant to Oto, who is working as a doctor in the city. Oto is the first person in Camoora to treat Domenico with dignity, and Domenico is very happy he would finally be free of the Marshalls.

In the meantime, a mysterious figure appears in Certana. The strangest thing about his appearance is that he appeared from the side of the village that was covered in Caatinga, a special people-eating plant. Nobody could walk through the Caatinga and hope to survive because this plant eviscerated people with its barbs until they died, and therefore, the huge strand of the land covered with Caatinga was avoided by people at all costs. However, the stranger is able to walk right through it without getting touched by the monstrous plant, thus instantly attracting the attention of the villagers. The stranger walks up to one of the villagers, a man named Mendes Maciel. He started inquiring Mendes about his life. Mendes told him that his family was slain by Araujos (aided by Camoorians) but Mendes could not avenge them, because he would die too. The stranger then announces that he too is Mendes Maciel, and looking up at him, the villagers see that the two men looked exactly alike. The villager Mendes then gets "absorbed" by the stranger Mendes, who then announces that from now on, he is to be called "Conselheiro" - the counselor. The villagers gather around him, and Mendes delivers a speech telling the villagers that they are cowards for putting up with the inhumane treatment from the Camoorians, and that they should stop living under the Camoorian boot heel, but instead should go away and found their own city where they can finally be free. Even though the villagers, especially Ze Moreira, are offended by Mendes calling them cowards, deep down they all realize that he is right and that their desire for freedom is too deep, so they agree with Mendes. Mendes tells them that they should walk right through the Caatinga, which would let them through, and follow him on the way to building a new city far away from here. Most villagers do indeed follow him, but some, like Ze and Joao stay behind, due to their wives being too afraid of the consequences of crossing the Grand Marshall. However, seeing that their husbands are miserable in Certana due to the lack of freedom, they finally agree to go to their new home. Just like Mendes promised, the Caatinga lets them all pass, only devouring one villager, who turned out to be the Grand Marshall's spy. Some time later, rumors of a new city being built started to reach Camoora. According to the rumors, the city was built beyond the dangerous Caatinga, near the riverbank. The houses were all white and made of clay, and all of its citizens lived like brothers and sisters and shared everything equally. That city was called Canudos.

Part 4 – Canudos

The only three people to remain at Certana are a peasant named Prudencio and his two brothers. Eventually, though, Prudencio decides to also go to Canudos. He accuses his elder brother of cowardice before the Camoorians, however, his brother reveals that he had to appear a coward to keep the villagers safe, and would stay behind in Certana to try to negotiate with Camoorians when they arrive to Certana to find everyone gone. Pridencio finally understands his brother's motives and leaves while his two brothers stay behind and are eventually murdered by Camoorians.

The 40th Infantry Battalion that came from Pará province to quell the Canudos rebellion, 1897.

By the time Prudencio reaches Canudos, the Canudosians have already built many buildings out of clay - Canudos became a sprawling city with white clay buildings across a riverbank. This river provided them with food and water, and the grateful Canudosians named it a "River of Rejuvenation". Even Joao Abado, as mean and moody as he was, is finally able to relax and splash around in this river. Canudosians are joined by many other people - Manuelo Costa's ladies, people from other villages tired from unfair treatment, and a rather eccentric "caballero" - Don Diego. Initially, Canudosians do not trust him because he is obviously a higher-class citizen and not just a simple peasant, but Don Diego soon proves his usefulness: when Mendes orders him to peel potatoes, Don Diego responds by riding out into the field, ambushing a squad of Camoorians that was sent out to investigate Canudos, killing them all single-handedly, binding their leader - Corporal Eliodoro (the man who captured Domenico when he first entered the city) and dragging him back to Canudos, making him peel the potatoes instead. Eliodoro is so terrified of Don Diego that he obeys him without a word. The Canudosians are quite impressed and allow Don Diego to stay. After making Eliodoro do all of Don Diego's work for him, Mendes orders him released to send a message to the Grand Marshall.

Grand Marshall Edmondo Betancur is infuriated at such insolence and sends out a squad of 200 men to investigate Caatinga to find a way through it. The Canudosians respond by sending a squad of twelve men including Ze, Manuelo, Don Diego, Prudencio, another peasant named Rohas and Joao, who finally mustered enough courage for his wife and daughters, to stop them. They ambush the Camoorian squad unawares by jumping right through the Caatinga, which nobody expected. Since the fields were clear for kilometers around, Camoorians were absolutely not prepared for battle, and all 200 of them get massacred by Canudosians, who suffer no casualties themselves, except for Rohas, who was wounded in the shoulder. After hearing this, the Grand Marshall orders his men to bring the corpses back to the city and also mutilate the corpses as much as possible to make Canudosians look like savages who needed to die. He also consults his head scientist, Remihio Dasa, to make a poison that would poison the River of Rejuvenation. Remihio successfully provides him with one and several days later, the Camoorians poison the river. However, due to the actions and expertise of Mendes Maciel, Canudosians suffer no casualties. Don Diego later goes to Camoora, finds Remihio Dasa and assassinates him in his own lab.

Meanwhile, in Camoora, Domenico's situation is slightly improved because the doctor, Oto, treats Domenico with some respect. Domenico's job includes assisting Oto as he travels around Camoora and cures people of various maladies. However, Domenico is still not safe, as he still has to deal with dangerous Camoorians and he and Oto sometimes get caught up in assassination attempts. The backgrounds of various Camoorians are also explored at this point, including Miccinio's, who is apparently a leader of "Jaguncos" - rabid, insane cannibals. The story about the Jaguncos deeply affects Domenico. He is still tortured by hallucinations, and once gets poisoned after drinking town milk. Oto, seeing his assistant in pain, offers to get him a whore for a night - Domenico gladly agrees. When the woman comes over, Domenico treats her disrespectfully at first and even hurts her physically after paying her one of his last 4 drahcans he has left, thus making her "his property" for a month. He unleashes all the anger he felt towards Camoorians by treating this one Camoorian whore the same way the rest of Camoora treated him. He then orders her to undress and lie on the bed. While she does that, Domenico looks out of the window and sees a cart rolling into town carrying 200 severely mutilated bodies of Camoorian soldiers. Seeing so many of his fellow human beings dead and mutilated beyond recognition at once, Domenico has a change of heart and softens up. Deciding that he has had enough of a man's violence against a fellow man, he walks up to the naked woman on his bed, who at this point is terrified of him, kisses her softly, then hugs her and starts crying. The woman realizes that what Domenico really wanted was just a little kindness, and so did she. Now grateful for his kindness, she hugs him back and starts to cry too. That is how they fall asleep. Waking up, Domenico finds the woman gone, but not only did she not take Domenico's 4 drahcans, but left him her own half of a drahcan as well.

After several rather unpleasant encounters with Ciccio, who was sent by Miccinio to keep an eye on Domenico, Miccinio shows up on Domenico's doorstep himself, and reminds Domenico that the only reason Domenico was kept alive for so long was that he could come up with some additional money, which is really needed, given that the city is currently at war with the rebels, and that unless Domenico can come up with some funds, he would be killed. Domenico offers him his last remaining 4 drahcans, but Miccinio says he would need something more substantial than that. It is then that Domenico remembers the 1000 drahcans that Alexandro left buried in the ground back at the City of Beauty, and tells Miccinio about them. Even though Miccinio is slow to believe Domenico's bizarre story, he agrees to let Domenico travel back to the City of Beauty escorted by Ciccio, very strictly prohibiting them from hurting each other along the way, telling Domenico that if he disobeyed, he would find him no matter where he hid and end his life in terrible suffering. Scared out of his mind, Domenico says goodbye to Oto, who escorts him out to the city gates. He asks Oto about the rebels Camoorians are fighting against, and Oto tells him that upon inspecting the 200 dead bodies, he realized that they were mutilated long after they were killed, and Domenico realizes that this was the Grand Marshall's ploy to get all Camoorians hate Canudos. Oto does not slap Domenico across the face like the limping peasant and Alexandro did, but asks him to tell everyone he did, leaving Domenico confused. They then meet Ciccio at the gate and Domenico and Ciccio set out for the City of Beauty on foot.

Despite Miccinio's instructions, the companions don't trust each other, and have trouble sleeping because of this. They don't get along very well either, but still, their journey to the city is mostly uneventful. Right outside the city perimeter, however, they encounter a masked man - Alexandro's brother. He gives Domenico a bag of gold with 1000 drahcans and tells them both to turn around immediately and head back to Camoora without entering the City of Beauty. Domenico and Ciccio do as they are told. Their mutual distrust is now sharply increased due to the presence of a bag full of gold, and on their way back, neither of them has slept for days, fearing the other one might murder him. Exhausted and almost out of food, they have to hide when they hear a cart approaching behind them. The cart is controlled by Santos, who still has revenge on his mind. He is carrying food and a log called Masimo, which he did not leave back at Calabria, but decided to take it with him and keep choking it at night. Santos is going to Canudos to aid them in their fight against the Camoorians. Ciccio suggests that they befriend Santos, sweet-talk their way onto his cart and then kill him in his sleep. However, this is the last straw for Domenico, who has had enough of Camoorians and their amoral ways. Ignoring Miccinio's commands, he beats Ciccio up with his fists. After that, he appears to Santos on the road, covered in blood, asking Santos where he is going, and after finding out Santos is going to Canudos, asks him to take him with. Santos is suspicious of Domenico at first because of all the blood, but Domenico explains that the blood on him is that of a Camoorian thug. Santos lets Domenico come with him. Domenico almost immediately falls asleep on Santos's cart, but not before giving Santos his bag of gold telling him to distribute it around in Canudos, as it will prove useful fighting Camoorians.

Santos and Domenico successfully reach the white city of clay - Canudos, and both are eventually accepted. Other notable events happen, like Manuelo Costa getting married to one of Joao Abado's daughters, much to Joao's dismay. Some minor assaults are also attempted on Canudos, but all are successfully thwarted. During one of them, however, Don Diego deserts the group, greatly angering his comrade, Prudencio. However, all of the Canudosians know that the final battle is approaching, and preparations are underway. Canudosians decide to use the 1000 drahcans Domenico provided them with to get as much ammunition and supplies as they can out of the Camoorian market. They send Ze Moreira and Manuelo Costa out to the market to buy everything they need, and even though they successfully accomplish the mission and deliver the goods, both are eventually captured by Camoorians. The Grand Marshall along with Federico Cezar realize that they still need information on how to get past the Caatinga, and try to scare it out of the peasants by having a Camoorian merchant they were dealing with tortured to death in front of them. Seemingly shocked, Manuelo asks for a one-on-one time with the Marshalls. Ze assumes that Manuelo has betrayed them and is shocked and angry. Manuelo tells the Marshalls that there is a secret hole in the ground that would lead them past the Caatinga and that if they release Ze with a message to his wife, he would lead them through it personally. After some pondering, the Grand Marshall complies and Ze is released with a message, but still treats Manuelo coldly. After Ze is safely out of the city, Manuelo refuses to say anything else, and even though the Grand Marshall tries to win him over and even bribe him, nothing works. Grand Marshall Edmondo Betancur then gives the order to torture Manuelo in the worst way possible. Manuelo, however, holds through the torture and dies heroically, having preserved his secret, thus becoming the first of the Five Great Canudosians.

A couple of days later, Manuelo's graphically disfigured body is thrown over the Caatinga and discovered by Santos, who brings it back to Canudos. However, this failed to instill any kind of fear into the hearts of Canudosians, who, on the contrary, became more resolute than ever to fight to the last breath. Everyone pays their respects to the fallen hero, Manuelo Costa, including his wife and her father, Joao Abado, despite his long-standing bitterness towards Manuelo. Ze is absolutely devastated, having realized Manuelo's true intentions as soon as he got back to the village - the message Manuelo gave him was empty, thus signifying that he had not betrayed his friends. He spends his days alone, staring into the distance, despite Rohas's and Prudencio's attempts to cheer him up. He would not even listen to his wife. Another person affected by pessimism is Mendes Maciel, who kept saying that the Canudosians would eventually lose ever since he first emerged from the Caatinga. Throughout the story, many characters try to affect Mendes's pessimistic outlook, but he was convinced that Canudos was not long for the world, but that does not mean it is not worth fighting for.

Camoorians stage another assault, which involves jumping over the Caatinga using jumping sticks at night with gagged mouths, so no sound would be made. They would jump one by one, and after successfully making the jump, they were to throw their gag back over the Caatinga, signaling the success for the next soldier to jump. Marshall Federico Cezar sends 100 men to jump over the Caatinga like that. However, waiting on the other side of the man-devouring plant was enraged and blood-lusted Prudencio hiding in the grass. Seeing the first soldier making the jump, then taking the gag out of his mouth and throwing it over the Caatinga, he killed him quietly, doing the same for the second soldier that came flying over, and the third, and everyone else, throwing back the dead soldiers's gags back over Caatinga to keep them coming. By dawn, 100 dead Camoorians were lying on the other side of the Caatinga, with Camoorians still having no idea how to get through. Enraged after hearing of his brothers' murders and seeing Manuelo's mutilated corpse, Prudencio's judgement became clouded and looking down at dead Camoorians, felt that they deserved more. So he started picking them up and throwing them into the hungry Caatinga. Caatinga proceeded to shred and destroy the bodies. However, after feeding it 100 dead bodies, Prudencio saw that Caatinga became sated and went into slumber, opening up the passage for Camoorian troops. Realizing what he has done, Prudencio went insane and charged in, empty handed, over the fields and into the Camoorian camps. He started ripping out throats from Camoorian soldiers with his teeth, and was eventually beaten to death by them.

Both Camoorians and Canudosians quickly become aware of the fact that the Caatinga is subsided. Mendes Maciel falls ill, life leaving him with every breath. He realizes what Prudencio has done and calls a council meeting, where he announces that he will die very soon but would like to make final arrangements for the battle. On the council, it is decided that men would stay and fight the Camoorian army, while women and children would float down the river on a big boat and settle somewhere far down the river. The citizens make a decision to have wounded Rohas and Ze Moreira accompany them, as they would need men wherever they end up. Both Rohas and Ze protest fiercely against this decision, but finally agree. Mendes indeed dies soon after the council meeting. Santos uses his immense strength to quickly chop down some trees and a boat is constructed. Women and children say farewell to the men and sail down the river with Ze and Rohas.

Finally, the first Camoorian battalion led by Federico Cezar invades Canudos. The final battle has begun. Canudosians decided not to face the enemy who was superior to them in both numbers and technology, but hid in a forest nearby, shooting at Camoorians from there. As soon as the Camoorians started invading the forest, though, they started ambushing them with their machetes and cutting them down. Domenico does not participate in the fight directly, sickened with all the death around him, but hides next to Santos and watches as Santos chops one Camoorian down after another with his axe. Later, Santos sneaks deeper into the Camoorian camp and manages to lure out Marshall Federico Cezar himself. Santos kills the Marshall as well without any trouble. However, he was really looking for one Camoorian - Masimo, who was one of Federico's captains, and later, he indeed notices Masimo in the crowd. Santos exercises patience and waits for the battle to die down, at which point, he overhears Masimo setting up a secret meeting with others away from the fighting, in another part of the forest. That is where Santos ambushes Masimo before he could reach his destination and drags him away. Masimo could not put up any fight at all, given Santos's massive strength. Santos gleefully drags him away from everyone deeper into the forest, all the while fantasizing about the terrible pain he is going to inflict on the Camoorian before ending his life with a savage swing of his axe. Finally he throws helpless Masimo to the ground, ready to get started, but suddenly, moonlight shines on Masimo's face, exposing all of his features and his facial expression - that of a pathetic little man too afraid to even cry out for help or try to escape. Looking at his face, Santos started to wonder, and after some time realized that if he really were to have his revenge tonight, he would thus be equating this pathetic thug Masimo to his son and his beloved wife Mirtza, and Masimo is simply not worth it: he is so pathetic, that he is not even an enemy - he is no one. Having realized that, Santos stands Masimo on his feet and simply tells him to go away. Thus Santos became the second of the Five Great Canudosians.

The dawn breaks, and even though Federico's battalion is destroyed and their Marshall dead, the Camoorians soon receive reinforcements. The Canudosians are dismayed and exhausted having fought all night, and this new battalion was way too large for them to handle. Dispersed and hopeless, they were looking for a way out, when suddenly they noticed Ze, riding a horse, wielding his machete, appear out of nowhere and ride into the fight, thus refusing to survive with all of his friends dying. He rode straight into the fray, chopping people down left and right, leaving a trail of blood in his path, before finally getting shot down. Ze lived his whole life as a peasant in service to Camoorians, but died a free man, with a bloody machete in his hand and a smile on his face inspiring every Canudosian to make the right choice: stop hiding, and stand and fight, and die standing up rather than live as a slave. Ze Moreira thus became the third of the Five Great Canudosians.

Invigorated, the Canudosians attack the battalion, and one by one, they all die. The only two surviving Canudosians after the battle are Joao Abado and Domenico, who decided to submit. Miccinio comes up to the two prisoners and starts questioning Joao about the whereabouts of the women and children. Joao, who has been moody and violent all his life, suddenly laughs out loud and gleefully informs the sadistic Miccinio that the Canudosians themselves killed all of their women and children not to let the Camoorians have them, and burned their bodies as evidenced by the trees that were chopped down by Santos. Miccinio, seeing no further use for the prisoner orders his man to kill Joao, who stayed behind and willingly surrendered himself to Camoorians to protect his family, thus becoming the fourth of the Five Great Canudosians. The soldiers kill him and throw him into the river.

Miccinio grabs Domenico, and drags him away into the forest. It is at this point that Domenico remembers what Miccinio told him he would do to him if he disobeyed his commands, and passes out from shock. When he comes to, he finds himself at an entrance of the cave with Miccinio. Miccinio suddenly unbinds Domenico and tells him that he is Alexandro's older brother, and that it was he who protected Domenico from death during his stay at Camoora. Domenico is stunned, and Miccinio explains that all of the rumors surrounding him are just that - rumors, and that the people he drags away to "torture and kill" are actually released and leave the country, just like Domenico's refugee and Domenico himself. Domenico is shocked when Miccinio mentions "his" refugee, but Miccinio tells him that they have very little time and starts to explain their situation: the cave that they are in is actually the "secret hole" through Caatinga that the Marshalls were trying to find out about from Manuelo, who himself was not aware of it. Domenico has two choices - go through the cave and become a pig farmer at a pig farm down that way, or go back to the ruins of Canudos (as if he ran away) and get shot by Camoorian soldiers. Miccinio states that the choice is not simple, as at the farm, Domenico would have to endure dire starvation and violent treatment from his employer, who is a terrible person. He also berates the boy for not leaving a single drahcan back at his village, so he would have an excuse to go back up there. As it stands though, the choice is between death and life full of misery and starvation. Domenico chooses to go through the cave. Miccinio gives him some food and instructions on how to navigate the cave, but states that he will be unable to come with him, as he needs to get back to Camoora, which is probably in disarray right now, due to the death of the Grand Marshall.

At this point, the story cuts back to Camoora, where the Grand Marshall is holding his council meeting. The city is in a disarray indeed due to the heavy costs of war. After dismissing the council, Grand Marshall Edmondo Betancur is ambushed by Don Diego, who apparently managed to sneak into Edmondo's headquarters. Don Diego subdues the Grand Marshall and starts humiliating him. Edmondo pleads for his life and even tries to buy himself out of the situation, but Don Diego kills him anyway.

The only photograph of Antonio Conselheiro, taken after his death in September 1897

Miccinio explains that he arranged for Don Diego to sneak into Edmondo Betncur's headquarters to end his reign. He tells Domenico a story from his youth involving him sparing the lives of 20 thugs because of one man who may not have deserved it and how this incident led him to realize that love is what "keeps the world spinning". He explains that the reason he is fighting for the cause in a violent place like Camoora by creating himself a mask of a violent person is that he hopes that love finds its way even in a place like this, and hopes that all the violence in Camoora is just a mask, created out of necessity, and not necessarily the true nature of a person. He then bids Domenico farewell and tells him to get moving. He does not slap Domenico across the face, but slashes him across the back with his knife instead, so Domenico would have "something to remember him by". Domenico goes through the cave, leaving the destroyed Canudos behind.

Don Diego comes back to the destroyed Canudos, and seeing Mendes, Ze, Santos and the rest of his friends dead, lies down on the raft and starts floating down the Rejuvenating River, slashing his wrists with his machete. It is revealed that Don Diego was, in fact, the fifth of the Five Great Canudosians, who killed himself to honor his friends.

Part 5 – Ascent

James Tissot - The Return of the Prodigal Son (Le retour de l'enfant prodigue) - Brooklyn Museum

Domenico reaches the pig farm and starts working as a pig farmer for an unnamed employer. Just like Miccinio said, Domenico barely receives enough food to survive and over the years, becomes very thin and weak. His employer treats him so bad that he even craves being a pig, who get better treatment then people on this farm. As years go by, the urge to return home becomes stronger and stronger, however, he knows that he has no right to return home having spent all 6000 drahcans without leaving a single one in the village. However, he later gets the idea to return to the village and ask Father to employ him as one of the peasants, instead of acknowledging him as his son. One day, he sneaks out of the farm and starts ascending the mountain going to the village, eating grass and earth along the way to survive. Finally, one morning, exhausted and destroyed, he reaches the village, which is empty because the villagers were coming over from over the hill in accordance to their special annual tradition. Father, who was waiting for them, asks if everyone is present. Everyone inquires about the sudden appearance of dirty, tattered wretch on the horizon. Only Father recognizes his son, Domenico, runs to him and embraces him. Domenico musters whatever strength he has left and asks Father to accept him back - not as his son, but as his peasant. Gvegve, coming up, accuses Domenico of spending all of his money on whores. Father orders his peasants to bring out the First Garment and put it on Domenico.

That evening, in accordance with the tradition, the villagers tear off the pieces of their garments and toss them into the fire, thus allowing their individual stories and experiences to reach the heavens, but Domenico feels that his story and everything on his mind is too much for a small piece of cloth, and he thus takes off the First Garment and throws it into the fire. As the First Garment burns, Domenico feels that everyone he met along the journey, everything he experienced, all of these stories and experiences are ascending to Heaven, except for the amethyst, the only jewel Father did not sell, which would not burn, which represented Anna Maria - a secret so cherished that it would not burn and remain with him forever. Daunted by that feeling, Domenico runs off into the forest, where he once again starts experiencing hallucinations, not unlike those he experienced when he ran off into the forest during Gvegve's wedding. He also notices that the river which starts in the forest is none other than the River of Rejuvenation which was running through Canudos. Once again, this stops when Domenico encounters Father. Domenico is urged to tell Father everything that has happened to him, but looks into his eyes and suddenly realizes that Father already knows everything - about the City of Beauty, Camoora, Canudos, and about everyone he met and everything he saw. Father tells him that he gave Domenico the First Garment twice already, and now he would give it to him for the third time. He explains that the First Garment is the Word, and that Domenico must use the Word to blanket as many people as he can, thus becoming, simultaneously, their king and their servant, becoming simultaneously the happiest and the most miserable person in the world. Father tells him that even though Domenico's story has reached heaven, he must still leave it on Earth using the Word - the First Garment. The novel ends with Father hanging the amethyst from the First Garment on Domenico's neck, and Domenico standing at the head of the River of Rejuvenation reciting his story, starting from the time a refugee appeared in their village.