The Wet Nurse

"A distaff does not rule like a sword."

A slave, wet nurse to her mistress the queen's son, the crown prince, defends her charge from the dead king's bastard half brother, a vile would-be usurper, at great cost to herself.

In _La tentación del fracaso_, Julio Ramón Ribeyro notes:

"Last night I woke up dreaming about Eça de Queirós and lay awake for an hour remembering his novels. I think I remembered them all, even though I read them when I was between fifteen and eighteen. I remembered odd details: for example, that two of them, _The Relic_ and _The Illustrious House of Ramires_ contain in turn other novels, written by the protagonists of the main novels. I remembered the similarities between many of his works and those of Flaubert, whom he admired so much. I remembered his excellent journalistic reports, mainly those from London and from Paris, and the letters of Fadrique Mendes. And his stories, many of them unforgettable, such as 'A Blonde Girl's Eccentricities,' 'The Treasure,' and 'The Deceased Man,' which my father once read to us. And also his lives of the saints, his least good work even though it was his last. This confirms for me the indelible nature of the readings of adolescence and their influence on you. I would have to reread his work now to see if it is as good as it is in my memory."

Genre: short tale
Words: 2,030
Date of translation: 2011