They are in the Pórtico da Gloria. Bastián explores with his sightless eyes, misty greys and whites.

Over there, he says, over there is the smile of stone. The great enigma. It’s Daniel, the prophet, the only Romanesque statue that bears a cheeky smile. Up above, the orchestra of the Elders of the Apocalypse. Over to the right there’s a man being eaten by a crocodile. And the tentacle of an octopus, too. Down below, the creatures of Hell. In the middle, of course, the Creator. And there, over there, is the smile. Do you know, Mireia, why he smiles? Follow his eyes. Look at what’s in front of him. A Salome. A beautiful woman with generous breasts, which would be even more generous if censors had not had them reduced with a chisel. And that’s the great enigma.

The is the first time that Mireia has returned a smile for a very long time.

The Pórtico da Gloria – it really is an open work of art. There’s room in it for everybody. Once, says Bastián, a pilgrim arrived from the far north, from the land of the Vikings. A long beard, and worn to the bones by the hard way. He sat down at the base of the Pórtico and didn’t move. A beggar of stone. Until one day a lad appeared on a horse, leading another horse by the bridle. The lad went up to him and only said: you can come back now, father. And the statue stood up and rode off behind his son.

Manuel Rivas,

unpublished translation