The grandmother decides to prepare a surprise for her three granddaughters in the cellar: bread and honey (she had forgotten that this was the Glutton’s favourite meal). The granddaughters, one by one, go down the dark, cold and mysterious stairs; push the door and…
The grandmother decides to prepare a surprise for her three granddaughters in the cellar: bread and honey (she had forgotten that this was the Glutton’s favourite meal). The granddaughters, one by one, go down the dark, cold and mysterious stairs; push the door and…
The glutton is one of the most popular traditional “child-eaters” in Spain. It is also a traditional tale with variations depending on the area, but with characteristics that identify it in all its versions: giant, big-headed, gross-looking and very voracious, who eats children whole and without chewing. Unlike other monsters that act without warning, the Gobbler warns of his intentions and warns of his natural voracity to those who dare to visit him, but those who dare to approach the places he frequents, he swallows them. The unusual hero who resolves the situation is, in all versions, the little ant, also common to other traditional tales with a similar narrative structure: “The mountain goat”, “The little ant”, etc…
Pablo Albo’s version follows the traditional lines, but treated humorously and with a friendly and amusing end.
If in the tale collected by Aurelio Espinosa (as well as in other similar versions collected in the first third of the last century) the hero kills the monster, Pablo Albo opts for an amusing symbolic transformation of the giant, who ends up integrating himself into the world represented by the hero. In this way, good triumphs over evil, thanks to the friendly and supportive intervention of the amusing characters with whom the reader will identify.
The “child eaters” corresponding to other parts of the Peninsular, equally possess a transparent etymology: the “papón” in Galicia, the “papu” in Catalonia… all of which have survived through to our days and have been used many times with a functional character and for isolated means: be good, off to bed, don’t go out at night, don’t speak to strangers…
Imagination combined with the need to prevent reckless acts has created, within the framework of popular culture, scares and frighteners that have been transmitted orally through the centuries. The universal character of these fantastic stories is due, among other reasons, to the fact that they constitute a fundamental complement in childhood development. Existential problems and anxieties are presented through popular characters that we easily understand.
Life appears as a battlefield where opposing forces fight and where, even if unhappiness creeps in, the weak can defeat the strong. The childhood scarers constitute a real mythological world with analogous components to the mythological world of adults.
Maurizio A. C. Quarello, once again, within his style, boasts masterfully used shadows and risky compositions, playing with the shots as if it were a cinematographic work.
