«Txikitxo politori»

«Txikitxo politori» is an old lullaby whose return draws together three generations: Juanita, who sang it to Amaia Salazar when she was small; Amaia, who recognizes it years later; and Engrasi, who sings it to baby Ibai. In the domestic quiet of a meal being cleared away, the song becomes both a remembered gift of affection and a source of questions about grief.

Identity and Transmission

The lullaby is identified by its opening words, «Txikitxo politori», and is also associated with the opening of its later stanza, «Nire laztana laztango». The book presents it as an old song whose verses Engrasi recites while rocking Ibai. Its significance lies not only in the act of singing: the same melody has passed from Juanita to Amaia’s memory and then into a new scene of care for Ibai.

Amaia has not heard the song for years, yet recognizes its notes almost at once. That recognition is precise and embodied: she is finishing the dishes, dries her hands on a kitchen cloth, and moves toward the doorway to listen more closely. The lullaby reaches her from the sitting room only in a whisper, but it is enough to recover a sound from early childhood.

The Song in Engrasi’s Home

The scene takes place three months later. Engrasi sits in an armchair near the lit fireplace, holding Ibai and looking at his face as she sings. Her voice is gentle and reassuring; the baby is being rocked in her arms as the old verses are recited. The setting makes the song an ordinary act of family care, while Amaia’s recognition gives that act a second, remembered life.

Amaia recalls Juanita as the person who used to sing the lullaby to her. In her earliest childhood, Juanita was the only woman who embraced her. The memory is unusually particular: Juanita wore a black dress, and her white curls were gathered into a bun, held with small silver combs that could scarcely contain them. These details make the remembered singer present within the current scene without confusing her with Engrasi, who now holds the baby.

Tears and the Memory of Juanita

The contrast Amaia notices is central to the scene. Engrasi smiles as she sings, whereas Amaia remembers Juanita crying over the same lullaby. The melody therefore carries two different visible responses: reassurance in the present and sorrow in the remembered past. Amaia wonders whether Juanita already knew the pain in her granddaughter’s soul, and whether that knowledge was the same fear Juanita felt for the little girl. The thought remains a question in Amaia’s memory, not an explanation confirmed by the scene.

When the song ends, Engrasi dries her tears with an immaculate handkerchief embroidered with her initials and those of her husband. The gesture makes the crying explicit, even though she had smiled while singing. In the dining room, her husband appears only in a faded portrait; Amaia never knew this grandfather, whose stern expression looks out from the picture. The handkerchief and portrait place the present act of singing within a family history marked by both intimacy and absence.

A Song Between Generations

Amaia asks Engrasi why she is crying and whether the song makes her sad. Engrasi dismisses the tears by telling her not to pay attention and calling herself silly. Her answer does not resolve Amaia’s question about Juanita, nor does it explain why the lullaby moves Engrasi. Instead, the scene lets the song connect their separate feelings without making them identical.

Its movement across generations is quiet but consequential: a melody once sung to Amaia by the grandmother who embraced her returns through Engrasi’s voice as Ibai is held and soothed. The lullaby’s tenderness does not erase the tears associated with it. Its place in the scene is precisely to hold both at once—the comfort of being rocked and the sadness that Amaia remembers—and to make a childhood sound newly present in the care of the next generation.