Los Gallos

Los Gallos is a flamenco tablao in Seville whose stage brings Frank face to face with Ana María Maya, and whose neighboring garden becomes the scene of José’s account of her collapse. The venue therefore joins the brilliance of Ana’s public performance to the danger of her failing heart and the grief that follows.

Setting and Place in Seville

The narrative places Los Gallos beside the Alcázar gardens: from the Garden of the Poets, only a high wall separates the spot where Ana collapses from the tablao where she had long been a major flamenco figure. The venue also lies near Plaza de Santa Cruz, making the garden, plaza, and performance space closely connected landmarks in the events José describes.

Frank’s Visit and Ana’s Performance

On Frank’s first evening at the tablao, the room is sparsely attended apart from a group of Japanese visitors. Frank and the narrator sit at a table reserved close to the stage and order cognac. The show begins with three men descending from a gallery: one carries a guitar, while the other two accompany him with handclaps, finger snaps, and a raw singing voice.

Ana then descends a spiral staircase to the stage. She wears a red dress, a pink silk shawl, and bright red shoes; her long black hair is tied back, with a rose visible in it. Her movement is described as both graceful and powerful, and the Japanese visitors applaud warmly because they have traveled from Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka partly to see her. As she appears, Frank whispers her name, recognizing the woman whose story has drawn him into the evening.

The Collapse Beside the Tablao

José later recalls that Ana had spent a long time as a leading figure at Los Gallos. During her pursuit of the jester through the Alcázar gardens, she collapses onto a hedge beside the final pond in the Garden of the Poets, only a short distance from Plaza de Santa Cruz and the wall bordering the tablao. José describes the strange reversal of the chase: it may have looked as though he and Ana were pursuing a helpless dwarf, but Ana had chosen to follow him, determined to end the story once and for all.

A crowd gathers before José can reach her. Ana remains conscious, but her face has turned almost blue and she struggles to breathe. José says she has a heart condition, lifts her into a large marble fountain to cool her feverish body, and sees an ambulance arrive with a stretcher. He cannot give an exact account of how much time passes during the emergency. The proximity of the garden to Los Gallos binds the crisis to the public life Ana had built on its stage; the recollection is later framed by José’s silent contemplation of a Madrid garden and the birdsong that seems to mourn their dead friend.

Narrative Significance

Los Gallos is more than a performance setting: it establishes Ana as an acclaimed artist before the narrative turns to her vulnerability and apparent death. The bright, carefully described entrance in red and pink stands in sharp contrast to the blue face and difficult breathing in José’s recollection. Its physical closeness to the Garden of the Poets makes that contrast concrete, linking the remembered spectacle of Ana’s career to the place where her body suddenly fails.