Joveda, Jessa Mae O.

The Missing Chapter: Elias and Salome

Few people know that there is missing chapter in the printed Noli
Me Tangere. It was entitled Elias and Salome, It relates of Elias
escape from the picnic when the Guardia Civil came to arrest him
and his sad parting with his sweetheart, Salome, who was a pretty
orphan girl.

Rizal deletes the chapter because of he is lack of funds, he had to

shorten the manuscript. He rewrote several chapter, making them
more compact so that he could economize on the number of
pages. He deleted one whole chapter without destroying the story
of the novel. The only reason why this particular chapter was
deleted was economic, that is to save printing expenses. It seems
that Rizal considered Ibarra a more important character, although
Elias was nobler. He even killed Elias in the novel, and let Ibarra
live. When Noli wrote the novel his health is very was very bad he
never believe that he can continue it and talk about revolution.

Sypnosis of Missing Chapter.

On a batalan or bamboo porch, taking advantage of the light of day, a
young girl of some seventeen years is sewing a shirt of brilliant colors and
transparent weave. Her clothes are ragged but clean and decent. Her
blouse, like her skirt and tapis are covered with patches and stitches. All
her adornment, all her jewelry, consist of a plain turtleshell comb to keep
her simply dressed hair in place, and a rosary of black beads hanging from
her neck over her blouse.She examines the young man with a worried look,
then places the fish in a basin filled with water and returns to pick up her
sewing, seating herself beside the helmsman who has remained silent.
"I thought you would come from the lake, Elias," she says, opening the
conversation."No, I could not, Salome," answers Elias in a low voice. "The
launch came and scoured the lake. On board is one who knows me."
"God, my God," murmurs the young woman, looking anxiously at Elias.
A lengthy pause follows. The helmsman silently contemplates the swaying
bamboos moving from one side to another, rustling their lance-shaped
leaves."Did you enjoy yourself much?" asks Salome."Enjoy! They, they
enjoyed themselves," replies the young man."Tell me how you passed the
day; hearing it from your lips will please me much, as though I had been
with all of you." Well...they went...they fished...they sang...and they
enjoyed themselves," he answers, distracted Salome, not being able to
contain herself any longer, questions him with a look and tells him: "Elias,
you are sad!" "Sad?" "I know you well!" exclaims the young woman. "Your
life is sad...are you afraid they might discover you? Something like the
shadow of a smile crosses the young man's lips. "Is there anything you
lack?" "I do not have your friendship, perhaps? Are we not poor, one like
the others?" replies Elias. Then why are you like this?" "You have told me
many times, Salome that I do not say much." Salome lowers her head and
continues sewing, then in a voice which attempts to appear indifferent, asks
once more: "Were there many of you?" "There were many of them!" "Many
women? "Many." "Who were... the young women...the beautiful ones?" "I
do not know all of them...one was the betrothed of the rich young man who
arrived from Europe," answers Elias in an almost imperceptible voice. "Ah,
the daughter of the rich Capitan Tiago! They say she has become very
beautiful?" "Oh, yes! very beautiful and very kind-hearted," the young man
answers, drowning a sigh. Salome looks at him for a moment and then
bows her head. If Elias had not been looking at the clouds which at sunset
often take capricious shapes, he would have surely seen that Salome was
crying and that two teardrops fell from her eyes on what she was sewing.
This time it is he who breaks the silence, standing up and saying:
"Farewell, Salome, the sun is gone, and as you think it is not good that the
neighbors can say that the night has caught me here...but you have been
crying!" changing his tone and frowning. "Do not deny it with your smile,
you have been crying." "Well, yes!" she answers smiling, as her eyes fill
anew with tears. "It is because I, too, am very sad." "And why are you sad,
my good friend?" "Because soon I will have to leave this home where I was
born and where I have grown up," answers Salome, wiping away her
tears."And why?" "Because it is not good that I live alone. I will go and live
with my relatives in Mindoro...soon I will be able to pay the debts my
mother left me when she died; the town fiesta comes, and my chickens and
turkeys are well-fattened. To leave a home where one has been born and
raised is much more than to leave half of one's own self...the flowers, the
gardens, my doves! A storm comes, a flood, and everything goes down to
the lake!" Elias becomes thoughtful, and then, taking her by the hand and
fixing his eyes on her, asks: "Have you heard anybody speak ill of you?
No? Did I ever molest you once? Neither? Therefore you have become
tired of my friendship and want to avoid me."
"No, do not speak that way! If only I would get tired of your friendship!" she
interrupts. "Jesus, Mary! I live the day and night thinking of the hour in the
afternoon in which you would come. When I did not know you, whey my
poor mother lived, the morning and the evening were for me the best that
God had created: the morning, because I would see the sun rising,
reflecting itself on the waters of the lake in whose dark depths rests my
father; because I woud see my fresh flowers, their leaves which had wilted
the day before grown green again; my doves and chickens would greet me
happily as if offering me good mornings. I loved the morning because after
fixing the hut, I would go in my little boat to sell food to the fishermen who
would give me fish or who would allow me to take what was left in the folds
of their nets. I loved the evening which provided me with the sleep of the
day, which would allow me to dream in silence under these bamboo trees
to the music of their leaves, making me forget reality - and because the
night would bring back my mother, whom the panginggi separated from my
side during the day."But since I met you, the mornings and the evenings
have lost their enchantment, and only the afternoon is beautiful to me. I
sometimes think that the morning was created to prepare oneself to enjoy
the delights of the afternoon, and the evening to dream and relish the
memories and awakened feelings. If only it were my choice to forever live
the life I bear...God knows I am happy with my lot; I do not desire more
than health to work; I don't envy the rich girls their wealth but...""But?"
"Nothing, I do not envy them anything while I have your friendship."
"Salome," the young man says with sharp regret, "you know my cruel past
and you know my misfortune is not of my own making. If it were not for that
fate which at times makes me think with bitterness about the love of my
parents, if it were not because I do not want my children to suffer that which
my sister and I suffered and what I still suffer, months ago you would have
been my spouse in the eyes of God, and today we should be living deep in
the forest and far away from men. But for this same love, for this future
family, I have sworn to extinguish in me the misfortune that from father to
son we have come to inherit, and it is necessary that this has to be,
because neither you nor I would like to hear our children cursing our love
from which only miseries can be thier legacy. You do well to go to your
relatives' home. Forget me, forget a foolish and useless love. Perhaps
there you may find someone who is not like me." "Elias!" exclaims the
maiden with reproach. "You have understood me wrongly; I speak to you as
I would speak to my sister if she were alive; in my words, there is not a
single complaint against you, nor hidden thoughts. Why should I hurt you
with a reproach? Believe me, go to the home of your relatives; forget me.
That, with your forgetfulness, I may be less unfortunate. Here, you have
nobody but me, and the day that I fall into the hands of those who
persecute me, you will be left alone and solitary for the rest of your life, if it
is discovered that you were a friend of Elias's. Take advantage of your
youth and your beauty to look for a good husband whom you deserve. No,
no, you still, do not know wht it is to live alone, alone in the midst of
humanity." "I was counting on your accompanying me "Ay!" replies
Elias,shaking his head, "impossible, and today more than ever. I have not
yet found that which I came to look for here. Impossible.This day I have lost
my freedom." And Elias recounts in a few words what transpired that
morning."I did not ask him to save my life; I am not grateful for what he did,
but for the feeling that inspired him, and I should pay that debt. For the rest
of it, in Mindoro s anywhere else, the past will always be there, and will
inevitably be discovered." "Well then," Salome says to him, looking at him
lovingly, "at the very least, when I have left, live here, live in this home. It
will make you remember me and I will not think, in those faraway places,
that my little house has been carried away by the hurricane or the waves.
When my thoughts go back to these shores, the memory of you and that of
my home will present themselves together. Sleep here where I have slept
and dreamed....it would be as if I myself were living with you, as if I were at
your side." "Oh!" exclaims Elias, twisting his arms with despair, "woman,
you are going to make me forget." His eyes burn, but only for a moment.
And pulling himself away from the arms of the young woman, he flees,
losing himself in the shadows of the trees. Salome follows him with her
eyes, remaining still and listening to the sound of the footsteps gradually
fading away.