MARTÍN FIERRO FOR STUDENTS · THE RETURN · 1879
Canto 20 Explained: Picardía Arrives: A New Singer at the Family Reunion
A source-linked English study guide alongside José Hernández’s original Spanish poem.
What happens in Canto 20?
Martín Fierro and his two sons celebrate being together again after ten years apart. An unfamiliar young man asks to join them and requests a blessing. The narrator reports that he has recently been seen in the area, that some people claim he came from the frontier and that rumors connect him with a pulpero's losses at horse races. These are rumors, not verified facts. Wearing poor clothing, he gives his name only as Picardía, asks permission to tell his history and takes up a guitar. The canto ends just as his song is about to begin.
Original text: one complete long stanza
The following single stanza is taken directly from the repository's original-text corpus, without modernization. Explanations elsewhere on this page are interpretation, not translation.
Martín Fierro y sus dos hijos,entre tanta concurrencia,siguieron con alegríacelebrando aquella fiesta.Diez años, los más terribles,había durado la ausencia,y al hallarse nuevamenteera su alegría completa.En ese mesmo momentouno que vino de ajuera,a tomar parte con ellossuplicó aue lo almitieran.Era un mozo forasterode muy regular presencia,y hacía poco que en le pagoandaba dando sus güeltas.Asiguran algunosque venía de la frontera;que había pelao a un pulperoen las últimas carreras;pero andaba despilcho,no traia una prenda güena:un recadito cantordaba fe de sus pobrezas.Le pidió la bendiciónal que causaba la fiestay, sin decirles su nombre,les declaró con franquezaque el nombre de Picardíaes el único que lleva.Y para contar su historiaa todos pide licencia,diciéndoles que en seguidaiban a saber quien era.Tomo al punto la guitarra,la gente se puso atenta,y ansí cantó Picardíaen cuanto templó las cuerdas:
Main characters and voices
Martín Fierro; his two sons; the newcomer who calls himself Picardía; the gathered audience; unnamed people spreading rumors about him.
Literary themes to identify
A new character and narrative voice; oral performance; identity and naming; rumors versus evidence; community reunion; transitions between storytellers.
Gaucho vocabulary in context
Picardía (the young man's chosen name, suggesting clever mischief); forastero (outsider); pulpero (keeper of a rural store); recado (horse tack); cantor (singer); templar las cuerdas (tune the strings).
What to notice in the narration
The complete source canto is one long stanza. It provides the setting and introduces Picardía but does not yet tell the events of his life. The educational guide preserves that boundary and shows how the poem prepares for a change of speaker.
Reading-comprehension and discussion questions
- Who is together when the newcomer arrives?
- What rumors are mentioned, and how does the narrator signal they are unverified?
- What does the young man actually reveal about his name?
- What does taking up the guitar prepare readers to expect?
- Why would it be inaccurate to summarize Picardía's later story as though it had already happened in this canto?
Support answers with details from the original canto. Different interpretations may be justified if the quoted passages and narrative context support them.
Sources and further reading
Primary source: José Hernández, La vuelta de Martín Fierro (1879), Canto 20, reproduced from the site's structured Spanish corpus. Summary and questions are original English educational commentary, not quoted authorial explanations.
Original canto · Summary of both parts · Character guide · All study guides