MARTÍN FIERRO FOR STUDENTS · THE RETURN · 1879
Canto 22 Explained: Picardía Becomes a Cardsharp: Gambling and Deception
A source-linked English study guide alongside José Hernández’s original Spanish poem.
What happens in Canto 22?
Picardía recounts returning after years away and being enrolled in the National Guard. He explains how he learned to manipulate cards and gambling arrangements, including a partnership with an innkeeper who helped him profit from unsuspecting players. He describes several tricks across card games and other wagers. At the end, however, he calls gambling a harmful vice, says he has quit and argues that learning a bad habit can cost more than learning to work.
Original verses: three passages worth studying
The following stanzas are taken directly from the repository's original-text corpus, without modernization. Explanations elsewhere on this page are interpretation, not translation.
Eran duros y bastanteslos años que allá pasaron;con lo que ellos me enseñaronformaba mi capital;cuanto vine, me enrolaronen la Guardia Nacional.
Me habia ejercitao al naipe,el juego era mi carrera;hice alianza verdaderay arreglé una trapisondacon el dueño de una fondaque entraba en la peladera.
Es un vicio de mal finel de jugar, no lo niego;todo el que vive del juegoanda a la pesca de un bobo,y es sabido que es un roboponerse a jugarle a un ciego.
Main characters and voices
Picardía as the narrator and gambler; the innkeeper who collaborates with him; other players who lose money; the National Guard mentioned at the opening.
Literary themes to identify
Cunning versus honest work; gambling and social exploitation; the confession of wrongdoing; the instability of luck; critique of vice.
Gaucho vocabulary in context
naipe (playing card); baraja (deck); monte (card game); truco (card game); taba (traditional betting game with a bone); Guardia Nacional (National Guard).
What to notice in the narration
This canto describes cheating but closes with an explicit moral reflection against the gambling trade. Treating the passage as practical advice would ignore its narrative context. Its themes connect to the poem's distinction between clever survival and behavior that harms others.
Related reading: Prudence, cunning and ethics elsewhere in the poem
Reading-comprehension and discussion questions
- What happens to Picardía when he returns?
- How does the innkeeper contribute to his dishonest winnings?
- Which details show that the outcome is arranged rather than left to luck?
- Why should the tricks be read as the character's account rather than recommendations?
- What judgment does Picardía make about gambling at the canto's conclusion?
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 22, 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