Part 3

Part 3 (Stanzas 493 – 858)

The three brothers find a dark and deep well. The eldest, Don Pedro, is lowered into the well by his two brothers. He grows frightened by the dark and asks to be hoisted up after going down only 30 feet. Yes, fear is a factor for him.

Don Diego attempts but also fails.

Don Juan gives it a try and reaches the bottom (100 feet below).

He finds a golden door and quickly enters a place filled with crystal-paved roads, sweet-smelling flowers, and palaces made of gold and silver. He also meets the beautiful Princess Juana.

Since she is held prisoner by a giant, Don Juan kills the giant. Before they could leave, however, Princess Juana tells Don Juan about her sister, Leonora, who is being held prisoner by a seven-headed serpent.

Don Juan battles the serpent but each time he chops off a head, it simply reattaches itself to the serpent’s body. Fortunately, Princess Leonora throws him some bottled liquid which he has to pour on each cut part to prevent the heads from reattaching themselves to the serpent’s body.

He thus saves Princess Leonora, and together with Princess Juan and Leonora’s wolf, they are pulled out of the well by Don Juan’s two older brothers.

Don Pedro immediately falls in love with Princess Leonora (who’s in love, quite predictably, with Don Juan).

Princess Leonora remembers that she left behind a diamond ring, and Don Juan offers to go down the well again in order to retrieve it. She tries to stop him but he insists. Don Pedro lets go of the rope after lowering his youngest brother only 10 feet, so Don Juan badly falls down the 100-foot well.

Princess Leonora throws her wolf down the well and instructs it to look after Don Juan.

Pedro, Diego, Juana and Leonora return to Berbania. Diego and Juana get married, while Leonora asks the amorous Pedro to wait first for seven years because she has a religious pact to fulfill.

(There is no such pact. She was simply stalling and hoping that Don Juan would return soon.)

In the meantime, the wolf finds the injured Don Juan and heals him with water taken from the Jordan river. After recovering from his fall, Don Juan finds the diamond ring of Princess Leonora and walks back to Berbania.

It’s a long way back to Berbania, and the tired Don Juan rests under a tree. The Ibong Adarna perches on the tree and sings. Don Juan wakes up and listens to the lyrics of the Ibong Adarna’s song.

It probably sounded like a popular OPM song, because Don Juan discovers from the lyrics that Leonora always thinks of him. The song continues, however, and reveals that there is a woman who is prettier than Leonora.

She is Doña Maria Blanca, daughter of King Salermo of the Crystal Kingdom (Delos Cristal). The song also tells Don Juan that he can proudly present Maria Blanca to his father, King Fernando.

(So much for gratitude to Leonora, eh?)

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