in fact, that millions of South American Indians wore replicas of it on
chains around their necks and had a legend thatPrague was the most
beautiful city in the world and that the Infant Jesus had gone to school there. This is
why they wanted the Archbishop of Prague himself to bless the Prague
Bambino
,
who weighed six kilograms and was made of pure gold. From then on we all lived for the
glorious moment when the statue would be consecrated. But it wasn’t easy. Next
day, the Prague police showed up, and the division head himself informed the Bolivians
that the Prague underworld already knew about their
Bambino
and that a mob had
come all the way from Poland to steal it. After talking things over, they decided it
would be best to keep the real
Bambino
hidden until the very last moment, and
to have another
Bambino
made of gilded cast iron, at the Republic of
Bolivia’s expense, and they could carry that around with them until the
consecration. The very next day, they brought to the hotel a suitcase that was just as
black as the first one, and when they opened it up, what they saw was so beautiful the
boss himself came out of his specially cooled room just to look at it, to pay his
respects to the
Bambino di Praga
. Then Mr. Salamon began negotiating with the
Archbishop’s consistory, but the Archbishop didn’t want to consecrate the
Bambino
, because the real
Bambino
was already in Prague, and if he
consecrated this one, there would be two of them. I found all this out from Zdenék,
who understood Spanish and German. Zdenék was terribly upset, it was the first time
I’d ever seen him so shaken. On the third day, Mr. Salamon drove up, and you could
see all the way from the station that he was bringing good news because he was standing
up in the car, smiling and waving his hands above his head. He said he’d been
given a good tip. Apparently the Archbishop was fondof having his
picture taken, so Mr. Salamon proposed that the entire ceremony be filmed as a Gaumont
Newsreel special and then the ceremony could be seen around the world. Wherever there
was a movie house, people would see not just the Archbishop but the
Bambino
and
Saint Vitus’s Cathedral as well and therefore, as Mr. Salamon rightly pointed out,
the church would gain in popularity and its renown would spread to the ends of the
earth. On the day of the ceremonial consecration, the police gave Zdeněk and me the
job of taking the real
Bambino
to the cathedral. The idea was that the
Bolivians, along with the chief of police in formal attire, would carry the imitation
Bambino di Praga
, and Zdenék and I and three detectives disguised as
industrialists would follow inconspicuously behind. The leader of the Bolivian Catholic
group decided I should carry the real
Bambino
on my lap, and so we drove off
from the Hotel Tichota. The detectives turned out to be very jovial fellows. They told
us that when the royal treasury and crown jewels were put on display to the public
they’d dressed up as deacons, wandered around by the side altars, and pretended to
be praying. All the time they were packing revolvers in shoulder holsters like Al
Capone, and when there was a break they had their pictures taken twice with the crown
jewels, disguised as prelates. They couldn’t stop laughing as they told us about
it. I had to show them the
Bambino di Praga
, and eventually we said why not
stop and have Zden ě k take our pictures behind a fence,
all in a group with the
Bambino
, using a camera belonging to the plainclothes
cops. Before we arrived, they also told us that whenever there was a state funeral that
members of the government attended, theyhad to make sure no
unauthorized persons were allowed in and that no one put a bomb in the flowers, and they
had a special probe which they stuck into all the bouquets and wreaths before the
funeral. They had their pictures taken there too, and
chains around their necks and had a legend thatPrague was the most
beautiful city in the world and that the Infant Jesus had gone to school there. This is
why they wanted the Archbishop of Prague himself to bless the Prague
Bambino
,
who weighed six kilograms and was made of pure gold. From then on we all lived for the
glorious moment when the statue would be consecrated. But it wasn’t easy. Next
day, the Prague police showed up, and the division head himself informed the Bolivians
that the Prague underworld already knew about their
Bambino
and that a mob had
come all the way from Poland to steal it. After talking things over, they decided it
would be best to keep the real
Bambino
hidden until the very last moment, and
to have another
Bambino
made of gilded cast iron, at the Republic of
Bolivia’s expense, and they could carry that around with them until the
consecration. The very next day, they brought to the hotel a suitcase that was just as
black as the first one, and when they opened it up, what they saw was so beautiful the
boss himself came out of his specially cooled room just to look at it, to pay his
respects to the
Bambino di Praga
. Then Mr. Salamon began negotiating with the
Archbishop’s consistory, but the Archbishop didn’t want to consecrate the
Bambino
, because the real
Bambino
was already in Prague, and if he
consecrated this one, there would be two of them. I found all this out from Zdenék,
who understood Spanish and German. Zdenék was terribly upset, it was the first time
I’d ever seen him so shaken. On the third day, Mr. Salamon drove up, and you could
see all the way from the station that he was bringing good news because he was standing
up in the car, smiling and waving his hands above his head. He said he’d been
given a good tip. Apparently the Archbishop was fondof having his
picture taken, so Mr. Salamon proposed that the entire ceremony be filmed as a Gaumont
Newsreel special and then the ceremony could be seen around the world. Wherever there
was a movie house, people would see not just the Archbishop but the
Bambino
and
Saint Vitus’s Cathedral as well and therefore, as Mr. Salamon rightly pointed out,
the church would gain in popularity and its renown would spread to the ends of the
earth. On the day of the ceremonial consecration, the police gave Zdeněk and me the
job of taking the real
Bambino
to the cathedral. The idea was that the
Bolivians, along with the chief of police in formal attire, would carry the imitation
Bambino di Praga
, and Zdenék and I and three detectives disguised as
industrialists would follow inconspicuously behind. The leader of the Bolivian Catholic
group decided I should carry the real
Bambino
on my lap, and so we drove off
from the Hotel Tichota. The detectives turned out to be very jovial fellows. They told
us that when the royal treasury and crown jewels were put on display to the public
they’d dressed up as deacons, wandered around by the side altars, and pretended to
be praying. All the time they were packing revolvers in shoulder holsters like Al
Capone, and when there was a break they had their pictures taken twice with the crown
jewels, disguised as prelates. They couldn’t stop laughing as they told us about
it. I had to show them the
Bambino di Praga
, and eventually we said why not
stop and have Zden ě k take our pictures behind a fence,
all in a group with the
Bambino
, using a camera belonging to the plainclothes
cops. Before we arrived, they also told us that whenever there was a state funeral that
members of the government attended, theyhad to make sure no
unauthorized persons were allowed in and that no one put a bomb in the flowers, and they
had a special probe which they stuck into all the bouquets and wreaths before the
funeral. They had their pictures taken there too, and
Similar Books
