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FELISBERTO HERNANDEZ
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sides for people to circul ate. Beca use people came no t onl y for the
fas hi ons but also to pick o ut the Daisy Dolls, the show was a grea t
success. T he showcase was d ivided in to two secti ons by a mirror tha t
reached a ll the way to the ceiling. In the secti on facin g the entrance, the
scene- a rranged and interpreted by Horace's boys-represented an old
folk tale, "The Woman of the Lake." A young woman li ved in the
depths o f a fores t, nea r a la ke. Every morning she left her tent and went
down to the lake to comb her hair. She had a mirror which some sa id
she held behind her, facing the wa ter, in order to see the back of her
head. One morning after a late party, some high society ladies decided
to
pay the lonely woman a visit. T hey were to arri ve a t dawn , as k her
why she li ved alone and offer their hel p . When they reached her, the
woman o f the lake was combing her ha ir. She saw their elegant dresses
th rough her hair and curtsied humbl y a t their ap proach . But a t their
fi rs t ques ti on she straightened u p and set out along the edge of the lake.
T he ladi es, thinkin g she was go ing to show them some secret, fo ll owed
her. But the lonely woman o nl y went round and round the lake,
foll owed by the ladi es, without say ing or showing them anything. So
the ladi es left in disgust, ca llin g her " the mad woman o f the lake." And
since then , in tha t part o f the country, a person los t in sil ent thought is
sa id to be "going round the la ke."
In the showcase, the woman of the lake ap peared seated a t a
dress ing ta bl e on the edge of the wa ter. She wore a fli msy white robe
embro idered with yell ow leaves. On the dressing ta ble were a number
of via ls of perfume and other o bj ects.
It
was the moment in the story
when the ladi es arrived in their party dresses. All sorts of faces peered in
at them, a long the g lass case, lookin g them up and down , and not onl y
for their dresses. Glintin g eyes jumped suspi ciously, from a skirt to a
neckline, from one do ll
to
the next, di str usting even the virtuous ones,
like the woman o f the la ke. Other wary eyes glanced off the dresses as if
afra id to come into contact with the dolls' skins. A young girl bowed
her head in Cinderell a-like wonder a t the worldl y splendors she
imagined went with the bea utiful dresses. A man frowned and lowered
hi s eyes before hi s wife, hiding hi s urge to own a Daisy Doll. T he doll s,
ill general, didn 't seem
to
ca re whether they were being dressed or
undressed . T hey were like ha ughty ta rts o bli vious to everything but
their " poses."
T he other secti on of the showcase was di vided into two pa rts: a
beach and a fores t. T he do ll s o n the beach wore ba thing suits. Horace
had stopped to wa tch two in a "ta lking" pose: one with a series of
concentri c circles, like a targe t (the circl es were red ), drawn on her
bell y, the o ther with fi sh pa inted on her sho ulderbl ades. With hi s small
