15 May 1887

Madrid

Madrid, 15 May 1887

Mr. Jose Rizal

71-III Jagerstrasse, Berlin

Dear Che,[1]

You are too much! You are curious! I thought you were already with our people in Manila… Is it not? I bade you farewell the other day; now you are still there!… Good! I received already four copies of your book; I have already sold three, one to Mr. Teban, another to Mr. Dandoy,[2] and another is with me.

Your compatriots are here already. Lintic![3] It will be good if lightning strikes these Castilas! ….! I was going to write you tomorrow long and in detail. Now, the 15th, is the feast of San Isidro[4] and all these….fastidious Spaniards. We demand to be treated well. Because they are not satisfied with our countrymen they treat them ill. Perhaps it would be better to be hard on them!

Farewell; I’m going ahead.

Cauit

02-223 [Blumentritt V.1]

1887. 05. 19 Brunn

From: Jose Rizal

To: Ferdinand Blumentritt

Dr. Willkomm’s daughters — Rizal’s talent praised in a Prague newspaper — “What have I done to deserve the sympathy of such kind souls?” — Rizal has wept so much for the Mother Country — Magnificent farewell of Europe — An omen of sad days to come? — Happiness is always followed by misfortune — IN defense of the slandered fellow countrymen — Reward for the cause of truth.

* * *

Grand Hotel, Brunn,[5] 19 May 1887

Dear Friend,

When we went this morning to the home of Professor Doctor Willkomm, Councilor of State, to bid him goodbye, we were very much surprised when his amiable daughters chided me for not having told them anything about my artistic and poetic talents. Since yesterday we have treated one another like old friends, joking one another. I asked them how they could have known such secret things which I myself did not know. They replied that they had read them in the newspaper Bohemia of Prague and they supposed that I have received several newspapers and two letters that their brother had taken at once to the hotel.

This was pleasant news and we wanted to return immediately to the hotel to read your kind letters; but they and their cousins invited us to the garden where we stayed until one o’clock. Afterwards, we hurriedly ran to the hotel and we got from the porter your letters and we read them in the same restaurant.

My eyes must have already dried up. I can no longer cry copiously, perhaps I may have shed already all ng tears, weeping for my mother country, because not a single drop moistened my eyelids. But it is difficult for me to describe what I felt in my heart when I read the two letters. Was it joy or sadness? I’m not sure; for long minutes I was seated there without even minding the soup before me that had become very cold, and I lost my appetite. I could not eat a bite; my heart was full and I asked myself: What have I done to deserve the friendship and sympathy of such kind souls? Shall this magnificent farewell of Europe be perhaps the omen of a terrible reception in the Philippines? Because in my life, happiness was always followed by misfortune, and the more beautiful the one was the more terrible the other one appeared. But, come what may, be it compassion, kindness, or sad menace of the future, I shall endeavor not to disappoint the good hearts of the noble inhabitants of Leitmeritz and to be their worthy friend. In everything that I may think of doing, I will not only satisfy my conscience but I will also bear in mind my good friends in Leitmeritz and I will say soliloquizing: “You are not alone, Rizal; there in a little corner of Bohemia, there are good, noble souls and friends who appreciate you; think of them; consider them as if they were with you, as if they were seeing you; they will gladden at your joys and they will weep for your sorrows”

When I am alone, my gaiety disappears; many confused and sad thoughts assail me; it seems to me as if I had lost something, or as if luck had abandoned me. I believe it was better for me to have left Leitmeritz on time; later on perhaps I would be a tiresome young man to everyone, like anybody else; and nevertheless this conviction does not calm my anxiety. But one phrase in your letters consoles me — you say that I have something for the good name of my slandered compatriots. God will reward me for having done a service to the cause of truth, because, in reality, my compatriots deserve a better lot and they possess a kinder heart than mine, though they have not traveled much and they speak Tagalog only.

I wrote to the printer in Berlin asking him if he still had some copies of my work. I will send three copies to my good friends of Leitmeritz.

I will have my photograph taken in Vienna if the photographer can finish the picture in five days. Mrs. Willkomm asked me for one and I owe Prof. Willkomm one also. This good gentleman was so kind to me that I still seem to see him conversing smilingly with me at his house at Leitmeritz.

In Vienna I will lodge at the Hotel Metropole.

Kiss the dear children on my behalf, greetings to your lady and your food father, and to my friends in Leitmeritz. I am at heart a Leitmeritzian, just as you consider yourself also a Filipino in sentiment. I believe that Austria . . .[6] my parting from Prague was not very happy either.

I forgot my diamond necktie-pin on the table in my room at Hotel Krebs. I have already written to the owner. Many thanks for your letter of introduction and Dr. Czepelack’s regards.

I’ll write you from Vienna.

An embrace from

José Rizal

02-224 [Blumentritt V.1]

1887. 05. 20 Vienna

From: Jose Rizal

To: Ferdinand Blumentritt

Arrival at Vienna — Recommended calls.

* * *

POST CARD

Hotel Metropole, Vienna, 20 May 1887

Dear Friend,

We arrived here at 2:30 p.m. We are pleased with the city and its panorama. Tomorrow we will call on the gentlemen to whom you recommended us.

I’m very tired. I embrace you. We shall stay here for four or five days.

Affectionately,

José Rizal

03-225 [Reformists]