A Filha do Cabinda

A Filha do Cabinda

Alfredo Campos

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A Filha do Cabinda by Alfredo Campos

A Filha do Cabinda Chapter 1 No.1

A filha do cabinda é formosa como a vis?o d'um sonho celeste; meiga como o canto do sabiá, poisado nos galhos do cajueiro, e ingenua como a virgem da innocencia.

O cabinda é negro, e negro de ra?a fina, mas é branca a sua filha, e filha, porque o velho escravo quer muito á senhora mo?a, que elle beijava e embalava no seu collo, quando era pequenina.

Revê-se n'ella, e n'ella se mira doido d'affei??o o pobre negro, e tanto a gravou na ideia, tanto a traz no cora??o, que chega até a esquecer-se do trabalho, sujeitando-se ás reprehens?es do seu senhor, para, insensivelmente, se entregar a scismar n'ella, que é t?o bondosa, t?o meiga e t?o carinhosa para elle; n'ella, que, por uma destas illus?es, d'estas miragens, d'estas doidices, d'um grande affecto e d'uma viva sympathia, chega a julgar realmente sua filha.

E filha do cabinda lhe chama elle.

O negro vivia na sua terra, alegre e feliz; lá tinha seus paes, a sua companheira, os filhos e a sua familia.

Um dia, n?o sabe como, achou-se com todos elles dentro d'um navio, que come?ou a affastal-o, cada vez mais, da sua patria. Passou assim algum tempo, entre as duas immensid?es, o mar e o céo, sem sentir saudades da sua terra, porque levava ainda ao seu lado aquelles que lhe davam alegria. Depois, pozeram-o de novo em terra, levaram-o a elle e aos seus companheiros para uma grande casa, onde os brancos come?aram a disputar o pre?o por que haviam de compral-os.

O cabinda foi vendido e quizeram leval-o.

Leval-o? E a sua companheira? e os filhos? e seus paes?

Esses, foram vendidos tambem, e cada um a seu senhor.

Tristissimo era o negocio da escravid?o!

Reagiu o negro, quando o quizeram separar dos seus, e quando tambem os separavam d'elle.

Teve, ent?o, saudades da sua patria, terriveis, sem duvida, porque eram, ao mesmo tempo, saudades da sua liberdade.

Fizeram-lhe, porém, estancar as lagrimas angustiosas as amea?as d'um a?oite, e o Cabinda lá partiu, sem esperan?as de tornar a vêr os filhos queridos, que nem sequer beijara na despedida, a esposa, que elle adorava com um culto rude, mas sincero, e os paes, que elle respeitava com a sua venera??o selvagem.

Partiu, mas ainda assim, boa estrella o guiava, porque, cortando-lhe as affei??es mais caras da sua vida, ao menos o levaram para onde tinha de ser estimado, quasi como pessoa de familia, e n?o como escravo e negro que era.

Em casa do seu senhor foi elle encontrar uma creancinha de dois annos, que tinha uns olhos lindos, os cabellos como os olhos, negros da c?r do abysmo, e um rosto como o dos anjos d'um sonho de poeta, como o das fadas boas das vis?es nocturnas das mattas virgens.

A convivencia foi-o affei?oando áquella creancinha, que lhe sorria t?o innocentemente; que lhe estendia, alegre, os bracinhos mimosos, e, brincando, o abra?ava carinhosamente pelas pernas.

O negro, quando via a pequenina Magdalena, sentia n?o sei que do?uras n'alma, n?o sei que effluvios no cora??o, mas que deviam ser gratissimos, porque os olhos desannuviavam-se-lhe logo das sombras de tristeza, que os velavam sempre, e os labios desatavam-se-lhe n'um sorriso de sincero e intimo jubilo.

E tomava-a no collo, sentava-se com ella á sombra das copadas tamarindeiras ou das laranjeiras em flor, cobria-a de beijos e affagos, entretecia-lhe cor?as de jasmins e martyrios, e olhava-a, assim n'uma especie de adora??o sublime e concentrada, talvez com a recorda??o nos filhinhos, que perdera, e que eram tambem pequeninos como a mimosa Magdalena.

Tinha dez annos a filha do cabinda, quando perdeu sua m?e.

Ficavam-lhe os affagos d'um pae estremoso e os carinhos do negro affei?oado; mas que valia tudo isso? que valia a gotta d'agua para t?o grande sêde? o atomo em face da immensidade desfeita?

O negro, que era dedicado á sua senhora, tanto como á pequenina Magdalena, esqueceu-se da sua condi??o de escravo, e arrojou-se, em um impeto de d?r e d'affecto, a entrar no quarto da moribunda, poucos momentos antes d'ella despedir o derradeiro alento.

Estava junto ao leito Jorge de Macedo, que era o seu senhor, embebendo em beijos lacrymosos o rosto da innocente, que ia em breve ser o seu unico encanto n'este mundo.

Os dois, pae e filha, assistiam angustiados ao desabamento d'aquelle edificio da sua ventura.

O cabinda entrou como perdido, olhou para Jorge com receio, com amor para Magdalena e foi ajoelhar-se, de m?os postas, junto ao leito da enferma, chorando como crean?a.

--Anda cá, cabinda, disse a moribunda, com voz amortecida, ao vêl-o de joelhos, alli, ao pé d'ella. Anda cá; vem vêr como se vai para o céo!...

--Que fazes, atrevido! exclamou Jorge a meia voz.

--Ah! meu senhor! a m?e do escravo é um anjo, e o negro quer despedir-se da sua senhora!

--Sahe, cabinda!

--Oh! n?o! n?o! supplicou este. O negro é escravo, mas o negro tem cora??o!

E abra?ava a roupa do leito para abra?ar a moribunda, chorava como doido, solu?ando em desespero e supplicando com ardor:

--A m?e do cabinda ha-de deixar a sua filhinha e o seu parceiro, a chorarem saudades como o bemtevi do matto? N?o, n?o nos deixes, m?e senhora!

--Papae, atalhou Magdalena, affagando as faces de Jorge, humedecidas pelas lagrimas; o cabinda chora, n?o trates mal o cabinda, que é nosso amigo.

--Oh! sim, sim! acudiu o preto. O cabinda quer muito á sua filhinha, quer muito á sua senhora e muito ao seu senhor! O negro tem alma e n?o tem familia a quem a dar. é, como a palmeira do morro, que n?o tem coqueiro ao lado.

--O negro é bom, meu Jorge, disse a doente a custo. E se te pe?o muito que fiques sendo a m?e da nossa Magdalena, n?o te esque?as tambem de que o cabinda a trouxe ao collo muitas vezes, quando era mais pequenina.

--N?o esque?o, minha Beatriz! solu?ou Jorge.

--E elle n?o ha-de ser mais nosso escravo, n?o, papae?

--N?o, minha filha.

--Mas o cabinda, atalhou o negro, n?o quer deixar a casa do seu senhor, n?o quer viver longe da sua filha.

--N?o, n?o nos has-de deixar, que nós somos todos teus amigos, acudiu a crean?a, affagando o escravo, emquanto Jorge dizia comsigo, no intimo da consciencia:

--O negro tem a c?r do urubú, mas tem alma de pomba rola!

Horas depois, Beatriz, a esposa de Jorge, tinha entregado a alma ao Creador.

Jorge chorava, para um lado, profundamente ferido no cora??o, as d?res da sua viuvez. O negro e Magdalena solu?avam, abra?ados, a perda da bondade da que tanto era m?e d'uma como anjo do outro.

Jorge conheceu, ent?o, até onde ia a dedica??o do seu escravo, a grandeza da alma do negro, e come?ou a olhal-o, a tratal-o e a querer-lhe, muito mais como a um membro da sua familia, do que como a um ente, geralmente visto com desdem, com indifferen?a e até com desprezo.

O cabinda perdera a sua familia, de que t?o barbaramente o separaram, mas havia ganho muito pela sua dedica??o.

Bastavam as festas e os sorrisos de Magdalena, de quem elle dizia sempre:

--Agora n?o tem m?e, é filha do cabinda!

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