The Plumed Serpent

THE WORKS OF D. H. LAWRENCE
THIN-PAPER EDITION
The White Peacock The Trespasser Sons and Lovers The Prussian Officer The Rainbow The Lost Girl Women in Love Aaron’s Rod The Ladybird Kangaroo England, my England The Boy in the Bush St. Mawr The Plumed Serpent The Woman Who Rode Away The Virgin and the Gipsy The Man Who Died The Lovely Lady Lady Chatterley’s Lover Love Among the Haystacks Sea and Sardinia Assorted Articles Mornings in Mexico Twilight in Italy Psychoanalysis and the Unconscious Fantasia of the Unconscious A Modern Lover
THE PLUMED SERPENT
BY D. H. LAWRENCE
LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
First published January 1926 Reprinted March 1926, January 1927, February 1928 March 1930, March 1932, October 1933, April 1937 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE WINDMILL PRESS, KINGSWOOD, SURREY
It was the Sunday after Easter, and the last bull-fight of the season in Mexico City. Four special bulls had been brought over from Spain for the occasion, since Spanish bulls are more fiery than Mexican. Perhaps it is the altitude, perhaps just the spirit of the western Continent which is to blame for the lack of “pep,” as Owen put it, in the native animal.
Although Owen, who was a great socialist, disapproved of bull-fights, “We have never seen one. We shall have to go,” he said.
“Oh yes, I think we must see it,” said Kate.
“And it’s our last chance,” said Owen.
Away he rushed to the place where they sold tickets, to book seats, and Kate went with him. As she came into the street, her heart sank. It was as if some little person inside her were sulking and resisting. Neither she nor Owen spoke much Spanish, there was a fluster at the ticket place, and an unpleasant individual came forward to talk American for them.