The Black Pearl

by Scott O'Dell
Available from Amazon
***

Some of Scott O’Dell’s works are great, some are standard, and some are not worth the time. I was disappointed in this one. The plot is okay I guess, but it seems to lack anything very substantial, and is full of superstition. It tells the story of a son who goes into the pearl business with his father in La Paz, California. Nettled by the boasts of an employee, a pearl diver, he believes if he can find a pearl of gigantic proportions, he will be a man. In his father’s absence, Ramon abandons his responsibilities, and convinces an Indian man who has sold them pearls to teach him to dive for them. He learns to search for pearls, but the Indian warns him away from a certain cave, where he believes the Manta Diabla resides. He tells Ramon that the pearls in that cave are the Manta Diabla’s, and if anyone takes them, the Manta will pursue him until the pearl is returned. The Manta has spies all around who report to him the happenings when he is away. Ramon hunts in the cave anyway, believing the tale to be merely an old Indian legend. He finds an enormous black pearl, the size of a grapefruit, which has only a slight flaw, easily removed. The Indian counsels Ramon to return the pearl to the Manta Diabla, but scorning the tale, Ramon takes the pearl home. His father wanted to sell the pearl to one of the other pearl dealers in the town, but they were not willing to give him the sum he required, so he presented it to the virgin Mary image. Trusting in her to protect them after such a fine gift, Ramon’s father sailed into the teeth of a violent storm, and his entire fleet was lost, with the exception of the Sevillano, the young man whose boasts had prompted Ramon’s pearl discovery. The Indian insists that the storm was brought on by the Manta Diabla who wants his pearl back, and Ramon now believes him. He steals the pearl back with the intent to return it to the manta, but the Sevillano, armed with a knife, comes to steal it from him, intending to make his own fortune. Ramon is compelled at knife point to paddle the boat to the city where the Sevillano will sell the pearl, but the manta follows them, to recover his pearl, as Ramon is convinced. The Sevillano laughs at his fears, and tells him why his father’s fleet was lost. The manta does attack them, and the Sevillano harpoons it, and ends accidentally strapped to the manta when he dives his last. Ramon stays in the area for a while to see if the Sevillano, who was known for his long dives, would reappear. When he does not, Ramon returns to the city and gives the pearl back to the Mary image, believing that she has protected him from the Sevillano and the Manta Diabla. He feels content that he has finally become a man.