Colomba in Nature Summary

This chapter is Allende's storytelling at its best. The story is a true story about a friend of Allende's, a large, vegetarian woman named "Colomba." Colomba is pursued by a married, college art professor. Finally, he invites her for a pastoral picnic in order to make his move on her. He prepares all of her favorite vegetarian dishes and takes a blanket, pillows, and insect repellant. Over the course of the meal, he teases and tempts her, finally convincing her to remove her clothing so that he may apply the insect repellant for her. Colomba does so, but soon thereafter an impatient bull begins charging them to convince them to leave his pasture. In all, the romantic adventure was a bust and ended in disaster. They returned to their picnic spot after the bull went away, only to discover...