Chapter 10

In this chapter, summer has arrived and Antonio is enjoying his time working in the garden with Ultima and wandering the river and llano. However, Antonio's mother is unhappy - her brother, Antonio's Uncle Lucas, has been sick all winter and is close to death because a bruja (witch) has put a curse on him. Antonio's other uncles have gone to the local doctor, the "great doctor in Las Vegas" and the priest, but none has been able to help. One morning, Antonio's Uncle Pedro visits the family to ask for Ultima's help, since she is a curandera (healer). She agrees, but with the warning that "You must understand that when anybody, bruja or curandera, priest or sinner, tampers with the fate of a man that sometimes a chain of events is set into motion over which no one will have ultimate control. You must be willing to accept any responsibility." Uncle Pedro and Antonio's mother agree, and Pedro tell the story of how Lucas fell sick shortly after he interrupted a "secret ceremony" by the three Trementina sisters, daughters of Tenorio, the owner of the town's saloon. Ultima asks that Antonio travel with her as she "has need of him", and the two of them leave with Pedro for El Puerto.

After their arrival, Ultima gives some instructions to Antonio's grandfather and he agrees, since "he knew that when a curandera was working a cure she was in charge." Ultima first goes to the saloon to try to "reason with" Tenorio, but he rejects her offer and tries to trample her and Antonio on his black horse. Ultima and Antonio return to the now-quiet and nearly empty house, where the grandfather leaves them alone in the small room where Lucas is. Ultima prepares a series of remedies for Lucas. Neither she nor Antonio are afraid, and Ultima says this is because "good is always stronger than evil....The smallest bit of good can stand against all the powers of evil in the world and it will emerge triumphant". A group of coyotes appears outside but they are driven off by Ultima's owl. Antonio begins to feel sick, as if he is bonded with his uncle and experiencing the same things that he does. Finally both Lucas and Antonio begin to recover. Ultima creates three clay dolls that seem to come to life after Lucas breathes on them, and he vomits and expels a ball of hair. Lucas has been cured, and Ultima goes to the grove of trees where he encountered the three sisters performing their ceremony and burns the hair ball and dirty linen. Finished with their work, she and Antonio return home to Guadalupe.

Discussion Questions
1. How do you respond to the elements of mystery and magic in Bless Me, Ultima - in this chapter in particular and in the book as a whole?
2. Do the events in this chapter suggest any possible dangers for any of the characters?