TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA BY A.J.CRONIN

                                                  TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

A.J. Cronin was a doctor by profession. He gave up his profession as a doctor and started writing novels and short stories. Some of his novels have been made into films. The title of the short story, “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” is one of the early plays of Shakespeare. The story is about the sacrifice of the two little boys to bring hope to their sister.

“Yet, gazing at the two little figures, with their brown skins, tangled hair and dark earnest eyes, we felt ourselves strangely attracted”

A J Cronin and his companion were driving through the foothills of the Alps. On the outskirts of Verona, they saw two boys selling wild strawberries. They were brothers. Nicola, the elder, was 13 years old while Jacopo was 12. They met these two boys in several places. Their behavior attracted them. They willingly did all kinds of work. They polished shoes, sold fruits, sold newspapers, conducted the tourists round the town, and did all kinds of small jobs.

"We do many things, sir"

One night, the narrator saw the two boys resting on a stone pavement with a bundle of unsold Newspapers. When the narrator questioned them why they were there at late night, Nicola told him that they were waiting for the last bus to Padua so that they could sell the Newspaper. The next morning, the narrator saw them at the fountain. He went there to get his shoes polished. He asked them what they did with their earnings as they were not spending money on clothes and they ate simple food. He asked if they saved money to go to the United States. They replied that they had some other plans.

Since the narrator was leaving Verona, he asked the boys if they needed any help from him. Jacopo requested the narrator to drop them in the car to the village of  Poleta which is around 30 kilometres away. But his brother Nicola does not like the fact that his brother is troubling the narrator. The narrator agrees agreed to help the boys. The next day afternoon, he drove them to the village and the boys asked him to stop the car before a big building. The boys requested the narrator to wait for some time and they went into the building.

The narrator learned from a nurse that it was a hospital where the boys’ sister Lucia was a patient. She was undergoing treatment for tuberculosis. The two boys have been supporting her in the hospital for more than a year.

The nurse also told that their father, a widower, was a popular singer at La Scala and was killed in the German war. Thus they were made orphans by the war. A bomb destroyed their home. The boys spied on the movement of the German troops and gave information to the resistance forces. When peace was restored, they found that Lucia with Tuberculosis. The hospital charged a fee which her two brothers paid. She also said that Lucia also is a singer and she is progressing in her health and very soon she will be able to sing and earn a living.

“War had not broken their spirit”

While they were driving back to Verona, the narrator did not ask anything to the boys. He did not like the boys to know that he knew about their secret. He was impressed with the boys who worked cheerfully and with the purpose. Their selfless action, dignity, and courage moved the narrator. So, they were called the gentlemen of Verona by the narrator.