He notices the old man's stench and his parasite-infested wings, but writes to the bishop and eventually Rome for a verdict. Soon Pelayo and his wife begin charging admission to see their angel. The crowds grow until they draw other carnival attractions. One visiting sideshow features a young woman who was transformed into a tarantula the size of a ram with the head of a maiden. By now, however, Pelayo and his wife have earned enough to build a fine two-story mansion.
Several years pass.
Their child, who was a newborn at the story's opening, is now old enough start school. The feeble angel drags himself around their property greatly to Elisenda's annoyance. He also looses his last bedraggled fathers. That winter the old man almost dies of fever, but by spring his feathers begin to grow back. One day, as Elisenda watches from the kitchen, the old man clumsily takes flight and flaps away across the sea.