La portería del cielo
Helloes,
I have a question about a short story I read, whose ending eludes me. In a nutshell it's about a poor shoemaker who's heard that all people are equal in heaven. At his destined time he dies and goes to the gate of heaven. There he's made to wait until a marquis he's known back on earth shows up. The porter makes a fuss, opening the gate and saying "Ilustrísima vuecelencia, tenga Vd. la bondad de perdonarme si le he hecho esperar un poco [blah blah] y verá que todo se ha preparado para el recibimiento del caballero más ilustre, piadoso, distinguido y rico de España." When the poor shoemaker is finally let in, there's no sign of the angels and stuff he saw when the marquis entered and the porter tells him, "¿No ha leído Vd. en la Sagrada Escritura que más fácil es que entre un camello por el ojo de una aguja que un rico en el cielo? Zapateros, sastres, herreros, labradores, mendigos, majaderos, tunantes, éstos llegan aquí a todas horas, y no tenemos por novedad su llegada. Pero se pasan siglos enteros sin que veamos a un señor como el que ha llegado hoy. En tal caso es preciso que echemos la casa por la ventana."
For starters I don't understand the expression "echar la casa por la ventana". In more general terms... did the marquis really turn out to be an exceptional man, both rich and good and deserving to go to heaven, did I understand this part correctly? After the porter's groveling (from my point of view) greeting of the marquis I thought it was all a joke and the ending would prove how all men are indeed equal in heaven but no. Here is the whole story for reference and for any beginners who would like to exercise their reading skills: La portería del cielo at Gutenberg. Thank you!
2 Answers
I thinkit means something along the lines of : To roll out the red carpet.
L a vida es dura, y parece que hasta el paraíso no sea como pensamos.
To go all out = to spare no expense
