Was ist Glück? Der unerwartete Fund einer wunderschönen Perle bringt alles andere als Glück auf die Eltern Kino und Juana. Geiz und Missgunst zerstören die Beziehungen. Sie wünschen sich das einfache Leben im Glück ohne Reichtum zurück.

„In the town they tell the story of the great pearl – how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man’s mind. And, as with all retold tales that are in people’s hearts, there are only good and bad things and black and white things and good and evil things and no in- between anywhere.

„If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it. In any case, they say in the town that…“

„Wenn diese Geschichte ein Gleichnis ist, kann jeder seinen Sinn darin sehen und sein eigenes Leben darin finden. Jedenfalls, es wird in der Stadt berichet, dass…“

http://www.mrlocke.net/EnglishOne/Novel/Pearl/Chapter1.htm (Full Text online of the Pearl)