Click "free sample" to read the whole book no need to purchase. The novella comprises four parts. Only the first three appeared in the original publication in the October 1, 1845, issue of the Revue des deux Mondes (Review of the Two Worlds); the fourth first appeared in the book publication in 1846. Mérimée tells the story as if it had really happened to him on his trip to Spain in 1830. Part I. The work is prefaced by an untranslated quotation from the poet Palladas: (Every woman turns sour/Twice she has her hour/One is in bed/The other is dead). For readers of Ancient Greek, this set the theme of the tale: a ferocious woman, sex, and death. While searching for the site of the Battle of Munda in a lonely spot in Andalusia, the author meets a man who his guide hints is a dangerous robber. Instead of fleeing, the author befriends the man by sharing cigars and food. They stay in the same primitive inn that night. The guide tells the author that the man is the robber known as Don José Navarro and leaves to turn him in, but the author warns Don José, who escapes. Illustration of Carmen (József Árpád Koppay, 1891) Part II. Later, in Córdoba, the author meets Carmen, a beautiful Gitano (Romani) woman who is fascinated by his repeating watch. He goes to her home so she can tell his fortune, and she impresses him with her occult knowledge. They are interrupted by Don José, and although Carmen makes throat-cutting gestures, José escorts the author out. The author finds his watch is missing. Some months later, again in Córdoba, a friend of the author's tells him that Don José Navarro is to be garrotted the next day. The author visits the prisoner and hears the story of his life.