Carlos und Nicolás

In the heat of the Argentine pampas, two boys—seven‑year‑old Carlos and his six‑year‑old brother Nicolás—spend their afternoons in white sailor shirts, chasing ostriches and tending to their stout ponies by a wide river. Their world is a patchwork of grazing sheep, circling vultures and a distant white manor that breaks the endless grassland. When Carlos offers his prized boleadoras in exchange for Nicolás's horse, the trade unfurls a lavish fantasy of estates, steamships and armies that reveals how far the boys' imaginations can soar.

Nicolás, caught between admiration for his brother’s bravado and the sting of envy, rides off to meet Juanita, the shepherd’s daughter, eager to flaunt his imagined riches. He declares that the vast lands stretching from the lone ombú tree to the distant Andes now belong to him, and that the wandering steamship Tridente will soon glide past with its silver fittings. The encounter blends youthful pride with a tender yearning, hinting at adventures that will test the brothers’ bond against the wild, unforgiving plains.