What is the Summary of The Lost Doll

Jean Richardson and the summary of The Lost Doll

The Lost Doll is a short supernatural story from Columbia, a South American country. Though the title of the story is The Lost Doll, it is not just about a doll but more about two daughters of a couple. It is a story about the death of a girl and the birth of another who are so much alike. The major characters in The Lost Doll are Maria del Carmen, Roberto Soto, Rosa Soto, and Evangelina. There are some other characters like a priest, Rosa’s sister, etc. as well.

So, what is the summary of the story, The Lost Doll? What happens in the story and what makes it supernatural? Let’s find answers to them in detail.

What is the Summary of The Lost Doll

In The Lost Doll, Maria del Carmen was a beautiful little girl and she was also the only child of her parents, Roberto and Rosa Soto. Carmen was bright, kind, and loving but her health was in a bad condition from the day she was born. Her health gradually worsened and she was very weak by the age of four. Unfortunately, Carmen died within a few days after her fourth birthday.

Carmen’s funeral took place the next day and almost all the villagers came. When they passed by Carmen’s coffin, many attendees said, “She looks like a little doll.” When the funeral mass was completed, Roberto carried the casket on his shoulder and took it to the cemetery on the hill outside the village. Rosa also followed her husband.

A few days after the funeral, Rosa gave all of her daughter, Carmen’s playthings and clothes to a priest. The priest was from another village. Rosa said to her husband in the evening, “I gave away Carmen’s things today.” Roberto was surprised to hear this and asked why she didn’t keep them for a while. In response, she reminded him what the doctor said after giving birth to Carmen. Therefore, she said, “There’s no reason to save them.” While she was saying this, tears came to Roberto’s eyes. Then, he revealed that the doctor had told Rosa cannot have another baby but he still had hope that she would be able to give birth. He said, “Only God knows who can and cannot have children.”Rosa reminds Roberto that she has not been able to give birth for four years and she says, his hope is a false hope. Roberto interrupted and said God didn’t send another child because Rosa had to take care of her sick child, Carmen. After a while, he asked about the little doll Carmen always had in her hands. She answered that the doll was not with other things about Carmen and she didn’t give it away. Both Rosa and her husband, Roberto were surprised about the whereabouts of the doll. Nevertheless, they knew it was in Carmen’s hands when she passed away.

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The looked for the doll everywhere and asked about it to everyone in the village but they could not find it. Sometime later, they forgot about the doll. The doctor who said Rosa couldn’t have any more children was wrong because exactly after a year of Carmen’s death, Rosa gave birth to another baby girl. Rosa was so happy to see a girl child who looked like Carmen. Rosa and Roberto named their second daughter, Evangelina which means “good news.”

While growing up, Evangelina became more and more like Carmen. The only difference was Evangelina was healthy whereas Carmen was sick from the day of her birth. Once, when Evangelina was two years old, a priest told Rosa, “sometimes I think that God took your sick child, healed her, and gave her back to you.” It was not a surprising thing for Rosa because Evangelina was so much like Carmen.

When she turned four, Evangelina told her mother that she was very sick a long time ago and she wanted her mother’s confirmation. But Rosa replied that she was not sick, her sister, Carmen was. Both of them keep on insisting for a long time, without reaching a conclusion as to who is true.

Rosa’s sister visited them a few days later from Bogata. She also said that Evangelina resembled her sister, Carmen. To her auntie, Evangelina said, “I was sick a long time ago, but now I am well. I thank God for that.” Yet, Rosa couldn’t believe that Evangelina was sick. For further confirmation, Evangelina also mentioned that she has a little dollie (doll) which had blue eyes and a red dress. But Rosa again opposes that Evangelina is just remembering what someone said the little doll looked like.

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Rosa’s sister asked her about the doll and Rosa said she and her husband never found that and didn’t know what had happened to it. Exactly at that moment, Evangelina remembers where the lost doll is. And again, Rosa made fun of it and said Evangelina had never seen that doll in real life. Finally, the little girl revealed that the doll belonged to her when she was sick and she put it under the big tree in the yard. She even took her mother and aunt to the place where she had buried the doll and asked her mother to dig it up.

When Rosa dug with a shovel, she initially met the arm of the doll and then came the whole body. Both the sisters couldn’t believe that, and Evangelina was too happy about that. Then, Rosa asked her daughter, “please tell me who put this Dollie in the ground here?” Evangelina firmly claims that she put the doll by herself. Likewise, Rosa’s sister also curiously asked the little girl to tell more about what she remembers.

Evangelina went on explaining whatever she remembered. When she had been very sick, a priest had prayed with his hand on her head and she had fallen asleep. Later, a nice man had woken her up and taken her by the hand. The man had told her that she couldn’t take the doll with her because he said she didn’t need it. Then, he helped her to bury the doll but he didn’t have a shovel.

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After explaining the details, Evangelina asked if her mother was alright because she looked kind of sick. Ultimately, we come to know that the reincarnation of Carmen as Evangelina is the thing that makes The Lost Doll a supernatural story.

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