Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novella’s racist and inaccurate portrayal of Romani people and culture, which includes racist slurs. The novella also includes other instances of racism and exoticism, as well as depictions of domestic violence against women cumulating in murder.

The narrator prefaces his story with an explanation: He spent the year 1830 travelling through Spain researching the Roman battlefield of Munda in order to determine its hitherto disputed location, which he places near Montilla. It was during that time that he encountered Don José and Carmen, and learnt the tale of their life together, which he relates here as an interesting aside with no bearing on his forthcoming scholarly publications.

The narrator, along with his guide Antonio, is travelling through the countryside of Andalusia, fatigued and thirsty from the heat of the day. He comes across an idyllic glade and decides to rest there awhile and replenish himself at its fresh spring. A man who would later turn out to be the bandit Don José is already in the glade napping, and upon the narrator’s arrival he immediately awakes and gets to his feet. Don José is standoffish and clearly on his guard, tending to his horse with his weapon close at hand.