Latin American Folktales (15 page)

30. The Witch Wife

There was a bachelor who had no family. But he had many friends, and they advised him to marry. They introduced him to a certain Celina, a good woman, they said, and told him it was time to get serious.

He started making regular visits. When he was ready to declare himself, the woman said yes.

After they were married, whenever they sat down to eat, the wife would pick at her rice. She’d separate the grains and eat just one, maybe two. Her husband would say, “What’s the matter? Don’t you like what we’re eating?” And the next day it would be the same. “Are you trying to save money?” No answer.

One night when they had gone to bed and the wife thought the man was asleep, though in fact he was awake, she got up quietly and put on her clothes. As she went out, the door made no sound.

The husband thought, “What could she be doing at this hour?” He got up and went after her. She crossed the street, crossed back again, went down another street, and stopped at the cemetery. He climbed a palm tree just outside the cemetery wall and watched as she went in. She walked directly to a fresh grave. Other women were there, too, chatting and laughing. Already they had dug into the grave and exposed the corpse. One of the women jumped in and tore off pieces of flesh with her fingernails. The man watched as she handed out the rotten morsels, one by one. “Here, sister,” she said, and she tore off a large piece and gave it to the man’s wife. The man nearly fell out of the tree when he saw what his wife was eating.

When the banquet was over, they closed the grave. The husband went home and lay down on the bed again. A few moments later the wife arrived, took off her clothes, and settled down next to him. Through the rest of the night, whenever she rolled over and brushed against him, he recoiled. He couldn’t sleep, imagining how he would get rid of this woman. In the morning he was feverish from having slept not a wink.

At last it was time for breakfast. The wife pushed her rice around the way she usually did, eating only a grain or two. “You don’t like it,” he said, “because it isn’t dead.” She understood his meaning.

She got up from her chair and dusted some red powder into a cup of water. She spoke a few words that he didn’t understand, then threw the water in his face and said, “Take your punishment!” At once he became a little red dog.

Not content with that, she picked up a whip and gave the dog a lashing. It jumped through an open window and rushed down the street yelping.

The dog ran into a baker’s shop just as the baker was having a snack. “Here, little fellow!” said the baker, and he threw down a slice of bread. The baker had other dogs, and they pounced on the newcomer. But the baker was a dog lover and knew what to do. He gave the little red dog a corner of its own, and from then on it got all the affection it needed and all the bread it could eat.

The little dog helped its new owner. Whenever a customer tried to pass counterfeit money, the dog would bark and take the bad coin in its teeth. “My dog knows money!” the baker would say.

Before long the reputation of this clever dog spread through the town. When the king’s daughter heard of it, she said to her mother, “I must see the baker’s new dog. I wonder what it looks like.” But princesses don’t go out in the streets, so the mother had to go herself. When she returned, she said to her daughter, “It’s true. The dog sinks its teeth in counterfeit money.”

“What color is this dog?”

“It’s red all over. And its eyes are human.”

“Heavens! You must bring it to me.”

The mother went back to the bakery and watched until the baker was busy. When he wasn’t looking, she called to the dog three times, and it jumped into her arms.

She brought it straight to her daughter. The princess looked into the dog’s eyes, and the dog looked into hers. She pulled a powder box out of her handbag and dusted some of the contents into a cup of water, pronouncing these words,

Whether man or dog,
Be what you are!

As she sprinkled the water on the little dog, it became a man again. He fell to his knees and said, “I’m yours, I’ll be your servant.” And he told her his story, not omitting a single detail.

“Goodness!” said the princess. “You married Celina? We went to the same school. I knew her perfectly well, and I stayed away from her. She used her science for the wrong purposes.”

The man stayed on for a while and worked. When he left, the princess paid up his wages and gave him a flask filled with a solution she herself had prepared.

On the way home, the man kept thinking, “How shall I punish my wife? I can’t! She’s my wife. It wouldn’t be right to harm her.”

When the wife caught sight of her husband, she was frozen with fear. She started to run, but he opened the flask and sprinkled a few drops. Immediately she changed into a mare. His conscience was clear now. He gave the mare a good kick and sold her to a miller.

The miller had cane to be ground for sugar. But the mare wouldn’t turn the millstone, no matter what the miller tried. Meanwhile the husband married another woman.

At last the miller, tired of the mare’s tricks, beat the life out of her, and that was the end of Celina.

Colombia

31. O Wicked World

Juan was a good man who poured his whole life into sheepherding. He loved his wife, and she, for her part, helped him keep their little house in good repair, sharing all the labor with him as an equal. Apparently she was happy in her poverty and in her work. But the truth is she did not particularly love her husband, and there were times when she was bored.

One day poor Juan had an attack of some illness or other and fell over dead. When this happened Juan and his wife were on a hillside herding their sheep toward the corral. The wife shouted toward the houses below, “Send three strong boys to help me bring down Juan!”

A voice called back, “What’s the matter?” She answered, “I need three boys. Juan is dead. Ay, my poor Juan.” She kept repeating, “Ay, my poor Juan.”

They shouted up to her, “We’re coming! Four of us!”

“No, no,” she said. “Three is enough. I’ll be the fourth.” Taking her at her word, three boys climbed the hill and helped her carry her husband’s body. As they made their way down the path, the wife cried aloud, “Ay, poor Juan. How he loved this beautiful countryside!”

When they had gotten the dead man into the house, the boys left, and the widow, as calmly as you can imagine, fried a batch of
buñuelos.
She had worked up an appetite.

News of Juan’s death passed from mouth to mouth. In no time the townspeople arrived to express their condolences, crowding into her house, and the widow had to put away the frying pan full of
buñuelos
just as they were ready to be eaten.

One of the neighbors from close by had brought his busy little dog, who followed him everywhere, and because of it the dog was called World. This little World was well known to the widow, and when she saw him speeding like a bullet toward the pantry where she’d tucked the fritters, she started to scold him, “O wicked World! You keep on taking them, one by one! Oh, no! You’ve taken the best of them all!”

Juan was buried the next day. But the neighbors, who knew nothing of the
buñuelos,
could not forget the widow’s grief. “The poor thing, how good she is!” they said. “How she cherished her late husband!”

Argentina
/
Clara
Chamorro
de
Silva

32. The Three Sisters

There were three sisters, and they were quite charming. Although they lived in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, they managed to be glamorous.

Now, in those days there was a night patrol. Guards went around to keep watch on people and to listen for suspicious conversation. One evening the first watch passed the house of the three sisters, and the patrolmen heard talk.

“I’d marry the king’s baker,” one of the sisters was saying, “so I’d have sponge cake all the time.”

“I’d marry the king’s steward,” said the second sister, “then I’d have everything in the pantry that’s good to eat.”

The third said, “Why take one of the servants? I’d marry the king himself.”

“Aren’t you the uppity one!” said the other two. “Imagine marrying the king!” And all three burst out laughing and continued chatting away.

But the guards heard everything and reported the conversation to the king. The sisters were called to the palace. When they arrived, the king greeted them in a pleasant way, sat down with them, and engaged them in conversation. Finally he said, “I hear one of you wants to marry my baker and one wants to marry the steward. And you’re the youngest? You want to marry me!” The sisters, all flustered, said: “Who ever told you that?” “I never said such a thing.” “It was only a joke.”

“But do it you will,” said the king. “You’ll marry the baker. And you? The steward will be your husband. And you, my dear, will be married to me.” So it was all arranged. They had three weddings and settled themselves in the palace.

After a while the one who had married the king became pregnant, and when it was time for her to give birth, she called her sisters to be her midwives. She delivered a boy. But the two jealous sisters had already gotten a little dog ready to take the baby’s place. As soon as the child was born, they put the dog in bed with the queen, then put the baby in a chest, nailed the lid shut, and threw it into a river that flowed through the palace garden. They told the king to come see, and when he arrived they showed him the dog. The king said, “Why be amazed by the work of nature? If my wife gives birth to a dog, so be it.”

Later, when the king’s gardener went to the riverbank for water, he found the little chest. He brought it home to his wife and said, “Look what I found.”

“Open it up!” she said. “There might be treasure.” He pried the lid loose, and there was an infant.

“Why, look! It’s a little boy,” said the wife. “Since we have no children, he can be our son.” They began to bring him up.

Another year went by and the queen was again taken to childbed. She called in her two sisters to help with the delivery; this time they brought a cat. They laid the child in a box, dumped it in the river, and put the cat in the bed. The king just shrugged, “What’s meant to be was meant to be.”

The gardener found the box, again with a little boy inside, and his wife cried, “It’s God’s work! Since we had no children of our own, he’s sending them to us in this manner.”

The following year the queen gave birth again. This time her sisters put a piece of kindling in the bed. When the king saw the stick of wood, he showed no surprise and just shrugged it off as before. But when the gardener found the box in the river and opened it up, there was a baby girl. So the gardener and his wife had three young ones to raise.

One day after many years, the queen was out walking in the garden and noticed the gardener and his children, now nearly grown. The queen starting thinking out loud, “What a beautiful place! Only three things are lacking. If only we could have them, it would be paradise.”

“And what would the three things be?” asked the gardener.

The queen replied, “A bird that speaks, an orange tree that dances, and water that jumps and leaps.” The gardener’s son interrupted, “I’ll find them for you.”

Without delay the boy’s mother, who was the gardener’s wife, packed him a lunch, and he headed for the mountains. Along the way he met a hermit, who asked, “My boy, where are you going?”

“I’m off to find the bird that speaks, the orange tree that dances, and the water that jumps and leaps.” The hermit then said, “Just keep to the path, and after you’ve climbed this mountain you’ll come to a plain. You’ll find everything there. The bird will be in a cage hanging from the orange tree, and the water will be close by. If the bird speaks, take it. If you see the tree dancing, break off a few branches. And if the water is jumping and leaping, fill your bottle. But if all’s quiet, touch nothing. And one more thing: Before you get there, a voice will be shouting insults. Make no answer and don’t look around.”

The boy went on, and as soon as he reached the top of the mountain he heard the shouting, “Throwaway child! Shame!” But he didn’t answer or turn around. The plain lay straight ahead. He saw the bird, but it wasn’t speaking; the tree, but it wasn’t dancing; and the waters, but they weren’t leaping. He touched them all and was instantly frozen.

Meanwhile at home, his sister and his younger brother were watching a glass of water he had left on the windowsill. He had said to them, “When half is water and half is blood, you will know I am in danger and must come look for me.” The two had been watching every day. When suddenly the glass was half blood, the younger brother said, “I must go and get him.” And he set off for the mountains.

When the boy came to the hermit, he received the same advice that had been given before. And like his older brother, he paid no attention and fell under the same spell.

In that instant the glass on the windowsill was entirely filled with blood. Wasting no time, the sister put on a suit of men’s clothes, packed scissors and a little comb, and set out on a mule to find her brothers.

When she came to the hermit, he asked, “Where are you going?” And instead of just answering, “I’m on my way to find my lost brothers,” she got down from her mule and combed the hermit’s beard and with her scissors trimmed his nails, which had gotten much too long. After that, all he said to her was, “Pass ahead! Keep to the road!”

At the top of the mountain she heard the voices, “Throwaway child! Shame!” And she answered,

Try as you might
To blame me,
Your names and threats
Can’t shame me.

And there in the distance she saw the bird. It was speaking. The orange tree was dancing. And the waters were jumping and leaping. From its cage the bird shouted, “The heroine comes forth!” She took the birdcage in her hand, cut some branches from the orange tree, filled up a bottle at the spring, then asked, “Divine bird, where are my brothers?”

The bird said, “Listen, stick your hand in the spring. Pull out two crystal balls, blow your warm breath on them, and they’ll return to their human form.” In this way she made them flesh and blood again, and I’ll tell you their names. One of the brothers was Bamán; the other, Párvis. And all three rode home on the mule.

When they had planted the boughs in the garden and put the birdcage there, they dug a little hole and poured in the water. The king and the queen were called, as well as the queen’s two sisters. “What a beautiful garden!” said the king. “Just what we wanted!” said the queen. Then the bird turned to the two sisters, who were the baker’s wife and the steward’s wife, and said, “I hear you throw away other people’s children,” and before the bird could say more, the sisters backed off and kept going till they were out of the garden.

Meanwhile the king was saying, “Show me around this garden!” The gardener’s wife thought, “Good heavens! Unexpected company! What can we possibly serve the king?” But the bird told her, “Look on the other side of the orchard. See what you find.” Nestled among the roots of the last tree were two little squashes. “And whatever will I do with these?” asked the poor woman. “With these you’ll please the king,” said the bird.

When the gardener and the king had made the rounds, and the king had had his fill of admiring the talking bird, the dancing tree, and the leaping waters, they all sat down to the table, and the king cut into the squashes. Out came pearls, pouring all over the table. The king was amazed. “Squashes full of pearls! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Squashes with pearls surprise you,” said the bird. “But you weren’t surprised when your wife gave birth to a dog, a cat, and a stick of wood.”

“What!” cried the king. “Tell more!”

The bird told all. Then finally it said, “Here are your three children, right before your eyes.” The king embraced them and took all three into the palace, together with the gardener and the gardener’s wife, and gave them much better jobs than the ones they’d had before. Then he issued an order for his two sisters-in-law to be rounded up and sent to the firing squad.

It’s what they deserved, isn’t it?

Colombia