The Coyote Under the Table/El Coyote Debajo de la Mesa (2 page)

Higher and higher the boy flew, farther and farther he traveled, until he saw a castle at the top of a mountain. The castle belonged to a giant, and the giant had a princess imprisoned there.

The boy circled down and landed on the castle wall. He saw the princess sitting in the garden, weaving a cloth with threads of of gold and silver. Under a tree nearby, the giant lay asleep.

The boy flew down and perched on a low branch of the tree. When the princess looked up and saw him she said, “Oh, Giant, look at the beautiful eagle on the branch just above you. Catch it for me.”

“Let me sleep,” the giant grumbled, “What do you want with that bird?”

“I want to put it in a cage,” the princess said. “It will be my companion. After all, if you're going to keep me here forever, the least you can do is let me have a pet.”

“Foolish girl,” the giant growled. But he caught the eagle and put it in a cage. All day long the princess kept the cage hanging beside her as she worked on her weaving. She talked to the eagle and told it how sad and lonely she was in the giant's castle.

That evening the princess carried the cage into her room in the castle and set it near the window. The giant closed the door and locked it, and the princess lay down to sleep. The boy thought,
Now is the time to come out of this cage.
He said, “If I were an ant,” and became an ant. He ran between the bars of the cage and down to the floor.
Now I'll show the princess who I really am
, he thought. He said, “If I were a person,” and returned to his own shape.

The boy shook the princess's bed and she opened her eyes. The princess was startled when she saw him and cried out. The boy heard heavy footsteps as the giant came running down the hall toward the princess's room. “If I were an ant,” he said quickly. He scurried back up the wall and into the cage. “If I were an eagle,” he said, and put his head under his wing and pretended to be asleep.

“Why did you cry out?” the giant asked as he opened the door.

The princess had seen the boy turn into an ant, and then an eagle. She knew he must be a friend. So she made up a story to tell the giant. “I was just drifting away to sleep, and a terrible dream came to me,” she said. “I dreamed that my father's armies came and killed you. I cried out in my dream and woke myself up.”

The giant laughed. “Your father's armies will never harm me,” he boasted.

“Of course not,” the princess said. “You're so strong. Nothing in the world can hurt you. What is the secret of your strength, Giant?”

The giant's chest swelled with pride. “The secret of my power is simple. But the world is full of fools, and they'll never discover it. It is hidden inside a little speckled egg. And the egg is inside a white dove. The dove is in the belly of a black bear that lives in a green valley far away.” The giant roared with laughter. “All anyone would have to do is throw that egg against my forehead. Then my strength would be like a natural man's.”

“But no one will ever learn that secret, will they, Giant?” the princess said.

The giant roared, “Never!” And walked laughing back to his own room.

But the boy had heard everything. The next day when his cage was hung on the tree in the garden and the giant had fallen asleep in the shade, the boy said, “If I were an ant.” He ran out of the cage and up onto the branch. “If I were an eagle,” he said. He flew up over the castle wall.

“Oh, no!” cried the princess. “My eagle has escaped!” But the giant didn't even open his eyes.

The boy flew and flew until his wings were so tired he could hardly move them. Finally, he spotted a green valley in the distance.

As he flew over the valley he saw a great black bear rambling through the trees and thickets. It looked as though no people lived in the green valley, but in the next valley to the east, the boy saw a small house.

The boy landed not far from the house. He said, “If I were a person.” Then he walked to the house and asked if he could have lodging for the night. The people who lived in the house were kind and told him he could sleep in their stable. They invited him to sit and eat with them.

As they ate, the boy asked how they managed to make a living in that valley, and the people told him, “We have a flock of sheep.”

“Who takes the sheep to pasture?” the boy asked.

“Our daughter takes them out each morning, and returns with them at the end of the day.”

“Tomorrow I'll take your sheep out to graze, to repay you for your kindness.”

The man said that would be fine, but he warned the boy not to take the sheep into the green valley to the west. “A fierce bear lives in that valley. We don't dare enter there.”

The next morning, the boy drove the sheep from their pen and started up the valley. When he returned that evening, the sheep looked fat and contented, but the boy appeared to be exhausted. He ate only a few bites of supper and then stumbled to the stable to sleep. But he told the people he would tend their sheep again the next day.

The woman said to her husband, “Where can the boy have taken our sheep that they came home looking so healthy? And what do you suppose has made him so tired?”

“Who knows?” the man replied. And then he told their daughter, “Follow the boy tomorrow and see where he goes and what he does.”

So the next morning, as the boy drove the sheep up the valley, the girl followed him. She saw that when he was just out of sight of the house he turned the flock to the west and drove them into the forbidden valley.

While she watched from behind a bush she saw the sheep settle down to graze happily on the lush grass. Then the girl saw the black bear rush out of the thicket and run toward the flock. The boy suddenly became a lion and ran to meet the bear's charge. All day long the bear and the lion fought, until finally they fell to the ground beside each other, too tired to move.

Then the bear turned his head toward the lion and said, “If only I had a slab of ice to roll on, I would rise up and tear you into a thousand pieces.”

And the lion replied, “If only I had a sip of sweet wine to drink, and a kiss from a pretty girl, I would rise up and tear you into two thousand pieces.”

Finally, the bear struggled back into the bushes and the lion became the boy once again. He started home with the flock.

That night, the girl told her parents what she had seen and heard. Her father told her, “Follow the boy again tomorrow. Take along a cup and a flask of sweet wine.”

The next morning the girl followed the boy into the valley again. Soon the bear appeared, and the boy became a lion. All day they fought until they fell exhausted to the ground.

“If only I had a slab of ice to roll on,” the bear growled, “I would rise up and tear you into a thousand pieces.”

“If only I had a sip of sweet wine, and a kiss from a pretty girl,” said the lion, “I would rise up and tear you into two thousand pieces.”

The girl ran from behind the bush. She filled a cup with wine and held the lion's head in her lap while he sipped. Then she bent down and kissed him.

The lion rose up, and lashed out at the bear with his paw. The bear's belly split wide open, and a white dove burst out and flew away.

Instantly the lion became an eagle and flew after the dove. When the eagle caught the dove, an egg fell from it and landed in the girl's lap. She held the egg up high, and the eagle swooped down and snatched it from her hand and then flew away.

The boy flew back toward the giant's castle. He arrived the next morning, and saw the princess weaving in the garden. As usual, the giant was sleeping under the tree.

The boy flew down and perched on a branch. “Giant, look!” the princess said, “My eagle has come back.”

“Don't bother me,” the giant muttered. “Can't you see I'm sleeping?”

So the boy flew down to the ground. “If I were a person,” he said. Then the boy handed the egg to the princess. She ran to the giant and threw it against his forehead.

The giant jumped to his feet, but already he had begun to grow smaller. His hair was turning grey and his skin began to wrinkle. He became a little old man.

The boy took the keys from the old man's belt and set the princess free. She wanted him to return with her to her father's palace, but the boy had other plans.

He flew back to the valley where the kindly people kept their sheep. He married the girl who had helped him overcome the fierce bear. They lived happily together for many years, and he never became a lion or an eagle or an ant again—except when he was an old, old man, and then he did it just to make his grandchildren laugh.

Aquí va el cuento de un muchacho huérfano. No tenía pariente alguno—ni padre ni madre, ni hermana, ni hermano, ni siquiera un primo que lo ayudara en este mundo.

Para sobrevivir, el muchacho entró a trabajar como ayudante de un herrero. Pero el herrero lo hacía trabajar mucho y le pagaba muy poco. Así que un día, cuando el herrero estaba fuera del taller, el muchacho hizo un cuchillo grande de acero. Lo afiló tanto que partía madera de roble como si fuera mantequilla, y luego el muchacho salió a trotar por el mundo con el cuchillo en el cinturón.

El muchacho no había andado mucho cuando oyó voces fuertes discutiendo más adelante. Al doblar el recodo vio un león, un águila y una hormiguita gritándose y haciéndose gestos amenazantes. Cerca de ellos había un venado muerto.

—Animalitos —gritó el muchacho —, ¿qué les tiene tan enojados?

—Este venado es mío —gritó el águila—. Yo lo divisé desde arriba y empecé a perseguirlo.

El león la cortó: —Pero no eras capaz de hacerle nada. Yo lo alcancé y lo derribé. El venado es mío.

La hormiguita chirrió: —¡Es mío, es mío! Mira. Está echado sobre mi casa. ¡Es mío!

El muchacho desenfundó el cuchillo afilado: —Yo puedo resolver el problema —les dijo a los animales.

Primero, el muchacho separó la carne tierna de los huesos del venado. Se la dio al águila:

—Tú no tienes dientes —le dijo al águila—. Puedes comer esta carne tierna.

Después, le dio al león los huesos grandes con mucha carne todavía pegada: —Con tus dientes y fauces fuertes puedes morder estos huesos y romperlos. Eso te dará mucho que comer.