012. The Three Little Oranges (Last Tres Naranjitas)
Once upon a time there was a son of a king who was looking for the three little oranges of love. Riding on horseback, he searched for them in all the gardens that he came across, but had not managed to find them. Whenever he asked, in some places they told him that they had never seen the oranges, and in others that they had, but that there were none left; and he continued searching [for them] tirelessly until one day when he arrived at [yet] another garden where a gardener came out to greet him; and to him [e.g. the gardener], as to all those he encountered previously, the prince asked:
Have you heard of the three little oranges of love?
And the gardener answered him:
Yes I have, there are three on the tree [in this garden].
The king’s son was overjoyed and he bought them, and went away with them.
But the way back was very long, as he had traveled a long way in his search, and after so much [horseback] riding, the king’s son was thirsty and decided to [cut] open one of the little oranges; and when he opened it he found a girl with a child in her arms. The girl was very beautiful and had her hair down, and she said to the king’s son.
Do you have water to wash me, a comb to comb my hair, and towel to dry me?
No, I don’t have them – said the king’s son.
Then the girl turned into a dove and flew away with the child.
The king’s son was saddened [by this] and he carefully put away the other two little oranges, vowing that he would not touch them again until he had arrived at the palace; but the road [back] was very long that [eventually] thirst got the better of him, and he decided to [cut] open the second orange.
When he opened it, a girl who was even more beautiful than the previous one appeared, with a child in her arms and with her hair down, who said to him:
Do you have water to wash me, a comb to comb my hair, and towel to dry me?
No, I don’t have them.
said the king’s son, and the girl turned into a dove and flew away, taking the child with her.
The king’s son was filled with sorrow and was even sadder than before, but he rode on, with the hope of reaching the palace soon. And while on his way it happened that he arrived at a place where they sold him a pot, a comb, and a drying cloth.
And once more he became thirsty while still being very far from the castle, but this time he found a fountain and drank from it. And when he had quenched his thirst, an irresistible curiosity arose in him to see what is contained in the third orange; so here he opened it and another girl came out, who was even more beautiful than the previous ones [and still] with a child in her arms, and she said to him:
Do you have water to wash me, a comb to comb my hair, and towel to dry me?
And the king’s son said yes, and he offered her water from the fountain in the pot, a comb, and the cloth. Then she said to him:
Well, I’ll marry you [because of your generosity to me].
Then the king’s son told her that he must ride on ahead to the palace to speak with his parents and prepare for the wedding, and as soon as he had given the orders, he would return for her and take her back with him. And this seemed good to her and she stayed waiting [for him] by the fountain.
After a while an old woman came to the fountain with a pitcher to collect water and on looking into the water she saw the reflection of the girl’s face and believed that it was her own, so she said:
I am so beautiful, why do I have to come [here] to fetch water?
Then she saw the girl and became enraged at the deception [hard truth], and she said to the girl:
Come down here, girl, so I can comb your hair [for you].
No, no – said the girl -, for I have combed my hair already.
But the woman insisted so much that at last she came down, and the woman, who was [actually] a witch, began to comb her hair and, at that moment, pulled out a pin from her bag and stuck it in the girl’s head. And no sooner had she stuck the pin in, the girl turned into a dove and flew away, leaving the child behind.
Then the woman took the child and sat down to wait for the king’s son [to return].
At last the king’s son returned and he was surprised to see that woman being old and ugly and of a dark complexion, and he said:
As beautiful as you were, how did you become so ugly and dark?
[Nguyen: hopefully he was only observing the change in skin color, and did not mean that dark is not beautiful.]
Well it was [due to] the sun and the air, but I am the same as always. It will come off and I will remain as before.
The king’s son took her to the palace, but he was not at all convinced and did not like that woman to whom he had given his word [of marriage].
And it happened that the dove came to the palace garden one day and was fluttering about when the gardener appeared, and flying toward him, it asked:
Gardener of the king! How is the young child doing with the Moorish princess?
And the gardener replied:
Sometimes he sings, other times he cries.
And the dove said, taking flight:
And his sad mother being alone in the field!
And this happened day after day until the the gardener, perplexed, told the king’s son about it and the latter instructed him to prepare a snare to catch the dove. And so it was said and done, and the next day the gardener came in with the dove.
The king’s son took it in his hands and saw it so saddened that he began to stroke it; and the Moorish queen, his wife, said to him:
Let it fly away, let it go.
But the king’s son replied:
No, no, poor dove.
And he stroke its head. And on stroking it, the dove trembled with pain. And he again stroke its head and again it trembled with pain, and so on and so forth, much to the irritation of the Moorish queen. Until the king’s son said, feeling the dove’s head:
Well, what have you here?
because he ran into something hard, and [on] looking at it carefully, he saw that it was a pinhead; holding it with two fingers, he pulled it out and in this moment it turned into the beautiful girl whom he had left behind by the fountain, and the girl told him everything that had happened. And the king’s son almost fainted when he learned that he had been living with a witch, but immediately he had her seized, took her out to the courtyard, chopped up a lot of firewood and burned her there and then.
And in this way the king’s son was finally able to marry the girl and they all lived happily [ever after].
—– VOCABULARY —–
Acariciarse – (to touch softly) to stroke, to caress
Al cabo de – after, at the end of
Alejarse – to move away; to go far from
Alfiler – (sewing) pin
Ante – (in front of) before; (faced with) in the face of; (in comparison with) compared to
Anteriormente – previously, before
Apenas – barely, hardly, scarcely; (conjunction: the moment that) as soon as
árbol – tree
Arrancar – (to remove by force) to pull out, to uproot
Atrapar – (to grasp) to catch, to capture, to catch
Bolso – bag, purse
Brazo(s) – arms
Cabalgar – to ride horseback, to ride
Caballo – horse
Cántaro – pitcher, jug
Castillo – castle
Clavar – (to force) to hammer, to drive, to thrust, to pin
Comenzar – (to commence) to begin, to start
Conseguir – (to acquire) to get; to obtain; to achieve; conseguir dar
Convencido – (sure) convinced; (persuaded) convinced
Cortar – to cut, to carve, to slice, to chop
Cuidadosamente – carefully
Dedo(s) – finger(s), toe(s)
Desmayar – to lose heart; desmayo – fainting, pass out; dejection
Dirigir – (to be in charge of) to manage; to run business, to lead organization;
Dirigirse – (to move toward) to walk toward; (to address) to talk to
Dolor – (physical discomfort) pain, ache; (mental anguish) sorrow, grief
Duro – hard, tough, stale, stiff
Encontrar – (to retrieve) to find; to encounter
Enfadarse – to get angry
Engaño – (act of deceiving) deceit, deception; (ruse) trick, ploy, hoax
Entrar – (to begin to feel) to get, to feel; (to comprehend) to get, to understand
Entristecer – (to distress) to make sad, to sadden; entristecerse – (to become sad) to grow sad
Érase – once upon; there once was
Esperanza – (desire) hope
Extraer – (to take away) to extract, to pull out, to remove; (to take blood) to draw
Extrañarse – (to be amazed) to be surprised; extrañar – (to feel the absence of) to miss; (to amaze) to surprise
Feo/a – (unattractive) ugly, unflattering; (disagreeable) unpleasant, foul, nasty
Hallarse – (to be situated) to be; to feel; to find oneself
Jurar – (to vow) to swear, to promise; (to cuss) to swear
Lazo – bow, knot, lasso
Leña – firewood
Marcharse – to go, to leave
Mora – (fruit) blackberry, mulberry; (legal) delay, arrears, default, past due
Nada más – (no other things besides) nothing else, anything else; as soon as, right after
Naranja – orange
No cupo – didn’t fit; caber – to fit
Nunca – never; ever
Occurir – (to take place) to happen; occurirse – (to come to mind) to occur to, to have an idea
Oscuro – (with little light) dark; (complexion) dark
Paloma – dove, pigeon
Palpar – (to finger) to touch, to feel; palparse – (to perceive) to feel
Paño – (fabric) wool; cloth, dishcloth, washcloth
Patio – courtyard, yard, playground
Peinarse – to comb one’s hair
Peine – comb
Pelo – hair, fur, coat
Pesadumbre – (distress) grief, sorrow
Porfiar – (to persist) to insist; (to dispute) to argue
Prender – (to ignite) to light; (to apprehend) to catch, to arrest, to capture
Pues ha sido – for it has been; as it has been
Quedarse – (to remain in a place) to stay; (to retain) to keep; (to recall) to remember
Quemar – to burn, to set fire to; quemarse – to burn oneself
Quitar – (to eliminate) to remove; (to grab) to take away; (to consume) to take up
Quitarse – (to remove clothing) to take off; (to move away) to get out
Recoger – (to pick up) to lift up; (to collect) to gather; (to organize) to clean up
Revolotear – (to hover around) to flutter, to flit; (to whirl around) to fly around
Rostro – face, countenance
Sacarse – to take out
Saciar – (to satiate) to quench, to satisfy, to sate
Secarse – to dry
Seguir – to continue; to carry on; to follow
Suelto – loose, untied, undone
Temblar – (to quake) to shake, to shiver, to shudder
Todavía – still, yet
Topar – (to reach) to run into, to come to
Tuvo sed – was thirsty; sed – (desire for fluids) thirst, (desire to possess) thirst, yearning
Vasija – (container) pot, jar, vessel
Volar – to fly
Vuelo – (airplane, bird) flight; (shapeliness) fullness