016. The Sweet Doll (La Muñeca De Dulce)
Once upon a time there was a king who had only one daughter. The monarchs and the princess used to take walks around the palace almost every afternoon, and in one of those strolls they ran into a gypsy woman who offered to read the princess her fortune. The three of them accepted [the offer], [being] amused by the thought, but the gypsy woman, after looking at the princess’s hand, warned them that they must be very careful of the day when she turned eighteen because she would be killed on that day.
The king and queen, as the princess was growing older, became worried whenever they remembered the gypsy’s prophecy. And so great was their concern that they resolved to send the princess to a castle that they had, which was [located] in the most hidden part of the forest, and they put her under the care of a mistress who had a daughter of the same age as the princess.
There, the three of them lived happily and without worries, and time passed until it was approaching that date in which the princess was to turn eighteen. One day, the princess was leaning out from a castle window when she spotted four men leaving from a cave not far away and she decided to find out what they were doing in there. So, without any hesitation, because she was a mischievous and confident girl, and [also] a little crazy in the head, she searched for a rope, lowered herself from the window to the ground and made her way to the cave.
Once she entered it [the cave], she saw that there was only a boy who was cooking in there; the cave was a thieves den and the boy who was cooking was the captain’s son; so she waited for the boy to leave and, out of mischief, threw all the food which he had prepared on the ground, and turned everything that was in the cave upside down, then returned to the castle.
The following day, one of the thieves, on seeing what had happened, stayed behind in the cave to keep watch. To all this, the princess told the mistress’s daughter what had happened and they decided to go to the cave together, but the princess made her [swear] to not say anything to her mother about what she had told her.
So the princess and the mistress’s daughter arrived at the cave and the thief was waiting for them [there]; he received them very cordially and offered to show them around the cave. The princess suspected immediately that the thief had evil intentions and she said to him:
With pleasure, but first let us set the table and taste the stew that you have there.
The thief was occupied long enough with setting up the table that they were able to escape and went running back to the palace. And so the thief was outwitted.
In view of this, the captain decided to stay [behind] in the cave the next day. The princess arrived alone and the captain attended to her with great finesse and proposed to show her the entire cave, even the most hidden corner where they kept their treasures, but she, who suspected his intentions, said to him:
We’ll see it later, for now what I want is to show you my castle.
The captain said to himself that this would be a good opportunity to get to know the castle so that he could return later to rob it, and he decided to accompany her [back]. As the princess entered and left [the castle] secretly [hidden] from the guards and the servants, when she reached the foot of the castle she began to climb the rope and told the captain to follow her; he began to climb after her, but the moment that the princess reached her window, she cut the rope and the captain fell to the ground and was badly injured, and he returned to the cave kicking and screaming, swearing to take revenge.
[Nguyen: may be not the “kicking” part, as he was badly injured?]
Then the princess disguised herself as a doctor and went to the cave to offer her services [to the injured captain]. And as the captain was badly bruised, they let her through right away. She asked them to leave her alone with him, and she gave him such a scrubbing with nettles that soon he was left with [many] open wounds. And she said to him upon leaving:
I am Rosa Verde [Green Rose], so that you will remember [me]!
[Note: I translated “lo deja en carne viva” to open wounds, but there may be a better interpretation?]
The princess let a few days passed by and [then] disguised herself as a barber and went to the door of the cave to offer her services. And as the captain had not moved from his beds for several days, his beard was already very long, so they [again] let her through. And the princess lathered him up, opened a nicked shaving razor and gave him so many cuts that his face became a crucifix. And she said to him upon leaving:
I am Green Rose, so that you will remember [me]!
[Note: I think “crucifix” means that only the mouth, the nose, the two eyes, and the forehead are still in tack, so they formed the shape of a crucifix. This is a translation from “que le dejó la cara hecha un cristo.”]
After a week, the day came when the princess turned eighteen and her parents went to pick her up to have her guarded in the palace, and they surrounded the palace with guards. At that moment, the captain of the thieves arrived at the door of the palace, disguised as a knight and announced that he wished to marry the princess. The parents called for her and she, who recognized the captain, said that yes, that she too would like to marry him. And there and then the chaplain married them.
The princess, who knew that the captain had returned to take revenge [on her] and was suspicious of him, ordered the palace confectioner to make a sweet doll [filled with syrup, to be seen later] which was an exact replica of her; and when bedtime came, she laid the doll on the bed, tied a string to its head so that it would say [gesture] yes or no as she wished, and lied herself down under the bed to wait.
And she shouted to the captain:
You can come in now!
The captained entered and bolted the door behind him, [then] he approached the bed and said:
Do you remember, Green Rose, that you scattered [trashed] food all over our cave?
And the doll agreed [nodded] with her head.
Do you remember, Green Rose, when you threw me down from the castle [window from high above]?
And the doll again nodded.
Do you remember, Green Rose, the nettle rubbings that you gave me?
And once more the doll nodded.
Do you remember, Green Rose, the barber who ruined my face?
And for the fourth time it nodded.
Well now you are going to die!
and the doll shook its head.
Then the captain took out his dagger from his belt and plunged it into its heart. And a stream of syrup spurted into the captain’s face and he thought that this was blood, and when he felt that it was very sweet, he said:
Aye, my Green Rose! I did not know that you were so sweet and now is when I feel sorry for having killed you! Forgive me, Green Rose!
and he said it full of sincere sorrow.
Then the princess came out from under the bed, embraced him and said:
You are my husband and I [will] forgive you if you [will] forget what I did to you.
And as he agreed, they hugged each other once more to let bygones be bygones and lived happily together for many, many years.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Acechar – to stalk, to spy, to watch
Acostarse – to go to bed, to lie down
Acudir – (to attend) to go to; (to occur to) to come; (to consult) to turn to
Adelante – forward, in front of, ahead of, further on
Afeitar – to shave
Almíbar – syrup
A medida que – as
A rastras – kicking and screaming; unwilling
Arriba – up, above
Arruinar – to ruin
Asentir – to agree, to consent
Asesinar – to kill, to murder, to assassinate
Atar – to tie, to tether
Atender – to attend to; to look after, to deal with
Averiguar – (to uncover) to find out, to discover
Buenaventura – fortune, good fortune
Burlar – (to dodge) to evade, to get past; (to deceive) to cheat; burlarse – to mock, to tease
Capellán – chaplain
Caro – expensive; cara – face
Carne viva – raw, living flesh, flesh, chapped
Cerrojo – (lock) bolt, latch
Chorro – stream, jet
Clavar – to thrust, to sink
Confitero – confectioner
Conque – (thus) so, so then
Cortadura – (injury) cut; (geography) gorge
Cristo – crucifix, Christ
Cuerda – rope, string
Decirse – to tell oneself, to think to oneself
Desenvuelto/a – confident, self-assured; natural, easy
Detrás – behind
Disfrazarse – to dress up, to disguise
Divertido – (enjoyable) fun, entertaining; (causing laughter) funny
Divisar – (to detect) to make out, to spot, to spy
Dolor – pain, ache
Edad – age
Encargar – (to request) to order
Enjabonar – to soap, to lather
Entretenerse – (to be delayed) to dillydally, to be held up
En vista de lo cual – in view of which
Érase una vez – once upon a time
Esparcirse – to spread, to scatter
Finura – (courtesy) politeness;
Fregar – to wash, to clean, to scrub
Gitana – gypsy
Guiso – stew, casserole
Hacer las paces – (to reconcile) to make up, to make peace;
Inquietar – to worry
Jurar – to swear, to promise
Magullar – (to cause a bruise) to bruise; magullarse – to get bruised; (related to fruits) to bruise
Malherido – badly injured
Mas – but
Más adelante – later on
Mellar – to nick, to chip; to damage, to harm
Muñeca – doll
Navaja – razor, penknife
Oculto – (concealed) hidden, secret
Ocurrencia – (unexpected thought) idea, bright idea; (wisecrack) witty remark, funny remark; (event) case;
Ortiga(s) – nettle(s), stinging nettles
Pata(s) – legs, foot/feet, paws
Perezoso – lazy, sloth
Pesar – (to feel remorse) to be sorry, to regret
Probar – to try, to taste
Puso patas arriba todo lo que había en la cueva – put legs above everything in the cave
Recelar de – to be suspicious of, to distrust
Recordar – to remember; recordarse – to wake up
Soler – to use to, to tend to
Tesoro – treasure
Travesura – prank, mischief
Travieso/a – naughty, mischievous
Trepar – to climb, to scale
Vengarse – to take revenge