031. Fearless Juan (Juan Sin Miedo)
There was a young man called Juan who did not know what fear was. Everyone in his village knew fear, but he did not; he was not afraid of anything because he did not know what fear was. So that one day he decided to travel the world to see if he could get to know fear.
He set out and was walking miles and miles until he felt tired and had to ask for lodging in a house where an old couple lived. He sat down to dine with them and saw that on the dining table were two skulls, one of which contained food and the other water, and the couple invited him to eat and drink from them. Juan did so calmly and asked them afterward:
Do you know what fear is? [I asked] Because I don’t know it for I am not afraid of anything.
He set out on the road again the next day and arrived at an abandoned castle where he decided to spend the night. There he prepared dinner with what he had and, while he was eating, he heard the sound of footsteps and saw seven friars descending from a staircase, each with a skull in the right hand and a candle in the left. The seven friars were deceased and had come from the other [nether] world, but Juan was not afraid of them for he knew no fear, so he invited them to dine with him. And in the meantime he was asking himself: “Well, what could fear be?”
After dinner he lay down to sleep next to a fireplace and after a while he was awakened by some noise, and then he heard a voice which said:
Shall I fall or not fall?
And he [Juan] replied calmly:
Fall or not fall, it’s all the same to me.
And the head of one of the dead friars fell through the hole of the chimney. The head rolled and stared at him with [its] eyes wide-opened. And he heard another voice which said:
Shall I fall or not fall?
And Fearless Juan, replying as before:
Fall or not fall, it’s all the same to me.
This time the friar’s right hand fell through. And another voice repeated again:
Shall I fall or not fall?
And Juan:
Fall or not fall, it’s all the same to me.
And down fell the friar’s body with legs and arms and all the pieces all together, and the friar stood up in front of the young man. And at this moment another voice said:
Shall I fall or not fall?
And Juan, [being] fed up, said:
Fall once and for all everything that needs to fall, for I want to sleep now.
And there the hands and arms and legs and skulls and everything that belonged to the friars fell through, and each ran after the others to re-attach themselves amid a great commotion; this went on until all the friars were put back together and surrounded the young man, who looked at them and said:
This is not fear, is it? Because I [still] don’t know what fear is.
And the friars disappeared from his sight, and so at last he was able to sleep and slept soundly until the next day. And he got up the next day and continued on his way, thinking to himself: “What is this fear that everyone talks about?”
So at last he arrived at a kingdom where there was a king who was grieving because an ogre had taken his daughter captive. And when Fearless Juan arrived, everyone was admiring him for he knew no fear, and the king asked him to go rescue the princess and that if he brought her back, he would give her hand to him for marriage. And Juan went to the ogre’s cave and when the ogre came out, as Juan knew no fear, he fought it, defeated it, and rescued the king’s daughter. Then the king kept his word and Juan married the princess, and [afterward] he decided that he would never again concern himself with getting to know fear for he had no need for it.
One afternoon when Juan was taking a nap, the princess came by to show him a fishbowl wherein some fish given to her were swimming; and when she approached Juan, one of the fish jumped up and some drops of water landed on Juan’s face and he, who was sleeping, leapt up frightfully and shouted:
Aye, what is this, they’re killing me! Aye what a scary thing, now I truly know what fear is!
And that is how Juan came to know fear.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Abierto – (not closed) open
Brinco – jump, hop, leap
Calavera – skull
Cansar – (to cause fatigue) to tire; (to bother) to annoy
Cara – face
Delante – in front, ahead
En pos de – in pursuit of
Estrépito – (bang) crash, racket, din; (showiness) fuss, fanfare
Fraile – friar
Ganar de – wish to, desire to
Harto – (tired) fed up
Legua – (unit of measurement) league
Luchar – (to combat) to fight
Mientras tanto – meanwhile, in the meantime
Nadar – to swim
Paso – (walking movement) step, footstep
Pecera – fish tank, fishbowl
Penar – (to be in pain) to suffer
Pierna – leg
Pierna suelta – soundly
Recompuesto – mended, repaired
Rescatar – to rescue, to defeat, to save
Rodar – (to spin) to roll, to go round
Rodear – to surround
Ruido de pasos – footsteps
Suelta – (liberation) release
Susto – (sudden fear) scare, fright
Tranquilo – serene, calm, quiet, peaceful; (free from anxiety or worry) relaxed
Trozo – piece, bit
Vela – candle
Vencer – to vanguish, to defeat