From Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. Laval
Part 1 – Magnificent Stories, Stories of Animals, Anecdotes (Cuentos maravillosos, Cuentos de animales, Anécdotas)
031. The Roasted Capon (El Capon Asado)
(The young man D. A. Freire, from Santiago, told me about it in 1911.)
A gentleman went out for a horse ride in the outskirts of the city and asked his cook to have a roasted capon ready upon his return. Chepa (Josefa was the servant’s name) went down to the coop and took the fattest of the capons that they were raising, then began to roast it. The appetizing smell that the bird on the fire gave off tempted the Chepa, who, not being able to resist her desires, ate one of its thighs. When the gentleman came back in the evening, Chepa served him the capon on a tray, adorning it with stalks of celeries, parsley and other vegetables, which beautifully hid the missing part of the bird that the cook had eaten; and the gentleman immediately began to work his jaws, starting with the breast; only at the very end that he came to realize that the bird was missing a leg.
[Nguyen: “Chepa” means hunchback. I believe the gentleman called his cook “Chepa” (hopefully in an endearing manner) because she was a hunchback, although her real name was Josefa, as mentioned in the paragraph above.]
What is this, Chepa? -he asked his servant;- since when do capons have only one leg?
Since their first existence, sir; they have always had one.
How is that? I thought they have two, like all other birds.
Let us go to the coop, master, and you will be convinced that the roosters, capons or not, and also the hens have only but one leg.
Let us go see this wonder.
They went to the coop, and as the sun had already set and the chickens were sleeping, they saw that all of them were resting on only one leg, as they are accustomed to do when they sleep, tucking in the other leg and having it hidden among the feathers.
Master, don’t you see that they only have one leg?
We’ll see about that -replied the gentleman; then he scared the birds away, which came out of their sleep and began to run away in terror.- Do you see how they all have two legs?
That’s funny! -replied Chepa- and why didn’t you also scare away the capon before eating it?
The gentleman could not help but laughed out loud and declared himself defeated.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Capón – (tap on the head) (Spain) rap on the head; (culinary; rooster) capon; (culinary; sheep) mutton; (castrated male sheep) (River Plate) wether (animal); (that has been castrated) castrated
Asado – (culinary) grilled, roasted, roast; (very hot) roasting; (cross) (Peru) angry; (culinary) roast; (culinary) (Southern Cone) barbecued meat; (event) (Southern Cone) barbecue
Chepa – (medicine) (Spain) hump, hunchback; (fortune) (Colombia) luck
Pepa – (botany) pip (of an apple, grape or orange); stone (of a peach or avocado); pit (of a peach or avocado)
Hacer tuto – dormir (Chile); leg, thigh
Azafate – tray
Apio – (vegetable) celery
Perejil – (herb) parsley
Verduras – (culinary) vegetable, greens; (color) greenness
Manducar – (to ingest food) to stuff one’s face, to eat; (to ingest food) to scoff, to eat
Mandíbulas – (anatomy) jaw, mandible (lower)
Pechuga – (culinary) breast; (anatomy) bust, bosom, tit, boob, breast (of a bird); (insolence) nerve, cheek
Gallinero – (place to keep hens) henhouse, coop; (theater) gods; (noisy place) madhouse
Despavorido – terrified
Carcajada – (burst of laughter) loud laugh, guffaw