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)
036. Por Que El Jote Tiene La Cabeza Y El Cogote Sin Plumas (Why The Turkey Vulture Has A Featherless Head And Neck)
(This little story and those that follow it, up until number 40, were told to me in Peñaflor, in 1922, by the master carpenter Tránsito González).
Some muleteers were transporting cargoes of wheat to a town, and they unloaded the cargoes and removed the harnesses from the mules when they got to where they were lodging.
When they got up the next day and went [outside] to harness the beasts, they found that the lassos, the cinches and the [securing] ties have disappeared.
Who has stolen our goods? -said the Foreman.- I will give a sack of wheat to he who can tell me.
Then a Donkey that was grazing nearby and who had seen a Fox and her Little Foxes that took away the lassos, the cargo loads and the securing ties at night, said to him:
Pay me a bushel of wheat and leave it in that field [over there], and I will bring you the harnesses and the thieves.
They agreed, and then the Donkey went to the Fox’s den and lay down near the entrance.
A little fox came out and on seeing the Donkey it exclaimed:
Aye mamita! God has paid us a visit! look and see the snack that he has left here for us!
The Fox came out and shouted at her little foxes:
Come, children! bring the lassos, the cinches and the securing ties so we can tie up this Donkey and drag him inside. We are going to have food enough for at least a week.
They tied up the Donkey and tried to drag it back, but the lassos were slipping from their hands. Then the Fox said:
Let’s tie ourselves to the lassos, the cinches and the securing ties and we will be able to easily drag him inside.
They did this, and the Donkey, on seeing them all tied up, got up and dragged them back to the muleteers.
They gave the Donkey the agreed-upon bushel of wheat [and left it] in the field that the Donkey had indicated. But as there were a lot of chaffs, the Donkey thought of doing the following to remove them. He lay down on the ground with his rear facing the wheat, and played dead once more. A Turkey Vulture who was circling above the area came down, and as the first thing that these birds do is to eat the fats in the intestine, the Donkey, who knew this, pushed with all his strength and opened part of the butt, and then the Turkey Vulture gave a little peck in that part and immediately the Donkey closed the hole and trapped the head and neck of the Turkey Vulture. The Turkey Vulture, [in order] to escape, flapped its wings like a devil and with the wind all the chaffs were sent far away and left the wheat completely clean. Then he released the Turkey Vulture, which upon escaping found its head and neck featherless. With the heat that the donkeys have inside their body, the feathers were stripped off and since then the turkey vultures have had their head and neck bald.
[Nguyen: I have trouble translating “estantino” in this paragraph, for example in “sacó parte del estantino”. I can’t find any definition matching this word, so I just liberally translated it to “butt” here.]
[Author’s footnote]
The master carpenter Tránsito, who seasoned his stories with more or less funny comments, added the following:
“On one occasion when several workers gathered together after work and among them was one who was bald and beardless; and another, who fancied himself a poet, said to him:
‘To my friend Pedro Antonio
what happened to the Turkey Vulture has happened to him:
for eating his best prey,
he lost all of the hair on his head
and shaved off everything on his neck.
‘And so the saying goes and is used for those who have no hairs’.
[Nguyen: I guess that’s what happened to me, too, as I am now entering middle age and am mostly bald =D]
—– VOCABULARY —–
Jote – (animal) (Argentina) (Chile) turkey vulture, turkey buzzard; (colloquial) (toy) (Chile) large kite; (colloquial) (pejorative) (religious) (Chile) priest
Cogote – (anatomy) nape of the neck; scruff of the neck; back of the neck; nape of one’s neck; back of one’s neck; scruff of one’s nect; (anatomy) (Latin America) neck
Arriero – (occupation) muleteer, mule driver
Alojar – (to give housing to) to accommodate, to house, to put up (in someone’s house)
Alojarse – (to be lodged) to stay, to be housed; (to be stuck) to get lodged
Aparejar – (to arrange) to get ready, to prepare; (to bridle) to harness, to saddle; (nautical) to rig, to rig out
Aparejarse – (to get dressed up) to get ready; (to prepare with equipment) to equip oneself; (to reproduce) (Latin America) to mate
Sobrecarga – (extra weight) excess load, excess weight; (excess) overload
Amarrar – (to fasten) to tie, to tie up, to moor (nautical); (to secure) (Latin America) to clinch, to tie up
Amarrarse – (to lace) (Latin America) to tie
Apero – (agriculture) tool, implement; (horseback riding) (Latin America) harness
Capataz – (occupation) foreman; overseer (on a farm)
Costal – (container) sack, bag; (relating to the ribs) rib, costal
Almud – (dry measure equivalent to between 1.75 and 5.68 liters, depending on the region) bushel, basket
Peladerito – field? desert?
Madriguera – (animal’s cave) den, burrow, warren (of rabbits), set (of badgers); (hideout) den
Resbalar – (to skid) to slip, to slide; (to make a mistake) to slip up
Polvillo – (botany) (Mexico) (South America) blight; (dirt particles) fine dust
Trasero – (at the back) rear, back; (buttocks) backside, bottom, butt, bum
Picotazo – (blow with the bill) peck; (prick) sting, bite
Fruncir – (sewing) to gather; (to wrinkle) to furrow (one’s brow), to knit (one’s brow), to purse (one’s lips)
Fruncirse – (to shake) (Colombia) (Venezuela) to shudder
Orificio – hole, orifice, vent
Zafarse – (to run away) to escape; (to free oneself; used with “de”) to get away from, to break loose from; (to avoid; used with “de”) to get out of, to wriggle out of; (to come loose) to come off; (to put out of joint) (Latin America) to dislocate
Zafar – (to loosen) (Latin America) to untie; (to release) to free
Pelado – (without money) broke, skint, penniless; (hairless) (Southern Cone) bald, shaved; (flaking) peeling; (culinary) peeled; (without objects) bare, treeless; (plain) barely
Desprender – (to remove something attached) to detach; (to emit) to give off
Desprenderse – (to be removed) to come off, to become detached, to come away; (to dispose of) to get rid of; (to distance oneself); (to be concluded)
Sabroso – (good flavor) tasty, delicious; (gossip) juicy; (enjoyable) (Latin America) pleasant, nice; (lively) (Chile) fun; (substantial) considerable
Calvo – (without hair) bald; (barren) bald, bare; (person without hair) bald person, bald man
Lampiño – (without body hair) hairless; (without a beard) beardless, smooth-faced, smooth-cheeked