041. Los Animales Músicos (The Musical Animals)
[Nguyen: this story is incomplete, as it stops mid-way in my copy of the book. This story is most likely the same as the Grimm Brother’s The Breman Town Musicians.]
A farmer had a very old donkey, so old that he was no longer fit to work and, in view of this, the farmer let him loose in the middle of the field and abandoned him there. The poor animal could hardly fend for himself, but he set out [wandering about] to see what he could find [in the area], and while doing this he found a dog, a cat, and a rooster who were [hanging out] in the shade of a tree. And when he approached them, he saw that they were all as old as he was and that they had banded together out of necessity, for their owners had [also] abandoned them.
And he said to them:
Where are you heading this moment?
And as none of them knew, the donkey said:
Why don’t we go to the city to learn music, which is a good trade [to pick up]?
And so the four of them set off on their way in high spirits and forgetting about their misfortune. Then it got dark and the night caught them in the middle of forest.
Where are we going to sleep? -they asked themselves.
As they could not clearly see where they were, the dog climbed on the donkey, the gato on the dog, and the rooster on the cat; and the rooster looked in all directions until he saw a light among the trees and said:
Cheer up, my friends, for there ahead I saw a light!
They went in that direction until they found a house with a lighted window, and they thought to look through the window to see what kind of people were inside, but [as] they could not reach it, so the dog climbed on the donkey, the cat on the dog, and the rooster on the cat. The rooster stretched his head to see what was inside and saw that they were thieves who were counting the money that they had stolen [earlier in the day], and he told his companions about this.
Then the donkey began to bray, the dog to bark, the cat to meow, and the rooster to crow and they made such a racket that the thieves, being [greatly] frightened, ran away in a stampede and left behind all the money and everything they had [stolen] in the house.
The animals entered the house thinking that they now had a place to sleep and, moreover, a lot of money [to spend]. So the cat laid down by the edge of the fireplace, the donkey searched for a spot in the garden, as it was his habit when he was with his owner, the dog moved to the door to guard it, and the rooster climbed on a stone which was sticking out high up in the wall.
But the thieves, little by little, were returning [to the house] and one of them, who was braver than the rest, told them that he would go to see who was there [in the house]. And he entered [the house] through the window without making a sound.
Once inside, he saw something glowing by the chimney and, thinking that they were embers, he got closer to orient himself, but those were the eyes of the cat, who jumped on his face and scratched it all over. And when he started to run [away], as he went through the door, the dog had a good bite off of him and, when he fell [stumbled] into the garden, the donkey gave him a kick which sent him [flying] to where his accomplices were; and meanwhile, the rooster crowed high above:
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
And the thief said to his companions:
Let us run, friends, as there are goblins in there; for one jumped on my face and almost blinded me, and another slashed me in the leg and [yet] another gave me a blow which almost killed me; and there was still another, the worst of them all, who was up high above and said to the others: “Bring him here to meeee!”
[Nguyen: the story abruptly ends here. I searched around elsewhere and was able to find a bit more to close out this story.]
And so the thief told his companions to quickly run away from there, and this they did [in a snap].
And so it was, thanks to the good plan that the animals had put together, the four [aspiring] musicians were able to live out their old age peacefully and comfortably in that house.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Alcanzar – to reach, to catch; (to accomplish) to achieve; (to be sufficient) to be enough
Algarabía – commotion; (exaltation) rejoicing
Ánimo – mood, spirits
Arañar – to scratch, to scrape
Arrimo – (shelter) protection; (help) support; (architecture) partition
Asomar – to stick out, to lean out
Asustado – afraid, scare
Brasa – ember, hot coal
Brillar – (to gleam) to shine, to sparkle
Ciego – (without sight) blind
Compinche – buddy, accomplice
Coz – kick
Cuchillada – stab, stab wound
Dar con – to find
De estampía – suddenly, without warning; unexpectedly
Desgracia – misfortune, tragedy
Duende – elf, goblin, imp
Estirar – to stretch, to stretch out
Ladrar – to bark
Maullar – to meow
Mordisco – bite
Orientarse – to orient oneself; to find one’s way around
Pared – wall
Pegar – to hit, to beat
Pillarse – (to pinch) to catch;
Poderse valer – be able to assert; to help oneself
Rebuznar – to bray
Servir – (to have a purpose) to be used for; (to function as) to serve as
Soltar – to let go of, to set free; to loosen
Valer – (to serve) to be useful, to be valid