Histories of Witches – Historias de Brujos
From Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. Laval
Part 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos)
070. The Rose of the Poor Clares (La Rosa De Las Monjas Claras)
In some missions in the South of Chile, after the pious distributions were handed out, a man approached one of the missionaries to make his confession, and, among other sins, he confessed that he had practiced the black arts [magic]. The priest told him that an intelligent man must not believe in such things, that the practices of magic were simply diabolical illusions and that they never produced anything positive. The penitent replied that it wasn’t so and that, if he wanted to confirm it, then he’d put it to the test. The priest accepted and told him to bring him a rose from such and such a rose bush that was in such and such a part of the garden of the Poor Clare nuns of Santiago, the only one of its kind in the whole country. The man told him that this was fine, that he would bring it to him in an hour and that, in order to proceed, he should lock him in a dark room and put the key away. This he did, and the priest, after locking the door to the room, put the key away. After about 45 minutes the priest entered the room, and he was greatly horrified upon seeing a headless corpse lying on the floor. Recovering a little from the shock, he decided to do a test on that motionless body lying on the ground and inserted a pin in the heel of the [body’s] left foot, but the body was completely insensitive [to any pain this might have caused]. He then left the room and did not return until the full hour had passed, and if he was greatly horrified before on finding a corpse [in the room], how much more [horrified] would he be on seeing himself face to face with the man who, standing [on his own two feet], offered him a rose, fresh and full of fragrance, and asked him if this was the very one that he had asked for.
The priest, who was extremely impressed, did not say anything, but instead invited him to leave the room. When the man began to walk away, he was limping and complaining. The priest asked him what was the problem and he replied that on jumping off from the nuns’ high garden wall, a rose thorn was thrust into his heel and hurt him greatly. -“Don’t you see that everything is just pure illusion?” -the father told him. -“There is no such thorn, nor such wall, nor anything else; the pain that you feel comes from a pin that I myself inserted into your heel”; -and to demonstrate this, he pulled out the pin. -“The thing about the thorn maybe in illusion,” -replied the man; -“but what about the rose? Is it not from the garden belonging to the Poor Clare nuns? Señor, I don’t want to practice magic again, and I wish to continue confessing.” And he ended his confession, expressing that he was greatly sorry for his sins.
This story was told to Francisco Vásquez by his grandma, who heard it from the mouth of the priest who heard the confession of the black magic practitioner.
—–VOCABULARY —–
Monja – (religious) nun
Claro – (obvious) clear; (light) bright; (color) light, pale; (transparent) clear; (weak) thin; (with precision) clearly; (used to emphasize) of course; (used) to agree to a request or accept an invitation) sure, of course
Piadoso – (religious) devout, pious; (compassionate) merciful, kind; godly, merciful, mercy, prayerful, piety
Comprobar – (to verify) to check; (to demonstrate) to prove; (to notice) to realize
Rosal – (botany) rose bush, rose tree
Clarisa – (nun of the order of Saint Clare) Poor Clare
Repuesto – (replacement part) spare part, spare, refill; (recovered) (Mexico) better; (recuperated) recovered
Enterrar – (to cover with dirt) to bury; (to entomb) to bury; (to survive) to outlive; (to conceal) to cover up; (to put out of mind) to forget, to bury; (to stab) (Latin America) to thrust into
Enterrarse – (to cloister oneself) to cut oneself of from the world
Talón – (anatomy) heel; (footwear) heel; (finance) (Spain) check, cheque; (finance) (Latin America) stub, counterfoil; (automobile) rim
De pie – (position) standing, on your feet; (used to ask people to rise) stand, stand up
Sumamente – (greatly) extremely, exceedingly, highly
Cojear – (to walk lamely) to limp, to hobble, to be lame; (to be unsteady) to be wobbly, to wobble; (colloquial) (figurative) (to be deficient) to fall short, to be weak, to be faulty
Quejarse – (to protest) to complain, to whine, to moan, to grumble; (to express pain) to whine, to moan, to groan, to complain
Muralla – (fortification) wall, walls, city wall, rampart; (architecture) (South America) wall
Provenir – (used with “de”) to come from, to stem from
Arrepentirse – (to feel remorse) to regret (it), to be sorry, to repent (formal); (to change one’s opinion) to change one’s mind