Treasures – Tesoros
From Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. Laval
Part 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos)
Treasures
Information:
- The burials (of goods) are always in copper pans and at the foot of a boldo or a patagua. At night, between 7 and 8, the fireflies would come out to where the treasure is hidden.
- When one encounters a buried treasure, no more than a coin is taken from it, which must be kept unspent for the duration of a year. After a year has passed then one can take out the rest. On finding the burial, one must hold five masses for the soul of the owner of the treasure.
076. The Buried Treasures Under The Orange Tree (El Entierro Del Naranjo)
(Told in 1911 by 55-year old D. J. Andrés González, of Santiago.)
In 1890, more or less, in a house located on Recoleta street in Santiago, in front of the church of the same name, in which a cleric lived and died, there lived a man by the name of Pedro (the story teller does not remember his last name) who had a store in the same house, and had at his employment a boy of about 12 years old. One morning the aforementioned Pedro found the boy lying unconscious in the courtyard; [and] after giving him some medicine, he came back to his senses, but was very scared. The employer asked him what had happened, and although he begged a lot to not have to tell, he finally told him that at night when he left to run an errand and while on his way back he saw a cleric in the courtyard, [standing] under an orange tree, who told him that he had left a large quantity of silver buried there in that same spot. Pedro told the boy that he had been dreaming and that to not make any conclusion out of that nonsense. The next day he paid him a month’s salary, ordered him to go back home to obtain treatment and to not return until he became well again.
On that very same night the man (e.g. Pedro) began to dig, and indeed found a burial [of treasures at the indicated place]. He carried out his business and went to the countryside to work in a store.
Of the silver that he found under the orange tree, he did not spend anything for a year, for otherwise he’d have lost everything.
He became very rich, but he squandered the money and was left with no more than a modest amount of an average person.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Apellido – (hereditary name) last name, surname, family name
Soñado – (ideal) dream; (desired) dreamed-of; (beautiful) gorgeous
Juicio – (legal) trial, court case; (reason) good sense, sense, sensible; (point of view) judgment, opinion; (mental health) sanity
Lesera – (colloquial) (Chile) nonsense
Sueldo – (income) salary, wage
Realizar – (to execute) to carry out, to do, to perform, to materialize, to fulfill, to make (trip, visit); (cinema) to produce; (to sell goods) to make
Negocio – (company) business; (establishment) store, shop; (agreement) deal, transaction; (commerce) business; (colloquial) (affair) business
Despacho – (workplace) office, study (at home); (sending) dispatch; (message) report (journalism), dispatch (military), communiqué; (vending) sale (uncountable); (shop) store; (workplace furnishings) office furniture
Botar – (to dispose of) to throw away; (to cause to rebound) to bounce; (marine) to launch; (to dismiss) to fire; (to expel) to kick out; (to squander) to waste; (to demolish) to knock down; (sports) to bounce; (to leap) to jump
Tunante – (old-fashioned) (dishonest person) scoundrel, rogue
Medianía – (average) middle ground; (individual who doesn’t stand out) mediocre person; (quality of being mediocre) mediocrity