077. The Little House [made] of Sugar (La Casita de Azúcar)
There were two very very poor siblings, a boy and a girl, who had nothing to eat other than the leftovers sometimes handed to them by others. Because of this, they decided one day to travel the world to see if they can find a way to eat to their liking.
They walked and walked when they ended up lost in the middle of a forest so thick and tangled with barely any penetrating sunlight, where one does not know the difference between day and night. And they were walking when they suddenly saw in the faraway distance a glimmer of light between the bushes.
When they arrived at the [source of] light, they saw that it was a little house made entirely in sugar, with chocolate doors and windows. And they said: “This is ours, now we are able to eat until full!”
So they began to scrape and lick the walls, and the door, and oh how sweet they were. But they did not know that a witch who eats little children lives in that house. As soon as the witch felt they were scratching and licking the walls, she jumped [from her seat], opened the window and leaned out to see who was outside and shouted:
– Who is the scoundrel that is eating my house? When I come down I will give you a thrashing which will break all the bones you have [in you] one by one.
The two siblings got scared to death on hearing this; they neither had the courage to lift their head to see who was speaking, nor to breathe. The witch saw it was two children who were embracing one another below the window, and much calmed down now, she said to them:
– Where are you from, little daring ones? It’s no doubt that you will be very good to me.
She came down to open the door for them, and the children entered the house thinking that she was going to give them food to eat. But that was not the witch’s intention [at all].
– You – she said to the girl – you will be my servant; and you – she said to the boy – as the chicken I saved for Christmas has died, I will put you in the chicken coop, I will fatten you up, and I will eat you in its place on Christmas day.
It was said, and it was done. She made the girl worked like a pack donkey: swept, washed clothes, sewed, prepared meals, stoked the fire… so in the end, the girl was not able to take any break during the day. And she put the boy in the chicken coop as soon as possible and fed him bran, corn, damp bread crumbs… in short, everything that can fatten up the boy, the evil witch would search for it.
Each day the witch would approach the chicken coop to see the boy, and as she was nearsighted, she compelled him to put his little finger through the metal mesh to see if he was sufficiently fattened, [in order] to get him ready and on time for Christmas. But the boy had no desire to get eaten by the witch, and instead of his finger he used a small bone well wrapped in a piece of intestine, which in reality seems like a finger when touched. As he always presented the same thing to the witch, she did not feel that he had sufficiently fattened up. And she said each time:
– Damn you rascal, I fed you [so much] and yet you don’t gain an ounce.
And the other day she said to him:
– As you continue to be so thin, I won’t give you any food anymore and this will save me. And by Christmas, however you will be, I will twist your neck.
The two children were left terrified upon hearing these words. When Christmas came, the witch ordered the girl to light a large fire to roast her little brother. The girl, shaking as a leaf, couldn’t get anything right (note: no daba una a derechas, not sure if my prior translation is correct) and as she was unable to light the fire, she said to the witch that now they wouldn’t be able to celebrate Christmas. The witch snorted, screamed and bellowed, but as she saw the fire was not lighted, she decided to light it herself.
Then, while the witch was bending over in an effort to make a fire going, the girl approached her from behind, pushed her into the fire, closed the door to the oven and bolted it securely so that she wouldn’t be able to leave. Then she ran to the chicken coop and opened its door and, chirp what you want (note: ¡pies para qué os quiero!, which I’m not sure how best to translate), they both ran away from there and headed to as faraway a place as possible, for just in case lest the wicked old woman was a witch, she could resurrect herself and go searching for them.
They ran and ran for seven days and seven nights, and in the end, completely exhausted, they found in the middle of another forest a tiny tiny house, which seemed like it was made for them. The chairs, the tables, the beds, the wardrobes, everything was in their size. The wardrobes were full of clothes to wear and it had clothes for both boys and girls. In short, that tiny house seemed to have been waiting for the children’s arrival. And there they both stayed, happy and tranquil at last.
To all those poor folks who passed by there and called on the door, they were given food to eat and a place to sleep, but they had to stay in the hayloft because the house only had two tiny beds and it could not fit any others.
And it was here that a very old man called at the door one day. He was almost unable to walk and did so with a stoop, supported himself with a walking cane, and had a long white beard that almost brushed against the ground when he walked due to his hunching. The old man asked if he could lodge there for a night and the two siblings took him in as they had done with all others who had asked. While eating, they looked attentively at him and the old man did the same with them. Then they began to speak and soon they realized that the old man was their father, who had left in search of fortune when they were both babies and had not been back to see them since then. And there were hugs and kisses and joy upon the recognition of one another.
And there he stayed with them until the end of their days.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Acabarse – (to be used up) to run out; (to consume completely) to finish; (to perish) to die; to end up
Acoger – (to welcome) to receive; (to provide refuge for) to take in
Afanarse – (to labor) to toil, to make an effort
Agachar – to lower, to bend, to bow; agacharse – to crouch down, to bend down
Agotado – exhausted
Ahorrar – to save
ánimo – (emotional state) mood, spirits; (enthusiasm) energy, spirit; (hope) courage; (intent) intention
Apaciguar – to calm down, to pacify
Apoyarse – (to rest on or against) to lean; to rely on, to depend on
A punto – ready, at the right moment
Armario – wardrobe
Asar – to roast, to grill
Asomarse – (to check) to look; (to peep out) to stick out, to lean out
Aterrar – (to scare) to terrify; (to bring down) to shoot down; (to cover with soil) to fill with dirt
Atizar – (to prod fire) to stoke, to stir, to poke; (to incite) to stir up; (to hit) to give
Atrancar – to block, to clog; (to bolt) to bar
Atrevido – (adventurous) daring, bold; (insolent) sassy, cheeky
A veces – sometimes
Azúcar – sugar
Barba – beard, stubble
Bastón – cane, walking stick
Besos – kisses
Bramar – to roar, to bellow
Bribón – rascal
Bufar – to snort, to hiss
Caber – to fit, to have room for
Coser – to sew, to stitch
Dedito – finger, little finger
De repente – (all at once) suddenly, all of a sudden; (possibly) maybe, perhaps
Dulces – (culinary) sweet things; dulce – sugary, sweet; (not salty) fresh
Encorvado – hunched, stooped
Engordar – to gain weight, to put on weight
Enmarañado – messy, tangled; complicated
En vez de – instead of
Envuelto – (coated) wrapped; (implicated) involved; (surrounded) enveloped
Espesura – thicket, bushes
Gallinero – henhouse, coop
Gritar – to scream, to shout
Guardar – (to place) to put away; (to reserve) to save, to keep
Hoja – (botany) leaf
Lamer – to lick
Llama – flame
Lograr – to be able to, to achieve
Lucecita – little light, small light
Maldito – darn, damn, wretched
Malla – mesh; net, wire netting
Mendrugo – crust of bread
Mojado – (moist) wet, damp, drenched, soaked
No fuera a ser que – lest; lest there were
No hacer más que – to do more than; to be able to do more than
Pajar – hayloft
Pedacito – small piece
Piar – to tweet, to chirp, to cheep
¡pies para qué os quiero! –
Por entre – through, of, between, among, for between
Por si acaso – just in case
Rascar – (to relieve the itch) to scratch; (to clean) to scrape, to scrape off, to scrub
Reconocerse – to recognize
Respirar – to breathe
Resucitar – to bring back to life, to rise from the dead, to resurrect
Retorcer – (to wind) to twist; (to extract water from) to wring out; (to squeeze) to wring; (to distort) to twist
Rozar – (to touch lightly) to brush against, to brush, to graze
Salvado – bran
Silla – chair
Sinvergüenza – (impudent person) shameless, cheeky; (despicable person) swine, rogue, scoundrel
Sobras – leftovers
Susto de muerte – scare the living daylights out of
Tamaño – (dimension) size
Temblar – to shake, to shiver
Tener ganas – to feel like it; to want to; to wish, to feel like
Trocito – small piece, small fragment, little bit