From Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. Laval
Part 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos)
081. The Son of the Devil (El Hijo Del Diablo)
Not many years ago there lived in Petorca a small and chubby old man of about seventy years old, who was known by the name of Vicentito Cuchucho, and whose first steps in the world appeared to be covered by the popular imagination of fantastic and mysterious influences.
It is said that while the mother of this little man was waiting from one moment to another for the arrival of a baby, she asked her husband for money to buy clothes for the [coming] child. The husband, who was an old man of more than seventy years old and who viewed his wife’s pregnancy with distrust, told her that he would not even give her one cent, because the child she was going to give birth to was not his. The wife, indignant from hearing his response, cried and asked her spouse:
Then whose is he?
That you know better than I do,– replied the husband; –but [I know for sure that] he is not mine.
To which the wife replied:
Then he must be from the Devil, and he will give me all that I need. -And she never asked her husband for money again.
When the moment of delivery arrived, a large basket completely filled with clothes for a newborn suddenly appeared in the room of the pregnant woman, among which one could see from the navel bandage made of linen fabric to the shawls made from the softest and silkiest cloth, or the knitted little caps to the wool knitted stockings.
Who had brought this basket? Where and when was it brought in? No one could give an [adequate] answer.
From the first days of the child’s birth one can notice the Devil’s interest in him and his mother, for it was no one else but him who had brought the clothes. The mother always found near her delicious chicken stew, excellent maize gruel of toasted flour, the flavorful milky maize pudding and the best medicines, the last two were so that she could provide abundant and nutritious milk to her son. She was fond of her boy’s nature: sometimes she would find him above the beams supporting the house, other times he was in the attic, and once they found him playing with a doll, among the branches of a poplar tree.
Of course no one saw the Devil, but everyone blamed him for what was happening; and the mother, rightly alarmed, had the child baptized with great haste, believing that by making him a Christian the attentions and love from Satan would cease. But it was for nought, because the Devil continued in his same ways.
Then the mother turned to a holy priest named Toledo, who was reputed to be the best exorcist in the country, so that he could scare away the demon, which he finally achieved, but not without exerting great efforts and having to suffer harsh jokes from the evil enemy.
The priest Toledo, in order to arrive at the house cursed [threatened] by the Devil, had to cross a narrow bridge made of a single plank, which crossed a large stream. Well, when the holy man was half way across the bridge, the Devil knocked him over and the priest fell into the water, a feat celebrated by the Devil with great laughter, saying thus: “Now I have thrown the brown duck into the water!”
[Author’s note: “¡Ya eché al agua al pato jergón!”, where pato jergón is the Chilean pintail.]
The legend says nothing about what happened to the father of Vicentito Cuchucho, and all that is known about him [e.g. Vicentito] is that he always lived by his work, cultivating a small piece of land that belonged to him, and that, until his death, he was known by the nickname of Son of the Devil.
[Author’s note: this legend was referred to me in 1910, but I did not note down the name of the person who told me of it. The same observation must be made with respect to those which do not have an informant’s name and those in which I simply indicate the year in which they were told to me.]
—– VOCABULARY —–
Rechoncho – chubby, squat
Revestir – (to place as a covering) to cover, to coat, to line, to sheathe, to face; (formal) (to show) to have, to be marked by; (to disguise) to cloak
Revestirse – (figurative) (to adopt an attitude) to arm oneself with, to summon up; (to put on religious cloth) to put on one’s vestments, to don
Guagua – (infant) (Andes) baby; (triviality) trinket, little something; (vehicle) bus; (container) (Chile) large jug
Ombliguera – (clothing) crop top
Mantilla – (scarf worn over the head) mantilla; (baby clothes) shawl
Sedoso – silky
Bayeta – (cleaning rag) cloth, cleaning cloth; (material) flannel, baize (on billard tables); (clothing) diaper, nappy
De punto – knitted
Tejer – (to sew with yarn) to knit (with two needles), to crochet (with one needle), to weave; (to weave a web) to spin; (to plot) to hatch (figurative)
Ulpo – (culinary) (Chile) maize gruel
Sabroso – (good flavor) tasty, delicious; (gossip) juicy; (enjoyable) pleasant, nice; (lively) (Chile) fun; (substantial) considerable
Mazamorra – (culinary) (Latin America) milky maize pudding
Viga – (architecture) beam (of wood), rafter (of wood), girder (of metal)
Sobrado – (more than sufficient) plenty of, more than enough; (having a lot, used with “de”); (audacious) bold, forward; (rich) wealthy, well-off; (conceited) full of oneself; (loft) attic; (culinary) (Chile) leftovers
Muñeco – (toy) doll; (pretty person) sweetie; (wimp) puppet; (animal-shaped plaything) toy; (ventriloquism) dummy
álamo – (botany) poplar; (wood) poplar
Apellido – (hereditary name) last name, surname, family name
Ahuyentar – (to scare off) to frighten off, to frighten away, to scare away; (to get rid of) to dispel, to banish; (to fend off) to keep at arm’s length
Ahuyentarse – (to leave) to run away, to stay away
Amagar – hacer ademán de herir o golpear; amenazar a alguien con algún mal o mostrar intención de hacérselo; dicho de un mal: amenazar o presentarse como inminente a una o más personas o cosas; dicho de una enfermedad: manifestar en alguien sus primeros síntomas; mostrar intención o disposición de hacer algo próxima o inmediatamente; estar próximo a sobrevenir; dicho de un jugador: iniciar una finta (amago con intención de engañar); ocultarse, esconderse
Estrecho – (of small width) narrow; (close-fitting) tight; (intimate) close; (puritanical) prudish; (geography) strait
Cequión – canal o acequia grande
Acequia – (agriculture) irrigation ditch, irrigation channel; (body of water) (Andes) stream
Volcar – (to turn over) to knock over, to spill, to tip over; (to empty) to empty out, to dump; (to place) to put, to pour; (to turn over) to overturn (vehicle), to capsize (vessel)
Hazaña – (achievement) feat, exploit, deed
Jergón – (to sleep on) straw mattress, pallaisse (literary); (clothing) ill-fitting garment
Heredad – country estate
Apodo – (sobriquet) nickname (used by friends and family); alias (used by criminals or spies)