103. The Galician and The King’s Horse (El Gallego y El Caballo del Rey)
[Note: From Wikipedia, Galicia is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, it includes the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra.]
Something extraordinary once happened to a Galician who served the king. The king had a magnificent purebred white horse where he valued it above all else in his possession. He valued it so much that he warned he would hang anyone who [one day in the future] would bring him news that his horse had died.
One day an Andalusian soldier was caring for the horse when it stumbled so badly that it broke its leg and had to be put down right [then and] there. Of course, he was scared out of his wits thinking that he had to take the news to the king, for fear that he would carry out his threat and have him hanged [hung]. Then the Galician approached him and said:
– Don’t worry, my man, I will get you out of this predicament. You wait here, and I will take care of bearing the news to the king.
The Andalusian let out a sigh of relief, and very willingly let the Galician go meet the king. So the Galician went to where the king was and told him:
– Your Royal Highness should know that the white horse is lying down in the meadow. And flies comes in through its mouth and out through its tail.
And the king said to him:
– That’s because it is dead!
And the Galician replied:
– Ah, that I do not know, my señor, because I am not a veterinarian.
And as it was not he but the king who said that the horse was dead, he saved the Andalusian from being hanged.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Ahorcar – (to dangle) to hang; ahorcarse – (to strangle oneself) to hang oneself
De muy buena gana – very willingly, very gladly, very happily
Echado – (resting) lying down
Gallego – (person from Galicia) Galician
Mosca – (animal) fly; (worried) (Spain) suspicious; (mad) (Spain) cross
No llegar la camisa al cuerpo – estar muy preocupado o asustado por algo que puede suceder.
Prado – meadow, field; (botany) grass; (in a yard) lawn
Rabo – (animal anatomy) tail; (botany) stem
Sacrificar – (to euthanize) to put to sleep, to put down; (to kill for consumption) to slaughter
Trance – (critical situation) difficult situation, bad patch; (psychology) trance
Traspié – (act of stumbling) stumble, trip; (figurative) (error) blunder, slip