110. The Three Stepbrothers (Los Tres Hermanastros)
There were once three stepbrothers. The first was the son of a nobleman, the second was the son of a rich man, and the third was the son of a poor man.
As they did not get along well, they decided to travel the world and try their luck, but so as to not get in each other’s way, they thought that one would leave on a Monday, the other on the following Monday, and the third eight days later.
The son of the nobleman, who was the oldest, was the first to set out. On the way he encountered an old woman who asked him for something to eat, because she was very hungry. The nobleman’s son replied that he had nothing to give her, but asked her if she knew of any road that would lead him to a place of good fortune. The old woman told him to follow where he was heading, and in half a day time, he would arrive at a large square where there were three gates corresponding to three gardens; one made of gold, the other made of silver, and the last made of wood. If he entered the garden with the golden gate, he would be enchanted; if he entered the one with the silver gate, he would be lost; and if he entered the one with the wooden gate, he would find monsters that would eat him.
The son of the nobleman continued on his way and arrived at the square. There, there were the three gates that the old woman had told him about and he thought that, as the son of a nobleman, it was his destiny to knock on the golden gate. A maiden as beautiful as the sun came out to open it and accompanied him through the garden. It was a garden full of extraordinary trees that were never seen before, replete with fragrant flowers, and inundated with birds which sang so sweetly that the place seemed like heaven. They took such a long stroll that, in the end, the nobleman’s son felt tired. The maiden [then] took seat at the foot of a tree and asked him to sit down by her side, [to] rest his head on her skirt and sleep a little. The son of the nobleman gratefully laid his head on the girl’s lap and was instantly enchanted and turned into a tree as extraordinary as the rest in the garden, who were also young men being enchanted like himself.
The following Monday, the second stepbrother, the son of the rich man, set out and met the same old woman, who also asked him, for the love of God, for some bread. The rich man’s son gave her nothing, but, like the eldest [stepbrother] before him, he asked her if she knew of any road that would make him a good fortune. [So] he took the same road as the other stepbrother and arrived at the same square with the three gates. When they were in front of him, it seemed to him that it would only be appropriate for the son of a rich man to knock on the one made out of silver, and this he did.
A beautiful girl with golden braids that nearly touched the ground came out to open the gate; she spoke to him with such a sweet voice that the young man could not help but fell in love with her. He talked and talked, and asked the girl to let him touch her braids. And this she did, but in that instant when he put his hand on them, he became completely disoriented and began to wander along the roads and paths and streets and alleys in that garden. And the more he wandered about, the more he got lost, and he did nothing but bumped into those other disoriented young men like he was, who went around and around those roads without knowing where they were going.
The next Monday, the youngest stepbrother, son of the poor man, set out on his way. He, too, met the old woman, who asked him for something to eat like she did to the others. The youth sympathized with her [ordeal] and offered [her] the provisions he had with him. The old woman was very grateful [to him] and when he asked for a road leading to good fortune, she told him the same thing as she did to his other stepbrothers, but she recommended him to choose the wooden gate. She warned that rabid dogs would come out and try to eat him, but he could stop them by throwing some pieces of meat at them. Further on he would encounter a snake as thick as a grown man’s body and taller than a tower that would want to eat him, but he could stop it with some milk. Much further still, he would encounter a giant who slept with his eyes opened and closed them when he was awake; the giant kept a very valuable treasure in a small box; if he found him asleep, he could take the little box without danger and that would be his luck and his [good] fortune. The old woman [then] gave him multiple pieces of meat for the dogs, a gourd of milk for the snake, and a handful of resuscitating grass in case he died.
[Note: I’m not sure how the “eight days later” at the beginning of this story would get the youngest stepbrother leaving on a Monday here…]
The youngest stepbrother, son of the poor man, followed the same path as [did] his two older stepbrothers. He arrived at the three gates and knocked on the wooden one. As soon as he entered, rabid dogs rushed at him with their enormous mouths wide open, ready to devour him. He threw them the [pieces of] meat, and they immediately pounced on it [them] and began to eat.
Thus he was able to go into the garden and very soon he ran into the snake, which was as thick as a man’s body and as tall as a tower, and made hissing sounds that made even the most steadfast man tremble. He put the gourd of milk in front of it and the snake coiled up and began to drink it. The poor man’s son was thus able to head further into the garden until he came upon the giant, who had his eyes wide open for he was asleep, and a little box was by his side. The son of the poor man took it and at this moment he saw the dogs and the snake coming, where they threw themselves upon the giant and defeated him in a flash.
The poor man’s son proceeded to open the little box and out of it came a princess whom the giant had placed an enchantment on, and the dogs and the snake transformed themselves into her servants and maid, respectively, as they too were enchanted like their lady. Then the princess explained to the poor man’s son that, in the garden next door, there was a girl enchanted by the giant who turned all those who entered that garden into trees; and that, in the other garden, there was another enchanted girl who made all those who entered that garden to lose their way [around]. The poor man’s son entered the silver gate, and as soon as he showed the opened little box to all those young men who had gotten lost, they regained their spirits and orientation and were able to return to their homes. Later he entered the golden gate, took a handful of the resurrecting grass that he brought with him, and when its smell spreaded through the garden, the youths who had turned into trees became disenchanted; and among them, he found his eldest stepbrother.
They all set out on the road with great joy and happiness. But lo and behold, the eldest stepbrother, who had an evil heart, began to think that a poor man’s son was not worthy of a princess and that she should marry a nobleman’s son like himself. And, from thought to deed, he killed his little stepbrother in the middle of trip. Then he forced the princess to take him, the fratricide, to her palace and to tell [people] there that it was him who had saved her. And he threatened her that if she did not do this, he would kill her as well.
But the little stepbrother had with him the resuscitating grass and its fragrance brought him back to life. He ran to search for the old woman who had given him sound advice the first time [around] and told her what had happened. Then the old woman told him to dress himself as a merchant, to have an eye-catching golden sash made by a goldsmith, and to put in the buckle [of the sash / belt] the golden ring which the princess had gifted him as a token of her gratitude for having saved her life. Once he had all this, she counseled him to prowl the surroundings of the palace hawking his wares; then, the princess would buy the sash, and on seeing the ring, she would understand that he was alive.
The poor man’s son did this. He went to the house of the best goldsmith, commissioned him to make a beautiful golden sash and had the golden ring placed on the buckle. Then, disguised as a merchant, he went to the palace’s surroundings and began to shout [out loud]:
Who wants to buy a golden sash?
The princess, on hearing this, went to the window [to take a look]. As she liked the sash very much, she sent her maid to buy it, and when her maid brought it to her, she found her ring in the buckle and understood [at once] that the seller was not a merchant but the young man who had rescued her from the giant’s enchantment. Then she went to see her father, had the poor man’s son summoned and explained the misdeed of his stepbrother.
The king was furious to see [hear] that the nobleman’s son had so dastardly repaid his younger stepbrother after he had saved his life. And without further ado, he ordered him to be hanged and subjected to the public ridicule.
[Then] they celebrated the wedding of the poor man’s son with the princess the following day and invited everyone, with the celebration lasted three days and three nights.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Abalanzarse sobre – (to jump at or on) to pounce on, to fall on, to lunge at
Aclararse – (to understand) to get oneself straight, to wrap one’s head around it, to get the hang of; (to bleach) to lighten; (to clarify) to clear up; aclarar – (to make clear) to clarify, to explain
Agradar – (to like) to please; (to be pleasant) to be pleasing; agradarse – (to get along) to like each other
Apoyarse – (to rest on or against) to lean; (to seek support, used with “en”) to rely on, to depend on
Asiento – (place to sit) seat; (position) seat; (submission) entry
Calabaza – (fruit) pumpkin, squash; (container) gourd; (idiot) dummy
Calleja – (passage) alley, side street, narrow street
Ceñidor – (belt) sash; (corset) girdle
Colocarse – (to take a place) to stand, to sit; (to get a position) to get a job; (to apply) to put on
Comerciante – (tradesperson) merchant, dealer, trader, salesperson; (store owner) shopkeeper
Convidar – (to request the presence of) to invite; (to pay for, often used with “a”) to buy
Dar con – to find, to track down (a person)
Destrozar – (to damage) to destroy, to smash, to wreck, to ruin; (to defeat morally) to destroy, to to shatter, to devastate, to break, to ruin
Dorado – (color) golden, gold, gold-colored; (covered with gold) gilded; (splendorous) golden
En prenda de – as a pledge of, as a token of, in pledge of
Enroscarse – (to twist around) to coil up; (to huddle oneself) to curl up; enroscar – (to tighten) to screw in (screw), to screw on (lid); (to roll up) to coil, to wind
Escarnio – ridicule, derision, jibe
Estorbar – (to impede) to get in the way of, to be in the way of, to obstruct, to hinder; (to disturb) to to bother;
Falda – (clothing) skirt; (slope) hillside; (culinary) skirt steak
Fechoría – (crime) misdemeanor, misdeed, act of villainy
Fratricida – (related to the killing of a sibling) fratricidal
Hebilla – buckle (with prong or interlocking parts), clasp;
Hermanastro – (via marriage) stepbrother; (relative) half brother; stepsiblings
Lunes – (day of the week) Monday
Madera – (of a tree) wood, timber (for construction); (wine) Madeira; (figurative) (necessary elements) makings
Mancebo – youth, young man; (unmarried man) bachelor
Merecedor – worthy, deserving
Merodear – to prowl
Mostrar – (to exhibit) to show, to display; (to demonstrate) to show; mostrarse – (to appear) to seem, to act
Obligar – (to compel) to force, to make, to bind, to oblige; (to make oneself do) to force oneself
Orífice – goldsmith
Perrazo – (animal) big dog
Por si acaso – just in case
Posar – (to deposit) to put down, to lay down, to set down
Precipitarse – (to act impulsively or in haste) to rush, to be rash, to act rashly; (to get a move on) to hurry, to rush; (to happen quickly); (to fall) to plunge, to throw oneself, to hurl oneself, to plummet
Pregonar – (to declare) to proclaim, to announce; (to make public) to spread around
Regazo – (anatomy) lap; (figurative) (literary) (place of safety) lap
Rescatar – (to save from danger) to rescue, to save, to free; (to regain) to recover, to reclaim
Sendero – (way) path, trail, track
Silbido – (shrill sound) whistle, whistling, wheezing (when breathing); (hum) ringing
Toparse con – (to meet someone by chance) to run into, to bump into; (to encounter something) to come across, to come up against
Trenzar – (to interweave) to braid (United States), to plait (United Kingdom)
Tropezarse con – (to come across) to bump into, to run into; tropezar con – (to hit by accident) to trip on, to bump into, to stumble over; (to come up against) to run into, to encounter
Trozo – (a portion) piece, bit, slice (of food), fragment, passage (of music or literature)
Vagar – (to ramble) to wander, to roam; (to do nothing) to laze around, to idle
Visto – (in view) seen, viewed, exposed; (in view of) seeing as, since
Vistoso – eye-catching, flashy, bright and colorful