020. The Priest’s Soul (El Alma Del Cura)
A married couple had a son which they had been longing for in a long time. Shortly after his birth, the parents were curious to know the child’s fate and decided to consult with a fortune teller who was very famous in that area for the accuracy of his predictions.
The fortune teller was very busy filling out papers with strange signs and at last told them:
Your son will be a virtuous man and will live happily and contented until he is twenty-one years old when, by some event that I cannot manage to see clearly, he will be hanged.
The parents cursed the day in which it occurred to them to consult the fortune-teller, but now they could not stop thinking about the prediction and the thought cast a shadow over their life and they could not manage to get it out of their minds.
The child grew up marvelously and as he grew older he turned out to be honest and hard-working and a filial son to his parents, which only made them sadder. And he was at the point of turning twenty one when he found his parents silently weeping one night, and as he had observed their sadness before, this time he asked them what had happened. Then they told him what the fortune teller had predicted.
And the young man told them:
Well, don’ t you worry anymore. I will travel the world and when I return you will see that the prophecy was a lie.
And no matter how much the parents wanted to dissuade him, the young man insisted on leaving and his parents were resigned to not seeing him ever again.
The next morning, before leaving, his mother gave him a prayer book [along] with this plea:
Never part yourself from this book, and wherever you go, hear the first mass that is said. Promise me this and may God protect you.
The young man did this and set out on his way. And that day was All Saint’s Day.
Soon he arrived at a village where he decided to spend the night. And having taken up his bed at the inn, he asked the innkeeper:
When is the first mass here?
And the innkeeper told him:
The dawn mass is at six; but as tomorrow is All Souls’ Day, the first mass is at midnight. It is a mysterious mass, for it is not known who says it, nor does anyone go to it.
And the young man said, remembering his promise [to his mother]:
Well, I’m going to attend that mass.
So he spoke to the village’s priest and he told him what they had told him. And the priest said:
I don’t believe in what is said in the village and I will go to say mass at six in the morning, but if it is your will [desire], I will leave here the keys to the church so that you can enter and wait until the dawn mass [at midnight].
The young man took the keys and waited in the inn until a little before midnight. Then he headed toward the church, opened the door and sat down in a pew to wait.
The bells rang at midnight and he saw a tombstone rose up in the center of the church, and a priest came out from it. The priest went to the sacristy and soon came out again, dressed to say mass and with a chalice in his hands. Then the priest saw the young man and made a sign for him to approach, and so he went to where the priest was and helped him to say mass. And when the mass was over, he said to the young man:
I was a priest of this village, and because of my misdeeds, I was a soul in punishment until you, helping me to say mass, have rescued me from Purgatory. From now on I will help you in everything that you [may] need. May God guide your steps [going forward].
The young man waited for the village priest to arrive at dawn, returned the keys to him and left the place.
He walked all day and at dusk he saw lights of a village in the distance and hurried towards it; but at that moment the soul of the priest appeared and told him:
Take this horse that I’m giving you and this bag with money [in it] and return home because your mother keeps crying for you, thinking that you have already died. Do not fear anything, for I will defend you.
The soul of the priest disappeared and the young man was wavering between continuing to go on his adventure or returning home, but as he was moved by the priest’s apparition, he decided to follow his advice and went back home. And this was the day on which he turned twenty one.
And he was riding along the road on the horse at a leisurely pace in the middle of the silence of the night, which had already fallen [on him], when he thought he heard voices and, dismounting, he decided to check out whom they belonged to. He led the horse by the reins to where the voices were heard and soon he heard it clearly:
This is for you, this is for you, this for you and everything here is for me
, said one of them.
This distribution doesn’t seem right to me
, said another.
Well, right or wrong, it is what it is
, said [yet] another.
They were four thieves who were redistributing the loot obtained from their robberies that day.
The young man came so close to them that the thieves could feel his presence, but when they heard the horse’s hooves they thought it was the guard who had discovered them and ran away, leaving everything behind. So that the young man went to see what was there and found four sacks full of gold and valuable items; and he left the valuables, but took the gold, put them in his saddlebags and rode away happily, thinking of the good fortune that he had had on his twenty-first birthday.
But no sooner had he advanced a little when the four thieves caught up to him and said:
Stop there! That’s the one who had robbed us!
And one grabbed his horse, another threw him to the ground, yet another beat him up, and the last tied him up and between them all they hung him from the branch of a tree, snatched everything that he had on him, and left him exposed to the wild beasts of the forest.
The young man was ready [prepared] to die and was already entrusting his soul to God, and thinking also of his poor parents, when he heard the gallop of a horse that stopped in front of him, and on it was the soul [apparition?] of the priest, who cut him down [from the tree] and said to him:
Mount this horse and don’t stop until you get home, for your day is over, but your parents are [still] weeping for you.
So the young man galloped away and at dawn he arrived at his parents’ house, who already thought he was dead; and as soon as they saw him, they changed their tears of sorrow to that of joy and never felt sad again for the rest of their days.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Además – (too) besides, also
Adivino – fortune-teller
Aguardar – to wait for, to await, to expect
Ahorcar – to hang
Alba – dawn, daybreak
Alborear – to dawn, to break
Alejarse – to move away, to leave
Alforja – saddlepack; knapsack
Alto – stop!
ánima – soul
Aparición – appearance; apparition
Apartarse – to move out of the way, to get away; apartar – to set aside, to separate
A poco – gradually, slowly, by little
Arrebatar – (to take violently) to snatch
Asalto – robbery, assault
Atar – (to bind) to tie
Atinado – (accurate) correct; (smart) wise, sensible; (appropriate) pertinent, spot-on
Avanzar – to advance, to move forward
Averiguar – to find out, to discover
Banco – bench, pew, stool
Botín – plunder
Cáliz – chalice (A chalice or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning)
Cargar – to load, to charge
Casco – helmet; hoof
Conque – (thus) so, so then
Criarse – to grow up
Culpar – to blame; guilt
Descubierto – (exposed) revealed
Desmontar – to dismantle, to take apart; to dismount
Detener – to stop
Devocionario – prayer book
Difuntos – deceased, departed
Dirigirse – to walk toward; to address
Disponerse – to prepare
Disuadir – to dissuade, to deter
Dudar – to doubt
Empeñarse – (to persist) to insist on
Emprender – to undertake, to start
Encomendar – to entrust
En cuanto – as soon as
En punto – sharp, on the dot (time-wise)
Ensombrecer – to darken, to cast a shadow over
Estupendamente – marvelously, wonderfully
Expuesto – (uncovered) exposed; (perilous) risky, dangerous
Honrado – honest, honorable
Lagrimar – to cry
Llanto – crying, weeping
Llevar – to take
Lograr – to be able to
Losa – slab; tombstone, gravestone
Maldecir – to swear, to curse
Matrimonio – marriage; married couple
Mentira – (falsehood) lie
No hace más que – does nothing but; only
No hacia sino – did nothing more than; simply
Occurir – (to take place) to happen; occurirse – (to come to mind) to occur to, to think of, to have an idea
Parecerse – to look alike; parecer – to seem, to look
Pasos – traveling
Pena – shame, pity, sorrow
Pertenecer – to belong to
Por más que – no matter how
Pretender – (to want) to intend, to expect
Pues – since, because
Rama – branch
Recordar – to remember, to recall
Repartir – to distribute
Reparto – (allotment) distribution, pay-out
Resignarse – to resign oneself;
Revestir – to cloak, to disguise, to dress
Rienda – (bridle) rein
Ruego – plea; prayer
Sacristía – vestry; sacristy (A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. In some countries, it is known as the vestry. The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building.)
Salir al paso – go right to, get back in front
Seña – sign, gesture
Sujetar – to grab, to hold
Tocar – to touch; (to secure) to win
Trabajador – hard-working
Un tanto – somewhat, a little
Vuelta – act of returning, return