027. The Three Spinstresses (Las Tres Hilanderas)
A married couple had a loafing daughter, but who was also very beautiful, that her parents were very proud of her beauty and did nothing but talked about her to everyone. They were so proud [of her] that not only did they talk about her beauty but also of how hard-working and skilled she was; in short, they spoke so much about her, her parents and her neighbors, that the girl’s fame reached the ears of the king.
[Nguyen: my electronic copy seemed to be missing a word: “Un matrimonio tenía una hija muy, pero que muy guapa, y….” The hard copy that I borrowed from UC Berkeley is also missing this word. My guess is that the missing word is loafing, idle, lazy, etc.]
And the king said to himself:
How is it that there is a girl so beautiful and so hard-working in that town? This I have to see.
To see her, he organized a party to which he invited many people, and of course, also the girl.
But the girl did not come to the party. Then the king sought out her parents and asked them why their daughter did not come to the party when so many other people did; and the parents, coming up with excuses, told him that the girl was not fond of parties, that she preferred to stay at home to do housework, and that what she liked to do most was spinning (e.g. threads for sewing…). They said all of this to exalt their daughter, but it was [simply] not true.
But the queen found out about what her parents said and it gave her great joy because she was very fond of women who knew how to spin. As she had also heard that this girl was a spinstress and a hard worker, she sent for her to the palace and offered her a nice salary. The girl’s father put up many excuses, but he eventually agreed. The fact is that the queen hoped to marry her son, the prince, to a woman who was a spinstress, so this was why she sent for her. Once the girl was at the palace, the queen decided to check [e.g. test] her qualities. And she said to her:
I am going to send you this work to see if you can spin as well as they say, and if you are as hardworking as I have been told.
So she sent her to a large room that was full of wool ready to be spun and said:
If you can spin all this wool in three days, you will [get to] marry my son.
The poor girl was [greatly] distraught for she had never used a distaff [spinning wheel] before and did not know how to spin.
And the queen said:
I will give order so that no one will enter this room other than those who would bring you food. So that you have three days to spin [all] this wool.
The girl began to cry as soon as she was alone and did not know what to do, neither with the wool nor the distaff.
And she was crying until the night fell upon her. And she still would have been crying if she hadn’t heard someone knocking on the window of the room. She opened the window and three ladies appeared, and they asked her to not be afraid and to tell them her problem. This she told them, [appearing] so contrite that it gave one pity to look at her, and the three ladies told her:
Leave those here with us and don’t you fear anything because tomorrow when you wake up, all the wool will be spun.
They brought [out] a magic spindle and a magic distaff and were spinning throughout the night and the next morning everything was spun. And when the queen entered [the room], she was left amazed that the girl had spun all the wool in a single night. In view of this, she sent her to a much larger room, which was more like a hall and which was also full of wool, and she told her the same thing as she did the other night.
And the girl, as soon as she was alone, began to cry again, wondering about what she would do this time [around]. But it happened that the three ladies appeared again at the window and, as was in the previous night, they brought the magic spindle and distaff and spun all the wool in the room in a single night.
Moreover, the girl noticed that one of the spinstresses had a disproportionately broad thumb from the constant use of the spindle; that another had a large lower lip because she would constantly wet her finger in it whenever she spun; and the third had an enormous foot from using the distaff to spin. But she dared not comment this to them.
In short, when the queen saw the wonder of the second night, she said:
Well, this girl has to marry the prince.
They immediately made preparations for the wedding and, of course, the girl’s father was overjoyed. Then the girl, on seeing that they were preparing the lists of guests, said to them:
The ones whom we cannot miss [from the invitation lists] are my three cousins.
These [, of course, ] were the three spinstresses. The queen said yes and the father, being giddy as he was for the event, did not even notice who these cousins were. So the wedding day arrived, but the girl was sad when she thought to herself: “What’s the use of getting married when they would continue making me spin, and I don’t know how to do it.”
Everyone came to the wedding and when the three cousins arrived, the people stared at them due to their large finger, the hanging lip, and the giant foot, which everyone thought to be horrendous [looking], although no one said anything because they were the bride’s cousins.
When the celebration was over, the prince, who was being curious, could not resist asking them why they had those deformities and they began to say:
Well, I have this finger from years and years of using the spindle, for I have always liked using it -said the first.
Well, I have this lip from frequently wetting my finger in it to spin -said the second.
Well, I have this foot from frequent use of the distaff to spin -said the third.
And the prince, being greatly scared [from hearing this], said to his wife:
I don’t want to see you spinning ever again.
And so the girl was saved from ever spinning again.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Acontecimiento – (occasion) event
Ancho – (dimension) wide, width, thick
Asustarse – to be frightened
Atolondrado – stunned, bewildered
Atreverse – to dare
Colgante – (suspended) hanging
Comprobar – (to verify) to check
Compungido/a – (regretful) contrite, remorseful
Consternado/a – dismayed, distraught
Deshacer – to undo; to ruin, to mess up
Desmesuradamente – disproportionately
Dispuesta – (skillful) handy; willing, prepared;
Engrandecer – to magnify, to enlarge; (to praise) to exalt
Enterarse – (to discover) to find out
Espantar – to frighten, to scare
Fijarse – to notice
Hacendoso – industrious, hard-working
Horrendo – horrible, terrifying
Huso – (sewing) spindle
Labio inferior – lower lip
Lana – wool, fleece
Lista – ready
Maravillar – to amaze, to astonish
Mojar – to dampen, to moisten, to soak
Orgulloso – proud
Pena – (sympathy) pity, shame, sad, sorrow
Portento – marvel, wonder
Producirse – (to happen) to take place, to occur
Pulgar – thumb; big toe
Rueca – (spindle) distaff; spinning wheel
Servirse – (to make use of something) to use; (to serve oneself) to help oneself
Supieran – saber – to know
Tocar – (to tap) to knock; (to chime) to ring; (musical instrument) to play