030. Perico The Wizard (Perico El Mago)
In a certain village there was a woman who had a very clever son. In addition to being so, the child [also] loved to study from books, which is why his mother told him one day:
Perico, my son, I’d love to have you study a profession [field] that would make you a worthy man in the future. And although we don’t have much money, what has to be paid I will consider it well spent; but you have to tell me what is it that you would most like to study.
Perico thought about it and said to his mother:
Mother, I would like to study black magic.
So the mother went to see a teacher of magic to ask him if he would teach her son.
I will teach him -said the teacher-, but [only] on one condition.
The mother [then] asked:
What is this condition?
The teacher of magic answered her:
That after a year of studying with me, you have to come see your son, and if you recognize him, that’s all good, but if you don’t recognize him among the other students, he will remain with me forever.
The mother did not doubt her ability to recognize her son and she replied to the teacher that she agreed to the condition, and sent her son to study under him.
Time passed by and the date when the mother must go to the magic teacher’s home to recognize [identify] her son was approaching. And the son, knowing this, did the following: he transformed into a dove, left the teacher’s house without anyone seeing him and flew to his mother’s house. When he saw his mother, who was cooking next to the window, he said to her:
In a few days you will have to come and identify me [among all the students]. I know that on that day the teacher is going to turn us all into doves, and when he sees you coming, he will throw corn on the ground so that we all will eat them, and thus will be mistaken for one another; but I, instead of eating, will make a distraction by jumping on my fellow students, so that when the teacher asks if you can identify me, you will say yes, for I am the one who is jumping around.
On the appointed day, the mother went to the magic teacher’s house and he took her to where the doves were and said to her:
One of these doves is your son, are you able to identify him?
And she replied without hesitation:
Yes, it is that one who’s jumping around. And I don’t doubt it, because it is the same as when he was little, for all he wanted [back then] was to jump all over his friends.
And the teacher said, [quite] annoyed:
Well, you were right, ma’am, for that is your son; and you can now take him back as I won’t teach him anymore, because he already knows as much as I do.
And upon returning to the house, the first thing he said to his mother was:
Mother, from now on we are going to make a fortune with everything that I have learned. And to start things off, you are going to take me to the fair tomorrow and I am going to turn myself into a cow. You’ll sell the cow and ask for one hundred and fifty ducados for her. But don’t sell the cow bell together with her, for I am going to be [sitting] in the bell.
The mother took the cow to the fair and in a little while a buyer came to her and asked:
How much do you want for this cow?
One hundred and fifty ducados -said the mother.
That sounds good to me!
said the man, and he handed her one hundred and fifty ducados and took the cow away, but first the mother removed the bell from the cow and put it in her bag.
The buyer went back to his village with the cow and put her in the cowshed. The next morning he got up and went to give her something to eat, along with the other animals that he had, and he found that the cow had disappeared.
[Nguyen: shouldn’t the title be “Perico The Thief”? This is committing fraud as far as I can see. He could have utilized magic in better ways to make good money =)]
Perico, meanwhile, was in high spirits and proposed to his mother this time around:
Now I will transform myself into a horse; you will take him to the fair and sell him for three hundred ducados; but be careful not to include the [horse riding] bit in the sale! The bit must remain with you because I am the bit.
While all of this was going on, the teacher had already missed his best book of magic from the library. He was searching for it in every corner, and finally he said to himself: “I think Perico is the one who has taken the book. Who knows where he is now! But since there is a fair tomorrow, I going to go there to see if he has also gone there to test out his magic.”
The teacher went to the fair and while he was there, he met Perico’s mother, who was there to sell a horse. And the astute magician approached the mother and asked her:
How much do you want for this horse?
And the mother told him what Perico had asked her to say:
Well, three hundred ducados [will do].
And the teacher said:
That sounds good to me!
and he took the horse [away]. Then the mother went [after him] and said:
Wait just a moment sir, for I have to take the bit off the horse because the bit is not part of the sale.
And the teacher replied:
Well, I bought him together with the bit, and so I’ll take him away along with it [as well].
And the mother said no, and the teacher said yes, and the dispute became so heated that they called on the law [to decide], and upon hearing about the matter, the people decided that the teacher was in the right. And the astute teacher quickly mounted the horse, spurred him on with a couple of lashes and said to him in a loud voice, so that he could hear him well:
Giddy up, Perico, for now you are going to pay for the book that you took from my house.
The teacher arrived back at his house greatly content with his wile, and as soon as he dismounted from the horse he ordered his sons to bring it to the stable and, above all else, to not give him anything to eat nor to remove the bit from him. The horse did nothing but moved his head unceasingly and opened the mouth (neighing?) and the boys, pitying him, said to themselves:
What harm is there in removing the bit from the horse, which seems to be hurting him?
So they took it off and the horse turned into a trout and escaped into the river below.
Then the teacher, who realized this, turned into a snake and began to pursue the trout. The trout, as it was wily, scurried between the rocks in the river or jumped over the cascades, but the snake was tenacious and pursued it relentlessly. And this went on for sometime until, on approaching the dam of a mill, the trout saw that the snake was upon him and, to free itself from the pursuit, transformed into a dove and flew away.
Immediately, the snake took the form of an eagle and followed the dove to hunt it down; the dove was already beginning to feel exhausted and, when it flew close to a beautiful house, transformed itself into a mosquito and entered the house through a crack of the window.
That window was in the bedroom of a beautiful princess, and the mosquito turned into Perico again and said to the princess:
I am going to turn into a ring and place myself on your finger. Soon a knight will appear and as soon as he sees you he will ask you to give him the ring; you will give it to him, but when you are going to put it in his hands, let it drop to the floor, [upon] which it will break into many pieces. Then you will step on the largest piece, and when you feel that this piece pushes upward [against your foot], remove your foot.
So Perico transformed into a ring and was put on the princess’s finger and everything happened as he had said: the knight arrived and asked for the ring from the princess. The princess let it dropped on the floor, where it broke into many pieces and she then put her foot on the largest among them all.
Then the knight transformed into a chicken and began to eat all the pieces of the ring. At that moment, the piece which was below the princess’s foot pushed up and the princess, on feeling this, withdrew her foot. And it happened that this large piece turned into a fox and ate the chicken.
And, after all this, the fox again took the form of a man, who was Perico, and he married the princess and they lived happily [ever after]; and he became the most famous wizard in the entire region.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Acertar – to guess to correctly, to get right
Afán – eagerness, desire
Agotar – to exhaust, to wear out, to tire out
Animado – cheerful, in high spirits
Arrear – to spur on, to urge on; to hurry along
Asunto – issue, matter
Carrera – career
Cascada – waterfall, cascade
Cincuenta – fifty
Colocar – to put, to place
Compadecer – to feel sorry for; to pity
Conformar – (to be in agreement) to agree; (to constitute) to make up, to form
Confundir – to confuse, to confound
Contrariado – pissed, upset, annoyed
Cuadra – (animal quarters) stable
Culebra – snake
Darse cuenta – to realize, to notice
De quedarse – to stay
Descansar – to take a break, to rest; to sleep, to take a nap
Echar de menos – (to long for) to miss
Enterar – (to communicate) to inform, to notify
Enterarse – to discover, to find out
Entretener – to entertain, to amuse; to distract; (to prevent from leaving) to keep, to detain
En vez de – instead of
Esquila – small bell, hand bell, cow bell
Establo – stable, farm
Freno – (horse riding) bit; (mechanics) brake
Fustazo – lash
Gallina – hen, chicken
Hacia arriba – upward, upwards, up
Justicia – (legal) law
Lastimar – (physically / emotionally / morally) to hurt
Listo – (intelligent) smart, clever
Mago – magician; wizard
Palomo – male pigeon
Perico – parakeet
Pisar – (to put foot on) to step on
Presa – dam, weir; (hunted animal) prey, catch
Provecho – (merit) benefit; (gain) profit
Quitar – to remove, to take away
Razón – (truth) right; reason
Regalar – to give, to gift, to give away
Rendija – cleft, crack, crevice
Rincón – nook, corner
Romper – to break, to wear out
Señalado – (important) special; (notorious) distinguished
Titubear – (to hesitate) to waver; (to stammer) to stutter
Trato – deal, contract
Trucha – trout
Vaca – (animal) cow; (culinary) beef
Zorro – fox; fox fur; crafty, sly