047. The Three Hairs of the Devil (Los Tres Pelos Del Diablo)
There was [once] a woman who had a lovely boy and a king who had a girl who was very beautiful. But it turned out that the king also wanted to have a boy [for a son], so that he went to see the woman and told her to give the child to him and, of course, the woman refused. The king became furious and the first thing he did upon returning to the castle was to give order to kill both children [all children in the kingdom?]; and the woman, upon finding out [about the order], put her child in a small wicker basket hidden by some branches [twigs] and placed it in the river so that the king’s guard would not find him. And there it went downriver until it ran aground onto the bank of a mill.
The millers came out to see [what was going on], and as it was a child, they felt bad to let him be carried [downriver] by the current once again, and thus they kept him. And so the child grew up with them.
One day, the king, who was traveling through his lands, arrived at the mill and the millers and their son came out to receive him; [and] as soon as he saw him, he recognized the boy. Then he gave him a letter and told him that it was for the princess and that he must go deliver it to her himself. The boy said that he would go and set out at once while the king continued his visit to the other lands that he had.
The first night the boy spent on the road was in a house of thieves, but he did not know this [at that time]. He was sound asleep and, taking advantage of his slumber, the thieves stole his letter and opened it: then they saw its instructions to kill the one carrying the letter as soon as he arrived at the palace. The thieves, on seeing this, exchanged his letter for another without him knowing about it, and this new letter said that the bearer [of the letter] would get to marry the princess. The boy arrived at the palace the next day, delivered the letter and, as it was an order from the king, he got to marry the princess.
Naturally, the king became even more furious when he returned from his travels and saw what had happened in his absence, but there was nothing that he could do about it for they were [already] married. Then he came up with an idea that if the boy wanted to continue living with the princess, to be worthy as her husband he must bring him three strands of hair from the devil.
The boy set out [on this task] without knowing for certain where the devil lived; and he was walking along a road when he encountered some men next to a fountain, who asked him what one had to do to make that fountain flow with gold, for it was flowing with gold before, but not now. The boy, who was wise, told them that when he returned from his errand he would give them the answer.
Further along the road he encountered other men [gathering] under a tree, who asked him what had to be done so that the tree would produce golden apples, for this was what happened before but not now. And he told them the same thing, that he would give them the answer upon his return.
Finally he reached a river and asked the ferryman to take him across to the other bank; the ferryman, during the trip, asked him what he would have to do to not be a ferryman anymore, for he was fed up with that job. And the young man once more responded that he would tell him upon his return.
And through asking around, he found the devil’s house and knocked on the door. A woman opened it and the boy told her that he had come looking for the three strands of hair from the devil. On hearing this, the woman, who was the devil’s wife, said to him:
But, what guts you have to have come here! If the devil finds out that you have come, he’d kill you!
The boy was not intimidated and insisted [on doing so] until she told him:
Well, all right, then stay hidden out there until the devil comes [back] and falls asleep and then I’ll pull out his three strands of hair [for you].
And the boy said:
But I’d also need him to answer three questions for me.
And what are those questions?
said the woman. Then the boy told her the three questions that were asked of him along the way, and she promised him that she’d find out about them.
In the evening the devil arrived home exhausted, and as soon as he had eaten his dinner he retired to bed, and his wife along with him. Once he was sound asleep, she [then] pulled a strand of hair from him and the devil got woken up, with the woman telling him that she was having [a most curious] dream. The devil [then] asked her what she was dreaming about, and she told him that there were some men next to a fountain and that they did not know what to do to make it flow with gold [again]. And the devil said that this was because there was a rat in the pipe and they must remove it [before the fountain would flow in gold again].
The woman waited until he fell asleep again and carefully pulled out another hair, but the devil felt this and woke up greatly irritated. She [then] told him that she was dreaming again and that was why; [at this] he asked her what she was dreaming about and she said that there were some gentlemen [standing] under a [certain] tree, and they were wondering what they’d have to do to get the tree to bear golden apples once more. And the devil said that they’d first have to remove a worm that was in the roots [of the tree].
The devil went back to sleep and the woman pulled out his third [strand of] hair. This time the devil got really angry and wanted to kill her, but she again told him that she was only dreaming [like before]; and the devil asked her to tell him what she was dreaming about this time. She [then] told him that it was a ferryman who did not know what to do to [be able to] leave his job as a ferryman, and the devil told her that he’d need to hand the oars over to the first person who entered his boat. Then the woman told him that she was relaxed now and that she would not dream anymore, and as soon as the devil fell asleep, she went out the door of the house and gave the three strands of hair and the three answers to the boy.
The boy went away with the three strands of hair from the devil. And he arrived at where the ferryman was so that he could go cross the river once more; and the ferryman said to him:
Did you help me with the errand that I asked of you?
And the clever boy replied:
Well no, for I don’t remember it.
So the ferryman took him across to the other bank and, when he disembarked, the boy said to him:
Now I remember that I did ask about it. What you’ll need to do is to put the oars in the hands of the first [next] passenger who crosses the river.
The grateful ferryman gave him a donkey laden with gold and the boy continued on his way back. He [then] encountered the men standing under the tree, for they still remained there, and he told them:
Well, you must look in the roots, because there is a worm in them which you’ll have to remove before the tree could bear fruits again.
They did this and the branches of the tree were [then] filled with golden apples and, being very grateful, they gave the boy another donkey laden with gold, and with this he now had two.
Further on he encountered the men standing next to the fountain, who still remained there [after all this time], and he said to them:
Look in the pipe, for there is a rat being stuck there and you’ll have to remove it.
They did this and the fountain began to flow forth with gold and, being very grateful, they gave the boy another donkey laden with gold, and with this he now had three. And with the three [donkeys] he went to the palace and gave the king the three strands of hair from the devil. And the king, who saw all the gold cargo that he brought, asked him where he had gotten them from; and the boy said to him:
From the other side of the river.
So the king took all the horses he could find and went to the bank of the river, and as the ferryman had been told to give the oars to the first [next] person [passenger] who came, he handed them over to the king and was free [released] from being a ferryman. And the king was left clinging to the oars and there he remained [to this day], not knowing how to free himself from the enchantment.
—– VOCABULARY —–
A ciencia cierta – for certain, for sure, for a fact
Aferrar – (to take hold of) to grasp, to grab, to seize
Arredrar – to frighten, to intimidate
Atreverse – to dare
Averiguar – to discover, to find out
Barquero – boatman
Caño – pipe, tube
Cesto – basket, hamper (for laundry); cestita – small basket
Dar con – to find
Darse cuenta – to realize
De veras – really, truly
Diría – I’d say
Disimular – to hide, to cover up, to conceal
Encallar – to run aground
Enterarse – to find out
Había sido – I had been, he had been
Harto de – fed up with, tired of
Idear – to conceive, to devise, to think up
Listo – smart, clever; ready
Lombriz – worm, earthworm
Manar – to flow, to drip with
Merecerse – to deserve
Mimbre – (material) wicker; (botany) willow, osier
Pelo – (single strand) hair
Pena – (sympathy) pity, shame, sad
Portador – bearer, carrier
Precioso – beautiful, gorgeous, lovely; precious
Profundamente – deeply, profoundly
Prudente – prudent, cautious, sensible, careful
Raíz – root
Ramaje – (botany) branch
Recado – message, errand
Remo – oar
Seguir – to remain in, to still be in
Soñar – to dream, to have nightmares about
Trasladar – to transfer, to move