From Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. Laval
Part 1 – Magnificent Stories, Stories of Animals, Anecdotes (Cuentos maravillosos, Cuentos de animales, Anécdotas)
010. The Seven Blind Women (Las Siete Ciegas)
(Retold by 12-year old Luis Smith in 1910)
In a faraway country there was a very evil King who took great pleasure in the harm he inflicted on his subjects.
One day when he went out on a hunting trip and got lost in the forest, he saw a very beautiful and graceful young woman at the door of a hut, and took her back to the Palace to marry her.
The new Queen’s joy lasted no more than a month. After this short time passed by, during which the King was loving and affectionate to her, he revealed his true perverted nature and cruel instinct. With or without pretexts, he found everything around him to be unpleasant, and as the Queen was the one who was closest to him, the poor soul got the short end of the stick. One day when he woke up in a worse mood than usual, he ordered the Queen’s eyes to be gouged out and had her imprisoned in a damp, dark dungeon which overlooked one of the inner courtyards of the palace, and that she be subjected to scarce food and drinks.
A short time later, the King married another young woman, who was also in his grace for only a month, and spent the next month by the side of her spouse suffering all kinds of abuses; then later, deprived of her sight, she went to accompany her predecessor in the dungeon.
The same fate befell five more young women, with whom the monarch married successively.
The seven unfortunate young women each had a child in her prison cell, but only the first one kept hers; the others, at the point of starvation, ate their own, and if it had not been that the first woman managed to hide her son and that, as if he perceived the fate reserved for him if his mother’s companions discovered his existence, the child never uttered the slightest moan nor was heard crying at any point.
The child was beautiful and grew up in the dungeon. His mother taught him to talk at night, when her companions were asleep, and gradually imparted the little knowledge that she had to him, which the child learned with relative ease, as he was endowed with great intelligence.
Once, the child found a nail and, playing by himself, he began to dig into the wall next to where his mother was staying. The wall, due to the humidity, was soft, so in only a short time he had made a small hole where a ray of light passed through; he wanted to visit the outside world to know what it was like, which he had heard so much from his mother, and to do so he continued to work at this until the hole was sufficiently big to let him through. He told his mother what he had done and asked her to cover the hole with her body while he was outside so that the guard would not see it.
The boy went outside and found a beautiful orchard. He never got tired of admiring the sky, being so blue and so beautiful that it was; the trees, the flowers, and the fruits also got his attention; he picked some of the fruits, tasted them and found them to be very delicious. He then picked all that he could and brought them back to his mother, who only then told her fellow unfortunate companions about her son’s existence and made the child distribute the fruits among them.
From that moment the child was the joy of everyone, who all loved him dearly, and he repaid their affection each day with fruits he picked from the orchard.
The mother always became anxious whenever the boy went outside, for she feared that one of the gardeners would find him and bring him to the King’s presence. For what might happen, she said to her son one day: -Son, if they see you, they will ask you where you come from, what is your name and who are your parents, and you will answer that you come from the natural world, that your name is Wind and that you are son of Thunder and Rain.
Some time passed by, and until more than a year later no one had yet to discover his presence, for the boy went on his excursions very early in the morning and the gardeners were not early risers at all; but once when one of them got up earlier than usual, the boy was caught and brought into the King’s presence. The boy was left in the King’s good graces, and he was asked:
Where are you from?
The natural world.
Who is your father?
Thunder.
And your mother?
Rain.
Soon after having had his seventh wife’s eyes taken out and had her locked up in the dungeon, the King married for the eighth time; but this time he had met his match, as they commonly said, for the new spouse was not the meek lamb, nor the innocent dove that his previous wives had been. This woman was of fierce character, being hard-hearted and full of envy, she dominated her husband in every way. The King gradually became accustomed to obey [her every demand], and as a consequence, his personality weakened and softened.
As we have said, the boy fell into the King’s graces the moment he met him, and even more so when he heard how confidently the boy responded to his questions; and he sent orders for the boy to be dressed in fine clothes and granted him the complete liberty to roam around the palace and its surroundings.
The child lived with the servants, who all adored him. When he had finished his meal, he would gathered the remaining foods and take them back to the blind women, with whom he would chat for a short while every time he visited the prison, which he often did at night, before he retired to the room that had been assigned to him.
As the boy grew in height, so too did his intelligence, so much so that his fame spread beyond the servant’s quarters and reached the ears of the Queen. She, too, wanted to meet him, and on hearing his prompt and appropriate replies, she resolved to get rid of him. The Queen was an envious woman and had no children of her own. She feigned being sick, called for the King and told him that she had dreamed of only getting cured by drinking the milk of a lioness brought to her by a lion in a wineskin made from lion skin, and that it had to be the boy who was to go and search for all this.
The King, who merely followed all of his wife’s desires, though reluctantly, ordered the boy to carry out what she wanted. The boy, greatly distressed by the request, went to tell his mother about what had transpired, and she said to him:
The Queen wants to get rid of you, but nothing will happen to you if you follow my advice. Before you leave, ask the cook for a saucepan, bread, milk and enough salt to season it; go along such and such road until you arrive at a plain where you will see a large rock on the bank of a stream shaded by trees; make a portion of soup with bread and milk and leave the saucepan between the stream and the rock, and hide yourself behind the tree. A short time later a lion will appear, and he will eat the soup after giving it a sniff; after he had eaten everything, he will say: -What tasty soup this is! Who had brought it here? -Then you will show yourself and tell him: -“It was I who brought it here, sir”, and the grateful lion will then give you what you ask of him.
Provided with the saucepan and sufficient rations of bread, milk and salt, he left the city and followed the road that his mother had indicated to him, all the way to the rock. There he stopped, made the soup with bread and milk and left the saucepan between the stream and the rock and then hid himself behind a large tree, waiting [for the lion to come]. A short time later frightening roars of a lion reached his ears, and almost immediately a fearsome beast appeared, who ragingly roared and dug his claws in the ground, and opening his nostrils, he sniffed the air in all directions as if he was searching with his sense of smell for the place where a strange being could be found. But it so happened that the first thing that reached his nostrils was the delicate smell of the bread soup with milk, and approaching the site in which the boy had left it, he ate the soup little by little, savoring it with delight.
Once he had finished eating it, he licked his whiskers and exclaimed:
What delicious soup! Who had left it here? -and then the boy, coming out of his hiding place, said to him:
I brought it here, sir Lion.
The Lion looked at him with surprise and after a while, he asked the boy:
What do you want me to give you as payment for the satisfaction that you have given me?
Sir Lion -replied the child- what I want is some milk from a lioness stored in a wineskin made from lion skin, and that it be brought to the palace by a lion, so that the Queen, who is sick, will get better.
That is fine -the Lion said to him- you will have what you ask for; but, as soon as you arrive at the palace, you must tap with this wand three times on the head of the cub which will bring the wineskin to you, and tell him “you go on home now”.
And while the Lion spoke, a cub appeared with a wineskin secured on his back.
The boy set out, following by the cub with its wineskin of lioness milk. When they arrived at the palace, the Queen was standing on one of the balconies, and on seeing the boy and his companion, she almost died from a fit of anger.
When they got to the palace gate, the boy put the wineskin on his shoulders and, remembering the instructions from the Lion, he tap the cub three times with the wand, saying at the same time: “you go on home now”. The cub then disappeared.
The Queen’s hatred for the blind woman’s son grew after this adventure and she swore that she would have him killed [one way or another]. She faked illness again and told the King that she had dreamed that she would not be cured until she could see singing towers and dancing battlements, and that it must be the child who was to bring them to her. The King, fearing the wrath of the Queen, sent for the boy, and despite the affection that he had for him, ordered the child to go in search of the things she said she needed.
The child went to the dungeon crying and told his mother what the Queen had demanded of him.
Don’t you worry -said the blind woman- the Queen wants you dead; but if you follow my instructions, no harm will come your way. Ask the gardener to lend you a donkey and his wife for her guitar. Mount the donkey and take such and such road; and after going for seven hours, you will arrive at a cursed city, one in which you will not see any human being other than an old witch. From the moment you see the city, start playing the guitar without fail until you leave, and, even if the old woman asks you to, do not stop playing nor give the guitar to her. You are smart enough to handle everything else that may come your way.
The child wrapped himself in a poncho (e.g. blanket) for it was very cold outside, then mounted on the donkey and with the guitar hung around his neck by means of a strap, he headed to the city. When he was close to the city, he began playing the guitar and a terrible looking woman came out to meet him and asked him to sell it to her; but the child continued to strum without stopping, and told her that he would not sell it, but that he would give it to her later on if she would show him all that was interesting and unusual in the city.
They set out, and the boy continued playing the instrument while the old, slipshod woman followed him by his side, until they both arrived at a very elegant pigsty, in which a very well-cared for piglet was kept.
And this piglet, mamita?
This piglet is the soul of the current wife of your father; now give me your guitar, child!
I’ll give it to you later, mamita.
They continued along the same street; the child kept on plucking the strings of the guitar and the old woman kept pace without losing a step. They arrived at a square, where at its center, between brightly colored flowers that gave off an exquisite fragrance, rose a thin column of golden water.
What is that, mamita? -ask the child.
That is the marvelous water which gives sight back to the blind; now give me your guitar, child!
I will give it to you later, mamita.
A little further on, following the same street and in the center of another square, between the gardens and on a table made from a single diamond, the child spotted a miniature ivory castle which gave off silvery voices of ineffable beauty that left him ecstatic for a moment; one would have said that there was a choir of angels in it. At the same time, small projectiles were discharged from the embrasures of the castle, which, once in the air, moved gracefully as if they were dancing [to the music].
The child asked:
And what are these things, mamita?
These are the towers that sing and the battlements that dance; now give me your guitar, my child!
I’ll give it to you in a little bit, mamita; don’t you worry.
At last they arrived at a place where there were many lighted candles, some long, nearly whole, others medium-sized, and still others shorter.
And what is this, mamita?
These candles are the life of the inhabitants of the kingdom.
And this candle, so tall and so big, that stands in front of them all? Perhaps it is the life of the King, my father?
No my child; that is my life, which, as you can see, will last long, much longer than the rest; now give me your…
The witch did not manage to finish the sentence, because the child, without ceasing to play with his left hand, took the end of the poncho with his right hand and created a strong wind by fanning at the candle, which extinguished the flame and the old woman fell on the ground at that exact moment, staying dead forever.
Immediately the child filled a glass with the marvelous water, put the singing towers and dancing battlements in a pouch that the donkey was carrying, and tied the piglet with a lasso and secured it to the packsaddle, then happily returned to the city where his father, the King, resided.
When he reached the palace square, he saw the Queen leaning out from the balcony, and when she saw the child safe and sound, she tore her hair out from rage.
The child dismounted from his donkey and taking the piglet in his hands, he threw it forcefully on the ground, killing it immediately; and at that same moment the evil Queen gasped her last breath and gave her soul to the devil.
After this, he went into the dungeon where the seven blind women were, and with the marvelous water he restored the sight of his mother and her six unfortunate companions. Once this was done he went to see the King and told him everything that had happened. The King was doubly happy and relieved on hearing the child’s account, firstly to be free of that woman who had trampled on his personality; and secondly, to know that the child to whom he had been so fond of, was his son.
He once more married the child’s mother and organized great feasts at the palace. The people also had great fun at the celebration, for the King wanted everyone to rejoice in the occasion. The past served as a lesson to the King, who, from that day onward, was good to his people and governed justly. Each of the six companions of the new Queen was married to a nobleman of the Court and lived happily [from then on].
And here the story ended and the wind carried it out to the sea.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Complacerse – (to feel satisfaction) to take pleasure in; complacer – (to feel satisfaction in) to please, to placate
Extraviarse – (to become lost) to get lost, to lose one’s way; to go astray; to go missing; to stray; (to fall into evil ways) to stray
Transcurrir – (to elapse) to pass, to go by; (to occur) to take place, to pass, to go
Tierno – (soft) tender; (not mature) (Latin America) unripe, not ripe; (person) loving, affectionate; (age) tender; (look) tender
Fiero – (violent) fierce, ferocious; (atrocious) fierce, cruel; (not domesticated) wild, fierce, ferocious
Pato – (animal) duck; (culinary) duck; (receptacle) (Latin America) bedpan; (tedious thing) drag, bore
Pagar el pato – pay the piper, take the fall
Calabozo – (castle cell) dungeon; (prison) jail; (prisoner accommodation) cell, cells; (military) guardroom
Someterse – (to go through; used with “a”) to undergo; to be subjected to; (to concede) to bow to, to comply with
Someter – (to control) to subdue, to put down, to subjugate, to dominate (sports); (to propose) to submit, to yield; (to cause to undergo) to subject, to put through
Escaso – (insufficient) scarce, limited, scant, short; (just) mere, barely; (miserly) stingy
Vejamen – (degrading treatment) humiliation, ill-treatment, abuse
Privar – (to dispossess; used with “de”) to deprive of, to take away; (to fire; used with “de”) to dismiss from; (to prohibit; used with “de”) to forbid; (to leave unconscious) to knock out; (to prevail) to be popular ; (to be trendy) to be in
Gemido – (lament) moan, groan, howl, wail, whine (of an animal)
Gemir – (to express suffering) to moan, to groan; (to howl) to whine; (to make a moaning sound) to moan (wind), to groan (steps, chair)
Paulatinamente – (in a gradual way) gradually, little by little; (in a slow fashion) slowly
Dotar – (to supply with; used with “de” or “con”) to equip with, to provide with, to endow with; (to grant the gift of; used with “de” or “con”) to endow with, to bless with; (to supply with a dowry) to give a dowry to
Clavo – (hardware) nail; (spice) clove; (medicine) pin; (sports) spike (in boots), piton 9as a fixing point)
Escarbar – (to excavate) to dig (deep), to scratch around in (superficially), to dig up (causing damage); (to remove matter from) to pick (one’s teeth or nose), to clean (one’s ears); (to stir fire) to poke; (to inquire into) to investigate
Muralla – (fortification) wall, walls, city wall, rampart; (architecture) (South America) wall
Blanda – soft
Forado – que está horadado; horado hecho en una pared
Horadado – perforated
Horado – hole in the wall
Carcelero – (person in charge of a prison) jailer, gaoler, warder, guard
Huerto – (plot planted with fruit trees) orchard; (cultivated land) vegetable garden
Sabrosísimo – (very good flavor) really tasty, really delicious
Entrañablemente – fondly, deeply, dearly
Renovar – (to extend the validity of) to renew; (to refurbish) to renovate, to change; (to repair) to renovate, to restore; (to overhaul) to update, to bring up to date; (to rekindle) to renew; (to reinvigorate) to revitalize
Sobresaltado – startled; frightened
Hortelano – (agriculture) gardener, small farmer, market gardener
Trueno – (weather) thunderclap, thunder, clap of thunder; (noise) thunder, boom, thundering
Futre – (man who gives much attention to his looks) dandy; (magnate) (Chile) fat cat, well-to-do guy
Vulgarmente – (in everyday language) commonly, popularly; (in a vulgar way) vulgarly
Manso – (domesticated) tame, docile; (mild) meek, gentle, calm, peaceful
Humilde – (not proud) humble, modest; (not rich) humble; (lowly) humble
Debilitar – (to cause to lose strength or power) to weaken, to debilitate; (medicine) to weaken, to debilitate
Dulcificar – (to mellow) to sweeten, to soften; (culinary) to sweeten
Despejo – (ease of manner) self-confidence
Servidumbre – (domestic employees) servants, domestic staff, staff; (state of being a servant) servitude
Oportuno – (advisable or required) appropriate; (happening at the right time) well-timed, right, timely
Proponerse – (to intend) to set out to, to put one’s mind to, to resolve, to aim to, to decide to
Odre – wineskin
Cacerola – (culinary) saucepan, pan, pot
Sazonar – (to add flavor to) to season; (to turn ripe) to ripen
Llanura – (topography) plain, prairie; (regularity) smoothness, flatness, evenness
Riachuelo – (small river) brook, stream
Olfatear – (to nose) to sniff, to smell, to scent (a prey); (to mouse into) to pry into, to poke one’s nose into
Provisto – (given) supplied, provided; (full of certain items) stocked
Aspirar – (to take into body) to inhale, to breathe in, to sniff (a substance); (to clean with a vacuum cleaner) to vacuum; (to suction) to suck in, to suck up
Olfato – (sense) smell, sense of smell; (intuition) nose, instinct
Saborear – (to appreciate the flavor of) to savor; (to perceive the flavor of) to taste; (to enjoy) to relish, to savor
Lamerse – (to wash oneself) to lick oneself; lamer – (to brush the tongue over) to lick; (literary) (to splash) to lap against
Bigote – (facial hair) mustache; (animal anatomy) whisker, feeler (shrimp)
Placer – (satisfaction) pleasure; (nautical) sandbank; (to satisfy) to please
Proporcionar – (to give) to provide, to supply; (to adjust) to adapt
Ira – (ire) anger, rage; (of the elements) wrath, fury, violence
Almenas – (architecture) merlons
Prestar – (to loan) to lend; (to give) to provide; prestarse – (to volunteer) to offer to
Abrigarse – (to protect yourself from the cold) to bundle up, to wrap up, to keep warm; (to take refuge) to shelter, to take shelter; abrigar – (to provide warmth for) to bundle up, to keep warm, to wrap up
Poncho – (clothing) poncho, blanket; (idle) lazy
Correa – (band) strap, leash, lead, strop (to sharpen razor); (clothing) belt; (mechanics) belt; (endurance) patience
Salir al encuentro – to meet, go out to meet
Tañer – (to play an instrument) to strum (stringed instrument); (to cause to sound) to ring
Chancletear – to go slipshod (carelessly done or arranged; careless or negligent; wearing shoes with the heel worn down)
Chiquero – (enclosure for pigs) pigpen, pigsty; (bullfighting) bull pen
Chancho – (animal) (Latin America) pig, swine, hog, sow; dirty pig, dirty cow
Cuerda – (thick cord) rope; (thin cord) string; (anatomy) cord; (musical instrument part) string
Pisada – (act of stepping) footstep; (track) footprint
Marfil – (material) ivory
Argentina – (resembling silver) silvery, argentine (literary); (figurative) (tinkling) silvery
Inefable – indescribable, ineffable
Extático – (elated) ecstatic, rapturous
Coro – (group of singers) choir; (part of a song) chorus; (architecture) choir
Tronera – (in a fortification) embrasure, porthole; (narrow opening) small window; (billards) pocket
Petaca – (cigarette container) cigarette case; (tobacco container) tobacco pouch; (bottle) hip flask;
Lazo – (decorative knot) bow; (ligature) knot; (strip of fabric) ribbon; (rope) lasso, lariat; (hunting) snare, trap; (link) bond, tie
Enjalma – packsaddle
Cabalgadura – mount
Lección – (education) lesson, class; (advisory) lesson