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)
020. El Miñaco, o El Meñique (Pinky, or Little Finger)
(Retold by Beatriz Montecinos)
There was an old woman who had a son, very tiny, but very clever, and his name was Miñaco. One day he told his mother that he was going to leave home to search for work, and so he went to a Lion who had a cage for containing the prisoners, and [whose wife] the Lioness was looking after them, and so he went to make the contract with Don Leonardo, who was the Lion himself, and he told him that he would hire him to bring lunch and food for the Lioness. After much traveling [back and forth], he got bored and told himself that he was going to kill the Lioness, so that he won’t have to travel to and fro again.
For two days he was preparing himself, crushing chili, peppers and salt and other strong spices to kill the Lioness.
Then one day, when there were no remaining prisoners, he asked what that cage was used for; the Lioness replied that it was used to detain the bad men who had committed thefts, murders or robberies. The Lioness told him to step inside, and then Miñaco replied that she should do this first so he can learn how they detained the prisoners, and the Lioness did so.
Once the Lioness set her foot inside, Miñaco locked the cage and told her to try to get out. The Lioness attempted to leave. Then Miñaco told her:
Oh my God!, I’ll never do this again; but what I have considered doing, I won’t stop doing it;– and he put his hands in his pockets and spread the chili in her eyes, mouth and behind, then went away. The Lioness, being trapped and greatly suffered from so much pain, passed away.
And seeing that Miñaco did not return, the Lion wondered why he had not come back, and he left to search for him and did not find him anywhere, until he arrived at where the Lioness was and found her dead. Then he did not make an effort to remove the Lioness, but rather to search for Miñaco in order to apprehend and kill him. Then when he caught up to him, Miñaco said to himself: -“Where can I go?” He only had time to escape and put himself in a hill of ants. You should see where he put himself!, here the Lion did not see anyone who could keep a close watch on him, and by chance a Turkey Vulture friend was passing by and the Lion called out and said to him:
Look, friend, come, help me out here -he said- while I go back to my house to look for a crowbar.
[Nguyen: a crowbar to destroy the anthills?]
While the Lion went back to his house, the Turkey Vulture did not know whom he had inside [the anthills]. The Turkey Vulture began to look inside to see who it was and Miñaco then came and grabbed a handful of dirt, threw it in the eyes of the Turkey Vulture and pulled them out. When the Lion came back, he found the Turkey Vulture blind and told him that he’d go and chase after Miñaco.
Despite the distance that he had traveled, the Lion caught up to him again. Then Miñaco ran to some very tall poplar trees that were very far away so he could climb up them in order for the Lion to not be able to catch him, and he said:
If Uncle Little Lion catches me, he will definitely eat me for the terrible things that I have done to him, which are no small matters.
When the Lion got there, he, too, climbed up the tree to see if he could catch him, or make him fall down below.
Then Miñaco said: “This is bad; uncle Little Lion catches up to me and will eat me,”- and he broke off a branch from the very same poplar tree, and as he was clever, the Lion was going to reach out with his hand to catch him, and with the branch Miñaco hit him in the hand with which he was caught and the Lion fell down and was killed.
Then Miñaco said: “Now I’m in good shape,” and he got down and made a saddle and reins out of the skin of the dead Lion and went away with them on his shoulder.
At some point he ran across a Fox on the road, and the Fox said to him:
Where are you going with that saddle on your shoulder, Miñaco?
He told her that he’d use them to saddle her; and then she told him not to saddle her because the saddle would flip over. At last he managed to saddle and ride on her, but she was a bit of a hopper.
[Nguyen: the above paragraph is a tad hard for me to translate. I’m not sure if this is the meaning intended by the storyteller. Here is the original text: “Le dijo que la ensillara a ella; y entonces le dijo el Miñaco que no la ensillaba porque lo volteaba. Hasta el último ya la ensilló, y salió a caballo en ella, pero le salió un poco brincadora.”]
Then the Fox said to him:
Look, Miñaco, where are we going? Surely someone would come along and chase us off the road; let us head into this pasture.– But fortune was not on their side when three hunters came along with their three greyhounds and one of them saw Miñaco riding on top of a Fox; then the hunters said that they would encourage the greyhounds to have a little fun with Miñaco; and so they did. The Fox then said to him:
Oh my God, Miñaco! what are we going to do? now we have to escape quickly; hold on tight Miñaco, get behind my neck and hold on tight, for I am going to run with all my might;– and she began to run along the fence until they found a hole to get out of. Then she passed through it, and Miñaco was stuck with his legs spread out on the hole (e.g. he was riding on her, and only the Fox was able to pass through the hole in the fence, while Miñaco was plastered on the fence itself), and then the greyhounds also passed through it. Seeing that they had already passed by and sensing that he was losing his mount, he shouted out to the Fox:
Ma’am, I entrust the stirrups to you.
Then the greyhounds, when they heard this, turned back and ate him. And the Fox escaped and carried the saddle away with her; and so the story ended and the wind carried it away and passed through a bush of beans so that you can tell another one.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Habiloso – skillful
Barra – (long piece of metal or wood) bar, rail, crossbar, pole, rod; (quantity of a substance) bar, stick; (counter) bar; (punctuation sign) slash, oblique sign; (insignia) stripe, bar; (geological formation) sandbank, bar, river mouth, estuary; (music) measure, bar
Prevenir – (to avoid) to prevent; (to alert) to warn; (to foresee) to anticipate; (to get ready) to prepare
Prevenirse – (to get organized) to take precautions, to prepare
Ají – chili, pepper
Pimienta – (spice) pepper; (botany) pepper plant
Saltear – (culinary) to sauté, to stir-fry; (to plunder) to hold up, to rob
Empeño – (resolve) determination, effort; (obstinacy) insistence; (loan with collateral) pawn, pawning; (attempt) undertaking
Costalearse – sufrir una costalada; sufrir un desengaño o decepción
Costalar – to roll over
Jote – turkey vulture, turkey buzzard; large kite; (perjorative) (religious) priest
Barreta – (small bar) crowbar
Alamo – (botany) poplar; (wood) poplar
Quebrar – (to smash) to break, to snap; (legal) to break; (to make curved) to bend; (to ruin a business) to go bankrupt, to fail
Gancho – (tool) hook; (object to hang clothes) hanger; (botany) branch
Estirar – (to extend) to stretch, to stretch out, to crane; (to make smooth) to smooth out, to iron out; (to make go further) to stretch, to make last
[F] Quedó muerto, hecho una bolsa de huesos, informe.
Riendas – (restraint) control; (bridle) rein
Voltear – (to invert) to turn over, to turn around, to flip, to toss, to turn upside down (chair or table), to knock over; (to change position) to turn; (to sound a bell) to ring
Brincar – (to bounce around) to jump, to skip, to jump up and down, to gambol, to cavort; (to jump on one leg) to hop; (to jump) to skip; (to omit) to skip
Galgo – (dog breed) greyhound
Animar – (to give encouragement) to encourage; (to enliven) to liven up; (to motivate) to drive; (to encourage with shouts) to cheer on
Cogote – (anatomy) nape of the neck, scruff of the neck, back of the neck; (anatomy) neck
Orillar – (to dodge) to avoid, to get around, to skirt; (to go around the edge of) to skirt, to go around; (to sort out) to put in order; (sewing) to hem, to edge
Cerca – (enclosure) fence (of wood or wire), wall (of stone or brick)
Portillo – (hole) gap, opening; (small door) wicket gate; (geography) narrow pass; (nick) chip
Entremedio – (in space) in between; (in time) in between
Estribo – (equestrianism) stirrup; (step in vehicle) running board, footrest (in motorcycles); (mechanics) brace; (anatomy) stirrup bone; (architecture) support, buttress
Poroto – bean