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)
027. The Devil and The Farmer (El Diablo Y El Campesino)
The Devil proposed to a Farmer to work together for three years. The Devil would till the land and the Farmer would seed it. Upon finishing the term of the contract, the farmer would be the owner of the land.
The man asked: –And how would we partition the [yield of the] harvest?
The Devil replied:
I will take what the plants yield above ground and you will take what is below ground. -And he left.
Then the Farmer planted potatoes, and when the time came to divide the harvest, the Devil had to take the plants and leave the potatoes to the Farmer.
The Devil got mad and thought: this time you won’t make a fool out of me again; and he said to the man: –This year I will take what is below ground and you will be the owner of what remains above.
The Devil left and the Farmer planted watermelons and [other types of] melons, and when the Devil came for his shares and saw that he got only roots while his [business] partner got beautiful melons and watermelons, he started to rage like a convicted man and pulled his hairs out from wrath.
The Devil did not give up, and after reflecting for a moment, he said to the man: -In the upcoming year whatever the plants produce above and below ground will belong to me; and what they yield in between will be for you.– And he left, thinking that with this he would be able to defeat the Farmer.
But the man planted corn; and when the Devil came to claim his portion, the corns went to the Farmer and the Devil was once again deceived.
You beat me, roared the Devil, the land is yours; but we will [definitely] see one another again.
But man allows himself to be defeated by the Devil only when he wants to, because he has more than enough intelligence to laugh at his evil enemy, as this story demonstrates.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Semilla – (botany) seed; (origin) seed
Cosecha – (process) harvest, vintage (of grapes); (season) harvest, harvest season; (agriculture) crop; (figurative) (collection) crop; (ingenuity) creation, invention
Mata – (shrubbery) bush, shrub; (vegetation) (Latin America) plant; (cluster of plants or trees) tuft, thicket, clump, grove; (spray) sprig; (sprout) shoot; (hair) mop, mane
Repelerse – (to induce aversion) to be incompatible; (to resist) to repel; (military) to repulse; (to defend from) to fend off; (to cause aversion) to disgust; (to cause aversion) to be repulsive, to be repellent
Leso – (fool) (Chile) stupid, dumb
Sandías – watermelon
Raíz – (botany) root; (origin) root; (cause) root; (anatomy) root
Socio – (in business) partner, associate; (of an organization) member, fellow; (friend) buddy, mate
Mechas – (pejorative) (hair) (Latin America) hair, messy hair (pejorative)
Choclo – (botany) (Latin America) corn, maize; (kernels) corn, sweetcorn; (cob) corncob
Sobra – (overabundance) excess, surplus;
Sobras – (culinary) leftovers; (sewing) remnants; (coffee remains) dregs