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)
033. The Pequenes Seller (El Vendedor De Pequenes)
[Nguyen: A pequén is a Chilean Onion Empanada.]
(A variant of the previous story.)
A Frenchman recently arrived in Santiago and did not speak any Spanish. He approached a pequén seller and asked him, pointing at the pequenes:
Ces sont des gateaux? (French to English: Are these cakes?)
¡De gato! De purita carne de cordero, iñor! ¿qué si ha figurao usté? (Spanish to English: Not cats! These are of pure lamb, sir! Have you not figured it out?)
Qu’est ce que ce que ça? (French to English: What is it [that you’re saying]?)
¿Asáas? Clarito, pus, ñor, y recién sacaítas del horno qui están! (Spanish to English: Hot? Of course, sir, for they are fresh out of the oven!)
Je ne comprend pas. (French to English: I don’t understand [what you’re saying].)
No comprís, pus, gringo leso; pa lo que se me da; ¡cuando la gente se las pelotea y en un dos por tres se las acaba! (Spanish to English: Not buying? Stupid gringo; when people waited for too long these would be gone in no time at all!)
[Nguyen: note that I’m not sure how to translate “pa lo que se me da”, so I’m leaving it out of the English version.]
—– VOCABULARY —–
Pelotear – (sports) to kick the ball around (soccer), to knock up (tennis); (to quarrel) to argue, to bicker; (finance) to audit; (to make someone go from one place to another) to shunt aroung