002. The Bogeyman (El Hombre Del Saco)
There was a married couple who had three daughters, and as all three were well-behaved and hardworking, they gave each of them a gold ring to wear as a garment [ornament]. And one fine day, the three sisters got together with their friends and, thinking about what to do, they said among themselves:
Well, we are going to go to the fountain today.
It was a fountain on the outskirts of the village.
Then the youngest of the sisters, who was lame, asked her mother if she could go to the fountain with the others; and the mother said to her:
No, my daughter, lest the bogeyman came and, as you are lame, he would catch and seize you.
But the girl insisted so much that, at last, her mother said to her:
Very well, go on then, go with them.
And off they all went. The lame girl also carried with her a basket of clothes to wash, and as she began to wash, she removed the ring and left it on a rock. They were happily playing around the fountain when they suddenly saw the bogeyman coming, and they said to one another:
Run, for God’s sake, here comes the bogeyman to snatch us all away.
And everyone ran off at full speed [as they said this].
The little lame girl also ran away with them, but as she was lame, she was lagging behind. And she was still running to catch up to them when she remembered that she had left her ring at the fountain. Then she looked back and, as she did not see the bogeyman, she returned [to the fountain] to retrieve her ring; she searched [around] the rock, but the ring was no longer there, and she began to look here and there to see if it had fallen somewhere.
Then an old man appeared next to the fountain whom she had never seen before, and the little lame girl said to him:
Have you seen a gold ring around here?
And the old man replied:
Yes, it is at the bottom of this sack and there you will find it.
So the little lame girl went inside the sack to search for it without any suspicion and the old man, who was the bogeyman, closed the sack as soon as the she entered it, carried it on his back with the girl in it and went on his way. But instead of going toward the girl’s village, he took the other road and went to a different village. And the old man went from place to place to make a living, and on the way he said to the little girl:
When I tell you: “Sing, sack, or I’ll give you a smack”, you [will] have to sing [from] inside the sack.
And she replied affirmatively that she would do this.
And they went from village to village and wherever they went, the old man would gather the villagers and said:
Sing, sack, or I’ll give you a smack.
And the little girl sang from inside the sack:
For a gold ring
that I left by the fountain
I put myself in the sack
and in it I’ll die most certain.
And the singing sack was the admiration of the villagers, and they [all] gave him coins or food [for this act].
Then the old man arrived with his sack at a house where the girl was known to them but he did not know this; and as usual, he put the sack down on the ground in front of the spectators and said:
Sing, sack, or I’ll give you a smack.
And the girl sang:
For a gold ring
that I left by the fountain
I put myself in the sack
and in it I’ll die most certain.
So when the people in the house heard the girl’s voice, they ran to call her sisters, and the sisters came and recognized the voice, and they told the old man that they would give him lodging that night in their parents’ house; and the old man, thinking of dining for free and sleeping in [a comfortable] bed, went with them.
So the old man got to the house and they [began to] serve him dinner, but [as] there was no wine in the house, they said to the old man:
There next door is a tavern where they sell fine wine; if you would do us the favor, go buy [some] wine with these coins that we give you while we finish preparing dinner.
And the old man, who saw the coins, hurried to get the wine thinking of the great charity that he would receive.
After the old man had gone, the parents took the girl out of the sack, who told them everything that had happened to her, and then they put her in the sisters’ room so that the old man would not see her. Then they grabbed a dog and a cat and put them in the sack in place of the girl.
The old man returned after a short while, and he ate and drank and then went to bed. The old man got up the next day, took his money [alms] and set out for another village.
When he got to the other village, he gathered the people and announced as usual that he had with him a sack that sang, and as in the other times, a circle of people formed and he collected coins [for the upcoming acts], then he said:
Sing, sack, or I’ll give you a smack.
But lo and behold, the sack did not sing and the old man repeated:
Sing, sack, or I’ll give you a smack.
And the sack still did not sing and now the people began to laugh at him and also [began] to threaten him.
The old man was now most wearied and repeated for the third time, and he thought of giving the lame little girl a severe punishment if she did not open her mouth this time:
Sing, sack, or I’ll give you a smack!
And the sack [again] did not sing.
So the old man, [being] furious, started hitting and kicking the sack to make it sing. But it happened that on feeling the blows, the cat and the dog became infuriated and began meowing and barking, and the old man opened the sack to see what was going on. [At this] the dog and the cat jumped out of the bag, and the dog bit him on the nose and ripped it off, and the cat scratched his face so badly, and the villagers, thinking that he had wanted to make fun of them, measured [hit] his ribs with sticks and rods and left him so bruised that he is still being treated today.
And my friends, that is how this story ends.
[Nguyen: Happy July 4th, and nhớ cô Sơn =( ]
—– VOCABULARY —–
A todo correr – at full speed
Afueras – outskirts, outside
Acordar – to remind, to agree, to remember
Acostarse – to go to bed
Al lado – nearby
Al ponerse a lavar – when washing
Algarrar – to grab, to take hold of, to grip
Alcanzar – to reach, to catch
Amenazar – to threaten
Andar – to walk, to go, to be
Aperecer – to appear, to turn up
Apresurar – to hurry, to speed up, to quicken
Arañazos – scratches
Arrancar – to tore off, to pull out
Atrás – behind, backward
Burlar – to cheat, to evade, to get past; burlar de – to mock, to tease, to joke
Carga – cargo, freight, load
Cara – face
Cenar – to have supper, to have dinner
Cerrar – to close
Cesto – basket, hamper
Cogieron – they grabbed; coger – to grab, to take
Coja – lame
Cojita/cosita – little thing, cutie
Concurrencia – audience, spectators, turnout
Consigo – with him, with her
Corro – ring, circle
Costal – sack, bag
Costillas – back, ribs
Costumbre – custom, habit, usual
De balde – for free
De pronto – suddenly, all of a sudden
Delante – in front, ahead
Demás – others, the rest
Emprender – to start, to embark on, to undertake
En torno – around
Enfurecieron – they [were] enfuriated
Escamado – wearied, cautious
Escarmiento – lesson, punishment
Espalda – back
Fondo – bed (of river), bottom, background
Fuente – fountain, spring, source
Golpe – hit, blow
Guardar – to put away, to save, to keep
Había – there was
Haría – she would do (hacer)
Junto – together, nearby
Ladrar – to bark
Lavar – to wash, to launder
Llenar – to fill
Llevar – to carry, to take, to bring, to lead
Lucir – to wear, to shine
Magullar – to bruise
Matrimonio – marriage, married couple
Maullar – to meow
Medir – to measure,
Meter – to put, to stick, to involve
Meterse – to go in, to put, to stick
Metida – stuck
Mordisco – bite
Nariz – nose; narices
No vaya a ser que – in case, just in case; lest
Palos – sticks, rods
Patada – kick
Pero en vez – but instead
Piedra – stone, rock
Poner – to put, to add, to give (pusieron)
Por el camino – along the way
Posada – inn, lodging
Posó – to put down; posar
Prenda – garment, item of clothing
Pues anda – well, go
Quedar – to stay, to remain, to be (located at)
Querer – to want, to love, to mean, to try
Quitó – s/he removed; quitar – to remove
Recoger – to gather, to collect, picked up, collected
Recuperar – to recover
Regalaron – they gave
Reírse de – to laugh at
Retrasar – to postpone, to delay
Sacar – to take out, to remove
Seguía – was still, continued
Sentir – to feel
Sopapo – slap, smack
Suelo – ground, soil, land, floor
Taberna – tavern, bar
Todavía – still, yet
Trabajador – hard-working, worker, employee
Vara – sticks, rods
Vaya a ser – going to be
Vete – (you) go, a form of irse
Ya – already
Y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado – And they all lived happily ever after.