005. The Repentant Thieves (Los Ladrones Arrepentidos)
A hermit lived in solitude in a hermitage hidden away in the mountain and fed himself with what he could find in the fields; when he did not forage for food, he devoted himself to praying, which took up the majority of his time. He lived in this very simple and secluded way because he was a man who had never sinned, neither in deed nor in thought, and God, being pleased with him, sent an angel to leave a [loaf of] bread in his hermitage everyday while the good man slept.
Until one day when he had gone sufficiently far away from his hermitage, [where] he crossed path with a couple of guards who were leading a prisoner, and the hermit said to the inmate:
This is how those of you who offend God see yourselves. Justice punishes you [now] and then the devil will take your soul.
And God was very offended by the hermit’s remarks since that man was imprisoned for no fault of his own, and to demonstrate his anger, he told the angel to not bring him any more bread.
When the hermit saw that the angel did not leave him any bread the next morning, just as God had ordered the angel to do so, he understood that he had committed some offense and, in that distressed state, he began to cry.
Then the angel came carrying a branch of brambles and told him:
God punishes you for your imprudence, as the prisoner whom you accused yesterday was innocent. I bring you no bread but a branch of dry brambles, which you must always wear on you and use it as a heading when you sleep; God will not pardon you until three green branches sprout from the brambles. And from now on you will not live on bread nor on the fruits from the field, but you will leave this hermitage and eat what you [can] get by way of alms.
As soon as the angel said this, the hermitage disappeared, and [along] with it the angel; and then the hermit felt the loneliness like a horrible burden, and he wept again with great sorrow.
The hermit [then] went from village to village begging for alms, and when he slept, he would use the bramble as a pillow.
Thus he lived [in this way] until one day when the night began to fall on him without sighting a house, town, nor village, and he was already desperate to find a place to sleep when he saw a light in the distance, and so he hurried towards it with the intention of taking shelter there that night.
When he reached the light [source], he saw that it came from a cave and the hermit shouted from his mouth:
Ave María!
At his shouts an old woman came out to know [ask] what he wanted, and he told her that he was only looking for a corner where he could spend the night. But that cave was a den of thieves and the old woman advised him to go away, because if the thieves came [back] they would kill him so that he would not report them [to the authority]; but on seeing the hermit’s weariness and loneliness, the old woman took pity on him, [and] because it was also a very dark night, she hid him in the depth of the cave, where the thieves wouldn’t see him as they had never gone there before.
[Later that night] The thieves came back laden with sacks, bags and chests, [and] because that day they had made a large robbery and the booty was so great that they decided to take it to the depth of the cave. And there they saw the hermit, held on to him and took him outside, and the captain of the thieves asked the old woman who that man was, and what he was doing hidden in the depth of the cave.
And the old woman answered him:
He is a [just a] poor man begging for alms, who was lost and came here searching for shelter, and he’ll leave tomorrow at daybreak.
Stupid old woman! – said the captain -. Tomorrow when he leaves, he will run away and escape to report us all. I have to kill him right now!
He drew his dagger to kill the hermit, and the woman, groaning and crying, begged him not to do it.
Don’t kill him, as he is a good man and won’t say anything!
Then the hermit stepped forward towards the captain and said:
Let him do what he wants, woman, as it will be God’s intention. I lived alone in a hermitage away from people and devoted [myself] to praying, and because I wronged a prisoner by calling him a thief when he was innocent, God had punished me to wander the world living on alms and he won’t pardon me until three green branches sprout from this dry bramble that I carry with me.
On hearing this, the captain said:
Go back to your corner and tomorrow, as soon as dawn breaks, you leave here without looking back.
The hermit went to sleep and the thieves remained pensive [thoughtful]. And the old woman said:
If God had punished him for nothing more than a bad thought, what will he not do to us, as we are thieves [ourselves]?
And the thieves continued to ponder until the captain ordered them all to go to sleep.
The next morning, when dawn barely broke, the captain went to see if the hermit had left and found him dead in his corner, with his head resting on the dry bramble, from which three green branches had sprouted. He called for the other thieves and said the parting farewell right there. The thieves and the old woman knelt down and repented on all the evil that they had done until then, then they made a pit at the entrance of the cave and buried the hermit and the bramble in it and, leaving all their treasures in the cave, they each went their separate ways to lead a new life. And the bramble grew out three branches and became larger and so tangled that it covered the cave’s entrance completely, and no one ever heard of it again.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Aconsejar – to advise, to recommend
Acostar – to put to bed, to lie down
Acusaste – you accused; acusar – to accuse, to charge
Adelantar – to move forward, to move past, to overtake
Además – besides, moreover, furthermore
Alcanzar – to reach, to catch, to achieve, to be enough
Alejar – to move away from, to keep away
Alimentar – to feed, to nourish
Almohada – pillow
Amaneció – dawn, sunrise, daybreak
Amanezca – dawn
Amargura – bitterness, sorrow
ánimo – mood, spirit, intention
Apartar – to move away, to set aside, to separate
Apenas – as soon as, barely, hardly, scarcely
Apesadumbrado – sorrowful, sad, distressed
Apoyar – to support, to rest
Arrepentirse – to repent, to regret, to be sorry
Arrodillar – to make kneel, to bring someone to his knees
Ataúd – coffin, casket
Avistar – to sight, to catch sight of
Bastante – enough, quite a lot of
Botín – plunder, booty
Broten – they sprout; brotar – to sprout, to bud, to spring up
Cabecera – headboard, heading
Cada uno por su lado – each one by his side
Cansancio – tiredness, weariness
Cargar – to load, to charge, to fill
Castigar – to punish
Cobijarse – to take shelter
Cofre – chest, trunk
Cometer – to commit
Compadecer – to pity, to feel sorry for
Complacido – pleased, satisfied
Conducir – to lead, to carry, to manage, to drive
Crecer – to grow, to increase
Cuidar – to take care of, to look after, to take care of, to make sure of
Culpa – guilt, fault, blame
De lo que buenamente – of what goodly
Demás – other, the rest, everyone else
Denunciar – to denounce, to condemn, to report, to reveal
Desesperar – to drive to despair, to make lose hope
Deshecha – farewell
Designio – intention, plan, design
Dirá – s/he will say; decir – to tell, to say
Enfado – anger, annoyance
Enmarañar – to tangle, to tangle up, to complicate
Enterrar – to bury
Ermita – hermitage, chapel, shrine
Ermitaño – hermit; hermit crab
Falta – shortage, lack; absence; offense, foul, fault
Gemir – to moan, to groan
Gritar – to scream, to shout
Habrás – you will have; haber – to have
Hoyo – hole, pit
Imprudencia – imprudence, carelessness
Lejanía – distance, remoteness
Llevar – to take, to carry, to wear
Marchar – to walk, to go, to leave
Monte – hill, mountain
Mostrar – to show, to display
Obra – work, deed
Oración – prayer, sentence, speech
Pareja – couple, pair, partner
Partida – departure
Pecado – sin, crime; pecar – to sin; to be too (to overdo)
Pensamiento – thought, thinking
Pensativo – thoughtful, pensive
Perdonar – to forgive, to pardon
Preso – prisoner
Provenir – to come from
Puñal – dagger
Que se fuera – to go away
Quedar – to be left, to remain, to be
Rama – (botany) branch
Rincón – corner, nook
Seca – dried, drought
Sencillo/a – simple
Sino que – but
Soledad – solitude, loneliness
Tal y como – just as, just like
Talego – long sack, duffel bag
Tesoro – treasure
Vagar – to wander, to roam
Volver a saber – back to know
Ya que a aquel hombre – because that man
Zarza – blackberry bush, bramble