086. The Ring of “Right Here” (El Anillo de “Por Aquí”)
Once upon a time there was a very pretty and very poor girl, who used to go to the mountains everyday to collect firewood to sell and to [prepare meals to] eat. One time she was keeping herself entertained by picking up branches here and there that by the time she realized it, night was already upon her. She tried to quickly go back to her house because she was afraid of the dark forest, but as she did not see the way, she got lost.
“Oh My God!” she said, “what is going to become of me now!”
She walked and walked from one place to another, becoming more and more afraid as she listened to the sounds of the forest, which all seemed threatening to her… and at this moment, she seemed to see a very small [faint] light in the distance. She began to walk in that direction with the hope of encountering someone and arrived at a house where a giant sat at its door.
She was filled with fright and her legs trembled upon seeing the giant, but the giant had already seen her and she understood that she wouldn’t be able to escape [from him]. Then, plucking up her courage, she approached the giant and humbly said to him:
– Señor giant, have compassion on me. I am lost in the forest and am very tired, and I don’t have any place to spend the night. If you would do me the favor and take me in…
And the giant replied:
– Ah, surely I will do that, with great pleasure!
He [then] turned to the door and said:
– Door, open yourself!
The door opened and they entered the house. And when they entered, the giant said to the door:
– Door, close yourself!
And the door closed behind them.
The girl saw that they were in the giant’s kitchen and that a large fire was burning on the stove that lit up the whole room; a chain was hung above the flame and on one side was an enormous cauldron with a handle and a hook to hang it from the chain. The giant sat [down] next to the fire and the girl was able to see him well: he was of dark complexion, fierce-looking, hairy, with long canines…. and he had only one eye in the middle of his forehead. The girl was even more afraid than before, but she hid it as well as she could. The giant, who seemed very content, ordered [her] to prepare dinner:
– Take a ram [sheep] and prepare dinner for me with that pot you see over there. From now on you will live with me. And if one day you plan to escape, instead of mutton I will eat you instead, which would surely be much tastier.
The girl immediately put herself to making dinner without complaining, and the giant, as soon as he saw that she was resigned to her fate, went to sleep for a while in his bed.
– As soon as you have dinner made, bring it to my room.
[Then] The giant left and, in a short while, she could hear him snoring loudly. The girl prepared dinner and later put in the fire a sharp [piece of] iron that she found around there. When the dinner was ready, she ate first and then went to look around the house. There were many sheepskins hung on the wall, and on opening the door leading into the kitchen, she saw that it was the door of an enclosed pen and in it were many sheep, which were cared for by the giant.
The girl then returned to the wood stove, picked up the iron, which was red hot by then, and went to the giant’s room with it. The giant was sleeping soundly and continuing to snore like before – making a tremendous noise -, so the girl approached him stealthily, got next to him, raised the iron and pierced [thrust] it in his only eye.
The howl of the giant on feeling the iron [being pierced into his eye] was such that the house almost fell on them. He jumped on the bed and began to run from one side to another punching and kicking as much as the pain caused him. But he immediately went crazy searching for the girl, and the first thing he did was to stand in front of the door so that she would not be able to leave the house. The girl hid herself in the [sheep] pen, but the pen did not have a way out so that [in order] to leave there was no other door than the one being guarded by the furious giant.
At this, the sheep began to leave the pen into the kitchen and entered [together] tightly. The giant, as he was blind, was not able to see them, but he felt them with his hands when they passed under his legs. The girl then took one of the sheepskin, covered herself with it and put herself among the sheep. When she passed under the giant, he believed it was a sheep and let her passed. As soon as she was outside, the girl threw away the [sheep]skin and began to run away, [all the while] shouting joyfully:
– I’m out! I’m out!
When the giant realized that the girl had escaped, he went to her holding his anger [in check] and, with a smile, said to her:
– Wait child, do not run, now that I cannot do anything to you as I am not able to see you. I recognize that you are very ingenious and that you have won me over, so I [will] pardon you. And as proof that I have forgiven you, I gift you the ring that I love most.
The giant’s ring fell on the grass shining as if it was a glowworm. The girl, fearful that it was a trap, stared at it, but did not go near it. The giant, meanwhile, had sat quietly at the door to his house. And the ring shone brightly and was so pretty that the girl could not resist it, because she had never seen anything like it in her life, so she approached it carefully to pick it up. As soon as she did, the ring was fastened to her finger. And the poor girl was looking at it with rapt attention when, at that very instant, the ring began to sing:
– I am right here! I am right here!
The giant heard it, sprang to his feet in a leap that shook the house and the forest, ran after the girl shouting ferociously and swearing that he would eat her without [even] waiting to cook her. And the ring guided him by singing:
– I am right here! I am right here!
The girl made great efforts to remove it from her finger, but she was not able to. Then she got to a river that had a strong current and the giant was already upon her, following the ring’s sound. As there was not a way to cross the river, the poor girl, in her desperation, remembered the small razor that she always carried with her to clean leaves off the branches she collected in the forest; without thinking twice, she took it out, opened it and, with a single slash, she cut off the finger with the ring. Then she grabbed it and threw it into the water. And the ring, in the water, shouted still:
– I am right here! I am right here!
The giant followed the voice and fell into the river; and as the current was very strong, it carried him with it into a large whirlpool, which swallowed him up in no time.
The girl then returned to the giant’s house, gathered together all the sheep, brought them to her hut and was never poor ever again.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Aguantar – (to withstand) to bear, to take, to support; (to tolerate) to put up with
Ajustar – (to embed) to fit; (to fasten) to tighten, to fit; (to fix) to adjust, to regulate
Apretadamente – tightly
Arder – (to be on fire) to burn; (to be at high temperature) to be boiling hot
Asa – (grip) handle; (botany) juice
Aspecto – appearance, look
Bramido – (sound some animals make) bellow, bellowing, roar, roaring; howling
Brillar – (to gleam) to shine, to sparkle, to glisten, to glitter
Cadena – (joined links) chain; (succession) series, chain
Carnero – (animal) ram; (culinary) mutton;
Cautelosamente – cautiously
Colmillo – canine, eyetooth; (of an animal) fang, tusk
Colocarse – to stand, to sit; (to get a position) to get a job; (to apply) to put on
Disimular – (to hide emotion or thoughts) to hide, to conceal; (to hide a defect) to cover up, to hide
Dormir a pierna suelta – to sleep like a log, to sleep like a baby
Embelesado – spellbound; enraptured, entranced, captivated
En prueba de – as a demonstration of; as proof of
Estancia – (visit) stay; (large room) room;
Estrépito – (bang) crash, racket, din; (showiness) fuss, fanfare
Fiero – (violent) fierce, ferocious; (atrocious) fierce, cruel; (not domesticated) wild, fierce, ferocious
Fogón – stove, wood stove
Frente – forehead
Gancho – hook; hanger
Gusano – worm; (lava) maggot, caterpillar
Hacer de tripas corazón – to bite the bullet; to pluck up the courage; to grin and bear it
Hierba – herb, grass
Hoja – (botany) leaf, blade; (paper) sheet, page
Llama – flame
Lumbre – (flames) fire; (brightness)
Navaja – (blade) razor, penknife
Navajita – a small clasp-knife
Olla – (cookware) pot
Oveja – sheep
Patada – (thrust of the foot) kick
Pender – (to be suspended) to hang; (to loom, use with ‘sobre’) to hang over
Pierna – leg
Por poco se cae – almost falls over
Puñetazo – hit, punch
Puntiagudo – pointed, sharp
Quedarse mirando – (to look fixedly) to stare
Rechistar – to complain
Recogerse – (to go to one’s place) to go home; (to go to sleep) to go to bed;
Reconozco – I know that, I admit that
Remolino – (rotating movement) eddy (small), whirl (of dust or smoke), swirl (of dust or air)
Roncar – to snore
Sonrisa – (expression) smile
Suelta – (liberation) release
Tajo – (wound) cut, slash (long and thin); (geography) steep cliff, sheer drop
Temeroso – fearful, frightened
Tragar – (to ingest) to swallow; (to absorb) to soak up
Trampa – trap, snare
Tremendo – tremendous, enormous
Tripas – guts, innards, stomach
Vistazo – (peek) look, quick look, glance