009. The Lavender Flower (La Flor Del Cantueso)
Once upon a time there was a widower who had a very beautiful daughter whom he adored. He loved her so much that, to avoid upsetting her, he never thought of remarrying so that he wouldn’t have to give his daughter a stepmother.
Very close to the widower’s house lived a widow with two daughters. The widow was eager to remarry and had set her eyes on the widower, but the latter, true to his intention, never gave her a chance to talk about the matter. The widow, who thought of nothing else, devised a plan to win over the daughter with flattery and gifts and did it with such care and skill that the girl could not but end up proposing marriage with the neighbor to her father, for she was a good daughter and did not wish to have her father remained single forever because of her.
So the wedding between the widower and the widow took place and they all went to live in the house of the former; life passed by with great happiness from parents and daughters at first, but in a few months, what seemed a paradise became hell. The stepdaughters were not only envious of one another, but they both were even more envious of the widower’s daughter, who not only was the most beautiful but also the one whom everyone liked the most; and the stepmother, who could not stand her, only spent time to reprimand her continuously. All in all, between those three they made her life impossible to such an extent that the girl took the decision to go live with an aunt of hers, who had the reputation of a witch among the residents in that vicinity.
Her father, naturally, was very upset, but he did not complain because, although he loved his daughter much more than the others, in order to not give rise to envy he always treated the three equally; however, he went to the aunt’s house to see his daughter for a little bit everyday.
The fact is that one day the widower had to go to the fair at a nearby locale and he asked the stepdaughters what they wanted him to bring them, and the eldest asked for an embroidered shawl and the second one [asked for] a silk dress; but when he went to the house where his daughter was [staying] to ask her the same question, the daughter told him that she only wanted a bag of lavender seeds.
Only that? – said the father -. Look, merchants from all over [the country] come to the fair and there are all sort of things that you can choose from.
But she insisted:
I want nothing more than what I have asked you
, [and she did so] because her aunt had told her to do this.
So the father went to the fair and brought back what each had asked for.
The daughter immediately sowed the seeds in a flowerpot, which she tended to with great care, and in a short time she had a magnificent lavender plant ready to bloom. And every night, at twelve o’clock sharp, she put the flowerpot on her window and sang:
Son of king, come now
for the lavender flower
is blooming.
And right away a bird would come and rolled in the soil of the pot, [then] turned into a very handsome lad, entered the room, sat down beside her and they would spend the night talking until dawn; and at dawn, he would turn into a bird again and flew away; but on leaving, he would always drop a bag of coins. This happened night after night, so that before long the two women had collected a great deal of money and the aunt bought for the girl many beautiful things which she desired, so that she soon gathered fame for living luxuriously in the locality.
Naturally, it did not take long for her fame to reach the ears of the stepmother who, being envious [of her luxurious way], racked her brains trying to guess how it was possible that they had so much money to spend.
And she told her eldest daughter:
There must be something strange going on at your stepsister’s house, because she spends a lot and her aunt does not have the means to support so much spending; so you have to go visit her and try to spend the night in her house to see what you can find out.
So the eldest daughter did what her mother told her and went to her stepsister’s house; but she did not see anything during the day, and [as] she fell asleep at night, she didn’t find out anything.
Then the stepmother sent the younger of her daughters on the same mission and that same afternoon she went to her stepsister’s house and told her that, as her sister had stayed the night before, she had come tonight to keep her company because they would never see one another otherwise. And the girl, who was of excellent character, took in her stepsister as she did the previous night and asked her to stay with her.
So they spent the day together, and when night came, they retired to bed; this time the younger daughter, forewarned by her mother, pretended to sleep but took great care to not do so. And the other, believing that she was asleep, brought her lavender plant to the window and sang when it was midnight:
Son of king, come now
for the lavender flower
is blooming.
Having said thus, the bird came and, transformed into a man, sat down beside her and they talked through the night; and at dawn he left, leaving the bag of money [with her]. All of this was seen by the younger daughter, and the next morning she returned to her house and told her mother about it.
Aha! – said the mother -. I already said that this spending had to come from somewhere [else], not from her aunt. But don’t worry, [for] she’s going to run out of it [soon].
And she sent her daughter to go see her stepsister the following night. She gave her some blades to bury in the soil of the lavender pot with edges facing upward; so that the daughter went to see her stepsister [once more] and told her:
I lost an earring this morning, and I come to see if I have misplaced it here.
The stepsister told her that neither she nor her aunt had seen it, but that she should enter the house and look wherever she wanted to see if she could find it. And she, taking advantage of a distraction, put the blades in the pot and then, taking out the earring which she kept in her pocket, said:
Here it is, I have found it.
and she went back to her house and told her mother that she had done everything just as she was instructed [to do].
The night arrived and when it was twelve o’clock the girl carried her flowerpot to the window and sang:
Son of king, come now
for the lavender flower
is blooming.
The bird appeared and, as usual, began to wallow in the soil of the flowerpot; but it was wounded as soon as it began to do so, and she heard its voice which said:
Aye, vile one, you have hurt me!
and [it] flew away.
The girl, stunned [by what just happened], started to cry with such grief that the plant dried up and lost all its leaves. And then she saw the blades that her stepsisters had put there and, as they were full of blood, she understood why the bird flew away saying what it said.
Her aunt came when she heard her crying and, on learning from the girl what had happened, she said to her:
Don’t cry anymore. Dress up as a doctor, take this bottle and go to such and such place, where there is a palace [at that location]. There you must ask to be allowed [in] to see the prince, who is ill, and as soon as you are with him, anoint his wounds with a feather dipped in the balm that you have in this bottle. And when he is healed, leave without revealing yourself nor accepting any payment.
So the girl did this. She dressed up as a doctor with clothes that her aunt gave her and went on her way, and [she] had to walk for days until she reached the palace where she asked to see the king to tell him that, having learnt that the prince was very ill, she would like to see if she could cure him with a balm which she brought with her.
So they brought her before the prince, whom she recognized at once, for his body was full of cuts; and she washed the wounds and later anointed them with a feather dipped in the balm. She did this the first day, and the second, and the third, [which was] when the prince got so much better that he stood up and said that he was well [again]. Then the doctor said that she must go given that the prince was cured, but the monarchs tried to keep her there, and on seeing this was not possible, they offered her many gifts, which the doctor also refused. And she only said [this] to the prince before leaving:
Remember who cured you!
So the girl went home and removed the doctor clothes that her aunt had given her, and when she went to look at the flowerpot she found that the lavender had bloomed again and it was very beautiful. And that same night, at the stroke of twelve o’clock, she carried the flowerpot to the window and sang:
Son of king, come now
for the lavender flower
is blooming.
And the prince appeared with a sword in hand, he entered the room and said to the girl:
Vile thing! Prepare to die.
Then the girl said to him:
Remember who cured you!
On hearing this, the prince recognized her as his doctor, threw the sword aside and embraced the girl.
Then the prince wanted to know who had put the blades in the soil that had wounded him and the girl told him what had happened. Then the prince told her that, for curing him, she had liberated him from the enchantment that transformed him into a bird, and he proposed to marry her and took her to his palace, where they lived happily [ever after]. And as for the stepmother and her daughters, not only were they dying of envy [figuratively], but they hated each other even more, so that their house ended up being a living hell [for them].
—– VOCABULARY —–
Abrazar – to hug, to embrace
Acabar – to finish, to end
Acabo siendo – ended up being; ser – to be
Acoger – to receive, to take in
Acordarse – to remember
Acostarse – to go to bed
Acudir – to attend, to come, to go to
Adivinar – to guess, to predict
Al principio – initially, at the beginning
Amanecer – dawn, daybreak
Anterior – previous; front; former, preceding
Aprovechar – to take advantage of; to make the most of
A punto de – about to, on the point of
Apenas – barely, hardly, as soon as
Arriba – up, above
Asunto – issue, matter
Atraerse – to attract each other, to be attracted to each other, to win
Aturdido/a – stunned, dazed
Aún – (in negative phrases) yet; (indicating time) still
Aún más – even more
Aunque – even though, although
Averiguar – to find out, to discover
Bien(es) – (possession) property, belonging
Bosillo – pocket
Bolsa – bag
Cantueso – French lavender
Casarse de nuevo – to marry again
Comerciente – merchant, shopkeeper
Contento – happy, pleased, glad
Convertirse en – to turn into, to become
Cuidar – to take care of
Dar con – to find; to track down (a person)
Dar pie – to lead to, to give grounds to, to give cause for
Debe de haber – must have
Desconsuelo – grief, distress
Descubrir – to discover, to uncover
Descubrirse – to give oneself away; to uncover, to take one’s hat off
Descuido – carelessness, negligence
Devanarse – to rack one’s brain; devanar – to wind, to reel
Disgusto – annoyance, irritation, dissatisfaction
Disponer – (to place) to arrange, (to determine) to stipulate, (to have at one’s disposal) to have
Durante – (over a period of time) during, in, for (before a specific period of time)
Echar de menos – to miss
Elegir – to choose, to select
Encargar – to order, to entrust
Encargo – order, errand
Encontrarse – to be, to feel
En cuanto – as soon as
En cuanto a – (in reference to) with regard to; as for
En punto – sharp, on the clock
Enterarse – to discover, to find out
Enterrar – to bury
Entregar – to submit, to give, to deliver, to transfer, to hand over
Entre sí – among themselves, to each other
Envidia – envy, jealousy
Esmero – care, great care
Espada – sword
Evitarse – to save oneself; evitar – to avoid, to prevent
Extraño – strange, odd
Fama – fame, reputation
Feria – fair, exhibition
Fiel – faithful, loyal
Filo – blade, edge
Fingir – to pretend, to feign
Florecer – to bloom, to blossom
Frasco – jar, bottle
Gastar – (to expend) to spend, to use
Guardar – to put away, to place, to put; (to reserve) to save, to keep
Habia hecho tal – had done such
Había puesto – s/he had put
Habilidad – ability, skill
Hasta dar con el – until you/s/he hits xyz
Herir – to wound, to hurt, to injure
Hijastra(s) – stepdaughter(s)
Hoja – (botany) leaf, (paper) sheet, page
Idear – to devise, to think up, to invent
Infame – despicable, vile
Infierno – hell
Llanto – crying, weeping
Llevarse – (to transport) to take, (to be friends) to get along, (to be fashionable)
Llevo a cabo – s/he carried out, performed; took place, held
Maceta – flowerpot,
Madrastra – stepmother
Mandar – to order, to send
Mantón – shawl
Marcharse – to go, to leave
Mejorar – to improve, to get better
Mira que – keep in mind that
Mojada – wet, damp; soaking; stab wound
No se veían nunca – they (would) never see one another
Nunca – never, ever
Ocuparse de ello – to take care of it; to deal with it
Odiar – to hate
Pájaro – bird
Paraíso – paradise
Pendiente – earring, (unresolved) pending; (not yet paid) outstanding
Pierda cuidado – rest assured, seriously, be calm
Permanecer – to stay, to remain
Ponerse en pie – to stand up
Prevenir – to warn; to prevent; to anticipate; to prepare
Procurar – to try, to make sure
Proponer – to put forward, to propose; propuso – s/he proposed
Protestar – to protest, to complain
Pudo – s/he could; pudo por menos – have to
Puesto – since, position, job; había puesto – s/he had put
Puesto que – since, given that, because, as
Quiso saber – wanted to know; querer – to want; saber – to know
Rehusar – to refuse, to deny
Reprender – to reprimand, to scold
Responder de – to take responsibility for, to vouch for
Retener – (to restrain from leaving) to keep, to retain, to hold
Retirarse – to retire, to leave
Reunir – to gather, to collect
Revolcarse – to roll around, to wallow
Sanar – to cure, to heal, to recover
Saquito – bag, small sack
Secarse – to dry oneself off, to dry
Seda – silk
Sembrar – to plant, to sow
Sesos – brains
Simiente – seed
Sino – but; save, except
Soportar – (to tolerate) to stand, to put up with; to endure, to bear; to support
Suceder – to happen, to go on, to succeed, to follow
Tal – such
Tampoco – neither, nor
Tiesto – flowerpot, bowl
Tirar – to throw, to throw away
Total – in summary, in short, so, all in all, in the end
Transcurrir – to elapse, to pass, to go by; to occur, to take place
Tratar – to try, to treat, to address
Un rato – for a while, for a bit
Untar – to spread, to smear, to grease; untarse – to smear, to cover
Ve – go, see
Ventana – window
Vestir – to wear, to dress
Viudo – widower, widowed
Volar – to fly, to rush off
Ya – already, now;
Zalamería – flattery