010. Prince Thomas (El Príncipe Tomás)
There was [once] a king with a son who recently turned fourteen years old, and both were in [had] the habit of going to the gardens of an abandoned palace every afternoon. There was a beautiful fountain in those gardens where they both used to sit for a long time before setting out on their return journey. The people of that place said that the palace was inhabited by three witches who were sisters and whose names were Blanca, Rosa and Celeste, but they never saw them in all those times they went there.
One afternoon, the king took a beautiful rose with petals that looked like velvet from the fountain, and he presented it to the queen.
The queen liked the gift so much that she decided to keep the rose in a small wooden box that she left in the room that preceded their bedchamber.
At midnight while the monarchs were asleep, they were woken up on hearing a voice which said:
Open me, king!
Surprised, the king sat up in bed and asked the queen, who was sleeping by his side:
Did you say something?
I did not – replied the queen.
Well I thought you were calling for me – said the king, and he returned to sleep.
A short time later the king heard it again:
Open me, king!
So he rose and after going around the bedchamber, he went into the preceding room and opened the wooden box with the rose, for it was where the voices came from.
On opening the box, the rose, which was the same witch Rosa from the abandoned palace, began to grow until she transformed into a princess and said to the king that he had to marry her and kill the queen.
That is not something that I can do – said the king.
Well, you’ll do it -said the witch – or you will die. Within the hour.
The king did not want to kill the queen for anything in the world, so he took her in his arms and hid her in a remote cellar of the palace. The queen, when she found herself locked in the cellar, began to pray to Saint Joseph, thinking that the king had gone mad; and in the meantime, the king returned to his bedchamber.
The morning after this event, Prince Tomás got up and entered his parents’ bedchamber, as was his custom, to say good morning to them. But as soon as he saw the woman sleeping next to his father, he said:
This is not my mother!
And the woman sat up straight in bed and shouted at him:
Shut up or you will die!
Then the witch got up and announced to all the servants in the palace that she was Queen Rosa and she would kill anyone who did not obey her.
[Prince] Tomás, saddened and not knowing what to do, escaped from the palace. And when he was walking through the cellars he heard wailing which sounded to him to be his mother’s. Then he searched by ear, and after a while, he found the remote cellar where his mother was [being] locked up; Tomás saw that he couldn’t open the door but he promised her that he would bring her food, and she [in turn] promised that she would entrust him to Saint Joseph in her prayers, to whom she was devoted.
Meanwhile, everyone in the palace lived in fear of Queen Rosa.
One day, the witch began to think that she had to get rid of Prince Tomás, and [so] she sent for him.
Tomás! – she said -. Go and fetch me some water from the fountain in the abandoned palace’s gardens.
Prince Tomás had no choice but to obey, and taking along a pitcher, he set out on his way to the fountain. And on the way, an old man came to him and said:
Tomás, I know what they have ordered you to do, so listen to me well: get the water from the fountain without stopping nor getting off the horse, and don’t look back when you hear they call your name.
Tomás arrived at the fountain, filled the pitcher without getting off his horse; and [just] as the old man had told him, he heard two women’s voices calling for him, but he paid no attention to them, and without stopping his horse, he wheeled around and returned to the palace.
Queen Rosa was very surprised to see him [alive], but she immediately sent him back to the fountain to bring her three lemons which grew next to it. And Tomás again set out on his way, and again the old man came up to him, and he said this time around:
Pick the three lemons without stopping the horse nor pay attention to the voices that call for you.
This he did and returned to the palace with the three lemons. And the queen, on seeing him, was furious, and she said:
What are these lemons that you brought me, for I told you to bring me oranges! Return this instance to the fountain and don’t come back without them!
Again it happened as on the other two previous occasions and the old man told him to take the oranges on the run [without dismounting]. So he returned with the oranges and the queen, exasperated with him, threw him out of the palace.
Tomás then went down to the remote cellar to say goodbye to his mother, ordered a faithful servant to regularly bring her food and water, and left [the palace] to travel the world.
He set out on the road and when he had gone for a good while, the old man from the other times came to meet him and told him to heed his advice because he was about to help him. As a first step, the old man turned him[self] into an angel and then said to him:
Now we are going to go to the abandoned palace of the witches; there we will find two women who would tell me to leave you with them so that they could show you around the palace; they are Blanca and Celeste, the two sisters of queen Rosa. You will say to me: “Papa, leave me here!”, and I will leave you with them; they would [then] show you around the entire palace except for one room; you will beg them to allow you to see it, and once inside, act as you see fit.
They arrived at the palace and it happened as the old man had told him. They showed him all but one room. Tomás insisted that he would like to see it and they told him that there was nothing of interest inside, and moreover it was [already] very late and they would have to deal with a young man named Tomás who was about to come and whom they were going to hang from a tree. But he insisted so much and with so many pleas that he became an angel [sounded like an angel to them], that at last they let him entered and [there] he saw the room was completely covered with black cloths; in the center was a table with three large, lighted candles on it, [and] that was all there was [to it]. Prince Tomás asked the two women what those candles were doing there and Celeste told him:
This candle is my life, and the next is the life of my sister Blanca, and the last is the life of my sister Rosa, who is now queen. When these candles go out, our lives [, too,] will be extinguished.
Then Tomás blew out the first two candles and there Blanca and Celeste died. He then took the third candle and went out of the palace, where the old man was waiting for him, and the latter said:
You have done what I expected you to do. Now let us go to your father’s palace. You must know that I am St. Joseph, to whom your mother prays and to whose pleas I have come to help you.
So they returned to the palace and Prince Tomás asked to see his father. When he saw him, he said:
Father, whose life do you prefer [to have], my mother’s or that of queen Rosa?
The king replied:
[Of course] I want your mother’s.
Then give this candle a blow – said Tomás, showing him the third candle.
The king quickly approached the candle and blew hard, and Queen Rosa died immediately without even a groan.
Then the king and Tomás went down to the remote cellar where the king had hidden the queen to free her, as she could now come out, and the three embraced each other and the whole kingdom rejoiced at the death of the three witches, most especially that of queen Rosa, who was the one who had done them the most harm among the three. Then they searched for the old man throughout the palace to give him their thanks, but St. Joseph had disappeared without anyone being able to account for him.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Abrazar – to hug
Acercarse – to approach
Actuar – to act
Acudir – (to occur to) to come, (to attend) to go to, (to consult) to turn to
Alcoba – bedroom
Anciano – elderly
Anteceder – to come before, to precede
Apagar – to turn off, to put out
Apearse – to get off
Apesadumbrado – sorrowful, sad
Atemorizado – frightened, intimidated
Atender – to look after, to attend to
Bellísimo – really beautiful
Brazo(s) – arm(s); (animal) front leg(s)
Cajita – little box
Callar – to keep quiet; to shut up
Carrera – dash, run
Catorce – fourteen
Coger – to grab, to take, to get
Colgar – to hang, (to abandon) to give up
Consejo – advice, counsel
Crecer – (to increase in size) to grow, to expand
Criados – servants
Cubierta – cover; cubierta de paños – cloth cover
Cumplir – to turn; to achieve
Daño – damage, hurt, harm
Dar con – to find, to track down
Dar cuenta de – (to recount) to give an account of; to report, to explain about
Dar vueltas – to go around
Dejar encargado – left in charge of
Delantera – front; lead
Dentro – inside, in, within
De nuevo – again, once again
Desaparecer – to disappear
Desesperar – to drive crazy, to exasperate
Deshacerse de – to get rid of
Despedirse de – to say goodbye to
Despertar – to wake up, to arouse
Detenerse – (to cease movement) to stop
Disponerse – to prepare, to get ready
Emprender – to undertake, to start
Encendido/a – lit, on (not off)
Encerrarse – to lock oneself up
Encomendar – to entrust, to commend; encomendarse – to entrust oneself to
Encontrarse – to be, to feel, to find oneself; encontrar – (to retrieve) to find, to discover
Enderezarse – to sit up straight; to stand up straight;
Enseñar – to teach; to show
Entretanto – meanwhile, in the mean time
Esperar – to wait for, to hope, to expect
Exhalar – (to emit) to heave, to utter
Extrañarse – to be surprised
Fiel – faithful, loyal
Franquear – (to open) to clear, to go through,
Fuente – fountain, spring
Grupa – (animal anatomy) hindquarters
Hacer caso de – to pay attention to
Has de saber – you have to know
Incorporarse – to sit up; (to unite) to join; to report for work; incorporar – to incorporate, to add, to include
Jarro – jug, pitcher
Lecho – bed
Le salió al paso el anciano – he met the old man
Limón – lemon
Lucir – (to give off light) to shine
Madera – wood, timber
Mandar llamar – to send for, to call for
Medianoche – midnight
Medida – step
Mostrar – to show, to display; mostrarse – (to appear) to seem, to act
Naranja – (fruit) orange
No les hizo caso – s/he ignored them
Obedecer – to obey
Oración – prayer
Parezca – look like; look; paracer
Porfiar – to insist; to argue
Ponerse furioso – to get furious
Presuroso – quick, hasty, speedy
Quejido – groan, moan, whine, cry
Recién – just, recently, only just
Recorrer – to travel around
Regresar – to return
Rezar – to pray (intransitive verb); to recite (transitive verb)
Servirse – (to make use of something) to use; (to serve oneself) to help oneself
Soler – (with infinitive) to use to (in past tense); to tend to; usually (as adverb);
Soplar – to blow
Soplo – (blast of air) blow, puff, gust
Sorprender – to surprise
Sótano – basement; cellar
Suceso – event, incident
Suplicar – to beg, to plead, to implore
Terciopelo – (material) velvet; (Costa Rica, Venezuela) pit-viper
Vámonos – let’s go
Vela – candle, sail (part of a boat)
Volver a salir – again, to get back out there
Volver a suceder – to happen again
Volver la vista atrás – to look back