073. The Seven Chamois (Los Siete Rebecos)
There was once a king who had seven sons and his wife was expecting an eighth child. The king had placed all his hope in the belief that the eighth will be a girl, and so great was his desire for a daughter that he announced that, if a boy was born, he would kill them all. When the queen heard him said this, she was left greatly saddened and was unable to sleep due to anxiety. So much was her concern that, at last, she gathered her seven young sons and told them thus:
– Your father, my dear sons, unreasonably expects a daughter that he had promised to kill you all if a baby girl is not born. So that this is what you are going to do: go live in the mountain and do not lose sight of the castle’s tallest tower. When the birth is announced, if it is a girl, I will hang a white flag [Note: ‘gallardete’, which translates to ‘pennant’] on a pole on that tower, and if the birth is a boy, I will tie to the pole a shiny golden sword. If you see the sword, you must not return to the palace until I tell you to.
The seven brothers went to the mountain, and from there, every day they looked at the castle’s tower with anxiety, as they want to return to their home as soon as possible.
Finally, the queen gave birth to a girl. She then called for a maid and told her to climb the tower, where she would find a sword and a pennant; that she will raise the pennant on the tallest pole so that it will fly in a way people would be able to easily see it from the mountain. However, the servant, when she arrived at the tower, had forgotten the message, and as the sword seemed more beautiful to her, she tied it to the pole and forgot about the matter.
When the brothers saw the shiny sword, they were horrified thinking of the fate awaiting them at home and decided to go far away from where they were. Thus they crossed the mountain, arrived at a dense forest and decided to remain there, living off from the abundant games and fruits.
Meanwhile, the queen was increasingly longing for her seven sons upon seeing that they had yet to return to the castle, and after a short time, began to suspect that the maid had not carried out her assigned task. She called for another servant to go to the tower and to report back on what she saw, and this maid later returned saying that there was a golden sword being tied to the pole. The queen was filled with rage, called for the first servant, flogged her as punishment, and expelled her from the castle. And the servant [in turn] swore that she would take revenge on her lady.
The king became very content as the princess grew up that, little by little, he started to forget about his seven sons. And came the day in which the girl became a beautiful young lady, one admired by everyone. As the queen had lost her seven sons, she loved her daughter dearly, spent all her time with her, and always told her the story of her lost brothers due to the evil servant. Such was the love shown by the queen toward her daughter that the king began to feel envious, believing that the queen prefers her daughter over him. And one day, the queen advised her daughter to leave the castle, lest the king in his jealous rage would kill her like he once threatened the others.
So the princess went on her worldly journey, and going here and there, she ended up arriving at a dense forest on the other side of the mountain. She found a clearing soon after entering the forest, where stood seven small houses upon which she knocked on their doors. Since no one answered her call, she decided to enter them as she was very tired from her long walk, and to her surprise, she found in each little house a table readied with cutlery, a bread roll, a glass, and in the fire, a boiling pot. As she was starving, she tasted a little from each pot, drank a little from each glass, and nibbled on each bread roll.
She felt sleepy after all this, and was ready to lay down in the bed in one of the houses when she heard the sound of people approaching close, whereupon she ran to hide herself. From her hideout she saw the arrival of seven handsome lads, each carrying his catch from the hunt. And although she had eaten very little from each table, the seven lads noticed immediately that someone had been in their houses and tasted their food.
Upon seeing that these lads were ready to search for the thief, the princess left her hiding place and asked them for their forgiveness. The seven lads, amazed by her beauty, forgave her instantly, and she told them of how she had run away from the castle and her father. They, for their part, told her that they too had to run from that same castle and their father because he had another son and had sworn to kill them all due to that. And little by little, as they continued talking, the princess realized that these lads were her brothers.
You had to see the happiness dawning on all of them when they realized the truth! Later, they continued talking and arrived at the conclusion that it was better to not return to the castle in fear of their father. Then they agreed for the princess to occupy herself with tidying up the houses, preparing meals and mending clothes, while the lads would hunt for food.
After a long while in which everyone lived merrily and happily, the evil servant appeared in the area dressed as a beggar seeking for charity donations. The young woman gave her food to eat and carried on with her chores. However, the servant, once she had eaten, entered the houses, broke all the cooking pots and escaped from there. The poor princess, when she saw this disaster, began to cry and did not stop crying until her brothers returned, upon which they consoled her and told her to not let the beggar enter any of the houses again.
The beggar returned another day and the princess did not want to deal with her, but she cried so much and insisted so much that since yesterday she had yet to have a meal, that finally with pity and compassion the princess once again gave her food to eat. And as soon as the evil servant had eaten, she again broke all the cooking pots and escaped from there.
Thus once more the brothers found her crying, once more they told her to not let her in, once more the servant returned the next day lamenting her fate, once more the princess felt sorry for her, and once more the servant managed to break all the cooking pots. The brothers were furious that they decided to hide themselves the next day and teach her a lesson once she arrived.
The evil servant indeed returned the following day, disguised as a beggar like always, and the seven brothers went up to her. But then the servant, who in actuality was a witch, threw a fistful of salt and at once the brothers turned into seven chamois. And needless to say the desperation and pain the princess felt when she saw them being transformed into animals; but, as there were no remedies, she became a shepherd to look after her brothers and treated them with such care and love as when they were men.
Time passed and the princess had now become a grown woman, and even when dressed as a shepherd she was so beautiful that angels would have also been spellbound [on looking at her]. And it happened that a young king was traveling one day through that part of the woods, looking for water to quench his thirst. Upon seeing the shepherd, blond as the sun and with delicate and lovely features, he stopped to ask her for water. And upon talking, her words seemed so sweet and her gestures and manner filled with grace that he fell in love and asked her to marry him.
The princess rejected him because she did not want to leave her brothers behind. But the more she rejected him, the more he fell in love with her; and intrigued by her action, he asked her why she, a shepherd, does not want a king for marriage.
The princess then told him that it was only because she could not leave her seven chamois as she had been taking care of them for many years, but she did not tell him that they were her seven enchanted brothers. The king told her afterward that, if that was the cause, they will be able to marry one another as the chamois could go with them to the garden at his palace, where they could live much better than in the forest and she would be able to see them everyday. And thus the princess agreed to marry the young king.
The wedding was celebrated with great pomp and in nine months the princess gave birth to a son. The king was away at the time, as he had to leave for a meeting with kings from the other kingdoms, but, when he found out, he promised to return immediately to meet his newborn son.
But it happened that the evil servant visited the castle while the king was away. And as soon as she found out where the queen was staying, she went there in search of her, grabbed the queen and her newborn and threw them both into a well in the garden. Later, she put on the queen’s nightdress and laid down in her bed to impersonate the queen. When the king returned, he found her very different from before and he asked her what had happened, and the evil servant said to him:
– It is because I have died
and can only be revived
when those chamois’s livers
I get to eat well fried.
The king was perplexed and could not understand how, after showing so much affection for those chamois, now she desired their deaths. And the king also asked her about their newborn child to know whether it was a boy or girl, but he could only obtain the response:
– Now that I have died
and can only be revived
when those chamois’s livers
I get to eat well fried.
The king, exasperated and not knowing what to do, called for the butcher and tasked him to kill the seven chamois, remove their livers and prepare them as well-fried.
The butcher and his assistants searched for the chamois but did not find them anywhere until, in a place in the garden, they saw the seven chamois gathering around the parapet of a well. Upon closing in, they heard the voice of the princess asking for help, as her clothes were hooked onto one of the irons on the well’s wall and she had not fallen to the bottom.
They ran to the king and told him what they had seen. As the king arrived at the well, he leaned out from the parapet and saw his wife hanging from the irons. He ordered his men to free her, and she told him everything that had happened. The king immediately ordered the butcher and his assistants to detain the evil servant and flay her as punishment. And no sooner than when the first drop of blood was spilled, the seven chamois transformed [back] into seven handsome young men. The princess then told the king that she was no shepherd, but a princess, and these chamois were her brothers; and she told him all of her story.
Finally, to celebrate the baptism of his newborn son the king gave a grand party whereupon all royals from neighboring kingdoms participated, including the parents of the princess and her seven brothers. And when they were gathered together the princess again told her story, and her parents listened admiringly and acknowledged them all with great happiness and felicity.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Aconsejar – to advise, to recommend
Adecentar – to tidy up
Ademanes – manners
Advertir – (to detect) to notice; (to counsel) to advise; (to forewarn) to warn
Alumbramiento – (medicine) birth, delivery; (act of illuminating) lighting
Amarrar – (to fasten) to tie, to tie up, to moor (nautical); (to secure) to clinch
Amedida que – (time) as
Atar – to tie; to tether (livestock)
Atravesar – to cross, to go through
Azotar – (to punish with a scourge) to whip, to flog
Bocado – (act of biting) bite; (portion of food) mouthful; (wound) bite; (light meal) bite, snack
Brocal – (framework around top of well) parapet, curb; (edge) rim
Bullir – (to reach boiling point) to boil, to bubble; (to be agitated) to seethe
Cada vez más – more and more
Camisón – nightdress
Celos – envy, jealousy
Cólera – (ire) anger, rage; (illness) cholera
Cuanto antes – as soon as possible
Cubierto – (tableware) piece of cutlery
Desastre – disaster
Desollar – to skin, to flay; to tear to pieces, to rip to shreds
Disfrazar – to disguise as
Distinto/a – (not the same) different; (defined) clear
En efecto – indeed; in effect
Enganchar – (to attach) to hook; (to hire) to contract
Engendrar – (to bring into the world) to produce, to have, to give birth to, to father
Entender – to understand
En torno a – around;
Entre tanto – meanwhile
Escarmiento – lesson, punishment
Esperanzar – (to cause to be hopeful) to give hope to
Extrañar – (to feel the absence of) to miss; (to amaze) to surprise; (legal) to banish
Frito – fried
Gallardete – pennant; masthead pennant
Hacer pasar – (to portray as) to pass off; (to let someone enter) to show in
Hechizar – (to hex) to cast a spell on, to bewitch
Hierros – iron
Hígado – liver
Horrorizar – (to instill fear) to terrify; (to dismay) to horrify, to appall
Incluso – (in addition to) even
Izar – to raise, to hoist
Lamentarse – (to express dissatisfaction) to complain, to grumble; (to feel sorry) to lament, to regret
Lástima – (sadness) shame, pity; (compassion) pity, sorry
Maldad – (evilness) evil, wickedness; (evil deed) wicked thing
Malvada – evil, wicked; villain, evil woman/man
Mendigar – (to ask for) to beg for; (to seek charity) to beg
Mostrar – to show, to display
No fuera a ser que – lest; lest there were
Olla – (cookware) pot
Ondear – to wave; (to move to and fro in the air) to flutter, to fly, to wave
Palo – (piece of wood) stick; (rod) post, pole
Panecillo – bread roll
Parir – to give birth
Picar – (to snack on) to eat, to nibble on; (to divide into pieces) to chop, to mince, to grind
Pozo – well
Preocupación – (anxiety) concern, worry, fear
Probar – (culinary) to taste, to try
Puesta con – set with (tableware, etc.)
Puñado – handful, fistful
Quehaceres – (domestic tasks) housework; quehacer – (small job) task, chore, work
Rasgos – features
Rebeco – chamois, a specie of goat-antelope
Recado – message; (task) errand
Rechazar – (to refuse to accept) to reject, to turn down
Reconocer – to recognize, to acknowledge
Refulgente – brilliant, shining, gleaming, radiant
Refulgir – to shine brightly; to shine
Ropa – clothing
Rubio/a – blond
Sacar – (to remove) to take out, to get out, to get off; (to expel) to remove
Sal – salt
Soltar – to let go of, to drop; (to make less tight) to loosen
Tiernamente – tenderly
Vaso – (tableware) glass, tumbler, cup