072. Colliers In The Palace (Los Carboneros En El Palacio)
Once upon a time there was a childless couple who lived hand-to-mouth as coal miners. Not a day passed by without them having quarrels, sometime started by one, and other times started by the other. Once, a priest arrived at their hamlet and preached a sermon on Adam and Eve and, after listening to this, the husband had in his head this idea that a woman, that first one, was the cause of all misfortunes in the world. And since then, rare was a day in which the husband did not mention the name Eve in that house.
– If I had been the Death Angel, I would have killed her and ended it right there. Women are good for nothing! (Note: the original text is ‘¡Mujer había de ser para cosa buena!’, which I’m not sure how best to translate it)
Most of the time the wife did not reply to the collier. However, once in a while, she would snap back:
– Well, this Eve was also your mother, who brought you into this world. If she had been alone, maybe she would not have sinned. But what a wimp that Adam was! One sinned out of curiosity and the other out of gluttony, but they did both eat the apple with skin and all.
They were in one of those altercations when a king on a hunting trip happened to pass by. Upon finding out the cause of this heated dispute, he told them:
– Come, troubled ones, and stay at my palace.
Somewhat embarrassed for being poor, but also happy [due to the invitation], they both went with the king. As soon as they entered the palace, the king ordered them new clothes and put them in his available housings and dining halls; all that he offered them seemed like a dream to them. All in all, the king ordered his servants to put away their old and smoke-colored clothes with care. For their comfort, he made them owners of a wide and eye-catching space, filled with trees and fruit trees, inside one of the immense gardens which resembles the palace.
Speaking of how they are now, more than once the husband had said to the wife:
– How many times have you and I scolded one another because of Eve? Well look, thanks to my insistence we have what we have now. Because if the king had not found us scolding one another, at this moment I would still be blowing on that pyre of woods, and you on the beans in that stew pot.
The king came to visit them from time to time, and as is natural, every time he would find his protégé happier and cheerful due to their luck.
One day, a servant of the king called on them at their house, bringing a small box made of fine wood.
– The king, my master, says in his name that you are granted this beautiful box, but with the condition that you will never open it, because if not, you will lose your happiness.
Upon leaving the small box on the dining table, the servant left after making three bows to the couple.
The first thing which occurred to the wife was to think “What could be inside this little box?” She was full of curiosity, and when no longer able to restrain herself, she commented to her husband, and he told her thus:
– Proceed with care, woman, when you touch this box.
The following day, the little box continued to be on the dining table and they paid no attention to it. And the day after, the wife approached the box and, picking it up in her hands, she said:
– What is inside this beautiful box for which the king had given us?
– Put it down, woman, and be careful – he said.
But she insisted:
– Come now, we will only open it just a tad, just enough for one small ray of light to enter.
– Don’t do it! – said he.
– No one is going to know – she protested.
But in the end they left it alone on the table. At noon, after a sumptuous lunch as by custom since the day they arrived at the palace, they went for a walk in the garden. As the wife could not forget about the box, she talked about it with her husband until she convinced him that they would only lift the lid just enough so a small ray of light could enter. One would lift the lid and the other would look inside, only for a second.
– Come, husband, you open it.
– No way, that I am unable to!
– Such a wimp, that’s who you are! Then I will open it a little and you will take a look.
As soon as the wife opened the box, out ran from it a diminutive long-tailed mouse, which jumped on the table, escaped to the kitchen floor and disappeared in some bushes beside the door. The husband and wife hurriedly gave chase, but could not locate it. Just then the king arrived next to them on tiptoe, coughed lightly and, upon seeing him, they became pale and colorless from the fear that arose from within.
– What is it that you two are doing with such eagerness? – the king asked.
– Sir, as now we are no longer colliers and have free time on our hands – said the wife, – we entertain ourselves in whatever way we can.
The king then entered the house and went directly to the box and opened it, and the husband upon seeing this, said to his wife in a whisper:
– We are done for!
The king looked inside the box and, turning toward them, asked?
– How come the box is empty?
Neither knew how to respond to him.
– Where is the little mouse? – the king continued to question.
– Sir- the husband finally mustered up his courage to reply – it is not my fault. My wife, curious in knowing what was in the box…
– Eve, always Eve – the king interrupted him by addressing the wife.
And then addressing the husband:
– And Adam, always Adam.
Without saying anything else, the king left the house; just then the servant who had brought the box entered and said:
– The king, my honorable lord, had told me to bring you your old clothes. Put them on and go to your house where you had come from.
And the two colliers, wearing their old and smoke-colored clothes, spent the rest of their remaining days, until death, tending to the fire from their pyre of firewood.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Acalorado – (temperature) hot; (passionate) heated; (angry) worked up
Afán – (yearning) eagerness, desire; (hard work) effort
Ahumado – (of colors) smoky; (darkened) smoked (glass), tinted (glasses, lenses)
Aldea – small village, hamlet
Al momento – at once, straight away
Almozar – to have lunch, to eat lunch
A lo mejor – maybe, perhaps
Altercado – fight, altercation
Alubia – bean
Ancho – (dimension) wide, broad
Apuro – (in a rush) in a hurry; (lacking money) short, hard up; (ashamed) embarrassed
Avergonzado – ashamed, embarrassed
Cajita – small box, little box
Calzonazos – (man who is dominated by his romantic partner) henpecked husband, wimp
Carbonera – coal cellar (room); coal bunker (container)
Carbonero – coal merchant; collier
Cazador – hunter
Comedor – dining room, dining hall; (feeding on something) eating
Contener – (to enclose) to contain
Corresponder – (to befit) to be right, to be appropriate; (to be equivalent to) to correspond to
Cuitado – (troubled) worried; (shy) timid
De puntillas – on tiptoes
Desgracia – misfortune, tragedy
Desocupado – (idle) free, not busy
De vez en cuando – once in a while
Directo – (undeviating) direct, straight
Disposición – availability, disposal; (placement) layout, arrangement
Dueño – owner, proprietor, landlord
En pos – towards, after, in pursuit, toward, in order
Enterarse de – to find out
Escurrirse – to escape, to slip away
Frutal – fruit tree
Glotón – gluttonous, greedy
Gresca – (quarrel) row, uproar; (commotion) ruckus, rumpus
Inclinación de cabeza – nod, bow
Insistencia – (act of insisting) insistence; (perseverance) persistence
Interrumpir – (to stop) to interrupt; (to adjourn) to cut short
Ligeramente – slightly, somewhat
Lo que pasa es que – the thing is, it’s just that, the problem is; well, you see; the fact is that
Mandar – to dispatch, to send
Más de una vez – more than once
Matorral – thicket, bushes
No dejar de – to keep; not; not stop; not to stop; not quit
Opíparo – sumptuous
Pecado – (immoral act) sin; (offense) sin, crime
Pira – pyre
Poquito – a little bit
Por causa de – because of, due to
Protegido – protected; (sponsored person) protégé
Puchero – cooking pot, stew pot
Puntilla – (final blow) coup de grâce
Pusilánime – (frightened) pusillanimous, fainthearted, coward
Rabilargo – long-tailed
Regocijado – joyful, cheerful, merry
Regañado – (reprimanded) scolded
Solaz – relaxation, rest; (comfort) solace
Soplar – (to expel air) to blow
Susto – scare, fright
Susurro – whisper
Toser – to cough
Vistoso – eye-catching, flashy, bright and colorful