Latin American Folktales (39 page)

73.
As If with Wings, Laughlin 1971, p. 52. Mark 16:19, Acts 1:9.

74.
Slowpoke Slaughtered Four, tr. from Ramírez de Arellano, no. 22. AT type 851 The Princess Who Cannot Solve the Riddle (Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Europe, India, Middle East).

Also known as The Shepherd’s Riddle, the tale has an easily recognizable variant in the
Thousand and One Nights
: A young man down on his luck sells his parents for a suit of fine clothes and a horse. While on the road, thirsty, he drinks the horse’s sweat. Arriving at the palace of a king who has promised his daughter to anyone who proposes a riddle she cannot solve, he offers, “The water I drank was neither of earth nor of Heaven.” The princess is stumped. That night she comes to his bed and sleeps with him in exchange for the answer. She leaves her nightclothes, and the next day he catches her once and for all with the riddle, “A dove came to visit me and left its feathers in my hands.”

75.
The Price of Heaven and the Rain of Caramels, tr. from Wheeler, no. 158. Robe type 1341E [The Money in the Coffin] (Mexico) + AT type 1381B The Sausage Rain (Mexico, New Mexico, Panama, Europe, India).

The two tales are dissimilar, though in each case the trickster ends up with the money. The technique of doubling, or telling complementary tales in tandem, is a feature associated more with Indian than with Hispanic storytelling. Coincidentally, the money placed in the coffin recalls the actual custom of putting money on the chest of the corpse during a wake to help pay for food and drink (Carvalho-Neto 1961, p. 313).

76.
Pine Cone the Astrologer, tr. from Riera-Pinilla, no. 58. AT type 1641 Doctor Know-All (Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Europe, India, Middle East).

77.
The Dragon Slayer, tr. from Wheeler, no. 57. AT type 300 The Dragon Slayer (Argentina, California, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, India) + AT type 510A Cinderella (see no. 28).

Heroines in trouser roles, though not unheard of in Old World lore, are a frequent and striking feature of Latin American folk narrative. Among these, the female dragon slayer who rescues a prince in distress is surely the most unexpected. The widow who liberates three princesses and becomes general of the king’s armies (no. 52) ranks as a close second. Others are to be found in nos. 11, 25, 33, 34, 84, and 97.

Quiquiriquí: literally, cock-a-doodle-doo, the never-never land of Hispanic folktales.

Ruddy ruddy red, / My story is said (
colorín
colorado, este cuento se ha
acabado
): a formulaic closing of Spanish origin.
Colorín
means “ruddy” and by extension denotes the linnet (in Spain) or the bright red seeds of the coral-bean,
Erythrina coralloides
(in the Americas). A Spanish variant is
punto colorado,
cuento terminado
(red dot, the story is over—Taggart 1990, p. 180).

78.
Johnny-boy, tr. from Peña Hernández, pp. 222–3.

Twenty-two Roman popes: The story was collected before the reign of Pope John XXIII.

John of God (Juan de Dios), 1495–1550, founder of the Brothers Hospitalers of St. John of God, canonized 1690.

79.
The Rarest Thing, tr. from Lara Figueroa 1982, pp. 20–21. AT type 653A The Rarest Thing in the World (Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe).

In a version from New Mexico the princess is to wed the man who offers her the best gift, but when three suitors arrive, each claiming his gift is the best, she tells them to shoot arrows and bring them back to her. They’re still looking (Rael, no. 223).

80.
Prince Simpleheart, tr. from Noguera, pp. 105–14. AT type 566 The Three Magic Objects and the Wonderful Fruits (Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, Middle East).

The tapir switch adds a tropical American touch to this essentially Old World tale.

81.
The Flower of Lily-Lo, adapted from A. Paredes, no. 41. AT type 780 The Singing Bone (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, New Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, Middle East).

One of the world’s most popular folktales. Typical Old World versions have the murder revealed by a flute, harp, or other instrument made from the victim’s bones. In Spain and Latin America the crime is usually signaled by a flower, often called the Flower of Lily-Lo or Lililón.

82.
My Garden Is Better Than Ever, adapted from Foster, p. 218. AT type 175 The Tarbaby and the Rabbit (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, New Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Africa, Europe, India). The Salvadoran variant is in Schultze Jena, p. 133.

The most familiar of the Brer Rabbit stories. Widely diffused in Indo- and Hispano-America, it is generally believed to have been brought to the New World from Africa. The more elaborate (and controversial) theory of Aurelio Espinosa postulates an Indic origin, and from India two parallel routes of diffusion to the Americas, one through Africa to the Antilles and Brazil, the other through the Middle East and Spain to Mexico and Spanish South America (A. M. Espinosa 1946–47, vol. 2, pp. 163–227).

83.
Juan Bobo and the Pig, tr. from Ramírez de Arellano, no. 114. Hansen type 1704** [The Fool as Babysitter] (Cuba, Puerto Rico).

A great many Puerto Rican versions have been recorded. In most, the chicks are replaced by a baby that won’t stop crying. The fool quiets it by sticking a pin in its head.

84.
The Parrot Prince, tr. from Laval 1920, no. 9. AT type 432 The Prince as Bird (California, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, Middle East) with the addition of motif H1125 Task: traveling until iron shoes are worn out (Chile, Mexico, New Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Europe).

The remedy overheard in a conversation of animals (motif N452) is a narrative trick deeply entrenched in Old World lore and evidently known in the New World since at least the turn of the sixteenth century. It makes its American debut in a Quechua manuscript of 1608 from the province of Huarochirí in the central highlands of Peru. A rich man, according to the story, had been stricken with an incurable illness. “Wise men and sages were called in, just as the Spaniards consult learned sages and doctors, but not a single one could recognize the disease.” At that moment a poor beggar was coming over the mountain and took it into his head to lie down and rest. As he was falling asleep, two foxes arrived, one from the valley, the other from the high plains. The one from the valley said, “Brother, how are things up above?” “Just fine, just fine. But there’s a gentleman in Anchicocha [ . . . ] who is very sick, and he’s called in all the sages to tell him what the illness is and not a one can diagnose it. But I tell you, the trouble is that . . .” And having overheard the cause of the disease, the beggar comes into town, asks if anyone is ill, and proceeds to work the cure. The remedy includes removing a snake from the roof of the house and a two-headed toad from beneath the grinding stone (Trimborn and Kelm, pp. 33–7). See comment to the Mexican variant, “What the Owls Said,” no. 15, above.

And put it in ships for John, Rock, and Rick . . .: discussed above in the introductory note, p. 47.

Peumo:
a small evergreen tree (
Cryptocarya
alba
) native to Chile.

The walls have ears and the bushes have eyes: a formulaic expression widely used in European folk narrative whether or not there are walls or bushes in the story.

Chain Riddles.
I, adapted from Scott, p. 239. II, tr. from Cadilla de Martínez, p. 252. III, tr. from the Zapotec by Langston Hughes in Covarrubias, pp. 346–7. IV, tr. from A. M. Espinosa 1916, p. 516. V, adapted from Bernard and Salinas 1989, p. 103. VI, Burns, p. 18.

The first of these six patter-chants is said to be a riddle. The second, third, and fourth are nonsense rhymes used in children’s games. The fifth is recited as a story; the sixth, at the end of a story to break the spell of enchantment.

85.
A Dead Man Speaks, tr. from Pérez, pp. 94–5. Motif E235 Return from dead to punish indignities to corpse.

Latin American folklorists would call this little story a
caso,
or happening. The term used in English is “memorate,” meaning a reminiscence, especially one that includes a brush with the supernatural. A memorate is told as a factual occurrence by someone who claims to have witnessed it or, second hand, by a person who
knows
the person who witnessed it. Distanced from the original narrator, it might eventually become an “urban legend” (see no. 29).

86.
The Bear’s Son, adapted and tr. from Chapman, pp. 215–33.

One of the most popular and most variable Hispanic folktales, also known as Juan Oso (John the Bear). This gritty Honduran version is unusual for its labor-oriented reworking of narrative elements, avoiding the usual swashbuckler-wins-princess motifs, and for its poignant sociological undercurrent—a native American bildungsroman created almost entirely from Old World folkloric materials. The main elements may be summarized:

Motif B635.1 The Bear’s Son (Bolivia, California, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe).

Motif B600.2 Animal husband provides characteristic animal food (see note to no. 112, below).

AT type 157 Learning to Fear Men (Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, Middle East).

AT type 38 Claw in Split Tree (Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, Middle East).

Motif J1758 Tiger mistaken for domestic animal.

AT type 326 The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is (Bolivia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, Middle East).

Guaruma:
a large tree of Mexico and Central America,
Cecropia peltata,
with leaves like fig leaves.

87.
Charity, tr. from Chertudi, vol. 1, no. 54. AT type 841 One Beggar Trusts God, the Other the King (Argentina, Mexico, Europe, India, Middle East).

88.
Riches Without Working, tr. from Boas and Arreola, pp. 1–5. Robe type 545G [The Mouse as Helper] (Mexico).

Perhaps a remote variant of the familiar Puss-in-Boots tale (AT type 545 The Cat as Helper), which has been collected repeatedly in Mexico. The creativity of American Indian storytelling is at work here.

Hacendado:
the owner of a hacienda.

89.
Let Somebody Buy You Who Doesn’t Know You, tr. from Recinos 1918a, no. 5. AT type 1529 Thief Claims to Have Been Transformed into a Horse (Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Europe, Middle East). The Honduran variant is in Ortega.

Chiantla: a town just north of Huehuetenango, in Indian country.

Chús: short for Jesús.

Scholar Corncob:
Pascasio Taltusa,
literally, “a vacationing student, a man called corncob,” in other words, a rustic intellectual. Compare the students who try to outwit the Indian in another tale from Guatemala, no. 42, and the similarly Dickensian surnames in yet another Guatemalan story, no. 40.

90.
The Mouse King, tr. from Anibarro de Halushka, no. 39. AT type 555 The Fisher and His Wife (Bolivia, Cuba, New Mexico, Europe, Middle East).

In the usual story a grateful fish, in exchange for being thrown back, grants all the wishes of the fisherman’s wife until she wishes to be God. Only in the Bolivian and Cuban versions are the wishes granted by a mouse. With an unusually fine-pointed moral the Bolivian narrator turns an ordinary parable into a miniature psychological drama.

91.
Mariquita Grim and Mariquita Fair, tr. from Hernández Suárez, pp. 264–9. AT type 480 The Spinning-Women by the Spring (Cuba, Mexico, New Mexico, Europe, India, Middle East).

The contrast between the kind and the unkind, who treat a stranger courteously or with disrespect, is one of the commanding themes in these folktales. Here it forms the basis for one of the lesser known Cinderella stories.

92.
The Compadre’s Dinner, tr. from Andrade 1930, no. 294. Hansen type 1545** [The Reluctant Hosts] (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Spain). The Cuban variant is in Feijóo, vol. 1, pp. 76–7.

Majarete:
a native dish of Cuba and the Dominican Republic (a sort of a custard made from cornmeal, honey, and other ingredients, served as a dessert).

93.
The Hog, tr. from Rael, no. 54. AT type 1792 The Stingy Parson and the Slaughtered Pig (New Mexico, Europe).

94.
Two Sisters, tr. from Mason 1924, no. 10. AT type AT750F The Old Man’s Blessing (Argentina, Puerto Rico).

95.
The Ghosts’ Reales, tr. from Andrade 1930, no. 270. AT type 1654 The Robbers in the Death Chamber (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, New Mexico, Panama, Europe, India, Middle East).

Wakes are normally held at home. But in a note to the Ecuadorean variant of this tale Carvalho-Neto writes, “It was formerly the custom to hold wakes in church in front of the high altar” (1994, pp. 11–12).

96.
The Bad Compadre, tr. from the Cakchiquel Maya by Robert Redfield, in Redfield, pp. 243–51. AT type 531 Ferdinand the True and Ferdinand the False (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, New Mexico, Europe, India, Middle East) + AT type 554 The Grateful Animals (Argentina, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, Middle East).

Rarely do we learn the provenance of a particular version or the storyteller’s own evaluation of the tale. But the anthropologist Robert Redfield supplies some information: “Story told by Francisco Sanchez, Nov. 18, 1940. He said that his friend Antonio Perez told it to him and that it had been told to Antonio by his mother-in-law. Francisco said it was a true story, and he interrupted himself several times to make sure I was understanding its significance. He dwelt on the bad conduct of Mariano, who tried to prevent his own compadre from making money. ‘Business is free to everyone. It was a sin to do this to his compadre.’ He also spoke of the evil nature of Mariano’s magic. ‘This power was not of God but of the Devil.’ Before he had told all the story in Cakchiquel, he told me the conclusion in Spanish; he wanted me to know that Mariano was going to get his just deserts.”