Finally, the youngest discovered a powerful apple; whoever waved it in front of the dead could make them wake up. “Hah,” he said, “there’s nothing like this in all the land. I can bring the dead back to life and make money.”
The three got together at the place where they’d agreed to meet and said, “Here we are. Now what do we have?”
“A pair of glasses! Wait till I put them on, and we’ll see what’s happening at the palace. Uh-oh, what’s this? There’s a wake just getting started, and it’s the king’s niece who’s laid out!”
“Good heavens, our cousin dead?”
“If only I were there,” said the one with the apple, “I’d bring her back to life.”
“Quick, jump on my rug,” said his brother.
And in ten minutes they were there. The one with the apple rushed up to the coffin. Apple in hand, he made the sign of the cross over the dead niece’s body. She sat up. Then he turned to the king and said, “Papa, she’s mine. I’ve brought her back to life.”
But his brother said, “What good would the apple have been without the carpet that got us here?”
And the eldest said, “What good is the apple or the carpet, without the glasses that told us we had to come? I should be the one who marries our cousin.”
“Ah, no, no, no!” said the king [laughter in the audience]. “The three of you are equal. I can’t give my niece to any of you. Now go! Find brides somewhere else!”
Don’t you see? In their travels in some of those cities they’d noticed women. So the king said, “Go get your brides, and then you’ll be married.”
Guatemala / Antonio Ramírez
80. Prince Simpleheart
A king had three sons. The two older boys were as bright as a father could wish and had gotten through all their schooling. But the youngest was one of God’s innocent creatures and everyone called him Prince Simpleheart.
The bright ones said to the king, “Give us our inheritance, so we can go out into the world.” Simpleheart wondered if he might not go with them. But his brothers teased him, and the queen said, “What could you possibly do, numskull?” The king echoed her, “What could you possibly do? Better stay home.”
The two bright ones set off down the road, each with his inheritance in a moneybag swinging from his belt. The youngest, although he hadn’t been given a nickel, took it into his head to tag along. The two brothers waited for him to catch up, then gave him a licking with a green switch. But it was no use. He wouldn’t turn back. The minute they hit the road again he was right behind them. They stopped and gave him a few more licks and twice again did the same. But he kept on.
When it got dark he could follow along without being noticed. He saw his brothers step into a thicket and thought, “They’re making camp.” He got as close as he dared and lay down under a tree that had three branches.
At midnight he was awakened by voices overhead. Three birds had arrived, one on each branch of the tree. The first said, “I’ve got to start singing! And when I do, I’ll drop my knapsack.”
The second bird inquired, “What’s with the knapsack?”
“It’s the one that fills up with money again whenever you empty it,” replied the first. Then it opened its beak and the knapsack fell to the ground. Simpleheart turned his head to see where it landed.
The second bird said, “Now I’ve got to sing! When I do, I’ll drop my little violin.”
“Which violin is that?”
“The one that makes people dance and they can’t stop.” It opened its beak and down came the violin.
The third said, “Listen, girls, I’ve got to sing, too. When I do, this little cloak is going to fall.”
“Cloak?” asked the other two.
“You know! The one that makes you invisible.” It opened its beak and the cloak came fluttering down.
At the crack of dawn Simpleheart jumped up and collected the three objects. When his brothers saw him coming, they threatened to switch him again. But he showed them the marvelous things he had found and they calmed down. One took the knapsack. The other seized the violin, leaving Simpleheart with the cloak. So they traveled on for another day, making camp in the woods that night. As soon as Simpleheart was asleep, the two brothers sneaked off.
In the morning, seeing that his brothers had gone on, Simpleheart thought, “Why stick to the road? With the cloak to make me invisible, I’ll be safe from the wild beasts and can take a shortcut through the forest.” He struck off down a narrow path.
In a while he came to a tree loaded with sweet-smelling fruits. He filled his hat and his pockets, sat down on a log, and ate a few. Suddenly his head was heavy. He felt with his hand, and what was this? He’d grown horns like a stag.
“If my father could see me now, he’d never let me back in the palace. Oh well, the better to ward off those wild beasts.” He threw away the rest of the fruits and went on. At a little brook he slipped and fell into a pool. Fortunately it wasn’t deep. When he pulled himself out, behold! The horns were gone.
“Now I know what the cure is,” he thought. He ran back and gathered up the fruits he’d left behind and continued on till he came to a city. Simple as he was, he nevertheless knew he had reached the capital of a great kingdom. He headed for the palace, thinking the king might buy some fruit. The princess was out on her balcony. “Your Highness,” he called. “Fresh fruit for sale.”
“Papa, there’s a salesman here.” The king came out, took a whiff of the sweet-smelling fruit, and bought the lot.
The next day word spread through the city that Their Majesties and all their servants had grown horns. People ran to the palace to get a look, but no one was allowed to come near. Simpleheart threw on his cloak and, being invisible, stole into the royal chambers. He got as far as the queen and the princess, and there they were with antlers on their heads, weeping bitter tears.
Knowing that his brothers must have come into the city by now, he left the palace to look them up. When he found them in their lodgings, they said to him, “Why don’t you stay with us?” So he took advantage of their sudden generosity and asked to borrow the violin. Wrapped in the cloak and with the violin in hand, he stood at the palace gate and started scraping the bow on the strings. It made such a lively tune Their Majesties forgot they were wearing antlers and began tapping their feet.
They strutted out onto the balconies. People rushed to catch a glimpse and crowded so tightly into the plaza they had no room to dance themselves. The music picked up speed. At the sight of the royal family and all the servants with their antlers, whirling and prancing, the crowd let out with a roar.
The king shouted, “Stop, for a purse full of money!” But Simpleheart shouted back, “I want to marry the princess!” Desperate, the king said, “Very well.” And Simpleheart put away the violin.
The next day he marched into the palace and announced he was the future husband of the princess. The king remembered his promise and allowed him to be brought forward. The king, the queen, and the princess stood behind a curtain to conceal their embarrassing antlers. But the king peeked out and recognized the fruit vendor from two days before. In a fury he ran around the end of the curtain, took Simpleheart by the ears, and threw him into a courtyard. “Lock him up and hang him at dawn!”
“At last,” thought Simpleheart, “God has given up on me.” But he thought again as he stared at the iron bars on the windows of his prison cell. They were in the form of crosses! “Why lose hope? I swear by these crosses that the princess will be my bride.”
And it was lucky he still had the cloak folded up in his pocket. He called to the warden, “Think of it, my good man. Today it’s me, tomorrow it could be you. Have pity and give me a breath of air. I’m suffocating. Open the door a crack.” The jailer obliged, and Simpleheart, invisible in his cloak, slipped away.
He ran to his brothers’ lodgings and said, “Let me have that knapsack a minute.” He emptied it a few times and scooped up the money. Then he was off to the shops, whe
re he bought himself a doctor’s outfit. He rented a furnished room and hung out a sign:
MEDICAL DOCTOR
SPECIALIZING IN ANTLERITIS
AND OTHER INFIRMITIES OF THE HEAD
Word of a new doctor in town reached the king, and Simpleheart was rushed to the palace. The king stated his terms, “My daughter’s hand in marriage if you can remove these horns.” The doctor replied, “I can. But I must warn you, the medicine hurts.”
“No matter,” said the king.
“Then get to work,” ordered the doctor. “Have a tank built, five meters on each side and four meters deep, and fill it with water. I’ll be back in three days.” The doctor withdrew, bowing low and sweeping his arms.
When he returned, he inspected the tank and dribbled oils and perfumes. At each corner he set up a ram’s-horn incense burner. “Now tell the king to come out in a bath towel.”
The king appeared. “Down on your knees! I hate to do it, but this tapir-hair switch is the only thing that gets the blood moving. Ten years of research have proved it.” The king kneeled, and the lashes came raining down on his back. Then the doctor threw him into the water and held him under until he nearly drowned. When he let him up, the horns were gone.
It was the queen’s turn, but she only needed a half dozen lashes. And the princess needed no more than a touch with a silk handkerchief. Finally the servants were doctored, with or without the tapir switch, according to each case.
When the cures were complete, they honored the doctor at a banquet and a ball. A few days later he was married to the princess, and the king even gave him the crown of the realm. So that’s how Prince Simpleheart became king of a powerful nation. And because his heart was good he called his two brothers to the palace and made them high-ranking ministers.
Costa Rica
81. The Flower of Lily-Lo
A man and his wife had three sons. Their favorite was the youngest, and the whole town was in love with him, too. His older brothers, however, were jealous.
One day the mother fell sick, and doctors couldn’t help her. No one knew what to do until a witch told them to look in the forest for a certain herb called the Flower of Lily-Lo. Nothing else would cure the mother’s illness.
The father sent all three sons to find the flower. But when they got to the woods, the two older boys hid behind trees, and the youngest, thinking he was lost, began to cry, running this way and that way. Wandering in no particular direction, he came upon the flowers, picked a few, and started for home.
On the way he ran into his two brothers. When they saw that he had found the flowers, they fell into a fury and beat him. They dragged him to a hole, threw him in, and covered him up with rocks.
The two boys then brought the flowers to their father, and the father took them and made a potion. When he gave it to the mother, she was cured instantly. Noticing that the smallest boy had not returned, the father began wondering what had happened. The brothers said he must have lost his way.
The parents sent a search party to look for their son. But when two or three weeks had gone by and still he had not been found, they gave him up for dead. He must have been eaten by wild animals, they thought.
Now, in the meantime there was a boy who went out walking in the woods, and on his way back to town he came upon a curious tree covered with flowers. He picked one and blew on it, and the flower made a little song that said,
Oh, little boy, don’t blow on me; Don’t blow again, no, no. My brothers they have killed me For the Flower of Lily-Lo.
The boy was startled, but when he blew again, and the flower repeated its little song, he began to think. He decided to fill his pockets with flowers and sell them in town.
Fate willed it that the boy should come stand outside the house where the parents of the lost child lived. The boy began to blow on the flowers, offering them for sale. Out of curiosity, people crowded around. The parents of the lost child recognized the voice of their son and came out into the street to see what was happening. They called the boy over and asked him for a flower. As the father blew on it, it sang,
Oh, father dear, don’t blow on me; Don’t blow again, no, no. My brothers they have killed me For the Flower of Lily-Lo.
The father hardly knew what to think. He handed the flower to his wife, and she blew on it. Then she heard the flower say,
Oh, mother dear, don’t blow on me; Don’t blow again, no, no. My brothers they have killed me For the Flower of Lily-Lo.
The parents called the brothers and made them blow on the flower. It said,
Oh, brothers mine, don’t blow on me; Don’t blow again, no, no. My brothers, you have killed me For the Flower of Lily-Lo.
Hearing this, the mother and father threw chili peppers into the fireplace and locked the two brothers in the house, where they choked to death. Then they asked the little boy to take them to the flower tree. People from town followed behind. When they got to the place where the tree grew, they started pulling away the rocks. There was their little son asleep under the tree trunk. They took him into their arms, he woke up at once, and everyone cheered.
Ruddy ruddy red, my story is said, and yours is still to tell.
Mexico / Jorge Carlos González Avila
82. My Garden Is Better Than Ever
There was a poor woman who never saw money. Yet, one day while sweeping she found six centavos. “What shall I do?” she wondered. “If I buy sugar, it won’t last, and if I buy salt, it’ll be gone before I know it.”
At last she decided to get lettuce seed, and after she had sown it in a small plot and waited awhile, she harvested enough to sell. With the money she earned she was able to buy more seed, enough to make a large garden.
But there was a rabbit who tore things up just for the fun of it, and the rabbit began to ruin her garden. One day the poor woman came into the dooryard from her garden work, and a neighbor asked, “How are you doing? What’s happening with your garden?”
“A rabbit is tearing it up,” said the poor woman.
“Take my advice,” said the neighbor. “There’s an easy way to catch the rabbit. All you have to do is make a doll out of beeswax and put it in the path where the rabbit comes into the garden.”
The poor woman listened, but she did not hear all the neighbor’s words. Instead of using beeswax she made a doll out of rags. She put it in the garden. Later her neighbor asked, “How are you doing? What’s happening with the rabbit?”
“Nothing, neighbor. The rabbit tore up the doll.”
“What did you make it with?”
“Rags.”
“No-o-o-o, neighbor, I told you wax.”
The following day the poor woman tried again. This time she made the doll out of beeswax. That night when the rabbit arrived, he found the doll at the entrance to the garden. He said, “Good evening, little friend. May I have permission for lettuce?”
The doll said nothing. “Permission for lettuce?” said the rabbit again. No answer. The rabbit slapped it. “I’ll make you answer,” but his hand stuck fast. “Let me go. If you don’t, I’ll hit you again.” He slapped the doll with his other hand. Now both hands were stuck and the rabbit was angry. “Let my hands go,” he cried, “or I’ll kick you.” He did, and his feet stuck. Then he bit the doll, and his head stuck, too.
The next morning the owner went out to her garden. And what should she find but that she’d caught a rabbit. She made a cage out of sticks, put the rabbit inside, and after picking some vegetables, carried everything back to the house. Again the neighbor asked, “How are you doing, neighbor?”
“Very well,” she answered, both hands full. “My garden is better than ever.”
Mexico (Popoluca) / Anastasio García
83. Juan Bobo and the Pig
Before she left for Mass, Juan Bobo’s mama told him to watch the pig and the little chicks. When she’d gone, the pig started to squeal and the chicks tried to get out of the chicken yard. Juan Bobo saw that the pig wouldn’t be quiet, and he sa
id to it, “Ah, you want to go to Mass with Mama, right? But don’t think I’m going to go with you.”
He took out his mama’s clothes and started to dress up the pig. He used the best things he could find, his mama’s new black mantilla, her lace collar, and everything else. Then he brought the pig to the road, and when it refused to move, he gave it a crack of the whip and off it ran.
Meanwhile the chicks were refusing to be still. So he caught them and hung them upside down from a stick. When Mama came home from Mass, she asked, “Juan Bobo, where’s the pig?”
He answered her a little worried, “You mean you didn’t see it at Mass? I dressed it up and sent it. It was crying to go with you. And the chicks were about to get out of the yard, so I hung them upside down from a stick. Look. They’re all perfectly quiet now.” And when he said, “Just wait, the pig will be back before you know it,” she whacked him until he was quiet himself.
Puerto Rico
84. The Parrot Prince
If I tell it to know it you’ll know how to tell it and put it in ships for John, Rock, and Rick with dust and sawdust, ginger paste, and marzipan, triki-triki triki-tran.
It’s about a rich widower and his daughter, Mariquita, who was the apple of his eye. He doted on her without even thinking and gave in to her every whim. But she was all by herself when her father went out on business, and she began wishing she had sisters to keep her company.
Well then, in the house next door was a widow who had three daughters. Every time the widow saw Mariquita she gave her a little gift or something special to eat, while the daughters showered her with attention. They would say, “Tell your papa to marry our mama, then we’ll be together all day long.”
They kept at it until Mariquita imagined the world would be perfect if only this marriage could be brought about. She pestered her father to take the neighbor woman as his wife, pleading with him morning, noon, and night. Finally the father, for no other reason than to satisfy his daughter, said yes, and they had a wedding.
Latin American Folktales Page 24