FAIRY TALES FROM SPAIN

TALES FOR CHILDREN FROM MANY LANDS

EDITED BY F. C. TILNEY

FAIRY TALES FROM SPAIN

By J. MUNOZ ESCOMEZ

Illustrated by W. MATTHEWS

LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS LTD NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. INC.

All rights reserved Made in Great Britain at The Temple Press Letchworth for J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd Aldine House Bedford St London First Published in this Edition 1913 Reissued at a cheaper price 1936 Reprinted 1940

CONTENTS

Khing-Chu-Fu The City of Fortune The Garden of Health Carabi! Carabo! The Author of the Wall The Devil's Tournament The Treasure of the Dragon The Man with the Two Faces The Treachery of Micifuf Trompetilla and Trompetin The Quack Doctor The Drawing School The Man with the Nose The Island of Brilliants The Judgment of the Flowers The Three Questions The Captain's Exploit The Topsy-Turvy World Don Suero the Proud

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

He Found Himself tied by the Neck, Wings, and Feet . . . Frontispiece

"Rise, Wise Man," said the Empress sweetly

The Vulture carried Him to the other side of the abyss

She transformed Herself into a Lovely Girl

"What are You doing here, Boy?"

The Quack Doctor.

He met Two Dwarfs who were playing Marbles

Pero Gil at one Bound Approached the Statue

KHING-CHU-FU

Khing-Chu-Fu, Empress of China, was doing her hair when her maids who, on their knees witnessed the delicate operation of artistically arranging the imperial hair of her majesty, burst into cries of admiration scarcely repressed by the etiquette of the palace.

"What is the matter?" Khing-Chu-Fu deigned to ask, turning her head.

"Ah, lady!" exclaimed the maids in a chorus. "Brahma has deigned to favour you with a sign of his protection."

"And what is that?" inquired the empress.

"A silver thread which appears amidst your beautiful hair."

"That is to say I have a white hair."

"So it is called amongst simple mortals, but in the Daughter of the Sun they are threads of silver, to which poets spontaneously sing verses under the penalty of being quartered like dogs."

"Let the seers and astrologers come at this very moment. I must know what this foretells."

Five minutes afterwards the royal boudoir was full of moustached men with eye-protectors, who, kneeling, waited to be consulted.

"To-day a white hair has appeared in my head!" exclaimed the empress.

The seers tugged at their moustaches in desperation, leaving the floor covered with hairs.

"Hail!" said the eldest, "Daughter of the Sun, who hast all the brilliance of the diamond, the beauty of the iris, the wisdom of Confucius, and the sweetness of the honey! This silver thread foretells a terrible calamity in the empire. Know that Brahma has decreed—it horrifies me to say so!—that one of your imperial teeth will commence to ache."

Terror was depicted on every countenance, and all who witnessed this scene pulled their pigtails, a sign of terrible desperation among the Chinese. The pages and maids groaned in chorus; the mandarins sat down on their hats, passing the time by eating tangerine oranges and rubbing their eyes with the peel. The news spread into the city, and very soon the whole of Pekin came out into the streets and places weeping salt tears over the terrible aching of the too—, for simple subjects were forbidden to pronounce completely the names of the imperial members or other parts of their illustrious sovereign's body.

"The too—, the too—!" shouted the maddened people, making Pekin seem like an immense enclosure of bulls: and as if to make the illusion still more complete, there were not lacking people who produced cattle-bells with which the faithful are called to the pagoda—the church of the Chinese.

In those days there came to Pekin a young Spaniard, a native of Seville, a sharp and witty youth, who had arrived at the capital of the Chinese Empire after having wandered over half the world on foot, without money and without shame. He was thought to be very wide-awake and even clever, and all because he had been a groom and bull-ring attendant in his own town where he was nicknamed Pinchauvas.

Well, our Pinchauvas was astonished to see the desperation of those Chinese and above all when he heard the sound of too—! too—! which made him fear he was going to meet a drove of bulls. In case it was so, he thought it better to climb up to the first window which came to hand.

He had hardly reached the window, when from the interior of the house came forth a hand, and then an arm, which, catching hold of him firmly by the neck, pulled him up and made him enter the house in a most original way.

The arm was that of a palace guard who, on seeing our Sevillian climbing up to a window of one of the imperial rooms, detained him in order to deliver him up to justice.

This crime was a terrible one. In China it was something daring to profane one of the windows of the empress! That crime was punishable, at the least, with death.

The worst of it was that Pinchauvas did not know a word of Chinese, and was therefore amazed when the guard said to him, with a terrible air:

"Kun-chin-pon-ton!"

"What is this fellow saying to me?" thought Pinchauvas. "He seems to have a stomach-ache and is telling me that he has indigestion. Well, let him get better." And he shrugged his shoulders.

But the guard was nasty and, seizing him again by the neck, took him through the passages of the palace to the rooms of the great chancellor. The latter was found praying to God that the terrible prediction might not be fulfilled, as it might cost him his destiny. "If the empress's tooth hurts her, she will hurt me," said he.

So when he was told of the horrible sacrilege committed by a foreigner, he became exceedingly angry and wished to have him beheaded.

"Take me to this youth, that I may settle him," he said to the guard.

And facing the Spaniard he said sharply:

"Kun-chin-pon-ton?"

"Another stomach-ache? The same as the horses in the bull-ring. But perhaps they have worries!"

By good fortune the great chancellor spoke broken French and Pinchauvas also, so that at last they almost came to understand each other.

"And what may you have been in your country?" asked the chancellor.

"I? A wise monkey."[#]

[#] A wise monkey is a boy attendant in a Spanish bull-ring.

The chancellor did not understand the word monkey, but did understand the word wise, and full of joy he said:

"I am going to ask you a question, and if you answer me rightly, count on my protection."

The chancellor then informed Pinchauvas of the cause which had sown such sorrow in Pekin, and the lad, smiling, said to him with the greatest sang-froid:

"Is that all? Well I will restore calm to the Chinese Empire. I will make this white hair disappear and with it the presages of these charlatans. What has the hair to do with the teeth? Introduce me to the empress and you will see something interesting."

"I will, but it would not be well for the empress to see you in these clothes. May God make your days happy! We must make you look decent!"

And taking him to the bathroom, he placed him in the hands of his slaves who, in a twinkling, perfumed and clothed him in beautiful robes of silk and gold.

Pinchauvas, accompanied by the great chancellor, went to the imperial rooms, and there, on account of the person who accompanied him being the head of the government, had only to wait in eleven ante-chambers, after which he was shown into the imperial presence.

"Here I bring you, celebrated princess, the most famous and wise necromancer of the world," said the chancellor, who must have been fond of exaggerating. "A whirlwind made him fall on this palace dragging him from far lands, and in the centre of the whirlwind it seems to me I saw great Confucius, who held him by the neck."

"Rise, wise man!" said the empress sweetly.

Pinchauvas did not move.

"Get up, wise man!" repeated the chancellor in French.

"Do you mean me?" exclaimed Pinchauvas. And with one bound he stood up.

"Bow down, or you are a dead man," shouted the chancellor to him.

"I don't want to," answered the youth.

"What does he say?" inquired the princess.

"That he must see the silver thread that Brahma presented you with this morning."

"Look at it!" said the queen with emphasis.

And taking out the seven hundred hair-pins and the three hundred packing needles with which she adorned herself, she let her silky black hair fall down, and amongst it could be seen one hair as white as snow.

Pinchauvas advanced, with more fear than shame and his mind made up, seized the hair, and, making signs as if in prayer, sharply pulled it out. The queen gave a scream and Pinchauvas, approaching a window, threw out the white hair, the cause of the misfortune of the Chinese Empire.

"Ah!" exclaimed the queen, "do you return Brahma his gift? What a marvellous man! He deserves a thousand rewards. For the present you will cede to him your post, and from to-day he will be my chancellor; and, so that you will not be troubled, I will hang you this afternoon with a rope that I made for you some days ago."

"What an honour for the family, lady!" said the chancellor, terrified. "Do you wish me to translate your proposal to the wise man?"

"Do so at once."

The poor man translated with complete fidelity what the queen had said, and then Pinchauvas told the chancellor that he would only accept his post on condition that he was given him as his secretary.

The empress acceded to Pinchauvas' request, and granted him the royal seal as a sign of his unlimited authority.

"So that I can do what I like?" he asked.

"Whatever your highness wishes! Now, I am going to present you to the high functionaries of the palace."

He received them all with gestures of amiable protection, and the chancellor translated what he said.

"See here," said Pinchauvas, "let them bring me that Chinaman who seized me by the neck two hours ago."

"Seized your highness by your venerable neck?" indignantly asked the secretary.

"Does your highness wish us to burn him alive or simply to hang him?"

"I want you to bring him here safe and sound."

"Really, does your highness wish to strangle him with your own hands? He does not deserve such an extraordinary honour."

They brought the poor guard into the presence of Pinchauvas, and when they told him he was the new chancellor he almost died of terror.

"And now shall I really give you stomach-ache?" asked Pinchauvas, deliberately, raising his hand to his neck, which still hurt him.

The guard thought these were signs to hang him, and they would have done so, but for the opportune intervention of the brand new chancellor, who, besides pardoning the unfortunate man, conferred a high post upon him close to his person.

Pinchauvas has now learned Chinese and is called Pin-chu-chu, which means the wisest of the wise. And when he remembers his youth, he says inwardly:

"What would those poor horses in the bull-ring of Seville have said if they had been told that they had had the honour of being guided by the future Chancellor of China!"

THE FUTURE IS A SEALED BOOK OF WHICH GOD ALONE HAS THE KEY

THE CITY OF FORTUNE

Once upon a time there was a boy named Rupert, the sharpest and most prudent lad in his village, and indeed in any of those to be found for twenty leagues around.

One night he was with a group of boys of his own age, who, gathered round the fire, were listening with amazement to a veteran soldier, covered with scars, which had gained him the modest stripes of a sergeant pensioner, and who was telling the story of his adventures. The narrator was at the most interesting point of his tale.

"The great City of Fortune," he said, "is situated on the summit of a very high mountain, so steep that only very few have succeeded in reaching the top. There gold circulates in such abundance that the inhabitants do not know what to do with the precious metal. Houses are built of it, the walls of the fortress are of solid silver, and the cannons which defend it are enormous pierced diamonds. The streets are paved with duros, always new, because as soon as they begin to lose their brilliance they are replaced by others just minted.

"You ought to see the cleanliness of it! What dirt there is is pure gold dust, which the dust carts collect in order to throw in large baskets into the drains.

"The pebbles against which we stumble continually are brilliants as large as nuts, despised on account of the extraordinary abundance with which the soil supplies them. In a word, he who lives there may consider the most powerful of the earth as beggars.

"The worst of it is that the path which leads there is rough and difficult, and most people succumb without having been able to arrive at the city of gold."

Rupert did not let the words of the soldier go in at one ear and out at the other; and so it was that, hardly had the occasion of being alone with him arisen before he inquired:

"Do you know the way to this enchanted city?"

"I should rather think so, my son; but I do not advise you to try the journey."

"Why?"

"The way is long and rocky. I came back the first day, startled at the difficulties which must be overcome. But anyhow, if you are resolved to go, I must give you the following warning. In order to get to Fortune there are two paths: a very broad one, full of stones and crags; if you go that way the sharp points of the pebbles will tear your feet to pieces and you will be crushed by fatigue. A thousand terrible difficulties will arise to meet you; you will have to struggle with cruel enemies, and if, at last, you succeed in vanquishing all, you will arrive at Fortune already old and worn, when riches will be of no use to you. The other path is level and short, but..."

"Enough! Do not say any more; show me it now, and I will look after the rest."

"All right, all right! I will show it to you, and God grant that your not having wished to hear me to the end will not bring you suffering."

And the little rogue, without saying good-bye to his parents or his brother, began to walk in the direction the old soldier had shown him; and went on and on, happier than a sand-boy, thinking of the riches which awaited him, and which he already believed to have within reach of his hand.

At the end of two days he arrived at the bank of a large river. On it was a boat, and in the boat a negro of colossal stature.

Our lad approached the boatmen and asked him:

"Good man, is this the way to Fortune?"

"Yes, little boy, but it is necessary to cross the river."

"Good, then take me across."

"Do you know how much it costs?"

"No."

"Fifty duros."

"But do I look as if I had them, or had even seen them in my life? Be kind and take me over for nothing."

"This river, my little friend, is never crossed gratis. It is the first step towards Fortune and it must be paid for somehow. If you have no money, never mind; let me cut off a little piece of your heart. Perhaps it will hurt you a bit at first, but later you will feel as if you were whole."

Rupert allowed the negro to open his chest and to take out a piece of his heart. When he crossed to the other side he gave a sigh of satisfaction. The first step was taken, and he already saw the beautiful City of Fortune, whose resplendent walls sent out lovely reflections. But he noticed that he was much less anxious to arrive at the city of gold and had a strange emptiness in his chest. Withal, he continued his walk; but he had not taken a hundred steps when a new difficulty arose to obstruct the way. This stretched between two inaccessible mountains and the entrance to the defile was kept by another guardian as black as the one of the boat.

"Where are you going, boy?" he asked our lad.

"To the City of Fortune."

"Quite so, this is the way; but you have to pay for the passage. The payment is a little piece of heart."

Without hesitating, Rupert opened his chest and left a handful of fibres of that organ of life in the hands of the terrible gate-keeper.

And he went on and on towards the city, which each time showed itself nearer and more beautiful to his eyes. But each time he felt less anxiety to arrive.

Still he had not finished with the difficulties. The path soon shortened, forming a terrible ravine; only to think of crossing it was more than he could dream of. Rupert believed his hopes broken, and sat down disheartened on a stone.

At that moment a vulture of great size came down from the top of a mountain and, drawing near him, said:

"Do you wish to go across? Well, give me a piece of your heart."

"Take it, and carry me over," said Rupert, desperate.

The vulture thrust its beak into Rupert's chest and took out a good piece of heart. At once it seized our lad with its claws and carried him to the other side of the abyss.

Now he was at the very gates of Fortune. He could already count the number of towers which raised themselves above the high walls, and took his happiness for granted—if that consists in money. At the gate they stopped him. There heart was contraband, and therefore they took out what remained of it and put a pretty one inside of him, made of steel, but hard as a diamond. Only one little fibre escaped their search, which passed unnoticed behind the metal heart.

"At last I am inside," said Rupert to himself; but, strangely enough, the city of gold produced neither surprise nor joy.

"What do I want riches for?" he exclaimed, "if I have lost my heart and with it my illusions?" And he walked through the city, looking with great disdain at those riches which were within reach of his hand and which so much tempted his ambition before.

That dazzling brilliance began to disturb him.

"Here it seems," he said to himself, "there is nothing else but gold. Cursed metal, which has cost me my heart. Goodness me! Who will give me back my little heart?"

He looked for friends, but did not succeed in finding them, because those people had hearts of steel, and Rupert felt that that little fibre that remained of his own made him suffer atrociously.

Without friends or affection, in that city of gold, Rupert remembered his parents and his brother and bitterly lamented his fate.

And then he resolved to return to the little white house of his own village and to live in it as God had ordered. On going out of the city he felt a strange joy. But that accursed steel heart made him suffer horribly, only the little fibre which remained of his own beat for joy in his breast. He took the first path he found, and then encountered no difficulties. It seemed that wings had grown on his feet. He went down hill, and so walked very quickly. When he arrived at his village he was as poor as before, and moreover that cold, hard heart did not let him breathe. It beat with the regularity of a clock, tic-tac, tic-tac!

His brother was the first to come out and meet him, full of joy. He embraced him, kissed him, and accompanied him home, transported with gladness.

But the steel heart did not allow Rupert to rejoice. Tears did nor run to his eyes, and his chest felt as if a hand was pressing on it.

His old father strained him to his bosom, but not even he succeeded in moving that hard heart. Rupert felt an extraordinary anguish.

But his mother arrived running, out of breath, towards her son, and embraced him weeping, and her tears fell on Rupert's heart. Then, oh, the power of a mother's love! That steel heart quickened its beats and, unable to resist any longer, jumped out, just as a broken spring of a watch jumps out. The little fibre was already a new heart and Rupert a happy man.

And when they spoke to him of riches he said:

"God will give them if he deem it right, but don't seek them by short cuts at the expense of your heart and illusions."

THE GARDEN OF HEALTH

A boy of twelve years, named Enrique, was taking a walk one day in the outskirts of his village. He was very sad because his little sister was ill and the doctors said she would soon die.

"Poor Luisa!" exclaimed the boy sobbing. "So pretty and to have to leave this world so soon!"

Enrique sat down on some stones to weep over his sorrow, and there prayed to heaven for his sister's life. A kid which was grazing near the spot heard the sound of his lamentations and drawing near the disconsolate boy said: