A SPANISH FOLK TALE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 49, 5 December 1907, Page 37

A SPANISH FOLK TALE

In a certain place in Spain there once lived a hard-working charcoal burner, or carbonero ; but he was married and had six very young children with great appetites. So all he earned they together ate ; not always in peace and the grace of God, for the poor man sometimes found himself at night very, weary andsupperless. -One day the carbonero said to himself : ' H'hen I can double my dlay'-s earnings' atod have sufficient money, I am going to eat an entire hen by myself alone.' That day so much wished for arrived. Tiie man collected his double wages, bought a hen and put it to cook in a puchero in the depths of a forest. Soon a gentleman rode up, dressed in garments resplendent with gold and precious stones. ' God keep the carbonero,' he said.' 1 God be with the caballero,' responded the man. ' Wilt thou give me a bit of the hen thou art cooking ?' ' Diantre ! How didst know of it ? ' "' I am Fortune, and I go all over the world ; take advantage of this opportunity.' • Thou art Fortune ? Well,' thou 'shalt n,ot' tea* ofl my hen, for I hate thee. Thou art unjust. To some thou givest all, and from- others takest all away. Go, and God be with thee.' The rider spurred his fiery mare and disappeared. In a little while there- came an old man with wrinkled face, dressed in black and mounted on a poor horse covered with scars. 1 God keep the carbonero,' he said. '-God be with the gentleman,' replied the charcoal burner. "* Wilt thou give me a little of the hen which thou art cooking ? ' • The devil ! % All the world knows that I am cooking a hen, and yet I could swear I have told it to no one. Who art thou ? ' 1 I am Death.' ' Death, art thou ? Well, you shall eat of my hen, for you are Justice herself. Dismount and- dine with me.' The old man. dismounted, seated himself on the ground with the carbonero, and ate of the hen, the two conversing amiably together. When, they had finished, • Death said to the charcoal burner : ' Ask' of me what, thou wishest and it will be granted thee for thy good treatment of me.' x _* What I need is money.' • Ask for what thou wishest.' 'Give me my house full of. gold money.' ' Granted,' said Death. With a lightness no one would have suspected in the old man, he mtounted his nag and. disappeared. 4.- .T^ c charcoal burner went home; the door was tightly closed, his wife and children being away. He . tried to enter, but could not, for the house was full of golden money.

He remained on guard at the door, and when -his. wife and -children returned he gave them money enough to" go and buy the richest clothing they could find for himi and themselves. He ordered also a palace to he ibiuilt, and spent much money in coaches and "servants. One day when the charcoal burner was leaving his palace he met the old "man with wrinkled face, who said - to him : , - ' Dost know me still ? ' ■? * ' Perfectly ; thou art Death. What dost thou wish of me? 1 'To notify thee "tihat" thy money will soon give out, and it would he well for thee to take some position.' ' What position could I take ? I can neither read nor write, and am too. old to learn.' ' Take that of a doctor.' '- A doctor ? Poor me, who can neither read nor write ! ' - ' Yes, a doctor ; and I will tell thee how to manage. When thou goest to see one sick, if thou seest me sitting at the head of the bed, give him up for dead ; all the resources of human knowledge will be in vain. In -this way thou wilt come'to thy fortune. Thou canst predict the cure of many whom the most famous physicians will have given over.' The old man disappeared. So the old charcoal burner offered himself to the public as a great doctor, and soon became universally famous. When he was called.Tie examined the patient and at once pronounced sentence. He seemed to carry With him health or death. His wealth increased, for all -the high dignitaries of the kingdom and the princes called him in' for consulta;tion. One day he was sent for in great haste to go to the house of a great man who had suflered an attack of apoplexy when his family least expected it, and the "unhappy man was dying, leaving his wife and sons in profound sorrow, greatly increased by the fact- of his afiairs being in complete disorder. On entering! the house of the patient,- has eldest son called the charcoal burner apart, "saying : *.«, i? ea °l & >ctor L t£ ou art welcOT *c ; give 'my father health and thou shalt have nothing to complain of fromi- ' We shall see, we shall see,' was all the old carbonero would say. Then he went to the sick room, where, ' seeing the old ran with the wrinkled face at the head of the bed lie at once shook his head and murmured • ' ' There is nq help for him.' , n ,t}Ku he lt mily 7 e^' but the eld est son, more composed than the rest, took the doctor .by the arm and conducting him; to his office, said : ■ ' ' Thy word, according to fame, is a sentence But make my father well and ask. what thou desirest ' it cannot be ; his hour has come.' to a^ Pr r m tta mm n a &a^cul?er t r h t™ "^ "* +t * k hou wilt ?° what * command, it seems to me thy father may yet be saved,' he said bpeak; as thou sayest, so shall it be -done.' hr.fi »^°t W V iL ong , m ? n ser ™nte at the head of the ' Nothing more ? ' time.^°* MnS " rt only needs that we r€ach the r oom in it S^S in ? the / idk room > *rt«ffe all was as they left ' it, the doctor's orders were carried out in haste niurff illness ' aSSUre 7 ° U the Sick man will n °* of this