Cuentos con magiaVer transcripción original
XLII.—THE WONDERFUL HAIR.
There was a man who was very poor, but so well supplied with children that he was utterly unable to maintain them, and one morning more than once prepared to kill them, in order not to see their misery in dying from hunger, but his wife prevented him. One night a child came to him in his sleep, and said to him: ‘Man! I see that you are making up your mind to destroy and to kill your poor little children, and I know that you are distressed thereat; but in the morning you will find under your pillow a mirror, a red kerchief, and an embroidered pocket-handkerchief; take all three secretly and tell nobody; then go to such a hill; by it you will find a stream; go along it till you come to its fountain-head; there you will find a damsel as bright as the sun, with her hair hanging down over her back, and without a scrap of clothing. Be on your guard, that the ferocious she-dragon do not coil round you; do not converse with her if she speaks; for if you converse with her, she will poison you, and turn you into a fish, or something else, and will then devour you; but if she bids you examine her head, examine it, and as you turn over her hair, look, and you will find one hair as red as blood; pull it out and run back again; then, if she suspects and begins to run after you, throw her first the embroidered pocket-handkerchief, then the kerchief, and, lastly, the mirror; then she will find occupation for herself. And sell that hair to some rich man; but don’t let them cheat you, for that hair is worth countless wealth; and you will thus enrich yourself and maintain your children.’
When the poor man awoke, he found everything under his pillow, just as the child had told him in his sleep; and then he went to the hill. When there, he found the stream, went on and on alongside of it, till he came to the fountain-head. Having looked about him to see where the damsel was, he espied her above a piece of water, like sunbeams threaded on a needle, and she was embroidering at a frame on stuff, the threads of which were young men’s hair. As soon as he saw her, he made a reverence to her, and she stood on her feet and questioned him: ‘Whence are you, unknown young man?’ But he held his tongue. She questioned him again: ‘Who are you? Why have you come?’ and much else of all sorts; but he was as mute as a stone, making signs with his hands, as if he were deaf and wanted help. Then she told him to sit down on her skirt. He did not wait for any more orders, but sat down, and she bent down her head to him, that he might examine it. Turning over the hair of her head, as if to examine it, he was not long in finding that red hair, and separated it from the other hair, pulled it out, jumped off her skirt and ran away back as he best could. She noticed it, and ran at his heels full speed after him. He looked round, and seeing that she was about to overtake him, threw, as he was told, the embroidered pocket-handkerchief on the way, and when she saw the pocket-handkerchief, she stooped and began to overhaul it in every direction, admiring the embroidery, till he had got a good way off. Then the damsel placed the pocket-handkerchief in her bosom, and ran after him again. When he saw that she was about to overtake him, he threw the red kerchief, and she again occupied herself, admiring and gazing, till the poor man had again got a good way off. Then the damsel became exasperated, and threw both the pocket-handkerchief and the kerchief on the way, and ran after him in pursuit. Again, when he saw that she was about to overtake him, he threw the mirror. When the damsel came to the mirror, the like of which she had never seen before, she lifted it up, and when she saw herself in it, not knowing that it was herself, but thinking that it was somebody else, she, as it were, fell in love with herself in the mirror, and the man got so far off that she was no longer able to overtake him. When she saw that she could not catch him, she turned back, and the man reached his home safe and sound. After arriving at his home, he showed his wife the hair, and told her all that had happened to him, but she began to jeer and laugh at him. But he paid no attention to her, and went to a town to sell the hair. A crowd of all sorts of people and merchants collected round him; one offered a sequin, another two, and so on, higher and higher, till they came to a hundred gold sequins. Just then the emperor heard of the hair, summoned the man into his presence, and said to him that he would give him a thousand sequins for it, and he sold it to him. What was the hair? The emperor split it in two from top to bottom, and found registered in it in writing many remarkable things, which had happened in the olden time since the beginning of the world. Thus the man became rich and lived on with his wife and children. And that child, that came to him in his sleep, was an angel sent by the Lord God, whose will it was to aid the poor man, and to reveal secrets which had not been revealed till then.
📄 Fuente: Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources
Había un hombre muy pobre que tenía tantos hijos que no podía mantenerlos, y una mañana estuvo a punto de matarlos para no verlos morir de hambre, pero su esposa se lo impidió. Una noche, mientras dormía, un niño se le apareció y le dijo: “Hombre, sé que estás pensando en matar a tus pobres hijos porque sufres por ellos, pero mañana encontrarás bajo tu almohada un espejo, un pañuelo rojo y un pañuelo bordado; toma los tres en secreto y no se lo digas a nadie. Luego ve a cierta colina; junto a ella encontrarás un arroyo; sigue el arroyo hasta su nacimiento. Allí hallarás a una doncella tan brillante como el sol, con su cabello cayendo por la espalda, y sin ropa alguna. Ten cuidado de que la feroz dragona no te envuelva con sus vueltas; si ella te habla, no le contestes, porque si lo haces, te envenenará, te convertirá en pez o en otra cosa y luego te devorará. Pero si te pide que examines su cabeza, hazlo, y al pasar sus cabellos, encontrarás un cabello tan rojo como la sangre; arráncalo y corre de regreso. Si ella sospecha y comienza a perseguirte, tírale primero el pañuelo bordado, luego el pañuelo rojo, y por último el espejo; así ella tendrá algo con qué entretenerse. Vende ese cabello a un hombre rico, pero que no te engañen, porque ese cabello vale una fortuna; así podrás enriquecer y mantener a tus hijos.”
Cuando el pobre hombre despertó, encontró todo bajo su almohada, tal como el niño le había dicho en el sueño. Fue a la colina, encontró el arroyo y lo siguió hasta su fuente. Al mirar alrededor para encontrar a la doncella, la vio sobre un charco de agua, como rayos de sol enhebrados en una aguja, bordando en un marco hilos que eran cabellos de jóvenes. Apenas la vio, se inclinó respetuosamente, y ella se levantó y le preguntó: “¿De dónde eres, joven desconocido?” Pero él guardó silencio. Ella volvió a preguntarle: “¿Quién eres? ¿Por qué has venido?” y otras cosas, pero él permaneció mudo, haciendo señas con las manos como si fuera sordo y necesitara ayuda. Entonces ella le dijo que se sentara en su falda. Sin esperar más, él se sentó y ella inclinó su cabeza para que él la examinara. Al pasar sus dedos por el cabello, pronto encontró ese cabello rojo y lo separó del resto, lo arrancó, saltó de su falda y corrió lo más rápido que pudo.
Ella lo notó y lo persiguió a toda velocidad. Él miró atrás y, viendo que ella estaba a punto de alcanzarlo, arrojó el pañuelo bordado, que ella recogió y empezó a admirar con detalle, hasta que él se alejó bastante. Luego ella guardó el pañuelo bordado en el pecho y volvió a perseguirlo. Cuando él vio que ella estaba cerca de alcanzarlo, lanzó el pañuelo rojo, y ella se distrajo admirándolo, mientras él tomaba distancia. Entonces la doncella, furiosa, arrojó ambos pañuelos y lo persiguió de nuevo. Por última vez, él arrojó el espejo. Al encontrarlo, ella lo levantó y, al verse reflejada sin reconocer que era ella misma, se enamoró de su propia imagen y él pudo alejarse tanto que ya no pudo atraparlo. Entonces ella regresó y el hombre llegó sano y salvo a su casa.
Al llegar, le mostró el cabello a su esposa y le contó todo lo ocurrido, pero ella se burló de él. Él no le prestó atención y fue a la ciudad a vender el cabello. Se reunió una multitud de personas y mercaderes; uno ofreció una moneda, otro dos, y así fue subiendo hasta llegar a cien monedas de oro. En ese momento, el emperador se enteró del cabello, convocó al hombre y le ofreció mil monedas de oro. El hombre vendió el cabello. ¿Qué era ese cabello? El emperador lo partió en dos de arriba abajo y encontró inscritas muchas cosas sorprendentes, acontecimientos antiguos desde el principio del mundo.
Así el hombre se hizo rico y vivió con su esposa e hijos. Y aquel niño que se le apareció en el sueño era un ángel enviado por el Señor Dios para ayudarlo y revelar secretos que hasta entonces no se conocían.
Cuento popular serbio, recopilado por A. H. Wratislaw en Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources, en 1890
