En principio trata de un hombre que trabaja mucho para alimentar a sus hermanos, pero un día enferma, y el médico le dice que vaya al campo para que se recupere. Cuando el hombre va al campo ve a una tortuga con el cuello colgando de un un hilo, y entonces...
A mí me gusta el cuento y se lo recomendaría a todos, porque es un libro muy bueno, y os encantará. La parte que más me gusta cuando el hombre, aunque estaba hambriento, no se come a la tortuga, y la cura. Y ésta le devuelve el favor de la misma manera.
Cynthia Pilco Moreira, 1º C.
Sidi Fadl
Sidi Fadl es un cuento tradicional beréber, recogido en 1895 por el lingüista aleman Hans Stumme de labios de un juglar; eso significa que, como muchos relatos de esa cultura, es un cuento anónimo.
La romántica historia arranca cuando nuestro protagonista, cuyo nombre da título a la historia, llega a una ciudad y su mirada se cruza con la de una bellísima princesa. Amor verdadero a primera vista y tan intenso, que logra superar la prueba más dura: la de la propia muerte de los amantes; y es que el rey, enterado de que su hija ha entregado su corazón a un vulgar caballero, hace ejecutar al desdichado Sidi Fadl. La princesa, con el corazón roto, se arroja al vacío desde una torre.
Sin embargo, pese a su desgracia, no habrá nada ni nadie que pueda separar a los amantes porque ... habrá que leer en cuento para saber por qué.
Cualquiera, esté enamorado o no, podrá disfrutar de esta bella historia en la que, si estamos atentos, veremos cómo triunfa el amor.
MissB.
“The Adventure of the Mason” by Washington Irving.
¨The Adventure of the Mason´´ tells the tale of a faithful mason who becomes wealthy by good fortune and patience. The mason finds work with a miserly priest building a sealed vault to hide his riches in his house. The priest blindfolds him during his trip to and from his house so he cannot return to the house to take his treasure, but gives him gold pieces for his work. Years later, as his family continues to languish in poverty, a ¨rich old curmudgeon¨ hires the mason to repair the now cursed former home of the priest. In leading the mason back to the priest’s house, the rich curmudgeon guides the mason to the priests’ tremendous wealth. The mason lives generously with his riches as opposed to the priest and the curmudgeon, and he never tells anybody about his secret – except, eventually, his son and heir.
The poor mason’s hard work and faith thus lead him to eventual wealth. To me, this narrative recalls the “American Dream”, an important ethos of the United States that freedom allows for prosperity and success. In other words, the “American Dream” is the idea that anybody born to freedom has the chance to do well in life, regardless of one’s circumstances or social class. The myth of the American Dream is enshrined in my country’s Declaration of Independence, in the lines “all men are created equal" and are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights” which include "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The American Dream is a recurring theme in American literature, in works such as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and My Ántonia, by Willa Cather. The American Dream is deeply tied to a strong work ethic; the idea is that if you work hard and you are able-minded, you can do pretty well for yourself.
The mason´s eventual good fortune seems moralistic, recalling the Puritan roots of early U.S. colonies and their emphasis on doing God´s will and anticipating their treasure in heaven. For the mason, as for the early colonial settlers, life is rough, and times are never easy. The mason, like the Puritans, invests in religion, works hard, and seems to be ¨rich in spirit” despite his harsh existence. His story could be a reminder of the importance of keeping faith and waiting out the storms of our lives. We never know when life might turn around, from our own efforts and from the role of what some call chance or luck, others call destiny or fate, and others call God.
If the story truly invokes the American Dream, than Irving would have to have transported that dream across the Atlantic Ocean when he himself traveled to Spain and wrote. Even as I engaged with the idea, I wondered: does any similar ethos exist in Spain? What sort of ethos underlies Spaniards’ approach to life and work, which seems very different? How does it differ from that of the United States (the American Dream)?
Kathleen Griesbach
