‘El hombre con el’ golden arm
Era una noche clara with the sky full of stars. La familia had just finished comiendo su supper de stewed cabbage con carne de borreguito. Grampo was playing solitaire en la mesa with his deck of cards, pero Canutito must have eaten too many of those coles en el lamb stew porque he just couldn’t hacer settle down. He kept jumping around por toda la cocina, muy desinquieto. Grama Cuca noticed que Canutito was overly keyed-up so she whispered to grampo :“Oye viejo, why don’t you tell the boy una historia de más antes pa’ hacerlo calm down?”
“¿Qué tú no tienes one of your herb remedios pa’ calmarlo, vieja?” Grampo Caralampio asked her, siendo que he didn’t want to stop jugando a la baraja.
“Usually cuando el niño is all wound-up, I just dissolve un poco de imortal en un glass of water and give it to him y de una vez it calms him down. Lástima though, que I can’t remember donde puse the last of that ‘Antelope Horns Root’ el mes pasão cuando el niño was afraid de las owls,” she said.
“Bueno, vieja,” grampo replied, alzando las barajas back in the chest drawer. Grampo sat down pa’trás at the table and he called Canutito over by saying, “M’hijo quieres oir una very scary story?”
Right away Canutito opened los ojos muy grandes as grampo began to narrate un cuento que era older than the hills.
“En una vez, m’hijo,” grampo began, “había un hombre who lived all by himself. Some people say que vivía solo because he didn’t trust a nadien. Él era muy cuzco.”
“Grampo,” Canutito interrupted him, “what does the word ‘cuzco’ mean?”
“Cuzco means que he was very stingy; no le gustaba hacer share nada, with anybody,” grampo replied. “Como el hombre lived alone in the middle de un bosque, un día he went exploring in the woods. He suddenly came upon una cueva vieja, abandonada. He thought of going into that old, abandoned cave porque he’d heard que a veces people would find a lot of gold in them so se dio valor and he stumbled into it. Full of courage, he started feeling about con sus dedos y sure enough, close de la entrada de la cueva soon he found un saco lleno de oro. He was so pleased que he didn’t even notice que un gran par de ojos was looking at him desde un dark corner of the cave.”
“¿Qué era, grampo?” Canutito asked him, todo asustão .“Era un monster?”
“No, m’hijo,” grampo said, “pero era un great big bear who lived en la cueva. Before el hombre cuzco knew it, el oso came up to him en lo oscuro and chewed off uno de sus brazos. El stingy man ran out of the cave todo frightened, pero not before he stopped and grabbed el saco de oro.”
“I wouldn’t have stopped por el saco de oro,” Canutito whispered, haciendo snuggle closer to grampo. Grama Cuca also came away de la ventana and sat closer.
“El hombre cuzco didn’t want to lose his gold,” grampo went on, “so he melted it down and made himself un golden arm con él. Proudly now he would walk about en público showing off su brazo de oro. One day sin embargo, un thief saw it y en el medio de la noche, ese ladrón sneaked over pa’la casa del hombre cuzco, stabbed him y luego he stole el brazo de oro. A few nights después, la gente could hear una scary voice en el medio de la noche, calling out: ‘¿Quién tiene mi golden arm? Who has mi brazo de oro’?”
Unseen by Canutito, grampo slipped una mano under the table, still preguntando: “¿Quién tiene mi golden arm? Is it you?” — and he grabbed al frightened muchachito by the rodilla por debajo la mesa.
Canutito screamed tan loud, que Grama Cuca suddenly remembered where she had put su remedio and she ran to get some para calmar al niño, y para calmarse ella también.