19. A Voyage to Eternity
It seems there were two men who’d been friends from school days. They went into different professions. Each made his own life, and they went their separate ways. But they kept in touch.
Time passed, and one day after four, maybe five years they got together again, and one of them said, “You know, brother, life is short. We aren’t old, but we’re not getting any younger either.”
“You’re right, brother, but we care about each other and we’ll always have our friendship. That lasts. Or does it? You know, we ought to make a pact. Whoever goes to the grave first will communicate with the other one, send a letter to say whether eternity exists. If the survivor doesn’t hear anything he’ll know that life ends with the last breath and there’s no other world.”
“Yes, let’s.” And so they agreed.
After that they kept in touch. One, two, three, four years went by.
Then one day a messenger arrives at the house of one of the two friends. He’s on a blooded steed, all rigged up, leading a second horse without a rider. He knocks. A servant opens the door.
“Is the gentleman in?”
“The gentleman is in.”
“May I enter?
“Why not?” The messenger is well dressed, well built, what people would call a good-looking lad. Then the master of the house appears and says, “What can I do for you?”
“I have a letter from a gentleman.”
“And who are you?”
“That isn’t important. I’m under orders to take you back with me if you wish to go. Read the letter; it’ll tell you . . . well, read it.”
My dear friend: I send you this at long last, looking forward to seeing you soon. I don’t ask that you reply but that you come in person, if only for a short while. The bearer of the letter will guide you. Trust him, there’s no reason to be afraid. I want you to know that I am longing to see you. You must not forget, we promised to be friends in this life and in the next. I should have written you sooner, but I do it now with the tender regard we have always had for each other. I am confident you will not refuse this invitation, for if you do, our friendship will be ended forever.
The friend thought for a minute. Finally he said to the messenger, “I’ll have to make arrangements. How much time can you give me?”
“Two or three days.”
“Two or three days will be enough. While you wait, you must stay with me here.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t. I have other lodgings not far away.”
“Then come for meals.”
“Sorry, I’m committed elsewhere.”
The friend thought, “How odd.” He said, “At least you can leave your horses.”
“Not even that. I must keep them with me.”
The messenger rode off, leading the riderless horse. Then in three days the friend put all his affairs in order. He gave instructions to his servants. He went to the bank and the different government offices— I’m not sure, but I think this was in Spain—and he settled his accounts, paid the taxes on his house, no? That would have been it, because he didn’t have a country estate. He was a rich gentleman, though, and got everything taken care of without delay, greased a few palms here and there to speed things up. Money talks, you know.
Then after the three days had gone by, the messenger reappeared. “Ready? Can we leave now?”
“Ready!” he said. “Let’s leave!” He told his servants, “Take care of the house as if it were yours.” He paid them their wages in advance and bid them good-bye.
They rode out of the city, which of course had new buildings under construction everywhere, the way it is with cities. So they didn’t reach open country right away. But when they did, the man realized his horse wasn’t touching the ground anymore, and the next thing he knew they were flying through the air. They kept on this way for three, four, maybe seven or eight hours. Well, when would this have been? It isn’t told, but the speed was tremendous. Any neighbor’s boy would have been amazed, because in those days they never even dreamed how fast an airplane could go.
Well, it seems they got to a great hall, where there was beautiful singing, and the man asked, “Where’s my friend?”
Different people welcomed him, “Come in, come in,” and they led him to an apartment, where his friend put his arms around him and said, “I’m so glad to see you! I was afraid you’d refuse my invitation.”
“Brother, how could you think such a thing? Your letter gave me no choice. I put all my investments on hold, paid my taxes, and arranged my affairs so I could come see you. What else could I do? After all, we’ve been friends since we were children, and now we’re at the midpoint of our lives. Or a little beyond.”
Then his friend spoke, “I’m going to tell you something that might surprise you, though I hope it won’t offend you.”
“Tell me, friend. I can take it.”
And they say that what he told him is this: “As you must remember, brother, I left the world four years ago. My promise was to let you know whether eternity exists. I’ve done that, and if you look around, you can judge for yourself. But for the first three years I went through torment because of my sins on earth. In my own opinion I was a righteous man, but once in the grave I came to realize that my good works had been few, not enough to bring me directly here. Now at last I’m on the road to Heaven, and you can imagine the beauty that lies ahead. My penance is over. I’m free now and on my way. I don’t know when I’ll arrive. Will you join me? Shall we travel together? Or would you rather go back to earth and wait for the Creator to call you? Answer me, so I can tell my messenger what to do.”
According to the story, the friend hesitated. He wasn’t sure what to answer. Finally he said, “I’ve got to go back home and get rid of all my worldly goods. When everything has been given away and the Everlasting can see that I have nothing left—when I’m naked—he’ll gather me up, and you and I will meet again.”
“I know what you mean,” said the other friend. “Be sure to hold nothing back. Give away everything you have, because you never know when the Lord of the Universe will call you.”
They talked for a little while longer, then the messenger took the friend back to earth. When he arrived in his city, he didn’t recognize it. The buildings that had been under construction were now in ruins. There had been wars and other disasters.
The messenger left him at the door of his house and disappeared. But the house had been confiscated years before and sold for taxes. There were new owners. He showed them his deed of title, but they bounced him out on his ear. He had to seek shelter in a . . . well, in a monastery, I think it was a Franciscan monastery, and that’s where he died. That’s the story. There’s no more.
Bolivia
/ José
Rivera
Bravo
20. Mother and Daughter
A mother’s daughter who had led a good life died and, being a virgin, went directly to Heaven. The mother also passed away but found herself in Purgatory.
The mother fixed her gaze on Heaven and caught sight of her daughter. She called out,
Daughter María, spotless as snow,
Let down your hair for your mother;
Then fair as you were and now are,
You’ll be fairer than any other.
The daughter bent her head down and let her hair fall into Purgatory. The mother climbed up and kept climbing until she reached Heaven. Of course, the mother had already been in Purgatory awhile and had purged her sins. Her daughter was simply waiting for her.
Colombia
21. The Bird Sweet Magic
A king lost his eyesight and could find no cure. Doctors came from everywhere and made promises to the king, to the king’s three sons, and to the queen. But the king’s eyes did not improve.
In the kingdom there was an old medicine woman who had made a reputation working cures where doctors had failed. Just in case, the king’s family summoned her to the palace. Her instructions were these: “You’ll have the cure if you can bring home the bird Sweet Magic. Rub its tail over the king’s eyes. The bird is under the power of a king in a distant country. Remember this: the one who captures the bird is the one who must work the cure.”
The king’s three sons decided to give the medicine a try, and the king promised his throne to the one who could bring it back. The three set out that same day. The eldest left in the morning, the second-eldest at noon, and the youngest toward evening. Each took a good horse and a bag of money.
As the eldest son was riding out through the city gates, he saw a crowd in front of a church, and as the saying goes,
The crowd’s noise
Draws the boys.
So he pulled up to see what was causing the commotion, and there was a dead man on the steps of the church. Someone had left the body without money for burial. The priest, even, was refusing to sing prayers for the dead because no one would come forward to pay for them.
The prince said, “There’s nothing in this for me,” and went on.
At noon the second son came by, and still the unfortunate man had not been buried. The second son shrugged and rode away.
Late in the afternoon, when the youngest pulled up, the corpse had begun to give off an odor. Dogs and buzzards were trying to get a piece of it, and the crowd was shooing them away.
Taking pity on the poor soul, the prince gave one of the bystanders enough money to go buy a coffin. He himself went to the priest and made a deal for the prayers. He helped open the grave and would not leave until the body had been laid to rest.
After he had traveled on for a while, night overtook him in a desolate place. Ahead in the distance was a little round light the size of an orange. It kept coming closer. The prince cried out, “In God’s name, who are you?”
A voice answered, “I am the soul of the one you buried. Don’t be afraid. Follow me. I will lead you to the bird Sweet Magic.”
With the light directly in front of him the prince rode on through the dark. The next day he rested until it was dark again. Gradually he lost his fear. He and the light would talk to each other. During the day he would wait impatiently for night to come so that he could again be with his friend the little light.
After many weeks, traveling only at night, he came to the country of the king who was master of the bird. Following the light, he walked past the sleeping guards and into the palace, and there in a room paneled in gold and crystal was the bird Sweet Magic. It hung from the ceiling in a cage covered with rubies the size of coffee beans. The ceiling was paved with fresh roses. Their fragrance floated in the air, and when the bird sang, it was with the sound of flutes and violins.
The prince made a stairway of chairs and tables and was just touching the cage when the whole pile crashed to the floor. The king jumped out of bed, called his guards, and ordered the prince to jail with nothing but bread and water.
But then the king changed his orders. He thought, “This boy will risk anything to get the bird. Such a boy I can put to use.” He freed the prince and promised to give him the bird if he would bring back a horse that the king favored over all his other horses and that had been stolen by a certain giant.
So said, so done. When night came, the little round light guided the prince to the pasture where the giant was guarding the horse. It was black as satin, with white shanks and a star on its forehead. On its shoulder was a knob, and the little light said to the prince, “When you turn the knob, you’ll see what you’ll see.”
Well then, the prince climbed into the tree where the horse was tied. He reached down and began to loosen the rope. The horse, who could speak like a human, shouted, “Master, they’re stealing me!” The giant, who had been napping, woke up but could see no one and went back to sleep. The tree where the prince was hiding was a mango tree and a very leafy one.
Again the prince reached for the rope, the horse cried out, and the giant looked around and saw only the tree. This time he spoke sharply to the horse and threatened to break its bones if it kept waking him. The horse knew better than to test the giant’s patience. When the prince reached down once more and untied the rope, the horse kept still. The prince mounted the horse, turned the knob, and rode into the sky.
When they were over the king’s palace, the prince twisted the knob in the opposite direction and they landed smoothly just at the palace door.
The king was beside himself with joy. But he was not yet ready to give up the bird. The prince would now have to rescue the king’s daughter, who had been kidnapped by none other than the same giant who had stolen the horse.
Unsure, the prince conferred with the little round light. The light assured him that the task was possible. When night came the prince mounted the black horse once again and set off for the giant’s palace, arriving at the supper hour.
The giant’s dining room was on the second floor. The little light whispered to the prince that he would have to climb a vine to the second-story window. The vine held fast to the palace wall, as the light had promised, and when the prince looked in through the window he could see that the giant was just finishing his bottle of wine. The prince waited until the giant’s head dropped to the table. Then he tossed a pebble at the princess. She looked up and saw her chance to escape, then ran to the window and climbed down the vine with the prince. As she could see, he was well put together and good-looking. His thoughts of her were the same. The fact is, they liked each other very much.
But when they got back to the king, they found he had changed his mind once again. The bird must not be taken away. The prince could choose anything else he wanted.
With the voice of the little light whispering in his ear, the prince asked permission to ride the black horse three times around the palace, with the princess mounted in front of him and the bird in its cage held in his hand. The favor was granted, and to make sure the prince would not escape, the suspicious king sent soldiers to guard every exit around the rim of the plaza.
The king had no inkling that the prince knew the secret of the little knob. After circling the palace for the third time, the prince suddenly turned the knob and rose into the sky.
So the prince flew home to his own country. When he got to the boundary of his father’s realm, he twisted the knob again and came to earth. The first town he entered turned out to be where his brothers were staying. After weeks of partying, they had spent all their money and were only waiting until they could think of an explanation to take to their father. The sight of their brother, bringing home not only the bird Sweet Magic but a beautiful princess and a wonder horse, filled them with jealousy. But they took hold of their senses and pleasantly invited him to dine with them at the inn. In his innocence the young prince accepted their offer.
As they all sat at the table, the two older brothers slipped a narcotic into their younger brother’s glass and the princess’s glass, too, and when both had lost consciousness they dragged their younger brother to the top of a high cliff and dropped him over the edge. When the princess woke up, they told her the prince had gone off partying to another town and had abandoned her.
In triumph they came home to the king and the queen, who rejoiced to see them. No one seemed to know where the youngest son had gone, and the distraught princess was presented to their majesties as a mad-woman.
The two brothers were ready to divide the kingdom between themselves. But when they rubbed the bird’s tail over the king’s eyes, it had no effect. The king was as blind as he’d been before.
Yet at that moment help was on its way. God’s wish was for the young prince to live, and he gave to the little round light the power to save him. So, when the prince was dropped from the cliff, a branch caught him by the jacket. Not long after that, some mule drivers passed by, heard his cries, and lifted him to safety. When he told them who he was, they carried him directly to his father’s palace.
No sooner had he arrived than the princess, who had been overcome by grief, regained her composure, and the bird Sweet Magic filled the air with its music of flutes and violins. The prince explained everything to his parents. The mule drivers verified his story. And, finally, he touched the bird’s tail to the king’s face, and the king’s eyesight returned.
Now everyone knew that the two older brothers had lied. But the youngest brother, who was one of God’s own children, would not permit his brothers to be punished. Instead, he embraced them and gave them their share of the kingdom. Then he married the princess, and she hung the bird’s cage in her window, where she could hear its music every day.
When the little round light saw that his friend was safe, he came to say his last few words: “I am finished now. I have shown you my gratitude.” The prince was unwilling to separate from his true friend. Then the voice came to him one more time:
Adiós y ahora hasta que nos volvamos a ver en la otra vida—
Farewell until we meet again in the next life.
And I? I went in one end and came out the other so you, my friends, could tell me another.
Costa
Rica
/
tía
Panchita
(Aunt
Franny)