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G turned
to Listo and said rather loudly, since he was
getting hard of hearing, “Your Royal Highness
Listo, pray tell . . . “ then she remembered
she was speaking English and switched to Spanish
with a throat clearing … hhhaa hummm …. “Su
Royal Altisimo Listo, favor de decirme, como
llegamos al mar?” (she was asking him how they
get to the ocean)
Listo says: “Ah … mi hija, mijito, atras de esas
casas de palitos, a poco distancia, alli esta
la entrada del mar.” (ah my daughter, my sonny,
behind these stick houses, a short distance,
is the entrance to the ocean) . . . And Listo
went on . . . “Conocemos alguien con un barco
grande que te puede llevar a donde quieren.”
(we know someone with a big ship that can take
you wherever you want to go) G smiled real big
and explained to Julio, because his Spanish wasn’t
quite as good as Granmas.
Then G said to Listo: “Favor de llevarnos alli,
gran sabio tecolote.” (Do us a favor and take
us there, great wise owl) “Estabien” said Listo,
“pero primero, las mujeres estan preparando comida
para ustedes, y sus bestias para su salida.”
Whew, woof pant … Here goes: (It is good, or
ok, says Listo, but first the women are preparing
food for you and your beasts for your departure)
This was even better than they could have hoped
for; friendly owls, food, and a boat at the back
door. What more could they ask for? They went
and got the horses and tied the blankets and
baskets on for departure. Granma pulled out one
of the small pink stone jars and gave it to Listo
and bowed. “Esta jarra es de los Peppermint Mountains,
en el otro mundo, muy lejos de aqui,” said G.
(this jar is from the Peppermint Mountains in
the other world, very far from here) The wise
old owl smiled with his beak, kind of a hard
thing to do for an owl, as if he knew something
they didn’t. Well, we will never know what it
was, for he didn’t say.
Julio wanted to give something too, so out of
his pocket he pulled a precious stone that looked
suspiciously like a clear red ruby and gave it
to Listo. “Muchisimas gracias, mijito, que Dios
le bendiga abundantamente sobre todo lo que puedes
pensar o imaginar, en el Nombre!” (Thank you
very much, my sonny; may God bless you abundantly
above all you can think or imagine, in the Name!)
About this time the girl owls brought out several
palm leaf packages tied with reeds and handed
them to G and J between their outstretched wings.
G & J both bowed down when they received
them and saying “Muchisimas gracias.” J had already
stuffed the baskets with dates and made a new
cutout log water bed for his frog.
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