by Trish Cooke
Maria felt embarrassed. She wondered who else had noticed her looking at Juan and a wave of fear suddenly hit her as she wondered if Juan too knew how she felt about him.
‘Well, it’s just a dream,’ said Maria. ‘Nothing can ever come of it. It’s just a dream.’
‘Don’t you say that,’ said the woman, ‘for I can help make your dream come true. But if I help you marry Juan it will cost you a lot of money.’
Maria laughed. ‘If only …’ she said.
‘It’s up to you,’ said the woman. ‘If you want him I can help you, but if you don’t … It’s up to you.’
Maria thought for a moment. The woman was very convincing. If she could actually make Maria’s dream a reality, it would be truly amazing.
‘I don’t have any money,’ said Maria, ‘so even if you can help me, I wouldn’t be able to pay you.’
‘Once you are married to Juan, you will be rich too,’ said the woman. ‘You can pay me when you’re married.’
Maria realized she had nothing to lose. If the woman failed to get Juan to marry Maria then she would not have to pay her. The deal seemed too good to be true.
‘What’s the catch?’ she asked.
‘No catch!’ said the woman sweetly.
Maria loved Juan so much. If this woman could help her then maybe it would be worth the risk.
‘Yes,’ said Maria. ‘Help me to marry Juan.’
‘Now you must listen very carefully to my instructions,’ said the woman, ‘and you must follow them completely.’
‘Yes,’ said Maria. ‘Just tell me what I must do.’
‘You must get an elf-stone,’ said the woman.
‘An elf-stone? What’s an elf-stone?’ asked Maria.
‘It’s a very special stone that has the powers to give you what you wish for.’
‘Where will I get one from? What does it look like?’ asked Maria.
‘You must go to the small cave by the stream in the middle of the forest to get it. The elf-stone is in the shape of a man,’ said the woman. ‘When you go to the cave, be sure to take someone with you.’
‘I’ll call my brother to go with me,’ said Maria.
The woman looked concerned. ‘I’m afraid that’s not allowed. Men are not allowed to go along. Your companion must be female.’
‘But I don’t have any sisters and my mother is dead!’ said Maria.
‘Then I will go with you,’ said the woman. Maria had no reason to disagree.
‘To complete the spell, you must bring with you a photograph of Juan,’ said the woman. ‘I will place the elf-stone on top of the picture and put them on the ground at the main crossroads when it is raining and the sun is shining, just as a rainbow fills the sky. After I have cast my spell, I will bury the picture and the elf-stone in the earth.’
‘And then will that be it? Will I marry Juan?’ asked Maria.
‘Most certainly,’ the woman said. ‘Meet me at the cemetery gate with the photograph of Juan tomorrow evening at six o’clock.’
Maria agreed to meet the woman at the cemetery gate at six o’clock the next day.
Maria went home feeling very excited. Could what the woman have said to her be true? If Maria followed all the instructions, would Juan really become her husband?
The next day, when Maria went to work at the big house as usual, she felt very happy. When Juan passed her and smiled in his usual way, though she was just a poor girl in rags, once again she felt like the most beautiful girl in the world. She hoped desperately that the woman’s spell with the elf-stone would work.
There were so many photographs of Juan around the house. It would be easy to take one without it being missed, so Maria chose a photograph of Juan on a fine black horse from the large wooden dresser in the main room of the house. When she had finished her work and was about to leave, she carefully put the photograph of Juan in her bag and hurried to meet the woman at the cemetery gate as she had agreed.
‘I have the photograph of Juan!’ Maria said, handing the picture over.
‘Now we must go and get the elf-stone,’ said the woman. ‘In order for the spell to work, we must take the route through the cemetery.’
Maria was afraid. She didn’t like cemeteries, and especially not in the evening when it was dark.
‘Can’t we go on the road around the cemetery instead?’
‘For the spell to work, you must follow my instructions,’ said the woman sternly. ‘Do you want to marry Juan or not?’
‘I do!’ said Maria. ‘I want to marry Juan very much. But I am afraid.’
‘Don’t be afraid,’ said the woman. ‘I have a cutlass in my belt to protect us from anything that would do us any harm.’
So Maria and the woman walked along the path through the cemetery. It was long and winding, and Maria was sure she could see strange shapes moving in the darkness.
At times she thought that she and the old woman were being followed but, every time she turned back to see, the wise old woman told her, ‘Keep your eyes to the front. Don’t look back!’ And so Maria would turn back round and look only in front of her.
When they finally arrived at the opening to the forest, Maria was already wondering if it was a good idea to continue. A churning in her belly made her think that maybe she should go home and forget all about her dream of marrying Juan.
‘Having second thoughts?’ the woman said knowingly. ‘Don’t worry, it will be worth it in the end, when you have Juan as your husband.’
So Maria took a deep breath and they continued into the forest together.
‘Come on, keep up!’ the woman said, over and over.
Though the woman was old, she had a lot of energy and she marched with strong steps that Maria could hardly keep up with. The woman used her cutlass to cut through the bushes and overhanging trees and eventually they arrived at the small cave by the stream.
‘Now let’s look for an elf-stone,’ said the woman. ‘Remember, it will be in the shape of a man.’
Maria searched high and low amongst all the stones and pebbles by the side of the stream. They were all shapes and sizes but none looked to her like the shape of a man.
‘There it is!’ said the woman, pointing over to a pile of stones in the corner of the cave. To get to it they would have to walk along a thin ledge around a pool of greenish water and risk falling in. Maria held on to the cave wall and took her time. She edged her way around the cave, careful not to miss her footing. When she reached the pile of stones she pushed away the other ones and pulled out the elf-stone. It was true: the tiny stone had the shape of a man. But how the old woman had seen it from such a distance baffled her. With equally delicate steps, Maria made her way back around the ledge.
‘Now, quickly, we must walk to the main crossroads so I can do my spell!’ said the woman.
By now, Maria was tired. She wasn’t sure if she would have enough energy to walk all the way to the main crossroads.
‘I’m tired,’ she said. ‘Can we rest first?’
‘We only have a short time to do this,’ the woman said. ‘We have to reach the crossroads as dawn breaks or the spell will not work. When the sun shines and the rain falls and the rainbow forms, that is when I must do my spell, then I will bury the picture with the elf-stone.’
‘Very well,’ said Maria, as she could see that the woman was losing her patience. ‘Lead the way.’
The woman once again led the way with strong steps and Maria hurried along behind her. But as they rushed through the forest a stone hit Maria on the back of her head and she collapsed.
‘What was that?’ she said groggily.
The woman turned and looked and then said, ‘That’s the elf king. If he catches us with his stone our lives won’t be worth living! Come on, we have to get away quickly!’
‘But I feel dizzy and weak!’ said Maria, rubbing her head. ‘I can’t run!’
So the old woman picked Maria up with a strength far beyond that of an old woman and she ran quickly with
Maria in her arms, her feet hardly touching the ground. When they reached the main crossroads dawn was breaking and raindrops began to spill out of the clouds. Then there came a bright ray of sunshine and before long a magnificent colourful rainbow.
‘It’s time,’ said the woman, and then she put the picture of Juan under the elf-stone on a small mound of dirt by her feet and she began to chant:
‘Juan and Maria,
Juan and Maria,
This be the union of Juan and Maria.’
Then the old woman buried the picture and the elf-stone in the earth and smiled at Maria.
‘It is done. You can go home now,’ she said.
‘And now will I marry Juan?’ Maria asked.
‘Certainly!’ said the old woman.
Maria jumped for joy.
Later that morning, when Maria went to work, the most amazing thing happened. As Maria arrived at the big house, Juan was waiting at the door.
‘Can I speak with you a moment?’ he said, smiling at Maria. Maria was so overwhelmed that she didn’t know what to say.
He continued, ‘Today I am filled with courage to ask for your hand in marriage. Will you marry me?’
Without hesitation Maria said, ‘Yes! I would love to marry you.’
Maria and Juan were married two days later. The wedding was a lavish one with all the trimmings. Juan paid for everything. Maria wore a magnificent lace wedding dress and she looked stunning in all her finery. Afterwards Juan bought a beautiful mansion for them to live in.
‘You will want for nothing ever again!’ Juan said to Maria. ‘Everything I own now belongs to you also.’
Maria was very happy. Not only was she married to the man of her dreams, she was also one of the richest women in the district.
When the old woman went to collect the washing on the Friday, from Juan’s parents’ house, Maria went to meet her.
‘Thank you so much,’ Maria said. ‘You have made me the happiest woman in the world.’
‘Now you must pay me,’ said the old woman. ‘I want a bag of gold coins for my service. Meet me at the cemetery gate with it at three o’clock.’
‘You were right,’ said Maria. ‘Now I am married to Juan, I am rich too, so I will get a bag of gold coins out of the mansion vault, to pay you this afternoon.’
So that afternoon Maria went to the vault in the basement of the big mansion where she and Juan lived. There were gold coins and jewels and all manner of valuables there. She took a bag of gold coins and brought it to the cemetery gate at three o’clock, as was agreed.
But the old woman became greedy. ‘I will come again this time next week, for the rest of the money,’ she said.
‘Oh,’ said Maria. ‘I thought, once I had paid you what you asked, that we would be finished.’
‘I’ll decide when we’re done!’ said the old woman.
Maria and Juan had a very happy marriage, but for one thing. Every week the old woman would order Maria to give her another bag of gold coins, but each time Maria gave the old woman the money, the old woman was never satisfied. The more money Maria gave her, the more money the old woman wanted, and every week she demanded more and more.
The old woman said if Maria didn’t continue the payments then she would reverse the spell and the marriage with Juan would be over.
Now Maria felt terrible that she was taking bags of gold coins out of the vault without telling Juan, so one day she went to her husband and told him everything.
‘Juan, my dear husband,’ she said, ‘I have done something I am ashamed of, but in my heart I did it because I loved you so much and didn’t know what else to do. I am so afraid that when I tell you this I will lose you, but I do not want to keep anything from you any more. If I must lose you then lose you I must, but I want you to know the truth.’
Juan listened tentatively. ‘Speak, my dear wife. Nothing you have to say will offend me. I love you. You will never lose me.’
So Maria told him everything, about how she had made a deal with the old woman, how she had stolen his photograph, how she had gone through the forest with the old woman to get the elf-stone, and how the woman had cast the spell to make him marry her.
Juan listened to what she had to say and then he was silent as he thought.
Eventually he spoke. ‘I have loved you ever since I set eyes on you, from the first day you started working at my family’s house. I loved the way you never fussed around me and I always wanted to get to know you. I was just too shy to speak to you. I didn’t have the courage to talk to you. I spoke to you that morning because I thought I was going to lose you.’
‘Lose me?’ Maria asked, puzzled. ‘Why would you think that?’
‘The evening before I spoke to you, I saw you meet someone at the cemetery gates, and then you went into the forest with them. It was dark so I couldn’t see who it was, but the man had a cutlass and you were chasing after him with a spring in your step. I thought he must be your love!’
Maria started to laugh. ‘That wasn’t a man, that was …’
Juan interrupted her. ‘I know now from what you say that it was the old woman, but I was so jealous I could not tell. I was enraged and went to bed that night telling myself that I must let you know my true feelings in the morning. It was then that I asked you to marry me.’
‘I see!’ said Maria.
‘So, my darling,’ Juan said, ‘the old woman didn’t cast a spell at all. She has tricked you. It’s all nonsense. I loved you all along and always wanted you to be my wife. You owe her nothing and you must stop payments to her immediately.’
Maria was a little nervous about stopping the payments to the old woman, afraid of what she might do. So Juan decided he would talk to the old woman himself and put an end to this nonsense.
Since the old woman had been getting the gold coins from Maria, she had stopped washing clothes for his family, and so she no longer came to the family house. Juan went to meet her at the cemetery gate, where she was waiting for Maria to arrive with her gold coins.
‘What are you doing here?’ the old woman shrieked with horror.
‘I know all about the rubbish you have been telling my wife!’ Juan said. ‘And I know about all the money you have been taking from her. You will not be getting any more money, so leave her alone!’
The old woman was angry and chased him all the way back to the mansion, shouting after him, ‘It was a fair bargain! I want my money! I want my money! Thief! You’ll regret breaking the deal!’ But Juan didn’t pay her any mind, he just ignored her cries.
But when he arrived and called for Maria, she was not there.
‘Maria! Maria! Where are you?’
But she was nowhere to be found. The old woman laughed. ‘It serves you right for not paying your debts!’
‘What have you done to my wife?’ Juan demanded.
‘I have done nothing to her,’ said the old woman, ‘but if you were to give me more gold coins, I can help you find her.’
Desperate to find his wife, Juan agreed to pay the woman and reluctantly he took two more bags of gold coins from his vault and gave them to her.
‘Lovely, lovely …’ she said. ‘Follow me!’
They searched all over the village, asking everyone they saw if they had seen Maria, but to no avail. Finally the old woman suggested they go to the cave in the middle of the forest to see if the elf king knew of her whereabouts. Juan thought the old woman was still talking nonsense as he did not believe in the elf king one bit, but he needed to find his wife so he agreed to go along.
Juan rode on horseback while the woman marched with strong steps all the way to the small cave by the stream, never once stopping to rest. When they got to the cave, Juan dismounted and went inside. He could not believe what he saw in the greenish pool of water. There was Maria, with water up to her waist! Beside her, coming out of the water, was a tiny man with a long green beard. He was wearing a crown. Juan jumped into the water immediately but, as he reached to grab her, she disappear
ed. The little man disappeared too.
‘That was Maria!’ said Juan to the woman. ‘Stop your hocus pocus and give her back to me!’
The old woman laughed. ‘I want everything you own in return!’
‘You can have it all!’ said Juan. ‘My wealth means nothing to me! I just want my wife back!’
The old woman made Juan sign a paper saying that everything he and Maria owned now belonged to her. Once he had done this she turned to the pool of water and said, ‘Release!’
It was then the water in the greenish pool began to whirl round and round. Maria and the elf king were pushed up to the surface. The elf king helped Maria to the edge of the pool.
‘Now keep away from my cave!’ he commanded as he disappeared into the water.
‘Let’s get out of here!’ Juan said, clasping Maria’s hand and leading her out to his horse.
Juan and Maria rode out of the forest as fast as they could. They rode to a far-off place where they went on to live a happy and simple life with no care for the wealth they had lost. They had each other and that was everything they had ever wanted.
As for the old woman, she was very rich and she lived the rest of her days in Juan and Maria’s mansion. However, she was never satisfied: nothing was ever enough and she always wanted more.
Papa Bwa and Monkey Trouble
This story is based on a folk tale from Trinidad
Annie was a baker. She loved to bake cakes. All kinds – coconut cakes, lemon cakes, ginger cakes, chocolate cakes, banana cakes – any cakes you care to name, Annie made them all.
People loved Annie’s cakes. They would come from far and wide to buy them at the market. Annie had a special stall there, with a sign above it which said ANNIE’S DELICIOUS CAKES. And delicious they were!
With the money Annie made from her cakes, she would buy the most amazing dresses. She liked to dress well, especially when she went dancing – which she loved to do.
Now, every morning, Annie would get up bright and early so that she could bake before she went to the market, which was a fair way from where she lived.
