The Story of the Poor Mason - Spanish Folktales

In Madrid, having gone to bed too early after a day of sightseeing with grandchildren and their mothers, I found myself wide awake a few hours after retiring. Outside the world was alive, with both young and old in the revolving doors of nearby clubs and restaurants.

Slipping out to the balcony to a noisy, but less in volume joyful escape from the sweet snoring of my husband -- I soon found myself thinking about a Spanish speaking woman who taught me as a child, about cuentos folklóricos -- folktales and keeping secrets.

Earlier in the day, doing the tourist thing, we had seen some Gypsy entertainers selling paper dancing puppets to the tourists. Since we could not deny we were tourists, we had bought some, only to find that once we got back to the hotel, we had no idea if they worked, or if we were scammed. That day, those puppets had reminded me of simpler days of paper puppets and made up stories.

Piedad was a wonderful oral traditional story teller. She lived on our ranch and primarily filled the job of cook for the hired hands. She was also a great co-conspirator for young children who needed relief from the boredom of school holidays. Her memory bank was filled with not only folktales, but also cuentos de hadas (fairy tales) and ceuntos de fantasma (ghost stories). There was no sweeter afternoons than the days that she let us sit in the kitchen, while she cooked and told us stories.

As a self taught student of world stories, I know now that many of her folktales were unique, in that they probably came from a time before European contact in the 16^th century. She was more Indigenous Indian than Mexican, so many of her tales involved the subject of magic, a theme not common in strictly Spanish folklore.

It’s been claimed, however, by some expert folklorists that the Spanish folklore tales found today (regardless of what country), are largely ones that evolved from traditional Spanish stories.

This is the version of The Story of the Poor Mason that I know. I think it clearly illustrates that people held in high regard, those who were clever and triumphed over poverty to riches.

In the Spanish story of The Poor Mason, a priest wished for him to build a secret hiding place for his treasure. The old priest was a frugal man, and wanting the job done, he wasn't about to pay a stonemason too much. He secured the services of a poor mason, newly on his own after years of apprenticeship to another stonemason.

In order that the mason might not know how to get at the treasure, should he be inclined to be a thief -- the priest blindfolded him from the time of leaving his own home, until he arrived at the treasure house location. He then again, blindfolded him on his return home at the end of each day.

So it was, that the mason knew the secret of the priest’s hidden treasure, but did not know where the house was, in which it was secreted.

Eventually the priest finally died. In the neighborhood where the house was located, rumors were that the house was haunted by the priest. The landlord could not find a tenant. At last he happened on the poor mason, and offered him the house rent free, if he would do some masonry work from time to time on the landlord's other houses.

As soon as the mason entered the house, he knew that it was the house where the wealth was stored, and where he had previously worked. He kept this secret to himself, until like the Egyptian architect (in The Story of Rhampsinitos), he told of it’s existence on his death bed to his son.

Upon his father's death, the son insisted that his father be buried far out in the country, nearer to where his father had been born. He knew that if he revealed the priest's treasure that the landlord or another priest would claim the prize as their own.

Thus, by removing the treasure along with his father's body from the town, he was able to secret the treasures of the priest out of town.

Once away from the town, the son properly buried his father and never returned to his former town. With the treasure the priest left, he cleverly was able to marry a nobleman's daughter and live the life of a rich man.

It is believed that the Spanish story of The Poor Mason was borrowed from the stories from other cultures such as The Story of the Master Thief, The Story of Rhampsinitos, and The Story of Shifty Lad. Even the more well known tale of the Forty Thieves in the Arabian Nights, bears a resemblance to elements of each of these tales.

How a poor woman from Central Mexico, knew this folktale, I don't know. However, as an adult, I was quite surprised to also read this story in a book many years later. All the time, I had thought it was just a simple story that Piedad had made up. Piedad was illiterate.

Another way that Piedad kept us busy and out of her hair was to give us paper, scissors, and crayons to make paper puppets. We would often act out the folktales, fairy tales, and fantasies she would tell us. Our puppets were attached to wooden sticks for movement in our paper plays.

Our puppets never rose to the level of the strange dancing puppets we were rooked into buying in Madrid (see video below). Never-the-less, they provided my brother and I with hours of fun. There is a mystery to the Madrid puppets that I would like to solve, hopefully with a reader's help. See what you think.

Looney Tunes paper puppets sold on the streets of Madrid come with instructions in English, French, German, and Italian. All of the instructions are indecipherable due to blurred writing and stampings of Bugs Bunny in the middle of them, except the German. The one language I can only speak a few words of and certainly can't read.

Does anybody know what the instructions say as to how these puppets dance to the music from your radio? Did my husband get taken?