Conte Castanyera - Chestnut Lady Story
Rationale - Re-telling - Translation - Activities - Reflection
Title: La Castanyera (The Chestnut Woman)
Chosen by: Miguel Ángel Jiménez Nares; Mary Carmen Sánchez Marín
Once upon a time there was an old lady. People used to call her La Castanyera , the chestnut woman. Her name was Tana and she was very kind. Children loved her very much because when they did not have any money, she gave them chestnuts.
They loved her because of a funny thing: she often invited them to her house to tell them amazing stories. Then, the children closed their eyes and everything became real.
Tana, was waiting for the autumn, when the tree leaves become golden and the wind blows strongly and makes dancing whirlpools like happy sardanas , the traditional Catalan dance.
Then, la Castanyera used to leave home. With her striped skirt, dark vest and a dark scarf knotted under her chin, and then she sat in the street like a cloth doll.
The toasted chestnuts left a wonderful smell in the air…
“-Come and buy my roasted chestnuts! Very well roasted!” said Tana
In the afternoon, when the coldest weather arrived, la Castanyera walked back home. She lived in a very small and clean house. And she cooked chestnuts to sell them the next day.
Tana was waiting for All Saints´ Day, because she earned a lot of money during that celebration. At night, everybody celebrated the party with panellets a traditional Catalan sweet, and moreover with toasted chestnuts.
But, a few days before that party, a strange old lady who looked like a witch, entered Tana's small house and stole all the chestnuts that Tana had to toast and left the house, running.
That old, sad, and angry woman was another Castanyera . She felt jealous of Tana, because children loved Tana more than her and they never bought her anything nor made fun with her.
Tana was very sad and cried a river of tears. She huddled close to the fire and started to pray until she fell asleep like a little baby.
And let's see what happened….
The children who went to school tried to buy chestnuts from Tana like every day, but that day, they realised that Tana was not sitting in her usual place, so the children decided to go to Tana's house.
They found her crying and frozen. She explained to them what had happened. Then they felt sorry and in a kindly way the kids took their moneyboxes and with all money they bought a little sack of nuts.
Imagine Tana's happiness when she saw God's gift of chestnuts to toast. She held the children kindly and excited.
-“You are the nicest children of the world!” she said.
Nevertheless, the old, sad and angry Castanyera was toasting the stolen chestnuts.
Suddenly, the chestnuts started to jump wildly making strange and horrible sounds running down the street. Everybody ran away from the place.
-“This was a punishment for hate and for stealing chestnuts, so she decided to say “I am sorry” to Tana. Tana forgave her with her heart and they became good friends.
Then happened that the children decided to buy chestnuts from her and get closer to the angry castanyera with smiles on their faces. The angry lady closed her eyes because she didn't want to cry and she never was angry again.