Juan and The Thousand Black Men

Long ago, a countryman called Juan was married to a woman called Paciencia (patience in English). However, his wife was the lesser patient woman ever, and with every day that passed, she was less and less patient. Her husband could be described as a real-life sloth. He was the laziest man you would ever meet. He only loved to stay in his hammock listening to the radio all day long (figure 1).

Figure 1. Juan sleeping.

Paciencia woke up very early every day to do all the housework, and because her husband was a sloth, she was in a terrible mood all the time. She complained about it constantly. However, as is well-known, it’s easy to see the mote in your brother’s eye and not the rafter in your own. Paciencia was not the perfect wife at all. She had several small defects. She was over-jealous. She could not see her husband speaking with any women, not even his mom. She would start screaming hysterically in front of everyone.

Every time her husband left her hammock to do anything outside their lands, she was waiting for him furiously. Immediately on his return, she started yelling, “where did you go? Which woman did you meet today? Why are you so late? Didn’t you see it’s 7:45 PM!”

Juan loved his wife, and to avoid confrontations with her, he preferred to stay in his hammock sleeping all day long.

One day, around May after the first rains, Paciencia told her husband: “Go to the hill and prepare some land for our yearly corn plantation. If you don’t go, we won’t have corn for this year!”

Juan just replied, “Fine, I’m going to prepare it. However, you should bring my lunch around noon because I’ll be tired and hungry.”

Juan walked for several minutes until he reached his land on the hill. He was tired and decided to take a nap next to a rock. However, he was so unlucky because as soon as he sat down by the rock, his machete hit the rock badly.

Juan just complained and said, “damn! My machete might be broken and was new!”

Suddenly, Juan heard a strong voice that asked him, “what do you want, my lord king?”

Juan turned back and was shocked. A tall black man was in front of him!

He was frightened and quietly said, “I just came to prepare my lands. I have nothing! Don’t do anything to me!”

The black man clapped his hands and said aloud, “thousand black men come here and prepare my lord’s lands.”

Thousand black men appeared from nowhere and prepared the lands. Around noon all was ready. After their work, they vanished in front of Juan’s eyes.

Several minutes later, Juan’s wife arrived with his lunch. She was surprised because her husband had been really efficient. However, Juan didn’t say anything because he was sure she wouldn’t believe him.

Juan went daily to his piece of land to check if the corn was ready. One day, he noticed that some corn was already ready. He wanted to drink some tasty atole and to eat some fried corn. He picked up his machete and hit the rock again.

The black man reappeared and asked again, “what do you want, my lord king?”

Juan replied, “I would like to drink some atole and eat some friend corns.”

The black man said aloud, “thousand black men come here and cook some friend corns and some atole for my lord.”

A couple of minutes later, Juan was drinking his atole, when suddenly his wife arrived with his lunch.

She complained angrily, “where did you get his atole? Where did you get the corn? I’m sure a woman has come and brought you these gifts!”

Juan just stayed quiet. He just tolerated what she was saying until she calmed down.

Juan kept coming to his piece of land, but he was more careful to avoid more shows with his wife. One day, he wanted to double his cornfields, and again, he hit the rock using his machete. Thousand black men came and supported him with his wish.

Several weeks passed, and it was time to collect his corn. Juan told his wife that he was going to collect the corn that morning.

Paciencia said in her mind, “today, I’m going to prepare some coffee for my husband and spy on him about how he is so fast doing his work! I’m sure I’m going to find other women helping him!”

Juan walked to his cornfield and found that it was ready. He hit the rock again with his machete, and the black man asked him again, “what do you want, my lord king?”

Juan replied, “I came to collect my corn.”

The black man clapped his hands three times and said aloud, “Thousand black men come here and collect my lord’s corn.”

Thousand black men appeared from nowhere and collected all corn in a blink of an eye.

Suddenly, a few minutes after the black men had finished, Paciencia found her husband sleeping next to the magic rock.

Paciencia started to shout out very loudly that it was impossible that her lazy husband had finished so fast! She started to ask him angrily, “who are the women who are helping you?”

She was very angry, and suddenly Juan hit the rock with his machete by chance when Paciencia pushed him down.

The black man reappeared and asked Juan again, “what do you want, my lord king?”

Juan replied, “I am trying to shut down my wife. She is angry and doesn’t allow me to speak!”

The black man said aloud: “Thousand black men come here and shut down this woman.”

Thousand black men started to chase the woman who didn’t stop yelling, “Juan, who are these black men? Why are they chasing me?”

Paciencia was out of control, running all over their lands.

Juan requested the black man to stop chasing his wife.

The black man said, “I would stop them, but you should never hit the rock again. You must leave us in peace.”

Juan agreed to his terms, and all black men vanished.

Juan and Paciencia returned to their home and on their way back, Juan explained everything to his wife.

Paciencia felt ashamed because she was over-jealous. She agreed to try to be more understanding and Juan to be a hard worker from that day.

Juan and Paciencia started to have a more peaceful life. Hopefully, Juan will keep his words and will never come to hit our stone again as we expect you will never do it either.

Inspired by the book “Leyendas Cuentos y Adivinanzas de El Salvador, Bancasa, Banco de Construcción y Ahorro, S.A.” © All rights reserved 1995.