Elegir la tranquilidad

Choosing tranquillity

Adapted from El ratón de la corte y el del campo, by Félix María Samaniego.

El ratón campesino expresó su decisión sin rodeos. Renunciaba al queso, al tocino y a unos placeres que llegaban acompañados de continuos sobresaltos. No estaba dispuesto a que cada comida se convirtiera en una prueba de supervivencia. Aunque su amigo le había ofrecido lo mejor de su despensa, la invitación ya no podía retenerlo.

Regresó de inmediato al campo y contempló de otro modo su casa de tierra. Nada había cambiado en ella: ni el tamaño, ni el aspecto, ni las legumbres que lo esperaban. Había cambiado, en cambio, el criterio con el que juzgaba su bienestar. La sencillez que antes podía parecer una carencia le permitía ahora reconocer una ventaja que había dado por supuesta.

Desde aquella visita, estimó mucho más vivir sin zozobra. No necesitaba convencerse de que las legumbres supieran mejor que el queso de Holanda. Le bastaba con poder comerlas en paz. La fábula contrapone así el brillo de la abundancia y el valor de la tranquilidad: para este ratón, disfrutar de lo que tenía era preferible a poseer más bajo la amenaza constante de perderlo todo.

The country mouse stated his decision plainly. He was giving up the cheese, the bacon and pleasures that came with constant frights. He was not willing to let every meal become a test of survival. Although his friend had offered him the best of his pantry, the invitation could no longer keep him there.

He returned to the country immediately and saw his home in the earth in a different light. Nothing about it had changed: neither its size, nor its appearance, nor the pulses waiting for him. What had changed, instead, was the standard by which he judged his well-being. The simplicity that might once have seemed a shortcoming now allowed him to recognise an advantage he had taken for granted.

From that visit on, he valued living without anxiety much more. He did not need to convince himself that pulses tasted better than Dutch cheese. Being able to eat them in peace was enough. The fable thus contrasts the glitter of abundance with the value of tranquillity: for this mouse, enjoying what he had was preferable to owning more under the constant threat of losing everything.

Key Phrases

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sin rodeos

without beating around the bush

Sin rodeos means speaking directly, without unnecessary detours in the explanation.

había dado por supuesta

had taken for granted

Dar por supuesto means accepting something without questioning it. Supuesta agrees with the feminine noun ventaja here.

zozobra

anxious unease

The country mouse values living without this anxious feeling.

You’ve reached the end of this reader.

Original source and edition

Adapted from El ratón de la corte y el del campo, by Félix María Samaniego.

Spanish prose adaptations by Read Spanish Daily. These versions retell one fable; they are not the original verse or the complete collection.

Fábulas en verso castellano, volume I, book I, fable VIII. Madrid: Oficina de Cano, 1818, pages 9–10. Original Spanish text in the public domain.

Original source and edition →