Read The Coyote Under the Table/El Coyote Debajo de la Mesa for Free Online

averiguar lo que hacían. Oyó decir a la una: —Estos vestidos son aun más hermosos que los últimos dos. Seguramente el príncipe se va a fijar en nosotras en estos vestidos.
    â€”No sé —suspiró la otra—. Me pregunto si se va a enamorar de alguna muchacha.
    Luego dijo la primera: —Yo sé que voy a hacer. Mira las zapatillas de oro que tiene esta estatua. Las voy a llevar esta noche. Eso sí le va a llamar la atención al príncipe.
    La muchacha le quitó una zapatilla a la estatua.
    â€”¡Mira! —gritó su amiga—. Santa María movió la pierna. Estará enfadada que le estás quitando las zapatillas.
    La otra se rió y dijo a la estatua: —No te preocupes, Santa María. Te devuelvo las zapatillas para la mañana. —Le quitó la otra zapatilla.
    La estatua bostezó y se estiró, restregándose los ojos: —¡Ay! — dijo—, qué sueño he llevado.
    Las dos jóvenes se alarmaron y salieron corriendo de la iglesia, pero el príncipe reconoció a la muchacha pobre. Corrió de su escondite.
    â€”Por favor, acompáñame al baile esta noche —le rogó.
    Fueron juntos al baile y, por supuesto, dentro de poco tiempo se casaron. Pusieron las zapatillas de oro en la verdadera estatua de Santa María, y todavía hoy los dos van cada mañana a la iglesia para prender una vela delante de Santa María y llevarle un nuevo vestido hermoso.

 
C AUGHT ON A N AIL

    I n a little farming village hidden in a mountain valley they tell a funny story about three young men who fell in love with the same girl. The girl wasn’t really interested in any of the three, and the young men just about drove her crazy trying to win her attention.
    Almost every night at least one of them would stand outside her window and sing love songs to her. Sometimes two of them, or even all three, would show up on the same evening. Then there would be a howling contest to see who could sound the loudest and most forlorn. In the daytime, they tried to impress her by racing past her house on fast horses. Whenever she walked on the street, one of the young men would hurry to catch up to her and have a conversation, or offer her a flower.
    No matter how much the girl ignored those men or told them right out that she didn’t like them, they wouldn’t leave her alone. Finally she came up with a plan to teach them a lesson.
    First she went to a carpenter in the village. “How much do you charge to make a coffin?” she asked the carpenter. When he told her the price, she said she would pay him twice that amount if he would make a coffin without telling anyone about it and haul the coffin to an empty house that stood at the edge of the village. Everyone claimed the house was haunted. They said strange lights were seen in that house.
    It was all agreed on. And then the next time the girl walked through the town, one of the young men came up to her to start a conversation. She told him, “You know that old, empty house at the edge of the town? If you go there at eleven-thirty tonight, you’ll see a coffin in the house. And there will be a candle burning at the head of the coffin. If you’re brave enough to get into the coffin and cover your face like a dead man and lie there all night long, I might like to get to know you a little bit better.”
    The young man was delighted that she had finally taken notice of him, and he swore he would do just as she told him.
    Later that day the second of the young men tried to speak to her and she told him, “You know that empty house out at the edge of town? If you go there at fifteen minutes before midnight tonight, you’ll see a coffin in that house. There will be a dead man lying in the coffin. If you’re brave enough to pull a chair up next to the coffin and pray over the dead body all night long, I just might talk to you from time to time.”
    The second