The Rosebud of Saragossa

Once upon a time, in Zaragoza in the north of Spain, from an old Gypsy woman, a man, named Umberto, bought a magical rosebud; a living rosebud that laughed and spoke in a cheery voice.

 

“When the rosebud opens”, said the old Gypsy woman, “You shall have gold and fortunes beyond your wildest imaginings but you must wait for it to open. Woe betide the impatient man”.

 

That is alright said the man ,handing over a small purse of gold coins, that he had stolen from a priest, to the Gypsy woman and taking the rosebud away, smiling, “I will only have to wait a few days right?”.

 

“Oh I cannot wait to open and show you my pretty pink petals and shower you with gold and fortune”, said the rosebud, for it truly only wanted to make the man happy.

 

Unfortunately, when the man got the rosebud home she saw that he was just an awful greedy man and a drunk and a gambler with a foul temper who only wanted gold to pay off all his gambling debts and his debts to local innkeepers and, because he was an awful man he didn’t even care for the rose properly; he kept forgetting to feed it and water it and instead of saying nice things to it he was always yelling and swearing at it angrily.

 

And the man found it unbearable having to wait for the rosebud to open.

 

“Stupid rose”, he said to the rosebud on only the second day of waiting, “When are you going to bloom and grow? I want you to open”.

 

“Believe me”, said the rose, being nice, “It will be worth waiting for. I will shower you with so much gold that you’ll be the richest man in all the region but you have to be patient”.

 

But the man couldn’t wait; he was like someone with a terrible burning itch; yelling and cursing and pacing up and down.

 

However, the little rosebud had a solution.

 

“Touch one of my green leaves and you can have a silver penny. Enough for a bottle of beer”, she said.

 

And so the man touched one of the rosebuds green leaves and a small silver penny appeared upon it.

 

“Alright”, he said, taking the silver penny, “But I want all that Gold you promised me and I want it soon”.

 

Then he went off to his local tavern and bought some beer to take his mind off his waiting.

 

However, the next day, he was just as bad; screaming and yelling at the rose.

 

“Hurry up and bloom will you”, said the man, “I want my gold”.

 

“Oh please be patient”, said the rose, “I really want to make you happy. I’ll make you the richest man in the whole country if you want but please, you must wait”.

 

But the man would not wait, in fact he threatened to tear the roses petals off if she did not open soon.

 

However, the rosebud had a solution.

 

“Touch my green stem and you shall have two more little silver pennies enough to buy two bottles of beer”.

 

So the man touched the rosebuds stem and two little silver pennies appeared in the palm of his hand.

 

“Alright”, he said, “But I told you, I want my gold. I think your trying to cheat me and I won’t be cheated by anyone, understand?”.

 

Then the man went off to his local tavern and bought two bottles of beer, getting just drunk enough so that he forgot about having to wait for the rose to bloom.

 

However, the next day the man was worse than ever, partly because he had a terrible hangover and he got so angry with the rose this time that he picked up the vase it was in and hurled it against a wall smashing it, making the poor rosebud sob.

 

“Why are you being so horrible to me”, asked the rosebud, “I’ve tried to be nice to you”.

 

“Well it’s your fault for making me angry”, said the man, “If you didn’t keep me waiting for my gold I wouldn’t have to treat you that way”.

 

The man picked up the rose from among the wet broken fragments of the vase on the floor but he pricked his finger on one of the sharp fragments and this only made him more angry.

 

“Right, that’s it”, he said, looking at the rosebud in his hand and snarling, “I’ve had enough of waiting for you to give me what is mine”.

 

“But you can have another silver penny. Another two silver pennies”, said the rosebud, “Please. I beg you to be patient”.

 

“Oh no”, said the man, “No more buying me off with silver pennies. I paid gold for you and I’m going to get gold”.

 

Then, as the rosebud sobbed and cried, the man started to tear away its pink petals.

 

However, when the man did this, suddenly, he heard thunder in the skies and saw lightning flash outside the window of his room as the sky turned black and then he heard the voice of the old gypsy woman only now her voice was deafening.

 

“Woe betide the impatient man”, said the voice.

 

Then, his eyes filling up with horror, the man saw the shadow of a spectre on the wall of his room, like the grim reaper and the reaper raised up the shadow of a knife and swept it down upon the man and the man fell dead upon the floor.

 

“I told you to be patient”, said the rosebud sobbing, lying on the floor beside the dead man, some of her petals torn off and scattered.

 

However, not long afterwards, the dead body of the man was discovered by one of his friends, a young man named Santiago, who told the local policeman and the undertaker.

 

And as they were taking away the body, the man picked up the rose and its torn petals and looked at them.

 

“Oh little rosebud”, he said, “No one should treat such a pretty flower so badly”.

 

Then the man took the rosebud home and put it in a vase and watered it and fed it and said nice things to it and even played his guitar to it when the stars were bright and he didn’t even know it was a magic rosebud but then, one day, the rosebud started to bloom and when it did, large gold coins, solid and pure, started to appear on the floor before it and started to mount up until, at first they became a mound and then a heap and then a hill of gold coins bursting from the man’s roof and, not only that, the rose transformed into a beautiful woman in a flame red dress.

 

“Oh my goodness”, said the man seeing the hill of gold coins and the pretty woman beside it, “It’s a miracle”.

 

“It is your kindness and your gentleness”, she said, “And because you have been good to me I shall grant any wish you ever desire”.

 

And she planted a rose red kiss upon his face and the man and she lived happily ever after.