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El Conejo y el León (Listening and Reading Practice) Posted by on May 30, 2022 in Literature

Welcome to a new listening and reading practice 🙂 Today’s short story was written by the Honduran writer Augusto Monterroso. The moraleja (moral) of this story is that you should never trust appearances.

El Conejo y el León

Un celebre Psicoanalista se encontró cierto día en medio de la Selva, semiperdido.

One day a famous psychoanalyst found himself half’-lost in the middle of the jungle.

Con la fuerza que dan el instinto y el afán de investigación logró fácilmente subirse a un altísimo árbol, desde el cual pudo observar a su antojo no solo la lenta puesta del sol sino además la vida y costumbres de algunos animales, que comparó una y otra vez con las de los humanos.

With the strength given by instinct and the desire to investigate, he easily managed to climb a very high tree, from which he could observe at will not only the slow sunset but also the life and habits of some animals, which he compared again and again with those of humans.

Al caer la tarde vio aparecer, por un lado, al Conejo; por otro, al León.

As evening fell, he saw the rabbit appear on one side and the lion on the other.

En un principio no sucedió nada digno de mencionarse, pero poco después ambos animales sintieron sus respectivas presencias y, cuando toparon el uno con el otro, cada cual reaccionó como lo había venido haciendo desde que el hombre era hombre.

At first nothing worth mentioning happened, but soon after, both animals sensed each other’s presence and, when they bumped into each other, each reacted as they had been doing since man was man.

El León estremeció la Selva con sus rugidos, sacudió la melena majestuosamente como era su costumbre y hendió el aire con sus garras enormes; por su parte, el Conejo respiró con mayor celeridad, vio un instante a los ojos del León, dio media vuelta y se alejó corriendo.

The lion shook the jungle with his roars, shook his mane majestically as was his custom and cleaved the air with his enormous claws; for his part, the Rabbit breathed more quickly, looked for an instant into the Lion’s eyes, turned and ran away.

De regreso a la ciudad el celebre Psicoanalista publicó su famoso tratado en que demuestra que el León es el animal más infantil y cobarde de la Selva, y el Conejo el más valiente y maduro: el León ruge y hace gestos y amenaza al universo movido por el miedo; el Conejo advierte esto, conoce su propia fuerza, y se retira antes de perder la paciencia y acabar con aquel ser extravagante y fuera de sí, al que comprende y que después de todo no le ha hecho nada.

Upon returning to the city, the famous psychoanalyst published his famous treatise in which he demonstrated that the lion is the most childish and cowardly animal in the jungle, and the rabbit the bravest and most mature: the Lion roars and makes gestures and threatens the universe out of fear; the rabbit notices this, recognizes his own strength, and withdraws before it might lose its patience and finish off that outrageous and out of control being, which it understands and which after all it hadn’t done anything to.

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About the Author: Anais

Hello, Spanish learners! My name's Anais. I'm a Venezuelan freelance translator living in Argentina. I'm a culture and language freak and such a big foodie! I'm thrilled to share my language and culture with all of you and, why not?, some recipes of our traditional delights, too. Stay tuned, guys! :-)