Four more Bolivian traditional tales by José Manuel Aponte, from his “Tradiciones bolivianas” (La Paz, 1909), in fresh English translations made for this series: a ring, a wig, a barracks, and a harp — four theatres of Bolivian wit, honour, and bluff.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
In “Torito, Aquí Está Moncayo,” a wounded bull in the Potosí ring refuses the sword again and again, and a shouted nickname from the crowd turns the day's shame into the feast's legend — a tale told in Aponte's own stage directions, with its curtain line intact. In “The Story of a Wig,” a retired soldier in Tarija solves the great question of his life — wig or no wig — until one terrible night, when his honour demands its sacrifice. In “Adventures of a Soldier,” a young officer of Chuquisaca faces down a comandante who shoots at shadows, and comes out of the farce with a wedding. And in “The Diplomacy of a Harpist,” a blind harpist of La Paz, appealed to by thieves, answers thievery with diplomacy — and wins a friend for life.
As in earlier parts, the pages carry the tale-teller's world as Aponte wrote it. In “Torito,” the corrida is the setting and no blood is shed on the page; the firing-squad threats of the fallen president are reported bluster, never carried out. In “The Story of a Wig,” brief opening reflections touch on death and war in passing; the tale itself is the wig. In “Adventures of a Soldier,” a comandante fires two shots at enemies who are not there — by the tale's own telling, the pistols held powder only, and nobody is struck.
José Manuel Aponte (1859–1919), Bolivian writer and historian, whose “Tradiciones bolivianas” appeared in La Paz in 1909. English translations made for this series.
Narrated by Madame de Pamplemousse. Music: instrumental bed, “Winter Palace Rhapsody 2.”
Chapters:
00:23 Torito, Aquí Está Moncayo
16:20 The Story of a Wig
29:49 Adventures of a Soldier
45:56 The Diplomacy of a Harpist
Bolivian folk tales · Bolivian folk tales audiobook · Bolivian folklore · José Manuel Aponte · Bolivian legends · Latin American folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
