Sunday, March 23, 2008




My on line dictionary of the Spanish language the RAE (Real Academia Española) defines el huevo de Colón or Columbus's egg:

huevo ~ de Colón.

1. m. Cosa que aparenta tener mucha dificultad pero resulta ser fácil al conocer su artificio.


This translates as: That which appears to be very difficult but is easy once the trick is known.

Venetian Girolamo Benzoni in his History of the New World wrote that when Columbus returned from his trip to the New World and sat down with nobles of the Spanish court they tried to diminish his accomplishment telling him that sooner or later some other Spaniard would have discovered it if he (Columbus) had not. Spaniards were so enterprising, the nobles said, that it would have been inevitable. Columbus asked a servant to bring an egg and he dared the nobles to stand it up without any help. The egg went around and no enterprising Spaniard was able to accomplish the feat. Columbus gently tapped the bottom of the egg (he dented it without breaking it) and it stood with no help. The nobles then understood the point that Columbus was trying to make - someone had to be first. To this day we say in Spanish that Columbus was the first man to make and egg stand. Most think this story as apocryphal but it sits well with most of Latin America and Spain where Columbus is still seen with some reverence.

In fact there is a monument to the discovery of America by Columbus in the shape of an egg in Sant Antoni de Portmany, Ibiza, Spain. Inside the hole there is a stylized model of one of Columbus's caravels.



And there is a lesser known one in Seville.



Eggs are very important to Latin Americans. I will never forget seeing an early Mexican talk show on TV in the late 60s. Some comedian was asked what he put on his eggs in the morning. Since eggs are testicles to us, his answer brought down the house, "Talcum powder, madam." A huevo or testicle is also called a cojón and the expression ,"Me importa un huevo," (or cojón) means, "I don't give a damn." Cartagena-born author Arturo Perez Reverte has written a very funny essay on the subject. Part of it is referenced here.

But the funniest story on Columbus's egg is a Catalonian song by the group La Trinca.


EL HUEVO DE COLON

En toda la historia sin discusión
no hay un huevo mas famoso que el de Colón,

Se hizo amigo de la reina
por medios muy singulares
haciéndole con un huevo
unos juegos malabares
Y le dijo: "isabelita,
a ver si me dáis un barco
que quiero echar un vistazo
al otro lado del charco".

La reina se convenció
no se sabe cómo fué
si no fue por lo del huevo
¡vete a saber porqué!

Y embarcó con los Pinzones
que eran unos marineros
y estuvieron en remojo
mas de tres meses enteros
Y cuando todos decían:
"Colón, ¡que te den morcilla!"
escucharon un calipso
"¡Ya estamos en las Antillas!"

Y feliz de estar en tierra
besó el suelo con unción
como hace el papa de Roma
cuando sale de excursión
y volvieron a España
y aquí se termina el cuento
que empezó como una coña
y acabó en descubrimiento.

Y se trajo de recuerdo
para la reina y el rey
cuatro indios con maracas
que cantaban "Siboney"

Y así gracias a Colón
hay tiendas de ultramarinos
tabaco, patatas, mulatas
y psiquiatras argentinos
y lo de la Madre patria
y los trescientos millones
corridos, guarachas, pachangas
y otros ritmos sabrosones

En toda la historia sin discusión
no hay un huevo más famoso
ni ques sea tan vistoso,
más glorioso, más garboso
más rumboso, más marchoso
que el de Colón.



Lletra i música: LA TRINCA

I will only translate this passage to give you an idea:


Y así gracias a Colón

Thanks to Columbus

hay tiendas de ultramarinos

there are grocery stores that sell products from the New World

tabaco, patatas, mulatas

tobbacco, potatoes, mulattas

y psiquiatras argentinos

and Argentine psychiatrists

y lo de la Madre patria

and that thing about the Mother country

y los trescientos millones

and the three hundred million

corridos, guarachas, pachangas

y otros ritmos sabrosones

and other really juicy rythms