THE STUB-BOOK

Pedro Antonio de Alarcon, Spain (1833-1891)

CHARACTERS:

• Uncle Buscabeatas (60 Years old Farmer, who has been working in the field for the last 40 years)
• Uncle Fulano
• Market Inspector
• Policeman
• Vendor 

1. This is a short story. The major event of the story begins in Rota, the smallest town in the bay of Cádiz.
2. The major character of the story is Uncle Buscabeatas who solves the mystery of lost pumpkins by using his creative and critical mind.

This is a story of a village situated at the bay Cádiz. This is the place which was liked even by the duke of Osuna. He had made a beautiful castle because of his fascination with this place. 

The writer claims that he could describe this castle brick by brick but he admits that his intention was not to describe any duke or castle but his purpose is to describe the hard labour of the people who are living on the same island. Antonio writes that the soil of this village is not so fertile which consists of sand but the farmers here are so hard working that they have been referred to as pumpkin and tomato growers. All the farmers accept this title with a certain pride. He writes that the farmers dig well to supply the water which he calls the lifeblood of the plants they grow. They make terraces on the land, dig, and till and sow the seed of pumpkins and tomatoes. Then, they provide water, fertiliser and love similar to the parent’s love for their children.

In the second section of the story, the writer talks about a farmer named Uncle Buscabeatas. In that year, he had grown up many pumpkins which were perfect in colour, and shape and were turned yellow to indicate that they had ripened. The farmer had given them names and could recognise them through their names. He had dreamt to sell those pumpkins and thought the person who would cook and eat them would be luckier. He had expected the price of the fifteen duros (old Spanish currency). But contrary to his expectation, his all daughters (pumpkins) were stolen just a night before (at about nine or ten o’clock). The ground under his feet sank down but he was determined that he would catch the thief and recover the daughters of toil (hard work). 

Uncle Buscabeatas went to Cadiz vegetable market to find out his daughters (pumpkins) and punish the thief. He took a policeman. Pointing out a particular vegetable shop, he confirmed to the policeman, “These are my pumpkins, arrest him”. The shopkeeper replied that he had bought those pumpkins and they belonged to him and suggested he go to the court if he liked. By then, people had started to gather around the shop. Stopping their debate, the policeman inquired the shopkeeper whom he had bought those pumpkins with. The shopkeeper replies that he had bought them from Uncle Fulano. Uncle Buscabeatas becomes sure that Fulano must be a thief because his garden had not produced anything this year. The policeman questions him about how he could recognise that those pumpkins really belonged to him. He replies that he could be as intimate with them as a father becomes with his daughters because he had nourished them with his own hands. 

In the meantime, Uncle Fulano arrives there. As he sees Uncle Buscabeatas and the police, he tries to escape but the policeman stopped him from doing so. He pretended the loss of his consciousness at the beginning, but ultimately recovering his consciousness, Uncle Fulano challenges Uncle Buscabeatas to prove the blame. For this challenge, Uncle Buscabeatas brings the stems of pumpkins that were leftover in the field and started to fill them with pumpkins. All the people were amazed when they saw that whichever pumpkin he picked claimed to fit on the stems, it fitted exactly. An astonished crowd began to hoot that the pumpkins really belonged to Uncle Buscabeatas. 

Certainly, Uncle Fulano had to pay fifteen Duros before going to jail. Uncle Buscabeatas returned pleased with himself but the images of pumpkins were still there in his mind. Indeed, they looked very beautiful in the market. He still doubted whether he did well by selling them in the market. Instead, he could have eaten himself and kept the seeds for the next cultivation.

FURTHER READING

Rota was a small town where farmers grew fruits and vegetables. The quality of its tomatoes and pumpkins was famous. The soil of the Rota was not soil but pure and clean sand cast up by the ocean, blown by the wind. Farmers were very laborious. There was not even a tiny stream flowing through the field. Farmers had made wells from which they drew the precious liquid for their vegetables. They watered tomatoes seeds or pumpkin pip by hand like a father who gives water to his child.

They loved their vegetables like their children. They even kissed, blessed and even gave names to the plants and vegetables. Uncle Buscabeatas was one of those farmers. He was sixty years old. He had spent 40 years tilling (cultivating/working) his field near the shore. He had grown some enormous pumpkins that were turning yellow. He knew them by colour, shape and even by name. He planned to sell them the next day. He was sad because he was going to be separated from the pumpkin the following day.

But he was astonished (amazed), angry and sad when he found his forty pumpkins stolen in the night. He thought his pumpkins could not be sold in Rota. They must have been taken to Cadiz to sell. He went to Cadiz in search of his pumpkins kept for sale. He told the police to catch the vendor (seller/marketer). The vendor told them that he bought the pumpkins from Uncle Fulano.

The Inspector of the public market told uncle Buscabeatas to prove that those pumpkins were from his garden not of others. Uncle Fulano also comes there to see what was going on there. He was caught but he also asked to prove the accusation. Uncle Bascabeatas look out to the green stems of those pumpkins and told them that they were stolen. He fitted the stems to pumpkins one by one. The spectators were surprised to see that the stems really fitted the pumpkins exactly which proved that uncle Buscabetas was right and uncle Fulano was the thief. Uncle Fulano was compelled to return 15 Duros to the vendor and the vendor gave it to Uncle Buscabeatas. Uncle Buscabatas happily returned to his village but Uncle Fulano was arrested and sent to gaol.

Bibliography

Alarcón, P. A. (2013). The Stub Book. In M. Nissani, & s. Lohani, Flax Golden Tales: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Learning English (pp. 218-224). Kathmandu, Nepal: Ekta Books.