The Stub Book

Pedro Antonio de Alarcon

Literal Comprehension

 The story has been written by 19th-century Spanish writer Pedro Antonio de Alarcon. Uncle Buscabeatas was a farmer of Rota, a small town of Spain famous for the production of fruits and vegetables. He was already sixty years old and had spent forty of them working in his garden. He had grown some enormous pumpkins that were already beginning to turn yellow. He knew them perfectly by color, shape, and even by name. In one afternoon, he decided to sell forty of the pumpkins. But when he went to his garden the next morning, he found his pumpkins had stolen. He guessed that the thief must have taken them to the market of Cadiz. So he went to the Cadiz. He stopped before a vendor. After recognizing his pumpkins, he asked the policeman to arrest the vendor. After a brief argument between the farmer and the vendor, the latter said that he bought them from Uncle Fulano of Rota. When the inspector of the market asked the farmer for the proof, he told their names one by one. When the inspector asked for indisputable proof, the farmer put a sack on the ground and began to untie it. At the same time, Uncle Fulano arrived. There was a dispute between them. Buscabeatas accused Fulano of stealing his pumpkins. But Fulano insisted that those pumpkins were his. Now Buscabeatas took out the green stems from the sack and fitted the stems to the pumpkins. To the spectator’s astonishment, they really fitted the pumpkins exactly. In this way, the farmer proved that the pumpkins belonged to him. The thief had to pay the price of the pumpkins to the farmer. He was also put to prison.

Interpretation

The story tries to tell us that our hard labor certainly leads to success. Despite the ingratitude of nature, the farmers of Rota grew vegetables and fruits because of their constant diligence. The story also highlights the importance of critical and creative thinking in one’s life. Uncle Buscabeatas proved that the pumpkins belonged to him.