La flor romanial (The Romanial Flower)
One of my latest obsessions as a father is getting my kids to read.
We live in the world of tablets, Netflix, TikTok and endless options for digital entertainment, which are hard to compete with.
How do I get my son to enjoy reading, and pick up a habit that will give him hours of leisure and personal growth for the rest of his life? Is it really that important for kids to read? I’m fully convinced that reading as a hobby will make his way through school much easier, and as an adult it will feed his mind and soul, while keeping him away from other, more destructive habits and addictions, like those related to screens (I’m not against social media, but the addictive risk of screens is extremely high).
In my search for books and topics my son might be interested in, I’ve come across a few surprises, and I’d like to share one of them. After trying comics, books on every subject, magazines and so on, the book that has hooked my son the most so far is an old traditional tale from Majorca, one I would never have expected to capture the imagination and interest of a child of the digital age: La flor romanial.
Without further ado, here is the tale, in the original Majorcan and translated:
La flor romanial (original version)
Era un rei que tenia tres fills. Els havia lligat una àguila grossa al jardí perquè hi juguessin.
Els dos germans grans jugaven amb l’àguila punxant-la amb garrots i canyes. El germà petit jugava amb ella tot fent-li moixaines i patia en veure com la maltractaven els seus germans.
Una nit el germà petit va i la deslliga. L’àguila, molt agraïda, li demana que li arrenqui una ploma de l’ala i se’n faci un xiulet i si mai necessita ajuda el faci sonar.
El rei és ferit a la guerra. Es cura de totes les ferides menys d’una i els metges diuen que no es curarà si no l’hi posen la flor romanial. És una flor que tot ho cura però ningú no sap on trobar-la.
El rei crida els seus tres fills i els diu que han d’anar a cercar la flor. Aquell qui la porti serà rei quan ell es mori. Parteixen els tres germans cadascú per una banda. Quedant que al cap d’un temps establert s’han de trobar al mateix lloc.
Passa el temps i cap dels tres troba la flor. Finalment el germà petit es recorda del xiulet que li havia donat l’àguila. El fa sonar, li explica la situació i l’àguila el porta a dalt d’un penyal on es troba la flor. Com que no hi arriba, l’àguila li fa tallar la seva pota per arribar-hi. Amb la flor torna a enganxar-se la pota i li diu que es quedi les altres dues flors. Una per curar el seu pare i l’altra per algun possible imprevist.
El germà petit arriba al lloc on havien quedat amb els altres. En veure que el petit és el que ha trobat la flor, el germà gran l’hi agafa i seguidament el mata i l’enterra allà mateix. Quan arriba l’altre germà li diu que ha trobat ell la flor que és el gran i que ja poden anar cap a casa encara que no hagi arribat el petit.
El rei content, promet la corona al gran i pregunta pel petit sense obtenir resposta concreta.
Al lloc on estava enterrat el germà petit hi va créixer una canya amb uns canons ben llargs i unes fulles ben llustroses. Passa un pastor, agafa una canya i se’n fa un flabiol. Cada vegada que el pastor fa sonar el flabiol en surt una cançó que parla d’on està enterrat el noi. El flabiol cada vegada que sona diu el mateix.
Un dia el pastor, que passava prop del palau del rei, fa sonar el flabiol. El rei el sent i demana al pastor per fer-lo sonar ell, després la reina i finalment els germans. El flabiol sempre diu el mateix però quan el fa sonar el germà gran el delata clarament. El rei ordena desenterrar el fill mort. El troben sa i estalvi ja que havia guardat una de les flors. Ell explica tot el que li ha passat i demana al pare que no faci matar el seu germà. El pare ho consenteix i dóna la corona al fill petit que va ser un bon rei.
The Romanial Flower (English translation)
There was once a king who had three sons. He had tied a big eagle in the garden for them to play with.
The two older brothers played with the eagle by poking it with sticks and canes. The youngest brother played with it by stroking it gently, and it pained him to see how his brothers mistreated it.
One night the youngest brother goes and unties it. The eagle, very grateful, asks him to pull a feather from its wing and make a whistle out of it, and if he ever needs help, to blow it.
The king is wounded in battle. He heals from all his wounds but one, and the doctors say it won’t heal unless they apply the romanial flower to it. It is a flower that cures everything, but no one knows where to find it.
The king calls his three sons and tells them they must go and look for the flower. Whoever brings it back will be king when he dies. The three brothers set off, each in a different direction, agreeing that after a set time they will meet again at the same place.
Time goes by and none of the three finds the flower. At last the youngest brother remembers the whistle the eagle gave him. He blows it, explains the situation, and the eagle carries him to the top of a crag where the flower grows. Since he can’t reach it, the eagle has him cut off its leg to reach it. With the flower, the eagle puts its leg back on, and tells him to keep the other two flowers: one to cure his father and the other for anything unexpected.
The youngest brother arrives at the meeting place. Seeing that the youngest is the one who found the flower, the eldest brother takes it from him, then kills him and buries him right there. When the other brother arrives, the eldest tells him that he is the one who found the flower, and that they can go home even though the youngest hasn’t arrived yet.
The king, happy, promises the crown to the eldest and asks about the youngest without getting a clear answer.
At the spot where the youngest brother was buried, a cane grew, with very long stems and very glossy leaves. A shepherd passes by, takes a cane and makes himself a flute. Every time the shepherd plays the flute, out comes a song that tells where the boy is buried. Every time it plays, the flute says the same thing.
One day the shepherd, passing near the king’s palace, plays the flute. The king hears it and asks the shepherd to let him play it, then the queen plays it, and finally the brothers. The flute always says the same thing, but when the eldest brother plays it, it gives him away clearly. The king orders his dead son dug up. They find him safe and sound, because he had kept one of the flowers. He tells them everything that happened and asks his father not to have his brother killed. The father agrees, and gives the crown to the youngest son, who was a good king.
