Faith and the Mountains 

To make a long story short: Vivian and I sat in the Café La Luna in Xela, ordered a glass of wine each and tried to distinguish between the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot with a blind test, which didn't really work, not even for me, the acknowledged and quite experienced wine-blind-tester :-) And so it happened that she finally drank the Cabernet Sauvignon, and I the Merlot, although I traditionally would have aimed for the Cabernet Sauvignon, but then preferred the other. So in the end deciding was simple, and we both got what we wanted. Well, I also wanted to smoke a cigarette, and asked her for permission - with a slightly guilty conscience as always, but also with a mischievous charm, hoping that she would bear my absence well, so left alone as a woman. And it worked out fine. When I returned from smoking on the street, she had been looking for short stories, and had found this one to share with me. She let me read it aloud, in spanish.

And right away I thought, this one I want to publish, hoping I'll be allowed to. Well, I don't know for sure. But here is the story, for once a short one!

Faith and the Mountains

[Mini-story - Full text.]
Augusto Monterroso

In the beginning, Faith moved mountains only when absolutely necessary, so that the landscape remained the same for millennia. But when Faith began to spread and people found the idea of moving mountains amusing, the mountains kept changing places, and it became more and more difficult to find them in the place where one had left them the night before, which of course created more difficulties than it solved.

The good people then preferred to abandon the Faith, and now the mountains generally remain in place. When a landslide occurs on the road under which several travelers die, it is because someone, far away or near, had a very tiny spark of faith.

END

(The Black Sheep and Other Fables, 1969)

Original in Spanish, gratefully borrowed from the website: Casa digital "CIUDAD SEVA" del escritor Luis López Nieves
Translation: with the help of deepl.com, and some touch-up.

PS: Augusto Monterroso was Central American and lived in Guatemala during promising times of changes. Speaking of mountains, the Guatemalan highlands are full of them. Some with curious names like La Muela, El Cacique Dormido, El Cerro Quemado. Mountains full of stories and legends, mountains of faith, piles of hopes and dreams... and tremors and earthquakes, including eruptions...

 

La fe y las montañas

[Minicuento - Texto completo.]
Augusto Monterroso

Al principio la Fe movía montañas sólo cuando era absolutamente necesario, con lo que el paisaje permanecía igual a sí mismo durante milenios. Pero cuando la Fe comenzó a propagarse y a la gente le pareció divertida la idea de mover montañas, éstas no hacían sino cambiar de sitio, y cada vez era más difícil encontrarlas en el lugar en que uno las había dejado la noche anterior; cosa que por supuesto creaba más dificultades que las que resolvía.

La buena gente prefirió entonces abandonar la Fe y ahora las montañas permanecen por lo general en su sitio. Cuando en la carretera se produce un derrumbe bajo el cual mueren varios viajeros, es que alguien, muy lejano o inmediato, tuvo un ligerísimo atisbo de fe.

FIN

(La oveja negra y demás fábulas, 1969)