II. El molinero y la molinera
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Alarcón’s comic novella, adapted for A2
The Three-Cornered Hat El sombrero de tres picos
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón
This is a retelling of The Three-Cornered Hat (El sombrero de tres picos) in simple Spanish, not the original text: MovaReader wrote this adaptation in short sentences, without the narrator’s long asides of 1874. If you were looking for Alarcón in Spanish and the complete B2 text is still too hard, this is the same story of the miller Lucas, his wife Frasquita and the old Corregidor, one you can actually finish at A2. In the catalog it is A2: about 8,000 words, 10 words per sentence on average, 1-2 hours of reading. Its fourteen chapters lead from the mill under the vine to one very long night.
- A2
- 7 991 words
- 1-2 hours
Will this text hold?
A1
Earlier
At A1 the past tenses and usted will stop you: the story runs in the pretérito indefinido and imperfecto (salió, cayó, era, tenía), with 10 words per sentence on average, against 5-7 in A1 adaptations.
A1A2
This text
Just right for A2: short scenes and lively dialogue in the past tenses you know, and words like corregidor, alguacil and caz are explained by the text itself.
Check this passageB1
With room to spare
At B1 it is an easy evening’s read; next try a B1 retelling such as Don Juan Tenorio (11 words per sentence) or Alarcón’s original at B2, with 18 words per sentence.
Start readingThe average sentence has 10 words, as in the Spanish A2 adaptations Lazarillo de Tormes and The Trickster of Seville, against 5-7 in A1 adaptations and 11-12 in B1 retellings such as Don Juan Tenorio. A word of 9 letters or more comes up about once in 24 words (4.2%): more often than in Lazarillo (2.2%) and close to Quiroga’s Stories of Love, Madness and Death at A2 (3.9%). But more than half of those words are three names, corregidor and Frasquita (82 times each) and corregidora (11); without them the share is 2.0%, as in Lazarillo. The story runs in the pretérito indefinido and imperfecto, much of it dialogue in «» quotes, the Corregidor is addressed with usted and Su Señoría (siéntese, váyase), and the subjunctive is rare (aunque quemen la casa, si yo fuera). The original in the catalog is B2: 18 words per sentence and one long word in eleven (9.3%), with 44 words per sentence in the preface and the first eight chapters. Here the chapters have 8-14 words per sentence, the longer ones being the descriptive chapters I-III. Hence A2. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 7 991
- words
- 10
- words in an average sentence
- 1-2
- hours of reading
MovaReader. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
Spain, 1805. Outside a town in Andalusia stands a mill, and every evening the town’s most important men gather under its vine: the bishop, a lawyer, the canons and the Corregidor, the king’s magistrate. They come not only for the grapes and cherries but for the miller’s wife, the cheerful Frasquita from Navarre. Her husband Lucas, ugly, stooped and witty, trusts her completely. The old Corregidor, Don Eugenio, in his three-cornered hat and red cloak, is in love with Frasquita, and when she playfully sends him tumbling with his chair, he swears revenge. His constable Garduña comes up with a plan, and late at night a messenger from the village mayor knocks at the mill door with an order that takes Lucas away from home. What the miller finds when he comes back, and who outwits whom, the book tells.
Compare two places
El sombrero de tres picos
VII. Una orden en la noche
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Choose an underlined word.
How Alarcón draws a portrait
The portrait runs in the imperfect: era, tenía, sabía describe what Lucas was always like, not what he did. Había enseñado (pluperfect) says he had taught the dog earlier. Fueran pobres o ricos, in the subjunctive, means “whether they were poor or rich”, and tan cargada que parecía jorobado builds a result: “so stooped that he looked hunchbacked”.
What ¡Cuánto vales! says
Literally “how much you are worth!”, really “what a woman you are!”: Lucas praises his wife for having the gun ready. In the mayor’s order, tiene que venir is an obligation, “has to come”, and decírselo is decir plus se (for le before lo) plus lo: “to tell it to someone”. Venga, lee here does not mean “come”, but “go on, read”.
Chapters
- IUn molino cerca de la ciudad
- IIEl molinero y la molinera
- IIIEl hombre del sombrero de tres picos
- IVDesde la parra
- VLas primeras uvas
- VIEl plan de Garduña
- VIIUna orden en la noche
- VIIIEl alcalde del Lugar
- IXLa ropa junto al fuego
- X¡En guardia, caballero!
- XI¡Favor al Rey!
- XIILa puerta cerrada
- XIIIPues ¿y tú?
- XIVLa lección de la corregidora
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
Reader helps in chapter VII, where Lucas thinks Pero Frasquita es Frasquita, y no va a abrir la puerta aunque quemen la casa: translating the whole sentence shows how aunque with the subjunctive says “even if”.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
Spanish books A1 Earlier Captain Poison El Capitán Veneno Another book by the same author B2 The Three-Cornered Hat El sombrero de tres picos The complete 1874 novella this retelling comes from: B2, about 25,200 words in 36 chapters. Its sentences average 18 words, one word in eleven is long, and the preface and first eight chapters are the hardest; once you know the plot, the original is easier to follow. B2 La Regenta Another Spanish provincial town of the 19th century, retold for A2: a married woman watched by the town’s powerful men and the gossip around her, but in a serious rather than comic key. About 9,600 words, 8 words per sentence, 2.8% long words. A2
All books at this level
Before you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
This is a MovaReader adaptation, not the original text: Pedro Antonio de Alarcón’s comic novella The Three-Cornered Hat (El sombrero de tres picos, 1874) retold in simple Spanish in 14 chapters instead of 36, without the author’s preface. All the main scenes remain: the mill under the vine, the Corregidor falling over with his chair, the first grapes for the bishop, Garduña’s plan, the mayor’s order at night and two donkeys that recognise each other on a dark road. The narrator’s asides on the politics of 1805 and his comparisons with Othello, Rubens or Titian, the bishop’s Latin, a few minor characters and the historical epilogue are shortened. The complete novella is in the catalog as a separate book, at B2.
Is there an audiobook?
There is no audiobook of this adaptation in MovaReader; the text is read on screen. Tap an unfamiliar word to see its translation, here mostly words of village life and authority such as molinera, alguacil or trabuco.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, with the Reader plan. Sentences here are short, 10 words on average, so you will rarely need a whole one translated, except in conditions such as Si un día pierdo esa fe, me muero o me convierto en otro hombre. Without the plan, single words are translated up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
About 1-2 hours, reading with translations of new words rather than at a native speaker’s pace. The 14 chapters average about 570 words: the shortest is I, 344 words, the longest XIII, 906, so an average chapter takes 4 to 9 minutes.
Where does the text get easier?
There are no separate bands. Chapters I-III, which describe the mill, the couple and the Corregidor, have 12-14 words per sentence, and from chapter IV, where the dialogue starts, mostly 8-11. Long words are more frequent in chapters XI-XIV (5-6%), but they are mostly corregidor and corregidora on every page; without them it is 1.5-3.3%.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes, once you sign in, the reader remembers your place and the words you opened. Any chapter also opens from the contents on this page, for example VII, where someone knocks at the mill door late at night.