IV. Meñique
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Martí’s magazine for children, for B2
The Golden Age La Edad de Oro
José Martí, 1889
The complete text of José Martí’s magazine for children, all four issues published in New York from July to October 1889, not an adaptation. In the catalog it is B2: about 66,400 words and 30 words per sentence on average. 28 pieces: fairy tales, poems, history and essays on how people live; each reads on its own, and the easiest place to start is “El camarón encantado”.
- B2
- 66 393 words
- 11-18 hours
Will this text hold?
B1
Earlier
At B1 the fairy tales will go well, but essays like “La historia del hombre, contada por sus casas”, with sentences of 40 words and more, will slow you down.
B1B2
This text
You can manage it at B2: the vocabulary is plain, the long sentences break into short clauses, and the stories read like fairy tales.
Check this passageC1
With room to spare
At C1 the whole magazine reads freely; only the long essays of the last issue ask for patience.
Start readingThe average sentence has 30 words, more than in any other B2 book in Spanish and more than in the C1 books, which run from 17 to 26. But Martí builds his long sentences from short clauses joined by colons and semicolons, and he writes for children: only one word in 22 has 9 letters or more (4.5%), fewer than in any B2 or C1 book in Spanish. Unamuno’s Mist has one in 14, the C1 novels one in ten or more. That plain vocabulary keeps the magazine at B2 rather than C1. The difficulty is uneven: the stories “El camarón encantado”, “Tres héroes”, “Meñique” and “Nené traviesa” run from 16 to 21 words per sentence, while essays such as “Un paseo por la tierra de los anamitas” reach 67. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 66 393
- words
- 30
- words in an average sentence
- 11-18
- hours of reading
- 1889
- A. Dacosta Gómez
A. Dacosta Gómez, 1889. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
Martí wrote La Edad de Oro in New York for the children of Latin America, and this is the whole magazine: four monthly issues from July to October 1889. It opens with a letter to its readers and with “Tres héroes”, the lives of Bolívar, Hidalgo and San Martín. Then come fairy tales retold from Laboulaye and Andersen, such as “Meñique”, where the youngest of three brothers sets out for a king’s reward, and “El camarón encantado”, about a poor woodcutter who finds a magic shrimp; stories about little Bebé, Nené and Piedad’s black doll; poems like “Los zapaticos de rosa”; and essays on Homer’s Iliad, the history of houses, the ancient ruins of Mexico, the Paris Exhibition of 1889 and Father Las Casas. Each issue closes with “La última página”, Martí’s note to his readers. How the stories end is not revealed here.
Compare two places
La Edad de Oro
X. La historia del hombre, contada por sus casas
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Choose an underlined word.
A fairy-tale opening
This is how Martí tells a story: short clauses joined by semicolons, one brother to each clause. De pocas entendederas means “slow-witted”; canijo is “puny”, and paliducho is a playful form of pálido, “a bit pale”. Más ligero que un resorte: “quicker than a spring”. The nickname Meñique is the word for the little finger.
One sentence, many colons
The whole paragraph is a single sentence of more than 120 words: after the first clause, every colon opens a new detail of the Moorish palaces, like items in a list. Arcos de herradura are horseshoe arches; encaje is lace, and todo tallado means “all carved”. Read it clause by clause and the sentence turns simple.
Chapters
- IA los niños que lean «La Edad de Oro»
- IITres héroes
- IIIDos milagros
- IVMeñique
- VCada uno a su oficio
- VILa Ilíada, de Homero
- VIIUn juego nuevo y otros viejos
- VIIIBebé y el señor don Pomposo
- IXLa última página
- XLa historia del hombre, contada por sus casas
- XILos dos príncipes
- XIINené traviesa
- XIIILa perla de la mora
- XIVLas ruinas indias
- XVMúsicos, poetas y pintores
- XVILa última página
- XVIILa exposición de París
- XVIIIEl camarón encantado
- XIXEl Padre las Casas
- XXLos zapaticos de rosa
- XXILa última página
- XXIIUn paseo por la tierra de los anamitas
- XXIIIHistoria de la cuchara y el tenedor
- XXIVLa muñeca negra
- XXVCuentos de elefantes
- XXVILos dos ruiseñores
- XXVIILa galería de las máquinas
- XXVIIILa última página
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
In “Un paseo por la tierra de los anamitas” sentences average about 67 words and run on from colon to colon: translating the whole sentence in Reader keeps the thread.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this levelBefore you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
It is the original, not a learner’s abridgement: all four issues of José Martí’s magazine, July to October 1889, 28 pieces in their original order. The text follows the magazine published in New York by A. Dacosta Gómez, as transcribed by Project Gutenberg; the engravings are not included. Some pieces are Martí’s free versions of other writers: “Meñique” and “El camarón encantado” after Laboulaye, “Los dos ruiseñores” after Andersen, “Cada uno a su oficio” after Emerson.
Is there an audiobook?
This magazine has no audiobook on MovaReader: here the pieces are read. The translation appears when you tap a word, and you will need it most for older and Cuban words such as zapaticos, yerba or casuco.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, with the Reader plan. In this magazine it helps most in the essays, such as “Un paseo por la tierra de los anamitas”, where sentences average about 67 words. Without the plan, single words are translated up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
The whole magazine takes about 11-18 hours: the pace of someone reading with translation of new words, slower than a native speaker’s. The pieces vary a lot in length, from the poem “Dos milagros”, under 50 words, to “La exposición de París”, about 7,700 words, so a story fits into an evening.
Where does the text get easier?
There is no single easier part: easy and hard pieces alternate in every issue. Start with the stories: “El camarón encantado” (about 16 words per sentence), “Tres héroes” (18), “Meñique” and “Nené traviesa” (21); “Bebé y el señor don Pomposo” and “La muñeca negra” have longer sentences but very plain words. The essays are the hardest, above all “Un paseo por la tierra de los anamitas”, about 67 words per sentence.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. Once you sign in, the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened, so you can come back to the magazine every evening where you left off. Any of the 28 pieces also opens from the contents on this page, for example “El camarón encantado”, one of the easiest.