Martina Has Too Many Tías
by Emma Otheguy
illustrated by Sara Palacios
illustrated by Sara Palacios
Transcript
00:00Para mi tía me aka Miss Trapito Mrs. Wishy-washy me ca.
00:10Always the life of the party.
00:13EO.
00:14To my nephew and niece, Pablo and Marissa.
00:18SP.
00:19Martina has too many tears.
00:22By Emma Utheguy.
00:24Ut by Sara Palacios.
00:27Martina suffered from too many tears.
00:30There was Tia Susana.
00:32A grand salsa dancer.
00:35Tia Leonea.
00:37Who dressed in the flashiest fashions.
00:40And Tia Alberta.
00:43Whose laughter was the boom and bellow kind.
00:46They gave Martina a pounding headache.
00:49When Mamie said.
00:51Your tears are coming.
00:53Martina groaned.
00:56She had to polish the floors when what she wanted to do was sit and tell herself a story
01:01about castles fairies silver crowns and the warm island home Martina missed.
01:07But Martina rolled up the rug took down her broom and swept.
01:11As she scooped dust into the pan.
01:14She found a coin cold and metal.
01:18Martina polished it with the edge of her shirt.
01:21It gleamed.
01:23Gold.
01:25Martina tucked the coin into her pocket.
01:28When the party started.
01:30Tia Susana cranked up the volume.
01:33Tia Leonea draped Martina in a sequined cape.
01:38And Tia Alberta boomed and bellowed every time Martina spoke.
01:43Soon neighbors cousins a wandering traveler and a man with a banjo jointed the jubilee
01:47and no one noticed Martina who slipped away.
01:51To the corner bodega where she scanned the shelves for something you could buy with a
01:56single gold coin.
01:58A bucket of daffodils yellow like an island sun caught Martina's eye.
02:03She bought just one and tucked it in her hair.
02:07While she wandered back to the apartment.
02:10She told herself a little story about a whisper quiet fairy and a magic puddle of sunshine.
02:17She kept right on telling it as she ducked past the dancing and into the kitchen where
02:22she smelled the subty perfume of guava fruit.
02:26Though mommy always said, Quidado.
02:30Martina brought a stool over to the pot to breathe deep the scent.
02:34And toppled in.
02:35Oh no.
02:37Martha thought.
02:39But the steam carried her over the gently bobbling waves of a familiar sea to a warm
02:44island home.
02:45The duck waddled by.
02:48What a pretty flower in your hair.
02:50It said.
02:52Would you like to go exploring?
02:54If it's quiet exploring.
02:57Tell me.
02:59What sound do you make when you're lost in new lands?
03:02Oh no, Martha cried.
03:06You de give me a headache.
03:09Next a frog leapt by and asked.
03:11How about a swim?
03:14The yellow flower would light up the sea.
03:17If it's a quiet swim, tell me.
03:20What sound do you make when you dive into the deep?
03:23Oh no, Martina cried, that's much too loud.
03:29Martina almost missed the mouse who scurried by so silently.
03:33She watched him sitting on his haunches and gazing at the sky.
03:38Ratoncito Martina asked, What are you doing there?
03:42he squeaked.
03:44Tell me, Martina asked.
03:47What sound do you make when you play?
03:50I don't need noise for playing, said the little mouse.
03:54I use my imagination.
03:56In that case, Martina said, I will come and play with you.
04:01Martina and the mouse made crowns of silvery yagrumo leaves and tickled the heart of a
04:06fern so that it cursed into a cradle for a fairy.
04:10Then they were tired.
04:12They sat on the shore.
04:15Martina thought of a little story that she wanted to tell to someone.
04:19Ratoncito She said, Today I had an adventure.
04:24But the little mouse was much too sleepy to listen to a story.
04:29He waved a silent goodbye and faded into the forest.
04:33Darkness came.
04:35Martina was very very much alone.
04:38The duck the frog and her friend the ratoncito had gone to sleep.
04:43And there Martina sat on a warm island shore that no longer felt like home.
04:49Then on the briny air came the subty perfume of a guava fruit.
04:53And something else over the tapping of the waves.
04:57Martina heard salsa rhythms and booming laughs.
05:01Martina was so glad.
05:03She wanted to leap straight across the sea.
05:07Adios She said though there was no one now to hear and dove into the waves.
05:11She sank into her very own apartment toasty and dry.
05:16There you are, shouted Tia Susana.
05:19Dancing into the kitchen for a piece of guava paste.
05:23I love your yellow flower, cried Tia Leonea.
05:27Where did you get it?
05:29Well said Martina, let me tell you the story.
05:33And when she did.
05:36Tia Alberta laughed her boom and bellow laugh in all the right places and Martina didn't
05:41mind not one little bit.
05:43Author's note.
05:45My mother's rendition of the Caribbean folk tale La Cucaracha Martina quiets even the
05:50fussiest child but quiet is not something my family often seeks.
05:56Instead, we're better known for crowds and happy shouting no one more so than my mom
06:01whose booming laughter could surely be heard across a football field.
06:06Unfortunately loud noises tend to give me a headache, and I've always preferred to
06:11think read and imagine elaborate stories.
06:15My disposition used to bother me because it clashed with the dominant stereotype of Latin
06:20culture why wasn't I a loud salsa dancer and how could I fit in with my family or culture
06:26the way I was.
06:28That question made me curious about the story of La Cucaracha Martina and in particular
06:33why Martina sought an animal who was quiet at night.
06:38I figured Martina's family must have been like mine and she needed a break.
06:43But the older I got and the farther I wandered from my family the more I realized that La
06:48Cucaracha Martina was neither the first nor the last Latina to prefer quiet to noise and
06:54that there is grace in a family big enough to accommodate the many personalities and
06:59characters that make up our culture.
07:02And when I was ready to tell my stories, I knew there would always be someone ready to
07:07hear them and laugh with me a booming laugh.
07:10The end.