Ricky Martin starring in ads to address child trafficking
The News Journal May 28, 2004

Ricky Martin has launched a campaign against the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children in the world.
The 32-year-old singer presented a series of TV ads Thursday in which he speaks on the subject in Spanish, English and Portuguese. They are to be aired soon in the United States, Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.
The campaign, launched at the Puerto Rico Art Museum in San Juan, is part of Martin’s recently established foundation, People for Children.
About 1 million children are forced into prostitution in Asia while the number in Latin America “is much bigger,” he said, citing UNICEF statistics. Each year, 2 million children are victims of human trafficking, of which 62 percent are forced to take part in the sexual tourism trade.
 

     There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth.  His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it.  And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears.  Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke.  The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed.  Then they bought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat.
     They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground.  “What are you doing there?” asked the father. “I am making a little trough,” answered the child, “for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.”
     The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry.  Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.

Taken from:  The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales. New York: Pantheon Books, 1972

1.  How closely does Benavente follow Grimm's fairy tale?
2.  Are the differences merely cosmetic, or do they enhance or change the message of the story?  Explain.
 

En el paraíso terrenal, en el día luminoso en que las flores fueron creadas, y antes de que Eva fuese tentada por la serpiente, el maligno espíritu se acercó a la más linda rosa nueva en el momento en que ella tendía, a la caricia del celeste sol, la roja virginidad de sus labios.
--Eres bella.
--Lo soy --dijo la rosa.
--Bella y feliz --prosiguió el diablo--. Tienes el color, la gracia y el aroma. Pero...
--¿Pero?
--No eres útil. ¿No miras esos altos árboles llenos de bellotas? Ésos, a más de ser frondosos, dan alimento a muchedumbres de seres animados que se detienen bajo sus ramas. Rosa, ser bella es poco...
La rosa entonces--tentada como después lo sería la mujer--deseó la utilidad, de tal modo que hubo palidez en su púrpura.
Pasó el buen Dios después del alba siguiente.
--Padre --dijo aquella princesa floral, temblando en su perfumada belleza--, ¿queréis hacerme útil?
--Sea, hija mía --contestó el Señor, sonriendo.
Y entonces vio el mundo la primera col.

            ACT I: Antwerp, c. 900s. On the banks of the Scheldt, a Herald announces King Heinrich, who asks Count Telramund to explain why the Duchy of Brabant is torn by strife and disorder. Telramund accuses his young ward, Elsa, of having murdered her brother, Gottfried, heir to Brabant's Christian dynasty. (Gottfried was actually enchanted by the evil Ortrud, whom Telramund has wed.) When Elsa is called to defend herself, she relates a dream of a knight in shining armor who will come to save her. The herald calls for the defender, but only when Elsa prays does the knight appear, magically drawn in a boat by a swan. He betroths himself to her on condition that she never ask his name or origin. Defeating Telramund in combat, the newcomer establishes the innocence of his bride. 

            ACT II: Before dawn in the castle courtyard, Ortrud and the lamenting Telramund swear vengeance. When Elsa appears serenely in a window, Ortrud attempts to sow distrust in the girl's mind, preying on her curiosity, but Elsa innocently offers the scheming Ortrud friendship. Inside, while the victorious knight is proclaimed guardian of Brabant, the banned Telramund furtively enlists four noblemen to side with him against his newfound rival. At the cathedral entrance, Ortrud and Telramund attempt to stop the wedding - she by suggesting that the unknown knight is in fact an impostor, he by accusing Elsa's bridegroom of sorcery. The crowd stirs uneasily. Though troubled by doubt, Elsa reiterates her faith in the knight before they enter the church, accompanied by King Heinrich. 

            ACT III: Alone in the bridal chamber, Elsa and her husband express their love until anxiety and uncertainty at last compel the bride to ask the groom who he is and whence he has come. Before he can reply, Telramund and his henchmen burst in. With a cry, Elsa hands the knight his sword, with which he kills Telramund. Ordering the nobles to bear the body to the king, he sadly tells Elsa he will meet her later to answer her questions. 

            Escorting Elsa and the bier to the Scheldt, the knight tells the king he cannot now lead the army against the Hungarian invaders. He explains that his home is the temple of the Holy Grail at distant Monsalvat, to which he must return; Parsifal is his father, and Lohengrin is his name. He bids farewell and turns to his magic swan. Now Ortrud rushes in, jubilant over Elsa's betrayal of the man who could have broken the spell that transformed her brother into a swan. But Lohengrin's prayers bring forth Gottfried in place of his vanished swan, and after naming the boy ruler of Brabant, Lohengrin disappears, led by the dove of the Grail. Ortrud perishes, and Elsa, calling for her lost husband, falls lifeless to the ground.