A cucarachita is a lady cockroach. This tale about Cockroach Martinez was
collected in Spanish, from the Ybor City, West Tampa area, by Ralph Steele
Boggs and published in Spanish in the Southern Folklore Quarterly in March of
1938. Maria Redmon was the translator. While the Ybor City—West Tampa area
is rapidly changing, when Boggs documented this story, Spanish and Cuban
people populated the area, originally drawn there by the development of the cigar
industry. By 1938, the Depression had hit this region hard, since cigars are a
luxury item.
This story was brought to Florida by the Spanish and still carries a
reference to the homeland. Variations of the tale typically focus on an ant and a
mouse instead of a cockroach and a mouse. The tale is also well known in Cuba.
ONCE UPON A TIME there was a cucarachita named Martinez, who was sweeping the
floor of her house and found a coin. She started to think about what she would do with this coin,
and she said to herself: “If I spend it on sweets, I’ll eat them, and then they will be all gone, and
I’ll have nothing. If I spend it on bread, I’ll eat it and I’ll have nothing.”
So she thought some more about what she would do with the money, and after a while
she decided she would spend it on flour from Castille. She went to the mill and bought the flour.
She jumped into the flour and reappeared all white covered in the flour. She sat outside at the
door of her house for all to see her as they went by.
Soon Mr. Goat went by her house and said: “How beautiful you are, Cucarachita
Martinez! Will you marry me?”
And she answered: “Yes, but you must tell me what sound you make at night.”
Mr. Goat answered: “Well I say ‘bah, bah, bah!’”
“Oh no, you frighten me!” said Cucarachita Martinez.
So the goat went on his way.
A short time later, Mr. Bull passed by her house and said: “How beautiful you are,
Cucarachita Martinez! Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, “but you must tell me what sound you make at night.”
Mr. Bull answered: “Oh, I say ‘bu-u-u, bu-u-u!’”
“Oh no, you frighten me!” said Cucarachita Martinez.
So the bull continued on his way.
Soon Mr. Dog went by Cucarachita Martinez’s door and said: “How beautiful you are,
Cucarachita Martinez! Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, “but you must tell me what sound you make at night.”
Mr. Dog answered, “Well, I say ‘bow-wow, bow-wow.’”
“Oh no, you frighten me!” said Cucarachita Martinez.
So the dog continued on his way.
Later on the Little Mouse Perez passed by and after greeting Cucarachita Martinez said:
“How beautiful you are, Cucarachita Martinez! Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, “but you must tell me what sound you make at night.”
Mr. Mouse answered, “Oh, I say ‘squeak, squeak.’”
“Oh, how wonderful!” said Cucarachita Martinez, “I will marry you.” And they were
married.
One day Cucarachita Martinez was going shopping, so she asked her husband to take care
of the food cooking on the stove. She warned him not to look inside the pot because he could
fall in.
Once Cucarachita Martinez had left, the mouse decided to take a look inside to see what
was cooking. After he looked inside, he could not resist the delicious smell of what was cooking
and decided to try some of it. But just as he was ready to try some, he fell into the pot and died.
After awhile Cucarachita Martinez returned home. She knocked on the door—knock,
knock! But the Little Mouse Perez did not come to the door. She knocked again—knock, knock!
But no one came to the door. Then she became very frightened and worried. She knocked again
with all her might—knock, knock! But no one answered.
She then decided to call a carpenter to open her door. The carpenter came with all his
tools and tore down the door. When Cucarachita Martinez got to her house, she went running to
the kitchen to look for the Little Mouse Perez, but she couldn’t find him anywhere.
Then she remembered the pot that she had asked him to watch and thought that he might
have fallen in. And so she looked in the pot and found poor Mr. Mouse Perez dead. After crying
with sorrow for the Little Mouse Perez, she went outside to the door of her house and sat in a
chair and began to sing:
Poor Little Mouse Perez
he fell into the pot
for a taste of food
that he never got.
The End!
REFLECTIONS: What is the moral to this story? Can you think of other stories
that have the same moral? What do you think about Cucarachita Martinez
looking beautiful with flour all over her? What might be said about the kind of
reaction she got looking like this?