The veal that turned into fish

Name of speaker: 
Silvana Gabriela Vivas
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
English teaching
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
48
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
Prof. Liliana Benveniste
Year of recording: 
2019
Translator: 
Dr. Shifra Schnoll

Translation: 

During the Spanish inquisition, a priest persuaded a Jew to convert to Christianity. One day, on a Friday afternoon, the priest came to visit the Jew, to make sure he is not breaking any Christian laws, but was surprised to find the Jew sitting down having a roasted veal for lunch.

“What is this?!” said the priest, “are you eating meat?! You know that’s not allowed on a Friday.”

“No, it’s not meat, it’s fish”, the Jew replied.  

“I beg your pardon?!” said the priest, “I can clearly see that it is meat indeed.”

“It is very simple”, the Jew answered. “I sprinkled three drops of salted water on the meat, crossed it and said: “You used to be meat, but now you are fish”, “You used to be meat, but now you are fish”, “You used to be meat, but now you are fish”, just like you did to me during my conversion.

 

More info: 

The speaker is not a native Ladino speaker