In Havana in one night

This is the story of the witches who traveled to Havana in one night.

Havana in one night

One stormy day, fishing boats entered the port of Elantxobe. They remained moored in the port after having taken out the sails, oars, etc. There were only baskets left on board and the crewmen went back to sleep ashore.

Shortly before midnight, an old fisherman returned to the boat and, as usual, lay down in one of the baskets to smoke a pipe. Tired as he was from this day's work, he soon fell into a deep sleep. He woke up with a start hearing female voices and noticed that the boat was sailing at high speed.

Instead of getting up he remained very quiet in his improvised hiding place while watching what was happening. He discovered that indeed the boat sailed in a vertiginous way and that those who paddled so vigorously were two women dressed in red dresses.

The boat that seemed to be flying soon arrived in Havana where it was moored on a fine sandy beach illuminated by a perfectly circular silver-colored moon. The women jumped down and disappeared.

Suspecting it was witches, the old fisherman also jumped down and picked up an exotic fruit from a branch of the first tree he saw. Immediately he returned to his boat and hid in his basket. Still as usual, he lit his pipe when the witches returned after doing god knows what sorcery, one of them exclaimed:
– Here, it smells like a pipe, here, it smells like a pipe!
- let's see if there is not some man hiding! launched the second.

Cursing himself for his giddiness, the fisherman put out his pipe as well as he could and stood quite still at the bottom of his basket, holding his breath.

The witches looked here and there but seeing no one, got on board and took up the oars again said:
– At each row a hundred leagues.

Immediately the boat split the waters of the Atlantic like lightning and a moment later found itself again moored in the port of Elantxobe as if it had never moved from this place. The witches disappeared and the old fisherman came out of his hiding place.

When, at dawn, the other fishermen arrived, the old man hastened to tell them of his nocturnal adventure:
– Last night three witches came here and brought me to Havana!

You should have seen the faces held by his companions, the bursts of laughter that we heard in the boats, the ironic comments that our old fisherman had to put up with!.
– This, you dreamed it!
- You imagined it!
- You invented it!
- You are rambling!

Without losing his calm or getting angry, the old man put the exotic fruit he had picked up in Havana before his companions' eyes and proudly told them:
"Do you think something like this might happen around here?"

Everyone looked at this fruit with genuine astonishment and as more than one recognized in it a typical Caribbean product, they were silent, worried, and went back to work without saying a word.

Indeed, this could only be an act of the witches.