View source for Patufet

{{Short description|Catalan folklore character}}
{{For|the magazine|En Patufet}}{{For|the feature-length animated film|Garbancito de la Mancha}}
[[File:En Patufet Granollers.JPG|thumb|Patufet's monument in [[Josep Maria Folch i Torres|Folch i Torres]]'s square of [[Granollers]], [[Catalonia]]. Work of [[Efraïm Rodríguez]]]]
[[File:En Patufet.jpg|thumb|Cover of the first issue of [[En Patufet]] magazine]]
'''Patufet''' ({{IPA|ca|pətuˈfɛt}}, also known as ''[[Garbancito]]'' in Spanish) is the main character of one of the most famous [[Folklore|folktales]] of [[Catalan people|Catalan]] tradition.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aulaintercultural.org/IMG/pdf/patufetfinal.pdf |title=En Patufet (in Catalan and Spanish) |access-date=2006-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122155826/http://www.aulaintercultural.org/IMG/pdf/patufetfinal.pdf |archive-date=2009-11-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

It is related to the stories of [[Tom Thumb]], [[Hop-o'-My-Thumb|Little Thumb]] or [[Thumbling]] (Catalan: Polzet; Spanish: ''Pulgarcito'').

==Description==
Patufet is usually represented as a very small child the size of a [[rice]] grain or a little [[garbanzo bean]], wearing a big red [[barretina]] so that his parents can better spot him around the place. He is curious and mischievous, until one day he decides to show the world that he's useful and reliable. According to some versions Patufet was good-natured and hard-working from the beginning.

The first task he sets about to do is to go to the shop to buy some [[saffron]]. Since people can't see him because he's so small, he avoids being trodden on by singing,
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Original catalan version
!Translation
|-
|
:''Patim, patam, patum,''
:''Homes i dones del cap dret!''
:''Patim, patam, patum,''
:''No trepitgeu en Patufet!''
|''[nonsense]''

''Men and women who come towards me!''

''[nonsense]''

''Don't tread on Patufet!''
|}
{| class="wikitable"
!Spanish version
!Translation
|-
|
:''Pachín, pachán, pachón,''
:''¡Mucho cuidado con lo que hacéis!''
:''Pachín, pachán, pachón,''
:''¡A Garbancito no piséis!''
|''[nonsense]''

''Be careful with what you're doing!''

''[nonsense]''

''Don't step on Garbancito!''
|}


The people he meets only see a coin that walks and sings but he manages to accomplish his task. Afterwards he decides to go to the farm fields to take lunch to his father. But Patufet is not lucky: when it starts to rain he takes refuge under a cabbage where he fell asleep; after this he accidentally gets eaten by an [[ox]].

His parents go about looking for him, calling ''"Patufeeet, on eeets?"'' (Patufeeet, where are youuu?) and he replies from inside the [[ox]],
{| class="wikitable"
!Original catalan version
!Translation
|-
|
:''Sóc a la panxa del bou,''
:''que no hi neva ni plou!''
:''Quan el bou farà un pet,''
:''sortirà en Patufet!''
|''I'm in the [[ox]]'s belly,''

''where it doesn't snow or rain!''

''When the ox farts,''

''Patufet will get out!''
|}
{| class="wikitable"
!Spanish version
!Translation
|-
|
:''¡En la barriga del buey,''
:''donde ni nieva ni llueve!'' 
|''In the ox's belly,''

''where it neither snows nor rains!''
|}
After a while they hear Patufet's little voice and his parents feeds the ox with cabbages that make it fart faster.

==Influences==

This tale can be considered as a [[coming of age]] symbol.<ref>[http://www.histocat.com/pdf/patufet_2.pdf Patufet as coming-of-age symbol (in Catalan)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927173311/http://www.histocat.com/pdf/patufet_2.pdf |date=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

'''[[En Patufet]]''' was also the title of an influential children's magazine in Catalan published from 1904 to 1938, and again from 1968 to 1973. The figure of ''Patufet'' on the magazine was first drawn by [[Antoni Muntanyola]].<ref>[http://www.racocatala.cat/noticia/2839/lany-patufet-commemora-centenari-revista-dues-exposicions L'Any Patufet commemora el centenari de la revista amb dues exposicions]</ref>

Today ''Patufet'' is a familiar word in [[Catalan language|Catalan]] for a very little kid or for a children's publication.

In [[The Triplets]] series there was a chapter about "Patufet".

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fairy tale stock characters]]
[[Category:Catalan folklore]]
[[Category:Catalan symbols]]

{{fict-char-stub}}

[[es:En Patufet#El cuento popular]]