La riqueza es algo que los humanos hemos buscado siempre. Y eso tiene su traducción en la literatura, claro, pues los autores no hacen más que recoger en sus historias las pulsiones y pasiones del género humano.
Don Juan Manuel incluyó en El conde Lucanor la historia de doña Truhana, un argumento que procedía del acervo folclórico común y que también inspiraría a los fabulistas más famosos (Lafontaine, Iriarte, Samaniego...). Así, tenemos una de las fábulas más conocidas, la de la lechera, en donde una pobre campesina fantasea con sus posibilidades de hacerse rica vendiendo la leche que llevaba en su lechera... Hasta que esta se cae y la leche se derrama. Entonces, la pobre mujer empieza a llorar como si hubiera perdido no solo un recipiente lleno de leche, sino los pollos, las vacas, la casa que iba a comprar cuando vendiera aquel precioso líquido nutricio.
Otra manera de abordar la riqueza es la de fijarse en los efectos que tiene el poseerlo en pingües cantidades. Así, tenemos...
- La famosa letrilla de Quevedo "Poderoso caballero es Don Dinero" (Ver "Poderoso caballero...", entrada en Letr@herida, blog de literatura).
- O la más antigua del arcipreste de Hita, "Mucho puede el dinero" (Ver "Lo que puede el dinero", entrada en Letr@herida, blog de literatura).
Pero si nos atenemos al encabezado de esta entrada, o sea, el deseo de ser rico, tenemos sin duda que referirnos a una película muy famosa, un musical de Hollywood, repetidamente oscarizado, en la que su pobre protagonista, el lechero Rev Tebye, interpretado por el gran Topol, también se imagina convertido en un potentado. He aquí la canción de Fiddler on the Roof (El violinista en el tejado):
(Más información: "El violinista en el tejado", entrada en Letr@herida, blog de literatura).
If I were rich man
"Oh, Lord, you made many, many poor people
I realize, of course, it's no shame to be poor
But it's no great honor either!
So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?"
If I were a rich man
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
All day long, I'd biddy biddy bum
If I were a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work hard
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
If I were a biddy biddy rich yidle-diddle-didle-didle man
I'd build a big, tall house with rooms by the dozen
Right in the middle of the town
A fine tin roof with real wooden floors below
There would be one long staircase just going up
And one even longer coming down
And one more leading nowhere, just for show
I'd fill my yard with chicks and turkeys and geese and ducks
For the town to see and hear
Squawking just as noisily as they can
And each loud of the"gee", be it "gow", be it "geh", be it "guh"
Would land like a trumpet on the ear
As if to say, "Here lives a wealthy man"
If I were a rich man
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
All day long, I'd biddy biddy bum
If I were a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work hard
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
If I were a biddy biddy rich yidle-diddle-didle-didle man
I see my wife, my Goldie, looking like a rich man's wife
With a proper double-chin
Supervising meals to her heart's delight
I see her putting on airs and strutting like a peacock
Oy, what a happy mood she's in
Screaming at the servants, day and night
The most important men in town would come to fawn on me!
They would ask me to advise them like a Solomon the Wise
"If you please, Reb Tevye..."
"Pardon me, Reb Tevye..."
Posing problems that would cross a rabbi's eyes!
And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong
When you're rich, they think you really know!
If I were rich, I'd have the time that I lack to sit in the synagogue and pray
And maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall
And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men, several hours every day
And that would be the sweetest thing of all
If I were a rich man
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
All day long, I'd biddy biddy bum
If I were a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work hard
Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
Lord, who made the lion and the lamb
You decreed I should be what I am
Would it spoil some vast eternal plan
If I were a wealthy man?
Autores de la canción: Jerry Bock / Sheldon Harnick.
