In a tiny pueblo in Mexico, named Palo Morado, for the magical purple trees which only grew there, there lived a woman named Galatea. Galatea was sad because she had no children of her own.
She was engaged to be married to a man named Jorge who worked as farmer on the other side of town. One day Jorge decided to go work in the city where his aunt lived, and so he left the little town of Palo Morado. Galatea was heart broken. The life that she had planned with Jorge was over, so she worked in her father’s general store and dreamed about the family she was supposed to have with Jorge.
One day Galatea was fetching a sack of flour in the basement of the store when she slipped and fell down and bruised her knew. Her father scolded Galatea, “You know that you should be careful! Who will help me in the store if you can’t walk?”
Galatea was tearful and ran home to her mother and she slept in her bed the whole day. When she woke up in the morning a giant bump had formed on her knee, although it didn’t look red. Her father was sad for having yelled at Galatea, his only child, so he told her, “I will take you to see the doctor in the city Galatea, and we make sure you are well.”
The next day Galatea and her father traveled to the city to see the doctor. He looked at her knee and was puzzled. “It doesn’t look like a bruise or an injury, but something is definitely growing on your knee Galatea.” The doctor told her to go home and rest. And this is what Galatea did for four weeks.
When the four weeks were up Galatea’s father asked his daughter, “How do you feel Galatea, is your knee better?” Galatea didn’t know what to say, so she hopped out of bed and presented her knee to her father. The swelling on her knee had gotten bigger, and now it looked like a small boy!
Galatea’s father gasped, “Oh my! We must take you to see the priest!” So he took Galatea to see the local priest who said to them, “You must pray everyday and maybe the bump will go away.” And so Galatea did this, but the bump grew until it was the size of a three year old boy. Hundreds of people visited Galatea to see the small boy that had grown on her knee.
At first Galatea enjoyed the crowds, but then she asked them to leave. One day, after she had grown tired of lying in bed, the boy snapped off her knee from where it was connected to her through its belly button. Like a ripened fruit the boy hit the ground and his eyes opened and he started laughing. Soon he was running around and talking with Galatea.
“I am so happy to be your son Galatea!” said the boy who looked quite normal, except that his hair had a purple tinge to it.
“How do you know who I am?” asked Galatea who was both surprised and happy that she now had a child. “I was listening to you while I was sleeping on your knee!” said the little boy as he gave Galatea a hug.
Galatea and her family were happy that she now had a child, and she brought him to work with her in the general store. Everybody in the town knew the boy and believed that talking to him was good luck. Although a strange and happy occurrence, Galatea knew that it had happened because of the magical palo morado trees which dotted her small village.
