De sintir la buena djente 1

Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Y 3980/9b 

The copla of the Debate of the Vegetables (El debate de las verduras) belongs to a group of debate coplas that include exchanges between flowers, colors, and other elements. In this copla, the tomato argues passionately with the aubergine, each one praising its own virtues while disparaging the other’s. This particular copla is rarely found in oral tradition and appears here in a fragmentary version. Traces remain of a common structure in the copla repertoire, consisting of four-line stanzas with a Zajalesque rhyme pattern: the first three lines of each stanza rhyme together, while the fourth line shares a recurring rhyme with the final lines of all other stanzas. In this copla, parts of that structure are still preserved. Historically, this poetic form was borrowed from Arabic verse and later adapted into Hebrew liturgical poetry. 

Text:
De sintir la buena gente el pleto del zerzavat,
todos se meten de enfrente sal el buen del tomat:
Mi color aleluciente todos se namoran por tomat.
Mi comida es alabada mijor de la berenjena.

La berenjena l'aresponde:
tu hermosura es para un día l'otro día ya no vale.                   
Mi comida es alabada mijor del tomat.

El tomat le aresponde:
Todas las bodas se detienen asperandome a mí,
empesijo del piscado, al arroz yo atemí,
si queres por apetite, la salata es de mí.                   
Mi comida es alabada mijor de la berenjena.                          

La berenjena le aresponde:
Yo cuando salgo trufanda doy haber a la judería:
si 'l aceite sta muy caro yene más en alburnía.
Mi comida es alabada mijor del tomat.      

El tomat le aresponde:
Calla, masate, preta y negra, que hablates arseslik,
si en un cesto yo te veo me pareces ageslik.
Mi comida es alabada mijor de la berenjena.

Translation:
When the good people heard the quarrel of the vegetables,
“My shining color, everyone falls in love with the tomato.
My food is praised, better than the eggplant.”

The eggplant answers him:
“Do not boast of your beauty;
your beauty lasts one day, the next day it is worth nothing.
My food is praised, better than the tomato.”

The tomato answers her:
“All the weddings all are waiting for me.
I begin the fish dish, I season the rice.
If you want appetite, the salad is from me.
My food is praised, better than the eggplant.”

The eggplant answers him:
“When I come out fresh, I announce at the Jewish quarter.
If the oil is very expensive, even more so when cooking Albornia.
My food is praised, better than the tomato.”

The tomato answers her:
“Be silent, you are ugly and black, you speak foolishness.
If I see you in a basket, you look dirty to me.
My food is praised, better than the eggplant.”