What was Caterina Valriu like, according to her sister: "They called her na Patufeta because she was smaller than the others"

PalmaFrom a very young age, she had her ideas very clear. “When she set her mind on something, she had to have her way,” they say about her. She soon developed a special ability to achieve what she wanted: “She knew perfectly how to ask for things from each person. She did it with innocence, but she almost always succeeded. She had great intuition for reading people.” Children and stories have been two constants throughout her life. When she was a girl, she would sit the little ones down and tell them stories. Later she studied teaching and worked for a few years as a Primary school teacher before dedicating herself fully to philology. We are talking about Caterina Valriu (Inca, 1960), na Catalina Contacontes, and her older sister, Paula, who is seven years her junior, introduces us to her.

And because of this seven-year difference, Paula often had to take on older sister responsibilities. Their mother worked long hours at the family butcher shop and also bore the burden of the household. Caterina started school a little earlier than she should have. Every day, taking her to school was an adventure: “She didn't want to go at all! I had to drag her, as they say, and she only cried and protested,” says Paula, still half out of breath just remembering it. This only happened on the way: once she arrived in class, her upset would pass and she would adapt without problems. She also says that Caterina was called “na Patufeta, because she was smaller than the others.”

The girl's character was strong and firm from the start. A family anecdote illustrates this: it was the sixties. The Three Kings brought her a doll that wasn't exactly what she had asked for. Caterina wanted a doll whose hair grew; instead, the pages left her a baby doll with a bottle. “He was cute and she played with him, but it wasn’t what she had asked for and she kept repeating it all year. She didn’t abandon that idea for a moment,” she recalls. With so much insistence, the following year the Three Kings brought her the desired doll. “She was four or five years old, and the fact that she didn’t change her mind for a whole year says a lot about her character. Caterina has always been a very firm person. And to be so firm, you also have to be a little stubborn,” summarizes the older sister when recalling the childhood of who, over the years, would become one of Mallorca's great specialists in popular and children's literature.

Although she started reading relatively late, she had an extraordinary memory. Every two weeks, the sisters would go buy a new storybook. Paula was in charge of choosing them and reading them aloud. She still recounts it with some surprise: “After hearing them twice, she knew them by heart. If you changed a sentence while reading it, she would correct you immediately.” When she learned to read, she didn't stop.

Culture occupied an important place within the family. Her mother, despite not having formal education, was a great enthusiast of popular culture and possessed a prodigious memory. Folk tales, romances, verses, and songs were part of the daily atmosphere. “This warmth comes from her, it awakened our interest in popular literature”.

Today, Paula sees in Caterina's eyes that determination and firmness that characterize her so much, as well as a person “muching faithful to her principles, involved in her work, who has always given her all for her students and has kept lifelong friendships”. The two sisters have shared simple hobbies: Scrabble games and many hours in the kitchen. “She is the queen of cannelloni,” she declares. And may they be able to eat them for many years to come!