Myths, Legends and Peruvian Stories (Mitos, Leyendas y Cuentos Peruanos)
Selections and Notes by José María Arguedas and Francisco Izquierdo Ríos
Costa – Leyenda (Coast – Myth)
008. The Lanterns (Las Linternas)
Collected in Guadalupe, District of the Province of Pacasmayo, Department of La Libertad, by Edda Horna C., a third-year high school student at the “Miguel Grau” National School in Magdalena Nueva, Lima.
They say that a gentleman named his ranch Semán. This gentleman has his chacras in his possession threshing rice; and fearing that thieves would steal his rice, he hired ten guards [to watch over these places]; these men entered a hut, sat themselves down on rustic seats; all drank coffee; then nine of them went to guard the rice fields, dividing themselves up into teams of three, while the tenth guard remained behind at the hut, keeping watch of its surroundings. After a while the foreman appeared before him and said in a comical tone: “My son, do you see what I see?” “What is it that you see and I don’t?”, was the response from the guard. The other one replied: “Look at the summit of the mountains and count the lanterns.” The guard complied and looked towards the mountains and with great surprise he exclaimed: “Wow, am I dreaming or is what I see [really] true?” “Certainly, it’s true” -replied the foreman. “That lantern that you see, whose flame is bright red, is not a common lantern like those of ours, it is enchanted and if you want to be convinced, we will go after it and you will see where it takes us.” And both, armed with their machetes and shovels, set out in search of the lantern. But something strange happened; as they drew closer to the lantern it moved further and further away. [Then] the foreman and the guard realized that they had traveled too far from the hut, and on seeing that the distance was great, they stopped. The lantern, little by little, transformed into a golden bull and climbed up to the platform of a huaca; once it got there, the bull began to moo and shook the entire huaca. They say that this lantern is enchanted and wanders around all those places.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Linterna – (portable electric light) flashlight, torch; (portable light) lantern, lamp; (architecture) lantern; (anatomy) eye
Chacra – (agriculture) (South America) farm, small farm; (religious) chakra
Trillar – (to thrash) to thresh; (to wear down) to overuse
Choza – hut, shack
Rústico – (related to the country) rustic, rural, country; (rough) coarse, uncouth, crude; (country man) country person
Asiento – (place to sit) seat; (position) seat; (submission) entry
Resguardar – (to shelter) to protect, to shield
Resguardarse – (to find shelter) to shelter, to take shelter; (to safeguard oneself; used with “de”) to protect oneself, to defend oneself
Dispersar – (to separate) to disperse, to scatter, to break up; (military) to rout; (physics) to scatter, to diffuse; (to cause to thin out) to clear, to disperse; (to make poor use of) to dissipate
Dispersarse – (to separate) to break up, to disperse, to scatter; (physics) to scatter, to diffuse; (to thin out) to clear, to diffuse; (to lose concentration) to get distracted
Alrededores – (suburbs) outskirts
Alrededor – (on all sides) around; (immediate area)
Al cabo de un tiempo – after a while, a while later
Capataz – (occupation) foreman, forewoman, overseer (on a farm)
Burlesco – (funny) comic; (literature) burlesque; (sarcastic) mocking
Cima – (geography) summit, top; (high point) peak, height; (botany) top
Convencer – (to coax) to convince, to persuade; (to satisfy)
Convencerse – (to coax oneself) to convince oneself
Pala – (tool) shovel, spade, dustpan (used with a broom or brush); (culinary) spatula (for lifting or turning), slice (for lifting or turning), fish knife (piece of cutlery), scoop (for sugar or flour), shovel (baker’s), peel (for pizza or bread); (racket sports) paddle (table tennis or paddle tennis), bat (table tennis or paddle tennis), racket (frontenis); (canoeing) paddle; (part of a propeller, oar, or ax) blade; (part of a shoe) upper (part above sole), vamp (part covering front of foot); (anatomy) (upper) front tooth; (guile) cunning
Conforme – (content) happy, satisfied, agreed, in agreement; (correct) in order; (appropriate; used with “con”) in keeping with, in line with, consistent with; (following; used with “a”) according to, in accordance with; (while) as; (the same as) exactly as; (conformity) agreement, authorization, approval; as, in accordance with, according, under, pursuant
Aproximado – approximate, rough (calculation)
Aproximar – (to put closer) to bring closer, to draw up; (to reconcile) to bring closer together
Aproximarse – (to get closer) to approach, to near; (to be about to happen) to draw near, to approach; (to come near to) to approximate, to approach, to be close to
Más de la cuenta – too much, over, more than necessary, overspend
Detener – (to halt) to stop; (to detain) to arrest; (to hold up) to delay
Detenerse – (to cease movement) to stop
Plataforma – (elevated surface) platform; (footwear) platform; (part of a bus) platform; (politics) platform; (representative group) program; (stepping stone) launching pad
Huaca – In the Quechuan languages of South America, a huaca or wak’a is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term huaca can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some huacas have been associated with veneration and ritual. The Quechua people traditionally believed every object has a physical presence and two camaquen (spirits), one to create it and another to animate it. They would invoke its spirits for the object to function.
Mugir – (to make a deep sound) to moo (cow), to bellow, to low; (to cry out in pain) to howl