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)
Collected in the District of Pachacamac, Province of Lima, Department of the same name by Hortensia Lizárraga, a fourth-year high school student at the “Miguel Grau” National School from Magdalena Nueva, Lima.
The legend about the origin of the Pachacamac Islands goes like this: There were two curacas (e.g. Indian chiefs) who hated one another, and each of them had children of his own. The son of one curaca fell in love with the daughter of the other curaca. The father of the girl, upon finding out about this (forbidden) love, locked her in his palace, so that the son of the other curaca wouldn’t be able to see her. The young man, in order to get inside the castle, transformed himself into a beautiful bird.
One day, when she was in the garden with her maids, the bird appeared; and on seeing such a beautiful bird, the girl wanted to capture it; and seeing that she could not manage to do so, she called for her maids [to come] to help her. And so they were able to catch it. The girl locked the bird in a cage and put it in her room. A few days passed by and the bird transformed back into the son of the curaca; he returned to his true self.
The father, after many months, realized that his daughter was going to have a baby; then he asked her how this had happened and she told him that one day she dreamed that the bird she had in her room turned into a human being. The father, when he realized that his daughter was the victim of a trick, ordered her to be killed; she ran away, but when she turned her head around, she saw with great surprise that the same bird, [no longer beautiful] but in a repugnant form, was chasing after her. Then, in order not to be caught, she threw herself into the sea along with her son. Upon falling into the sea, the son transformed into a small island and she into a big island.
And this is how the Pachacamac islands were formed.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Curaca – (Central America) (South America) Indian chief; cacique
Dar cuenta de – (to recount) to give an account of, to report, to explain about, to account for; (to eat) to polish off; (to spend) to get through; realized, realize; to realize
Aprisionar – (to put in prison) to imprison; (to immobilize) to trap; (to hold captive) to trap
Ardid – ruse, trick, ploy, scheme
Voltear – (to invert) to turn over, to turn around, to flip, to toss, to turn upside down (chair or table), to knock over; (to change position) to turn; (to sound a bell) to ring; (to change direction) to turn; (to spin) to turn around
Voltearse – (to change position) to turn around; (to flip over) to overturn, to turn over; (to change loyalty) to change one’s allegiance
Repugnante – (sickening) disgusting, revolting, repugnant