Myths, Legends and Peruvian Stories (Mitos, Leyendas y Cuentos Peruanos)
Selections and Notes by José María Arguedas and Francisco Izquierdo Ríos
Sierra – Mitos (Mountain – Myth)
023. El Féretro Ambulante (The Walking Coffin)
Collected in Ayaviri, capital of the Province of Melgar, Department of Puno, by Adelma Tapia Cano, a third year high school student of the National School “Miguel Grau” in Magdalena Nueva, Lima.
In Ayaviri, when the nights were not lighted by lamps and electric lights had not yet been installed, and the moon was the only thing that illuminated the streets, the people only went out on those moonlit nights.
The night owls said that, around those times, after midnight, the coffin that was placed in the church, and that was a rustic wooden coffin, in which the remains of the the poor folks who could not afford to pay for a coffin were laid; this coffin left at night to wander the streets, making a macabre noise like that of a skeleton falling and getting up. An old neighbor said that when he heard about this legend, he ventured out to climb the church tower to see if the story about the coffin wandering about on moonlit nights was indeed true; and he observed that after midnight, the coffin creaked as it wobbled towards the center of the square. Moved by fear, the man rang the bell and it was then that the coffin rushed back to the church; a short time later the coffin again came out and advanced to the opposite corner of the square; the observer rang the bell, and the coffin again returned to the church.
The coffin went out again for the third time; and then the observer wanted to see where it was heading to; and with great surprise he saw that the coffin turned at one of the streets and entered the house of a family named Bustinza; and that from this house it came out led by four men dressed in black, who were holding four lighted candles; and they also were carrying a corpse. The observer withdrew speechless and in tremble. And eight days later a member of said family died. For this reason it is the custom that the coffin arrives eight days before a neighbor’s death.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Féretro – coffin
Ambulante – (wandering) walking, mobile, itinerant, traveling; (profession) (El Salvador, Peru, Uruguay) street vendor
Alumbrado – (streetlights) lighting
Alumbrar – (to give light to) to light, to light up, to illuminate; (to clarify) to shed light on; (literary) (to inspire) to enlighten; (to deliver) to give birth to; (to invent) to conceive of; (to discover) to find (underground water); (to bewitch) to put under a spell, to cast a spell; (to emit light) to give off light; (to deliver) to give birth
Alumbrarse – (colloquial) (to get drunk) to get lit up
Lámpara – (light-emitting device) lamp; (electric bulb) light bulb, light; (radio) valve; (grease stain) stain
Noctámbulo – (that tends to stay up till late) night owl; (active at night) nocturnal
Ataúd – coffin, casket
Costearse – (to fund) to pay for, to finance
Costear – (to fund) to pay for, to finance; (nautical) to sail along the coast of
Cajón – (furniture) drawer; (big box) crate; (pall) coffin, casket; (geography) (South America) ravine
Osamenta – (anatomy) skeleton; (set of bones) bones
Tumbarse – (to recline) to lie down, to stretch out
Tumbar – (to topple) to knock down, to kick down (using one’s foot), to knock over, to demolish; (to chop down a tree) to cut down, to fell; (to kill) to waste, to bump off, to do in; (education) (Spain) to fail, to flunk
Comprobar – (to verify) to check; (to demonstrate) to prove; (to notice) to realize
Crujir – (to make noise) to creak (stairs or wood), to rustle (leaves, paper, cloth), to crackle (firewood), to crunch (food, gravel, snow), to grind (teeth); (to cause to make a sharp sound) to crack (articulation or bone)
Crujirse – (to cause to make a sharp sound) to crack (articulation or bone)
Precipitadamente – rashly, in a hurry
Esquina – corner
Opuesto – (location) opposite; (of contrasting quality) conflicting, different; (contrary) opposed
Percatar – (to grasp) to notice; to realize
Percatarse – (to become aware of) to notice, to realize
Asombro – (astonishment) amazement; (surprise) surprise; (fear) fright
Doblar – (to crease) to fold, to bend; (to incrase by two times) to double; (cinema) to dub; (to change direction) to turn; (to ring a bell) to toll
Doblarse – (to give in) to bend; (to increase by two times) to double; (to collapse) to bend
Tembloroso – (quivering) trembling, shaking, shaky, tremulous, shivering; (fluttering) flickering
Estupefacto – (stupefied) astonished, amazed, speechless
Anticiparse – (to happen before expected) to arrive early, to be early, to come early; (to act earlier than others) to anticipate, to be ahead of one’s time, to get ahead of oneself, to beat to it
Anticipar – (to predict) to anticipate, to foresee, to expect; (to move ahead) to move up, to bring forward; (to pay beforehand) to pay in advance, to advance; (to give information) to tell