From Cuentos Populares en Chile (Chilean Folktales) – by Ramón A. Laval
Part 2 – Myths, Traditions, Things (Mitos, Tradiciones, Casos)
041. The Chanchillo (El Chanchillo)
(Told by 17-year old D. H. Iribarren Charlín on July 8th, 1911.)
The Chanchillo is a fish from the shores of Coquimbo, of about one and a half meter long and 0.70 meters in diameter at its fattest part.
The good friendship that exists between the Chanchillo and men is a tradition on the coast of the province of Coquimbo. When a fisherman falls into the water, because a storm has capsized his boat or for any other reason, if there is a Chanchillo close by it will carry him on his back and take him to the beach, in a place where he is safe from any danger. From this comes the affection that fishermen have for the Chanchillo, and for this reason, whenever they see one, they would greet him with the most adoring names. It is common to hear fishermen tell that a Chanchillo had rescued their parents or grandparents from certain deaths.
If a Chanchillo is caught in the nets and dies before the fisherman could free him, this event is met with great consternation in the fishing community, which, seized by a superstitious fear, would spend two or three days immersed in sorrow.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Tempestad – (weather) storm, tempest (literary); (agitation) storm
Zozobrar – (to be shipwrecked) to founder; (to overturn) to capsize; (to be at risk) to be in danger; (to fall through) to fail, to founder, to be ruined; (to fret) to worry
Provenir – (used with “de”) to come from, to stem from
Sumir – (to descend) to plunge, to sink; (to submerge) to plunge; (to make a dent in) (Andes) (Mexico) (Southern Cone) to dent
Sumirse – (to fall into depression) to sink into, to become lost; (to get a dent in) to get dented; (to become hollow) to sink; (to draw back in fear) to cower