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)
007. The Hill of Pitura (El Cerro De Pitura)
Collected in Pacasmayo, Province of the Department of La Libertad, by Josefina Arias R., a third-year high school student at the “Miguel Grau” National School in Magdalena Nueva, Lima.
In the Province of Pacasmayo there is a ranch called Chafán and close to it is a hill called Pitura; next to the hill there is a fountain called Toma Mayor because it is the one that provides water for the entire Province; this fountain is very deep and at the bottom there are red and lead-colored fishes.
Legend says that this hill is cursed, because every year at six o’clock in the evening, one would hear noises as if drums and whistles are being played. And when the people heard the music of the hill says: “It’ll be a good year”, they will also say: “Water is coming.” Because when this music is heard there is an abundance of water [appearing] in the fountain; and flames are also seen coming out of the hill; and because of all this they believe that these are spirits who are searching for salvation and that they are the ones that haunt the hill.
They have made visits to this hill in order to find out who had been playing the drums and whistles but absolutely nothing has been discovered.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Plomo – (metal) lead; (metal weight) plumb line, weight; (bullets) lead; (dull person or thing) bore; (electricity) fuse; (color) lead gray
Tambor – (musical instrument) drum; (musician) drummer; (mechanical) drum, cylinder (revolver); (anatomy) eardrum; (cylindrical container) drum; (architecture) tambour; (embroidery hoop) tambour; (santeria ritual) ceremony
Pito – (sports) whistle; (automobile) horn, hooter; (railroad) whistle; (cigarette) cigarette, fag; (male genitalia) weenie, willie
Llama – (fire) flame; (passion) flame; (animal) llama
Rondar – (to guard) to patrol; (to annoy) to pester; (to attract) to court; (to be more or less) to be about; (to hang around) to prowl, to wander; (to guard) to be on patrol; (to sing) to serenade