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)
016. The Mysterious Lagoon (La Laguna Misteriosa)
Collected in Cañete, Province of the Department of Lima, by Celinda Sánchez, a fourth-year high school student at the “Miguel Grau” National School in Magdalena Nueva, Lima.
This is a scene that the Cañete River presents to us, especially at dusk; it is found in an interior part of the countryside called Carmen Alto, more or less ten kilometers from the city of Cañete. In truth, it is not a lagoon that exists in this place, but rather that a part of the Cañete River has the shape of a lagoon, and for this reason the inhabitants of that region called it “the mysterious lagoon”. The people said that God had blessed it, because when the river grows and increases the volume of its waters, they do not mix with those of the lagoon and only move to one side, without destroying anything. The surroundings of the lagoon are adorned, on one side with picturesque hills, and on the other with beautiful trees; and at the feet of these, there are countless little flowers. Its mystery is mainly owed to the apparitions of a duck with many ducklings [which appear] only on St. John’s Day, for these little animals never appear on the other days.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Paisaje – landscape, scenery; (art) landscape
Atardecer – (time when the sun sets) dusk, evening, sunset; (descent of the sun below the horizon) sunset; (to darken) to get dark
Campiña – countryside
Bendecir – (religious) to bless; (to express gratitude) to thank, to bless; (to give approval) to bless
Desplazar – (to be substituted with) to displace, to take the place of, to supplant, to oust, to replace; (to change position) to move; (computing) to scroll; (chemistry) to displace; (nautical) to displace
Desplazarse – (to move around) to move, to travel, to go; (to change) to swing, to shift
Adornar – (to ornament) to decorate, to garnish (culinary), to adorn, to trim (a Christmas tree); (to enhance the beauty of) to embellish, to adorn; (to bedeck) to adorn; (to endow) to be blessed with (in the passive voice)
Adornarse – (to become more attractive) to become decorated
Pintoresco – (quaint) picturesque; (vibrant) colorful; (strange) eccentric, odd
Florecilla – (botany) small flower
Pata – (animal anatomy) leg; (extremity of an animal limb) paw (of a cat or a dog), foot (of a bird); (anatomy) leg; (furniture part) leg
Patas – (audacity) (Chile) nerve
Pato – (animal) duck; (culinary) duck; (receptacle) bedpan; (tedious thing) drag, bore; (clumsy oaf); (without money) (Southern Cone) broke