The Ecuadorian Legends are part of the collection that has been made over time, popular stories that have remained present in the traditional culture of Ecuador, thanks to the fact that they have a good dissemination, which goes from generation to generation. His characters are a myth because it is not known for sure if they existed or not.
Ecuadorian Legends
The Ecuadorian Legends date back to the times of the grandparents, who inherited them from their parents and so on. The peculiarity that these stories that became legends had is that they did not constitute the typical narration of the story that involved an enchanted princess, of princes or castles, but rather stories about the existence of witches, characters full of mysteries and where the The outcome of these stories, generally they were chilling or contained some moral or teaching.
Both real and ornate stories of these legends are a characteristic part of Ecuadorian culture. Some of the stories told in the Ecuadorian legends, are located in the current century, although the range of comics also have a few produced by the 1930s, facts of which there are grandparents who claim to have witnessed the events that occurred.
Thanks to the good dissemination of these comics and the identification that the user has had with them, these chronicles have remained embodied in the memory of the Ecuadorian, becoming so popular that they have crossed the borders of Ecuador, being fixed in various works literary.
Many credit the success and permanence of these Ecuadorian legends in their way of being transmitted by parents, where, according to the generations, they mix the historical principles that the chronicle has, as a basis with the element of the fiction, which gives it that touch of mystery that is very characteristic of this type of narrative, taking into account the presence of their own elements that make them stand out as part of South American culture.
Each story has an additional attribute that is the adaptation by region, a resource very well used by the authors of these comics.
Ecuadorian legends of the Coast
The origin of the Ecuadorian legends of the Coast come from ancient times. Within its contents, the writers of these texts have been able to harmonize various resources from the past, events that actually occurred, with those events produced by the imagination of the inhabitants of a particular region. In its beginnings, the stories were transmitted orally to the families and these in turn to the replacement generations, which became more widespread with the arrival of writing, where authors began to write them in the form of literary works.
The Ecuadorian legends of the Coast arise from the use and knowledge of the customs of territorial inhabitants, of the ancestors who lived in the region. With the passage of time, those comics that began as children's stories became very famous legends, built on the anecdotes of grandparents, a method used to make the little ones sleep.
The location of these stories is not limited only to the capital Quito, as there are also Ecuadorian legends that developed in other regions of the provinces, even a dispute and rivalry was generated between the regions of the Coast and the Sierra, especially within their capitals Quito and Guayaquil, for obtaining recognition as the city with the greatest historical development in Ecuador.
Ecuadorian legends of the Amazon
The dissemination of Ecuadorian legends spread to all corners of the country, taking multiple resources from their various traditions that each author was incorporating into their stories. The Amazon region of Ecuador is a natural area of the South American country that includes about 120 thousand square kilometers of Amazonian territory, which includes the provinces of Sucumbíos, Orellana, Napo, Pastaza, Morona and Zamora.
It is a region with very particular characteristics, presenting humid-tropical forests with rich vegetation, which in extension comprises 48 percent of the entire Ecuadorian territory. These elements influence the geography and setting where the legends of this region are located, which give the distinctive characteristic to one story from another.
The pink dolphin
One of the Ecuadorian legends that has become popular is that of the Amazon pink dolphin, or also described by other authors as "The red bufeo". The particular color of this famous animal distinguishes it from other dolphins, whose characteristic color is gray. His story tells that this magical Dolphin was under a spell, which allowed him to transform into a man, but not just any man, he was of gringo origin.
This man had the peculiarity that he was attracted to young girls. Adopting the appearance of a man with good looks and interesting, he sneaked into the parties, where he knew that the young girl previously chosen to be his conquest would be.
He presented himself as the soul of the parties, he made a good impression, he was a good dancer, a drinker and with an unequaled sympathy, which pleased all the attendees. With his charms he encourages those present to enjoy, drink and eat, but for him those pleasures are forbidden, because doing so would break the spell and he would become a dolphin again.
His method of conquest is to shower the young woman with gifts and attentions, until he makes her fall madly in love with him, visiting him at night, having to be forced to leave before dawn. After a while of maintaining the hidden romance, the young woman begins to behave in a strange way in the eyes of her family.
The young woman expresses an intention to remain by the river all the time, a situation in which only a shaman can intervene, who provides a cure for that evil or spell, since otherwise it may end up disappearing. Legend has it that the end of the young woman is tragic, as she ends up jumping into the river, to be forever with her gringo, her Dolphin in love.
Legend of Cantuña
This story is one of the Ecuadorian legends, which narrates the events that arose around an indigenous man named Cantuña, a character who was very popular and known to all the town's inhabitants. The environment is located in the context of the time that the Franciscan monks began to arrive in Ecuador, settling in that country. They say that it was these monks who entrusted Cantuña to start the construction of a Catholic temple, which would be located in the city of Quito.
The native accepted the proposal of those priests, even assuring them that the works would be ready in its entirety in the course of six months. In exchange for the construction of this temple, Cantuña asked the monks for a large sum, which they had to pay at the end of their work. The Franciscan priests did not believe that Cantuña managed to finish the temple offered on time, even with the help of his friends, however they closed the deal.
With a month remaining to expire the stipulated deadline for construction, it did not even have half of the work, something that made Cantuña despair, who saw it as a quick way out to make a pact with the devil. The agreement consisted of Cantuña giving him his soul in exchange for him being in charge of finishing the construction within the stipulated period, for which Satan accepted. With the agreement in motion, he began to work with various demons from hell, in order to finish faster and thus be able to take the soul of the indigenous person.
But Cantuña was not willing to give up his soul so easily, so he devised a plan not to lose his soul, once he observed that the temple was almost ready. Cantuña went to the construction site and realized that he only needed to place a final wall, so he took the blocks with which he was going to work and carved a writing that said: “Whoever places this stone inside the construction is recognizing with this that God is much more powerful than him ”.
Days later, the devil approached the building and when he took the stone he read the message that was written on the stone and his reaction was to order all his accompanying demons to immediately return to hell along with him. With this tactic, the audacious indigenous man managed to preserve his soul and meet the Franciscan monks to finish the temple on time, who had to pay him the coins he had asked for.
The Covered Lady
The legend of the Tapada Lady is one of the Ecuadorian legends that has transcended borders. It talks about the story of a beautiful woman with an elegant and slender silhouette, who sometimes carried an umbrella with her and other times she could be seen wearing an elegant hat, with a kind of veil that covered her face.
They say that this mysterious lady is present in the center of the city, in hours past midnight towards dawn. When in the presence of a man, a pleasant fragrance begins to emerge from it, which becomes a captivating ellipse to trap a victim and make him follow her wherever the woman goes.
In this way the Lady Tapada gradually moves him away, leading him to solitary areas where no one can help that person. There comes a time when the woman sees that they are far enough apart and stops in the middle of the road. Then he stands in front of him and uncovers his face. What is the biggest surprise for the unsuspecting man, since he sees the face of a corpse, being terrified by that terrifying image.
In the same way, that pleasant aroma that the lady distilled, transforms into a nauseating smell, similar to that of rotten meat, a rotten smell like that of the dead. The victim generally dies on the spot due to the shock of all that terrifying scene and if they are saved, the person loses his mind, having to be locked up in mental health centers. This is one of the Ecuadorian legends popularized among partying, drunk and unfaithful men.
La Llorona
Another of the Ecuadorian Legends with the greatest international popularity is La Llorona. This chronicle describes the story of a woman whose features is tall and slender, who wears a white robe as a dress. Being a kind of spirit or spectrum makes it difficult to define their facial features. Within some popular stories, La Llorona is described as a woman without feet, so she moves across the floor without touching it, as if she were passing through the air. (See article: La Sayona )
This Ecuadorian legend narrates the eternal pain that persecutes this woman in search of her newborn son, whom, based on her story, she herself murdered by drowning him in the river, driven by madness and jealousy. His punishment then is to wander the streets without having peace as part of his penance. His myth is used as a form of punishment for those men who live in forbidden love, committing adultery or making fun of the love of women. It is said that he appears to them riding their step horses, or in other cases murders them with an icy embrace.
This character was baptized as La Llorona due to the terrifying and penetrating moans that she emits as she passes, or when she manifests herself somewhere. "Where is my son? Where is my son?" Is the constant prayer that is heard. La Llorona has become a sign that denotes a bad omen or bad omen, thereby attracting misfortunes for loved ones.
There are other stories that place La Llorona as a harmless being in search of help and comfort, with which she gains the trust of the people and once she succeeds, she steals all their belongings, this version being very little disclosed.
Father Almeida
Father Almeida is the protagonist of one of the Ecuadorian legends where he is described as an untraditional priest who liked to go out at night and go partying drinking brandy without being seen. They say that he was a young man of just 17 years of age who took refuge in a seminary but did not abandon his worldly life entirely. The legend of Father Almeida narrates the way in which he escaped from the monastery, it was by climbing up to a window in one of the rooms that overlooked the street.
But the window was too high so he had to mount over a statue of Jesus Christ that was in that place, to be able to reach and escape. This he did frequently every night, while the other friars rested. They say that one of those nights when he planned to go out, when he climbed up the statue, he heard a voice that said to him: "How long will Father Almeida?", A little astonished with what he had heard, the anxious priest replied: "Until Christ returns "And left through the window as usual.
When he managed to be outside, he went to the usual canteen where he used to drink and they say that he even met with women of bad life. He decided to leave the place once he felt enough drinking. The young man was stumbling down the street until he came across a funeral procession that caught his attention by the time and with curiosity he leaned out to see the coffin. Father Almeida could not believe what his eyes saw, because the man inside the coffin was the same.
From the shock he got, he sobered him up, leaving quickly until he reached his Church, going to the room where the statue of Christ was located and before his image I swear that I would never drink again. Since then, he began a true life of faith being one of the priests with the greatest vocation.
The Rooster of the Cathedral
Another chronicle that is part of Ecuadorian legends is El gallo de la catedral, a story that takes place in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. There the story of Don Ramón Ayala y Sandoval is told, a partying man and also with a lot of money. They say that he had hobbies playing the guitar and drinking all night in the company of his friends. The heart of this partygoer had an owner, a woman named Mariana, who lived near his farm.
Don Ramón followed the same routine every day, he got up at 6 in the morning to have breakfast from that time. A grilled steak with fries and hard-boiled eggs were his favorite lunch dish; and to drink he drank a cup of thick chocolate with a lot of foam. Among his tastes was reading in the library for a while after lunch and after that he went to take a nap.
His routine continues with a bath after nap, to prepare to go out during the afternoon and into the night. Mariana, who was nicknamed the Chola, had a wine bar where Don Ramón used to finish a tour he made through the streets. One of those nights, they say that with a few drinks on top, Don Ramón found himself on the road with a fighting cock, and he was so taken that he challenged him to a duel.
The rooster accepted that challenge, and at the first peck on the head, Don Ramón was so scared that he gave up in the confrontation, so he ended up asking the rooster for forgiveness. In return, he sent him a warning that if he drank again he would not have mercy on him and could even kill him.
They say that Don Ramón for some time kept his promise and lasted many years without drinking again. But there came a day when one of his friends encouraged him to drink and the power of conviction was such that he succumbed to temptation by drinking again, although after that day no one saw him again.
The hoarse box
This is one of the Ecuadorian legends that is set in the city of San Miguel de Ibarra, where it is said that two great friends called Carlos and Manuel lived many years ago. They say that one day Carlos's father arrived and asked him to do him a favor before he started playing.
That favor consisted in her going to water the plants in the garden, since they had not tasted a drop of water for several days, so they were about to dry up. The pair of friends pretended that they accepted the errand but did not comply with the father's request, and began to play and run through the field.
After a long time, night fell and it was when Carlos remembered the request that his father had made of him. As it was very dark, Carlos asked his friend Manuel to accompany him to water the plants, to which he agreed. The plants to be watered were located at the back of the house, but before reaching that place, they began to hear voices saying things in another language.
Driven by curiosity, they hid behind a tree to see what was happening. What those friends saw was something incredible, creatures that had no human features, faceless, covered with a hood and with the ability to float through the air, also carrying a long, unlit candle in their hands.
These hooded beings left the place giving way to a float that was being directed by a horrendous entity with horns on its head and its teeth resembling the fangs of a wolf. At that moment, Carlos remembered one of the Ecuadorian legends that his grandfather told him where he referred to the existence of a “hoarse box”. The events that they were witnessing were the same as those that his grandfather had told him, where there were some beings that served as guardians of the mythical object.
The two young men, prisoners of terror, fainted and once they came to, they realized that they too were carrying long, white candles, but these were not made of wax but of dead bones. They immediately dropped those candles and ran home. They say that from that day on, those friends never went out at night again and did not question what was expressed in the Ecuadorian legends again.
The student's cape
Of the Ecuadorian legends, the student's cape, was one of those that had characteristics of its own name, because being a student in the old city of Quito, was more than having good grades, because they also had to have respect with the others, be a good Christian, a good son and with a good appearance. The teachers of the time were the ones who demanded that the students have such a student lifestyle that was almost perfect for them and even the residents of Quito felt they had the authority to judge such behavior.
All the students suffered from nerves seeing that the end of the school year was approaching since it was the time when they had to take the last exams to pass the course. Of all the students, the one who was most concerned was Juan, since apart from his grades, he was distressed by the state of his boots and he did not have the resources to buy others.
Juan could not attend with that bad appearance to present his final exams, knowing that he would be the victim of criticism from the neighbors, in addition to severe scolding from his teachers. One of the solutions that his friends presented to him to solve the problem was for him to sell or pawn his cape, which for him was not a viable one, since the cape was the famous symbol of every student.
Concern seized Juan's thoughts, showing himself extremely dejected, which made him easy prey for a group of colleagues who thought of taking advantage of his situation and making a joke by proposing a sinister challenge, which they did not even imagine how it would end.
The proposal was to give him a few coins with which he could buy new boots in exchange for the young man showing his bravery. The challenge included the idea that the young man went to the El Tejar cemetery at midnight and had to place a nail on the headstone of a woman who had committed suicide. Without thinking and in the midst of his despair, Juan accepted the challenge with which he would get out of his problem.
But it turns out that when Juan arrived at the indicated tomb, he realized that it was that of a young woman who in life had a loving relationship with him. Apparently, while for Juan it was a romance of little importance, for the young woman it represented a dream of love that was broken in a very cruel way and ended with the betrayal of her beloved and whose pain led her to take her own life.
To meet the challenge, those involved agreed to meet outside the cemetery. Juan climbed one of the walls to be able to enter the holy field and went straight to the agreed place. On his way, Juan began to think about the sentence that was imposed on those souls who killed themselves committing a mortal sin, as it was what I always hear from Ecuadorian legends.
Upon reaching the grave, he began to place the nail on the tombstone and in parallel apologized for the damage he was causing. At the end of the challenge imposed, he was about to flee the place quickly, but he could not move. Juan began to feel that something was holding his cloak tightly and his efforts to escape were useless. Dawn was coming and Juan was leaving the cemetery nothing, so the group of companions who were waiting for him outside, decided to go in to look for him.
When the young people arrived at the tomb they observed that Juan remained motionless next to the tomb, and his face reflected terror and despair, the young man was already dead. For a moment the companions came to think that the soul of the young woman had taken revenge on Juan for his betrayal and lack of love, but then one of the companions realized that the cape had been fixed on the tombstone with the nail.
The black hand
The story behind one of the Ecuadorian legends called La mano negra, takes place in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. It is said that Quito legends emanate from the imagination of the people, they arise as anecdotes, daily experiences of various characters who in the case of this chronicle lived within the Churches of San Francisco.
They say that this is one of the most curious and fun Ecuadorian legends that is presented as a proposal to visit this Church in Quito, letting the imagination take flight and perhaps discover a secret door or a black hand.
They say that inside the church a voice was heard that echoed throughout the place. When asking who is there, no one answers. A strange and chilling noise comes from the benches near the confessional, specifically from the left side. A young priest inside the church watches a shadow move quickly.
Shivering in fear, the priest went to the other side of the church and continues to ask if anyone was there, without getting an answer. A new sound is heard, this time they are like fingers marching on the wood of the armchairs, now having the certainty that it was not some rat.
The priest approached the image of a Christ located inside the church, which seems to be looking at the young man with a gesture of sweetness. The young priest plucks up courage and peers out from under the bench observing what looked like a very large spider. The flesh of that young man got goose bumps and invaded by nerves, he looked to the other side of the church shouting for help.
Apparently, there was no doubt and the young man was in the presence of the famous Black Hand. Shaking in horror and unable to move, he watched as the Hand moved slowly toward him. When the priest felt the Hand more closely, he realized that in addition to being black, it was also hairy. The man lets out a tremendous scream that causes the Black Hand to jump back as his heart begins to pound and his body is frozen with terror.
The middle of the night arrives and the young man continues to be terrified. The hand begins to move in front of him, and calls out to him, but the priest tries to escape from that situation. When running away, the young priest slips and falls to the ground where he is approached by the hand that calls him again. This time the young man decides to follow her but the hand runs quickly, disappearing behind the confessional.
During the following night, the young priest met again with the Black Hand but this time he had a more relaxed and confident demeanor. For many days, they continue to meet in the church at night, and when they tell what he does there, no one believes the priest, not even the friars themselves, for whom the priest lost his mind. They say that one night while the priest was sleeping on one of the church pews, he felt an internal voice in his head calling him.
When he opens his eyes, he sees that he has the Black Hand in front of him and begins to call out to him. There he feels that it is the opportune moment to follow her. The Hairy Hand runs quickly across the old wood of the floor. As the priest follows her, he sees that there is a very heavy stone door, which is open. This fact gives the young man some suspicion because he has never seen this secret door before, which was located near the tomb of the priests. Observe that the Black Hand passes through the door and enters a completely dark room.
The young man follows the black hand into that room, but this time he does not feel any fear and instead remains calm and confident. Suddenly he feels a huge void under his feet, seeing that the floor opens and begins to fall, disappearing and screaming with words that nobody understands. Upon hearing him, the rest of the priests of the church come to help him, but the young man is gone and neither is the black hand.
La Tacona
This new story is one of the Ecuadorian legends that takes place in Esmeralda, where it is said that there was a young woman whose distinguishing characteristics was her blonde hair. The young woman spent her time walking the streets, especially during nights when there was no full moon. One day he met a subject on his way and when he saw her, he cornered her in a corner and sexually abused her.
After that tragic experience, the woman came home with her dress all stained and full of tears. She plucks up her courage and takes a bath, and then begins to put on makeup. As she did so, she looked in the mirror, swearing to herself that no one was ever going to hurt her again. That young woman put on a red dress and put on very high heels, leaving for a tavern. In that place he began to consume liquor in order to forget all his sorrows, especially the tragic event that had happened hours before.
The moment she entered the tavern, she began to steal the glances of the men, who were captivated by her beauty, so they all wanted to dance with her. The men who were in the place called her "La Tacona." A good-looking man took her out to dance and then proposed to go to the beach to be alone for a while. The woman ends up accepting and they go to the beach together.
Once at the site, the man tried to abuse her, but when confronted, he realized that the woman was a corpse. Prisoner of shock and shock, he released her and ran without having any direction. Tired of running so much, he realized that he had reached a cemetery, where he entered and sat on a grave. Reading the name on the tombstone, he remembered that it was the same as the name of the woman he was going to rape, realizing that she was dead.
With the passing of the years, the man transformed into an old man, visits the grave of that woman again and kneeling before the grave, that man thanked him for the lived event, since as a result of that, he never again abused women, becoming a good man. Finishing those words, the man felt that he was slapped on the back together with a whisper that said: "that's what I wanted to hear." When he turns around, the man manages to observe how the silhouette of a blonde woman is moving away, wearing a red dress and with heels.
The fairy of the Santa Ana hill
This is one of the Ecuadorian legends that takes place in Guayaquil, where a beautiful palace built with many materials of jasper, marble, silver and gold is described. This architecture was found in the depths of the Santa Ana hill, where the so-called Hada de Santana also lived. They say that she was the daughter of a chief of a warrior people that existed before the Huancavilcas.
This beautiful fairy was a princess, who was the victim of her father's greed. The chief formed a powerful army of ruthless character, with which he set out in search of great treasures driven by the desire to enrich himself, for which he conquered and exterminated entire towns without any consideration or mercy. (see article: Silampa)
As a result of his bad actions, that Cacique managed to build a magnificent palace on the top of the Santa Ana hill. They say that one day the chief's daughter became seriously ill, which worried her father a lot, so he sent for the best shaman in the whole kingdom and in exchange for healing his daughter, he offered to give her abundant riches. When observing the young woman, the witcher realized that the girl was under a spell that would only be reversed when the chief returned the wealth that he stole from the towns he had exterminated, or else his daughter would die.
The chief then had to choose between his fortune and the life of his daughter, but since he was so greedy, he decided to keep his fortune. It is said that that man even tried to kill the sorcerer to keep his daughter company, but upon realizing his intentions, the shaman disappeared transforming into smoke and casting a curse on the chief whom he condemned to live inside the palace with his wealth. and with his daughter, locked at the bottom of the Santa Ana hill. Only a special individual could break that curse.
But the shaman established a condition within the curse that allowed the princess to leave that confinement every hundred years, in order to convince some man to choose her instead of the chief's treasure and break the curse. This is how the princess went out every century to get the man to free her from her punishment. To do this, she dressed in very fine silk suits, wearing her hair down, and a white stone necklace as ornaments, complete with a silver wand and wearing a precious red stone for a crown.
On one of her outings, the princess appeared before a man of Spanish origin by profession, a lieutenant, who was broke. With her charms, she managed to seduce him and asked him to follow her to the interior of the hill to show him the riches that he kept in the palace and gave him a choice between those treasures or her. Before the man chose, the noble princess promised the soldier that by choosing her she would forever be his inseparable companion, promising to make him happy and take him sweetly even after death.
But, despite all the efforts made by the young woman, the greedy Spaniard chose to choose the treasure. When the enchanted chief knew of the man's decision, he became furious, punishing the soldier for his ambition, keeping him with them inside the palace, with the intention that he would suffer the penalty of being dead while alive.
As a resource to escape, that Spaniard at that time invoked Santa Ana, who intervened as a miraculous work and freed him from that place. After these events, the soldier ordered a gigantic cross to be placed on the top of the hill, which from that moment was renamed Santa Ana, in gratitude for the miracle.
Mariangula
One of the Ecuadorian legends born in Quito is the chronicle of Mariangula, a story that tells the life of a young girl of just 14 years old named Mariangula, whose mother sold a typical dish called tripa mishqui, which was beef tripe cooked over charcoal. They say that one day, her mother sent her to buy some guts, but instead of going to run the errand, Mariangula began to play with her friends, forgetting the errand and even spent the money her mother gave her for the errand .
When the girl realizes what she did, she starts to worry and imagine that her mother was going to hit her. Anguished by what she had done, she began to walk through the streets, when she suddenly realized that she was in front of the cemetery where suddenly a macabre idea was born, that of taking a dead person and removing the guts. Without much thought, he did so and took them to his mother to sell. The guts sold very well and there were even people who repeated it, so the girl was saved from punishment. (See article: Muelona)
After going to sleep, the Mariangula girl remembered what she had done, when suddenly she heard that the door opened, noises that apparently only she heard, as the rest of the family continued to sleep. The noises became louder and louder and the girl could clearly hear a voice that said: "Marianguuula, give me my guts, give me the guts that you stole from my holy grave." Each time the voice approaches the room of the young girl who was very scared, hearing again: "Marianguuula, give me my guts, give me the guts that you stole from my holy grave."
Fearful and unable to find a solution for what he had done, he decided to cut his stomach with a knife and remove his guts. The specter of that dead person entered that girl's room, where she found herself with her guts scattered all over the bed, dying slowly. After seeing her like this, the specter disappeared. After that episode, Mariangula's mother now sells stick meat instead of mishqui tripe, since the girl can now defend herself from ghosts with the chop.
The widow of Tamarindo
Part of the Ecuadorian Legends have been based on various stories, chronicles and myths, using symbolic elements such as the idea that the tamarind tree is a plant that attracts terrors and supernatural appearances, a belief that circulated in certain regions the idea that any from the most ancient times. The Fifth Couple, was an abandoned farm where there were several trees, from which the legend of the widow of Tamarindo emerges.
They say that the men who were waiting for the drink, wandering alone on the roads back to their houses, a beautiful woman crossed them, who stood in front of them, dressed very elegantly in a black suit, and wearing a thick cloak on the head and with the face covered. The exuberant woman began to dance in front of the men with very fast steps and in dimly lit areas that made it difficult for the gentlemen to see her well. She walked quickly long distances, causing the stale men to follow her in a daze.
The mysterious woman led them to the foot of an ancient tamarind tree, located in the middle of the farm. Upon reaching the site, he would remove the thick cloak from his head and show the unsuspecting men his horrible and ghostly presence, that of a death skull. The unfortunate victims fell to the ground foaming at the mouth and ended up passed out or in other cases even dead from the shock.
The villagers who knew of her legend baptized her as the tamarind widow, due to her dark clothing, a mysterious woman who attracted men to the tamarind trees at midnight, then disappearing as if by magic. They say that no one has been able to see his face and he can only be seen when he takes off his veil and transforms into a hideous creature from the underworld.
Ecuadorian legends for children
Ecuadorian legends for children have characteristics that are short and mostly respond to adaptations of the same legends for adults, but softening some facts without the need to change them. Another characteristic is that they are more widely reported as a style of bedtime stories, narrated from the mouth of the grandparents.
Ecuadorian legends for children are narratives through which elements of popular culture are linked, in a correct way, with historical facts. These stories have been passed from generation to generation, using mostly oral disclosure, although there are others expressed in texts, which contributed to the fact that these legends became popular not only in Ecuador but also in other areas of South America. . Here are some of these Ecuadorian children's legends.
Legend of Chuzalongo
This is one of the Ecuadorian legends that deals with a character similar to a child of about six years old, who lived in the mountains. Among its characteristics, the mystical creature had long hair and "succu", and from its navel a kind of liana of "Chuinsa" that it had as a member emerges. This character was called Chuzalongo and he had a reputation for throwing bad luck, so to avoid it, he always kept himself locked inside a mountain.
He is very playful and restless and does nothing, but because of his mischief, he breaks a branch and marks himself and nothing happens. They say that when he is in a bad mood, in an instant he can send "a strong air" to someone and turn him into a corpse, but when he is marked, he no longer attacks anyone. The villagers told an anecdote where one day the mischievous creature began to play with some girls who were tending cattle in the mountains.
Suddenly, one of the girls discovered him sucking the blood of another of his companions. Trying to escape, he ended up sucking everyone's blood by murdering her. Some residents obtained the bodies of the girls, indicating that they had been victims of "a strong air."
Legend of the boa and the tiger
Another popular Ecuadorian legends for children is La Boa y el tigre, a story that took place in the community of Latas, where it is described that an indigenous family lived, made up of the mother, father and some girls, who worked the gold by washing it in the banks of the Napo River. They say that one day the youngest girl was playing on the beach, while the mother was washing the whole family's clothes with such concentration that she did not realize that the little girl was facing an eminent danger, approaching the depths of the waters.
Driven by her instincts, the mother raised her head to see the girl, but her actions were late because the strong current of the waters dragged the little girl, where only her head could be seen among the agitated waters. Grief-stricken, the desperate mother dropped to her knees, crying out to God in the sand for the life of her child.
What was their surprise, they heard their prayers and the tender girl returned in the mouth of an immense boa that had dimensions of almost fourteen meters long, who returned her safely to the shore of the beach. The mother runs to hug her and they both cry and laugh gratefully. In gratitude, that boa became a member of the family, becoming a kind of babysitter for the children of the marriage.
One rainy day, the parents went to the jungle in search of guatusas for dinner, but that day the boa did not come to take care of the children as was normal every day, an occasion that was taken advantage of by a hungry tiger who appeared in the site to attack children. Upon noticing the presence of the furious animal, the desperate boys began to scream and call for the water boa.
Hearing the cries for help, the huge reptile came out of the river gliding quickly until it reached the children's home, positioning itself at the door to block the passage of the tiger. A fight broke out between the two animals to the death. The boa wrapped itself around the body of the feline, who stuck its sharp fangs into it, the reptile tightened its rings with force, while the tiger bit it on the head. At the end of the fight a bone crunch was heard and both animals died.
Upon returning, the children's parents picked up the remains of the boa in deep pain and performed a ceremony for it, watching over it for two days. The burial was also with all the common and traditional honors and rituals that are done to any family member.
