The Singing Mountaineers by José María Arguedas

Author:José María Arguedas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2014-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

THE CONDOR’S LOVER

ONCE there was a young woman whose parents were still alive. She was a girl with a beautiful face.

One day her parents sent her out to tend the cattle. And from then on they ordered her every day to fulfill this task.

On a certain day when she was watching the cattle, a gentleman approached her. He was a gentleman elegantly attired, dressed in riding clothes. His trousers gave him an energetic and very masculine air; he wore leggings which protected his legs, like the cattlemen of the steppe. He wore a collar of gold tight to his throat; and the most beautiful woolen knitted cap covered his head.

The elegant traveler said to the young woman:

“Be my lover.”

“All right,” answered the young woman.

And the maiden received the word of the traveler. Thus they arranged their love. From then on, for many days, the young man came to seek her in the same spot. But she did not tell her father nor her mother of the visits that the unknown gentleman paid her. Only in her heart she kept her story. And in this way, without anyone realizing her plight, she became pregnant.

The man dressed as a traveler was the Condor, who assumed the appearance of an elegant gentleman in order to conquer the maiden. For that reason, the young woman saw in him only a gentleman, a werakkocha. But, finding herself in such a serious condition, she told him:

“I have conceived a child of yours. Now we must go to your house or to mine. I cannot reveal my condition to my parents, nor can I make you known to them because I have lived with you without their knowing it.”

On hearing the news the gentleman answered her:

“We will go to my house. Tomorrow I will carry you there. Now go to your house. Tomorrow you will bring along your things, without letting your parents know. You’ll come driving the cattle, as on any other day.”

“All right,” said the young woman, and she left, going down the mountain, toward her house. It was nightfall.

Silently, and taking away all her things, the young woman drove the cattle, at daybreak, toward the mountain where her lover was waiting for her. Furtively, without letting her father or her mother know. And thus, loaded with all her personal objects, she waited at the summit of the mountain.

Until noon the Condor delayed; at that hour he appeared with his gentlemanly air. And he asked the young woman:

“So you came already? And did you remember to bring all your things?”

“Yes, I have come here; and I have brought all that I have.”

Then they agreed to go away.

“Chase the cattle toward your house now. Your parents will see the animals and they will drive them on. Do it at once! Do as I tell you, and come back soon,” commanded the Condor.

The young woman obeyed, ran to the cattle and took them to the foot of the hill within sight of her paternal home; there she chased away the animals and ran back.

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