On this occasion I will tell you about a legend that has been passed down for years in the memories of the elderly and that they tell their children and grandchildren every chance they get.
it is about the legend of:
or as it is commonly known
Deep in the heart of South America, there lived a tribe of indigenous people in the Andean mountain ranges. They were feared and known by the rest of the other tribes as the most lethal, strong and brave warriors.
One day the land was infected by a plague that quickly destroyed the crops and dried up the streams. The patriarchs and shamans could not find a solution to this evil and were forced to emigrate in search of better lands where they could prosper.
After a long walk through the savannahs they came to a lush forest surrounded by two huge hills and a waterfall falling from one of the highest mountains. the indigenous leaders decided to form their village on the edge of the forest. everything was going well until they realized that just like their previous land, the crops did not prosper and they could not find anything to hunt.
The oldest and wisest shaman formed a bonfire and with everyone offered human sacrifice to the gods, begging for forgiveness and mercy.
After that long night, the sentries of the village managed to see herds of golden deer in the forest. Shouting with joy, the expert Indians and the younger ones took their spears and went into the forest in search of those deer that they assured that the gods had given them.
Hours passed and the sun's rays touched the top of the mountains. The Indians followed the tracks but did not manage to hunt any animal, the forest was completely deserted, lifeless.
The hunters returned to the village upset and with nothing but hunger. the shamans met with everyone in search of answers, without eating or drinking a drop of water. three moons passed while they did this.
There was no other explanation, the demon wanted sacrifices, he was hungry and had chosen them as his own.
The shamans went into the forest with offerings and victims for sacrifice, they decided to make a pact with the devil himself and assured that they would find him in the center of the forest, as they had seen him in a vision.
While everyone waited in the village hungry and thirsty, they kept asking the gods for mercy and some took their own lives as a voluntary offering.
Two moons passed and some of the shamans managed to reach the center of the forest, where there was a huge lake, home to herds of deer and all kinds of animals and in the center of the lake a golden tree covered with bright flowers and fruits.
The astonished shamans called the demon and offered him a pact, but they only heard the beautiful sound of a flute that gradually hypnotized them all, except the oldest of them.
And at that moment when all seemed lost, from the branches of the great tree came a horned demon playing his flute and approaching the old man, he accepted the deal, with the condition that in every red moon they had to bring to his presence a human sacrifice.
After that pact with the demon, only the shaman managed to leave the forest, carrying a fat, golden deer on his back.
The village rejoiced but the shaman kept secret what had happened, only to the great leaders he explained the conditions that had been agreed.
and so it was.
The people could hunt and eat from the forest but at each red moon, a sacrifice for the demon was chosen from among the young. Women were forced to give birth continuously to keep the population large and young for the sacrifice.
Until one fine day, they saw in the distance some men riding beasts with spears and golden robes. They were none other than the European conquerors.
As if their current condition was not enough, these men came to massacre them, raping them until they completely exterminated the village.
Several years passed and the indigenous lands were infested by European conquerors and African slaves.
One of the foremen formed a colony in the same place where the Indians used to live, and they built large houses and stables, cut down trees and created corn, cotton and potato fields.
But one fine day, a plague consumed the crops, killed the horses and cattle
The plagues had wiped out everything that the black slaves and Indians had worked so hard to sow. The European masters, blind with rage, punished their servants by whipping them severely until some of them died. The masters concluded that it was sabotage on the part of their slaves, but the least they imagined was that the Demon of the forest was hungry.
Again the slaves plowed the land and watered the seeds all over the field, while surviving by drinking only water left in the puddles as they were punished without food until the seed sprouted from the ground.
But as an Egyptian curse, the days passed and not a bud was seen in the field and no trace of animals, every day there were losses of slaves due to hunger and the European Masters were forced to collect their slaves and give them medical attention before running out of manpower.
The masters gathered in the chapel of the Colony seeking an answer to what had happened, but nothing could be resolved, and as the days went by, more victims were claimed because of hunger.
One fine day one of the slaves, while he was drawing water from a well, managed to see in the distance a herd of fat golden deer entering the forest, he quickly ran and told his master, who incredulously went to look for himself but could not see anything, until at the last moment he saw a deer on top of one of the hills surrounding the forest. He did not wait long and formed a squad of armed men and took with him thirty black slaves and two aborigines as guides.
It was the salvation of the colony, they thought.
They entered the huge forest ready to find the herd of deer they had seen, their mouths were watering just imagining that great feast. For the first time in several years, Europeans, blacks and Indians worked as a team for a common good. ¨Hunger¨
But the hours passed and not a trace of the deer, the sunlight was scarce because of the thickness of the trees and as if it were not enough, the hunters were completely lost, they could not recognize the way back, it was like a nightmare from which you can not wake up.
The group was divided in two, one would go ahead and the other would look for the way home, this time they would mark the trees and this way if one of the two groups was successful, they would look for the other. But not everything was so easy, after the hunters had been walking for a while, one of the last ones realized that the marks on the trees disappeared and again they found themselves ordered.
Chaos, despair, anguish, hunger, hunger.
Circling in circles through the forest, the hunters lasted for hours until the forest was completely dark, the first group managed to spot a huge deer, golden and with a giant antlers, it was their chance, it would not be easy to return, but they would not die of hunger at least.
The second group was also in pursuit of a fat wild boar, capable of feeding the whole group with its juicy meat.
Hunger made the men run desperately after the golden animals, but they could neither catch them nor wound them with the accurate shots of the Europeans.
The chase lasted for hours, until the two groups found themselves in front of a huge lake surrounded by an endless number of animals and a huge golden tree.
The Black slaves and Indians knelt down and began to smear mud on their bodies, as they knew that this was the work of the devil. Something the White Europeans ignored.
*Suddenly a beautiful melody was heard throughout the forest, an angelic melody.
The slaves began to speak in their native languages that disturb the Masters, until they fell into a total hypnotism that did not allow them to move a muscle.
From the branches of the great tree beneath the horned demon playing his flute, the men could not believe their eyes, Their worst nightmare come true . At that moment they remembered the endless prayers and supplications to their gods, but not one of them managed to get rid of that hell.
The animals they were chasing surrounded them and began to skin them mercilessly, while the horned demon approached them.
Screams, tears, regrets. All at the same time...
Meanwhile in the European colony, the wives and children of the brave hunters waited anxiously for them, surviving the food shortage with the supplies they managed to bring from the capital, but it was not enough to feed so many people. But they spent one, two or even three days waiting and there was no sign of the hunters.
Anguished by the delay, a group of armed men went into the forest to find them or know what had happened. This second group was more cautious than the previous one, they marked from the beginning and counted on crawling dogs, trumpets and horses that had arrived from the capital.
The wives and small children were the only ones to stay in the village, all gathered in the chapel with the priests.
It wasn't long before the rescue party noticed that the marks they had made were rubbing off the bark of the trees. Witchcraft!" they all exclaimed.
The leader of the squadron got down from his horse and took the Indian who was leading them and placing his sword on his neck, he asked him about this forest, without hesitation the Indian just smiled and answered The Lord is hungry . Instantly the Indian's head rolled to the ground.
- We are men baptized and blessed by our gods, if this lord is hungry he will eat from the edge of my sword.
Full of fury and proud of their origin, they went ahead against all odds. When they reached some hills, the dogs found the trail and all of them, like a summer hunt, advanced rapidly, blowing their trumpets and ready to kill. Nothing frightened the brave conquerors, nothing was above them, at that moment they would be the gods and executioners of anyone who held their companions captive.
And it was at that moment that they realized that they were only simple men.
Just like their compatriots the Horned Demon had them in a total hypnotism to the sound of his flute and his Golden Animals fed to satiation.
In this world there are so many legends and myths that make us reflect and think about how small and weak we are. And in every corner of America, you will find not one but hundreds of these legends that pass through the years in the memories of its people.
Some ignore the existence of evil, and others the divine existence, making them perfect victims.
What happened to the others?
Some left that place, and those who remained waiting for the return of their husbands probably died of hunger or at the hands of the Demon.
That forest is still standing and continues to claim the lives of those unbelievers who approach it attracted by the beauty of those Golden Animals.
You already know, if one day you are out in the mountains hiking or hunting and you come across some golden animal and hear a beautiful melody, start praying to your gods for your soul, because it will surely be too much to turn back.