The Pig Witch

During the 1800s, there was a woman living in San Vicente. She had an abusive relationship with her husband, who didn’t respect her. Her husband was an alcoholic man who drank every night, at least two bottles of “Agua Ardiente.” He yelled at her all the time because she was not as beautiful as her sister, and she was not as good at having sex as she was. Her life was miserable, and it didn’t matter what she did, it was never enough.

Five years later, her husband abandoned her with her sister, who was better at everything. She didn’t know what to do; in these times, divorce was a terrible sign. Her life was socially finished, and she was more miserable than ever. She looked like a normal Indian with dark skin, black eyes, and short and curly hair. Nothing special and her age limited her to start a new life.

After many months, she considered committing suicide because she didn’t have any social life, and her family isolated her from her group too. She was forced to become a lone wolf and planned a last trip to the Chinchontepec Volcano.

That night in the volcano it was colder than usual. On her journey, she saw a campfire not so far from the volcano where only one person was there. She tiptoed because she wanted to avoid any kind of eye contact with him, but he said: “Hey María! Why are you hiding from me? Where are you going?”

His words froze her blood because he knew her name, but she didn’t know who he was. He was wearing a black coat with a hat, but his face was not very clear. She went close by and asked him: “How did you notice me? How do you know my name? I don’t know you!”

“If I reveal all my tricks, I will kill all emotions, won’t I?” He told her while he smiled and said: “Come and sit for a while. I think I know what you want.”

She felt an unknown force that lurched her to reach the campfire and seated next to him.

“It’s good that you accepted my proposal,” he said. “I’m aware that you were planning to commit suicide in the volcano tonight. However, I have a better idea, wouldn't you like to take revenge and have the power to do what you want and remove this person who caused all this misery?”

It was like he could read her mind. She felt hypnotized by his proposal, but it didn’t seem anything good, especially because he knew too much about her. Nevertheless, she still didn’t know anything about him, but she was so frightened to ask for details about him and just said: “What should I do then?”

“It’s good that you asked.” Said the man. “Not so far from here, you can find a small lake. If you swim or paddle with a boat, you will find a book on a small island. This book is full of magical spells. One of them will allow you to transform into any animal of your own will. Plus, it will give you other powers that you cannot imagine. However, you can only get it during the Blue Moon on January 31st at midnight.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and asked: “Why are you helping me?” He just said: “My work is done” and vanished in front of her eyes. She never saw him again.

However, her curiosity was massive, and instead of climbing to the top of the volcano, she patiently waited for months. On January 31st at midnight, she paddled to the center of the lake. There was a spotlight, and there was the book, a unique book with an unknown symbol on its front and a black cover. She took it and felt an incredible force. When she opened the book, there were some words:

“If you read this book, be aware of its power! This is a one-way choice. If you aren’t sure about this decision, leave it now and keep away from here. All the spells here are full of Black Magic, and your soul is not going to be part of you anymore. BE AWARE OF IT.”

She was scared and was sure that the man was not a good person. However, she wanted revenge, and there was only one way. She tried to find the spell about transforming into any animal, and she found a spell called: “The Pig Witch.” The description of the spell was:

“This spell allows the witch who invokes it to transform into a powerful and gigantic biped pig with a strong force.

After your first transformation, you would be able to transform into other animals like monkeys, birds, chickens, etc.

It would depend on your power and experience to invoke the spell. Also, you need ten amate leaves, ten pitos, and the fan of a cat, and boil everything for 40 minutes in a cauldron during the full moon.

Before you drink the potion, you must say:

'Mr. Black, Mr. Black. Give me the power to get revenge! Give me the strength of a horse and the wisdom of an owl but allow me to be unrecognizable to the humans!'”

She was confused, but she knew what to do. For three days, she traveled to Santa Tecla to get all the ingredients and prepare the potion. She waited for a month until the next full moon and followed all the steps.

However, during this month, she practiced other spells, and many people around the city started to say there was a witch in the city. Many strange events were happening, and no one knew what was going on. Some people vanished and reappeared after weeks without any knowledge of where they were, and others got sick without reason.

During the full moon of February, she followed all the steps, and this is how the first Pig Witch (figure 1) was born. She terrorized all the inhabitants of her former town, and her most important targets were her former husband and family.

Figure 1. The Pig Witch (in Spanish is called “La Chancha Bruja”). ¹

She never allowed her husband to have a normal life again. She scared him every time that she could. She stole her farm, killed the animals, and destroyed everything that surrounded him. One day, he got tired of the Pig Witch and tried to discover who she was. When he discovered it, he said: “María, why are you doing this? What happened to you? You were not a bad person. You are a WITCH!”

She just laughed and said: “Am I a witch? Look at yourself. You are the main reason why I transformed my life and exchanged my soul for power. You never respected me, and you even replaced me with my sister. Nevertheless, I cannot allow you to come back to the city and reveal my secret.”

The Pig Witch conjured a spell that no one knows until today and transformed her former husband into the tree that we know today as the “ice-cream beans tree.” No one ever knew what happened to him.

She kept terrorizing the city and sharing her knowledge for generations creating more pig witches all around Central America. However, her last trick before she died was to hide the book because she said: “No one else can have access to this book. It is MINE!”

Credits:

¹ Hilos Narrativos 2013.