The Goldfish

Long ago, many Salvadoran sorcerers loved a pretty young girl and wanted to marry her, but she did not like any of them and rather ignored their constant proposals. She didn’t want to be rude.

The sorcerers tried all that they could to change her mind, offering gifts, flowers, cacao, everything! However, she didn’t change her position and never accepted anything. After many attempts, they got irritated and in an angry moment yelled at her:

“As revenge that none of us can love you, we will cast a spell on you so only us, can see you!”

She ignored those wicked words and carried on with her life. She hadn’t seen or heard from the sorcerers for a while.

A few weeks later, the girl went to take a bath in a pond located near the corner of a millstone, now Nahulingo. She loved to swim naked in that pond when the sun rose. However, that morning, something was strange, the sun didn’t rise as always, it seemed a bad omen, but she still took off her clothes and started swimming as always.

She was enjoying her time in the pond, but when she reached the center of the pond, she began to transform into a tiny goldfish. Suddenly, she stopped and noticed something was hiding in the abundant vegetation; it was the sorcerers who were appreciating her transformation since they had bewitched the pond.

The girl tried to escape and screamed for help desperately, but no one could hear her. The sorcerers laughed and did not allow her to flee because when she was reaching the borders, a whirlpool appeared in the center and pushed her back. After several minutes, they waved their whips and yelled:

“As punishment for despising our love, from today, you will be this tiny fish. However, you are going to be as beautiful as gold, because you are our treasure. No one besides us can see you!”

After the girl had fully transformed into a goldfish, the sorcerers laughed one more time and left her in that pond. She never saw or heard of them again. Nevertheless, the sorcerers didn’t know everyone with a pure heart could see this sad tiny goldfish swimming (figure 1) in Nahulingo until today.

Figure 1. The goldfish.

Inspired by Leyendas de El Salvador’s version.
Location: Nahulingo, El Salvador

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