Tenancin, Cipitio’s girlfriend

Many moons ago, the Cipitio ultimately encountered a girl who wasn’t frightened of him. Her name is Tenancín. This little girl became his girlfriend because she perceived something in the Cipitio that no one had ever seen. She discovered he wasn’t a bad guy. He was just mischievous and liked to crack jokes.  Plus, giving flowers to all the pretty girls in El Salvador, just to make them smile.

People in the villages from San Vicente describe Tenancin as a very small and pretty girl with brown eyes and long hair, who is constantly smiling (figure 1).

Figure 1. Tenancín. ¹

One day, Tenáncin was cutting flowers for her grandmother’s birthday. She explored the forest, La Joya. However, she forgot how to come back and started to scream and run lousily, through the forest, when she reached the corolla where the Cipitio was sleeping.

She noted it and was confused in the beginning because she always thought the Cipitio was only a legend. Legends used to discourage the girls from staying longer washing their clothes in the Lempa River. The noise she was making woke up the Cipitio, who fled, jumping into the bushes.

The Cipitio fled from flower to flower, singing sweetly. Tenáncin followed him carelessly. After a long walk, the Cipitio struck a rock on the slopes of a volcano. The spines of the channel shattered Tenáncin’s feet and hands.

The Cipitio touched the rock with a shilca, and a moss door gave way. Holding hands entered, one after the other. Tenáncin was the last one to enter. The moss closed the cave again. She was unseen again.

Tenancin’s father erred in the hills and a few weeks. Unfortunately, he got mad and died in a lot of pain. He thought he had lost his little girl. All people in their town were depressed because they believed Tenancín and her father had died in the forest.

However, a couple of months later, Mr. Juan, an old man from the village, heard Tenancín’s laughs. He walked around, and to his positive surprise, she was laughing near the Lempa River with the Cipitio. He also saw her father. All of them became good spirits, who are cracking small jokes to make the life of any Salvadoran a little bit better. Therefore, if you encounter them, don’t be afraid of them.

After Mr. Juan met them for the first time, many people in the village around the Lempa met Tenancín. She is still a very small and pretty girl with brown eyes and long hair, who is always smiling and sharing laughs with everyone.

Some people from San Vicente say that the cave, where the Cipitio and Tenáncin disappeared. It was the Chinchontepec volcano, located in San Vicente.

Inspired by Leyendas de El Salvador’s version.

 Credits:
¹ El Salvador Región Mágica.
Location: San Vicente, El Salvador

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