Federico Stories

Long ago, a countryman called Juan was married to a woman called Paciencia (patience in English). However, his wife was the lesser patient woman ever, and with every day that passed, she was less and less patient. Her husband could be described as a real-life sloth. He was the laziest man you would ever meet. He only loved to stay in his hammock listening to the radio all day long (figure 1). Figure 1. Juan sleeping. Paciencia woke up very early every day to do all the housework, and because her husband was a sloth, she was in a terrible mood all the time. She complained about it constantly. However, as is well-known, it’s easy to see the mote in your brother’s eye and not the rafter in your own. Paciencia was not the perfect wife at all. She had several small defects. She was over-jealous. She could not see her husband speaking with any women, not even his mom. She would start screaming hysterically in front of everyone. Every time her husband left her hammock to do anything outs...

Many years ago, when La Nahuaterique (a small village in Honduras) was part of El Salvador, there used to live an old and peculiar sorcerer. This village was well known for its Lenca population. The sorcerer was grumpy and unfriendly; barely anyone had ever spoken with him over his long time living there. His face was a complete mystery because he always wore a mask in the shape of an owl (figure 1). He used to live in a tiny cave where barely any light entered. From time to time, the people could see a campfire, but no one was sure if it was real. Figure 1. The Sorcerer.   ¹ Some people believe he was a shapeshifter who transformed himself into other animals, mainly owls. Others had the impression he was one of the few sorcerers who were not fully cursed by the shaman centuries ago. One of those who could revert to his human form at his own will, but to retain his secret identity, he always wore that mask. While a few people believed he had an odd business of selling ointmen...