Federico Stories

The Maya and the Kekchi called this genie “Mam,” and the Pipil tribe named it “Man-Agua” (Man-water). During a stormy night in the 500s, a powerful thunder struck the Earth. The Pipil leader left his home to see what was happening. He was already worried because this had been one of the most powerful and long storms in his life. The tribe was losing their cornfields (their main source of food) because of the unstoppable storms. It had been months since the last time any had seen the sun. When he left his house and walked around, he was afraid because he had seen for the first time a white woman (figure 1). The woman was as magnificent as no other, and it seemed that the storm had lowered her to the Earth. Suddenly, she rose again to the clouds, where she had come from, and was unseen for a while. Figure 1. A Managua in the eye of a storm.  ¹ Over the following weeks, many Indians described the same white woman or women appearing across their area. The woman always ...

In the times when the Amerindians lived alone in the lands of Conchagua, an expected situation happened. One day, all the men gathered to give themselves the task of building a huge water container called: “The Pilona” (figure 1), at the top of a mountain called Chilagual. This was because the goddess of the waters in a dream showed their leader that in that place, he would sprout a spring that would give water to the thirsty people of the lands and their descendants forever. Figure 1. The Pilona. For the following months, the people from Conchagua worked for long periods of time without resting until they finished the Pilona. However, after they finished it, the water did not sprout as promised, not even a drop fell into the huge Pilona. After many months of an intense drought, the citizens gathered and agreed to celebrate a consecration to the goddess of the waters. During the middle of their celebration in the volcano of Conchagua, a cloud appeared in the shape of a winged...

What I’m going to tell you, a man told me years ago. The same story was shared with him by someone else too. He told me that his grandfather, already deceased, had heard it from his grandparents. This is an old legend to cut a long story short. They said that this happened in those days when still many Indians lived in America and the first Spanish Conquistadors were arriving at these lands with more and more Spaniards. According to what old legends said, almost all these Spaniards came because they were not doing very well in their country, and they thought they would have a better life in these lands. That’s how Marcos Villegas came to El Salvador, who later renamed himself as Mr. Marcos Villegas de la Buena Nueva. If I remember correctly, he was born in a small town lost in the mountains of Spain. They said because he was unrude, he learned how to read and write thanks to the charity and patience of Priest Mateo Nuñez, a little priest who often visited that place...

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...