Federico Stories

Many moons ago, there was a Pipil Princess called Agüijuyo. She was very beautiful and fell in love with a Pipil Prince entitled Zunca. Both princes were young with a splendid future ahead, and the area where they lived was the kingdom of the Pipil people. Agüijuyo hoped that Zunca would correspond to her love, but some wicked people gossiped unspeakable things of her to the prince to the extent he rejected her. The princess, seeing herself despised by the young prince, made a promise to lock herself up in a cave and never see the light again. In this way, she would fulfill her promise and be untempted to speak to anyone or see the light one more time. And so, she did till the day of her death. Zunca eventually recognized his mistake. He merely listened to the uncountable lies of wicked and ill-intentioned people. However, Agüijuyo fulfilled her promise and did not receive the young prince when he looked for her. Agüijuyo was devastated and closed herself in tears. Zunca, with ...

One day, Quetzalcoatl, the god who symbolized life, light, wisdom, fertility, and knowledge, and was considered the patron of the winds and the day, gave the cocoa tree (figure 1) to all loyal men as a reward for their love and fidelity of their wives. In those days, all men preferred to sacrifice their lives for good people before searching for quick wins and treasures. Figure 1. A cocoa tree. Cocoa was a gift from the gods that could only be consumed by the elite. The flavor of the fruit was bitter, a characteristic that the ancestors related to the suffering of Princess Cacahuaquahitl, who had died during a war. Some Indians said the cocoa was popularized when the princess died, and her blood fertilized the earth and gave life to the most splendid cocoa trees. The Olmecs ground the cocoa beans mixed with water and savored the delight of the seed in the form of a drink. Over time, the cocoa culture spread to the Mayan (600 BCE) and Aztec (1400 BCE) populations. At that t...

During the Spanish Conquista, a Lord tried to force Prince Atonal’s daughter to become his slave. She was a woman of magnificent beauty and indomitable will. Her name was Atlakaki, which means “The Indomitably.” In addition, this Lord wanted to abuse her and turned her into his concubine. However, she told him that she would never be the wife or slave of any invader! She said to him that if he respected her life, she would prepare something delicious to eat for him. The prominent Lord suspected that proposal, but he accepted the offer. The lovely princess prepared the special food and arranged to serve it to him and his guests. During dinner, the Spaniard took a huacal. Later, he called a slave, opened his mouth, and gave him a cup of the atole. The boy had not finished the drink when he fell to the floor with pain, and foam came out of his mouth. The Lord uncovered the princess’s trick and realized there was a mix of coral snake venom to kill him. Atlakaki was imprisoned and...

Many years before the Spanish conquest, there was a bloody war between the Nonualco and the Mazahua tribes. Two tribes who had lived in peace and harmony for centuries till the day the Nonualco Prince made a huge mistake because he was madly in love with the Mazahua Princess and was willing to do everything to have her. One night during the dry season, the Nonualco Prince was desperate, couldn’t wait any longer, and decided to kidnap the princess and leave with her to a faraway land where they could start a new life outside their royal duties and where no one could find or know them. In the middle of that night, the prince sneaked into the princess’s room, sedated her with some pitos potion, put a black band on her eyes, kidnapped her, and vanished with her to some remote lands. Unfortunately, when they arrived at those distant lands, and the princess woke up, and they spoke, he discovered that she also loved him. At this moment, they were frightened and knew this was the beg...

According to an ancient legend in the Sensunapán River, there is a well-known pond called Bululú (figure 1). This pool is enchanted because a golden crate contains a paste filled with diamonds and silver soap. Figure 1. The pond of Bululú. ¹ These objects belonged to an Indian princess, who one day went for a walk around the place. She had an unmeasurable loved for this river.  One day, she took a bath in the lowest part, when suddenly, she carelessly slid on a rock and could not swim back. Unfortunately, she drowned in that place, and no one knew about it. Days later, some curious Indians came to the pool and wanted to seize the Princess’s belongings. However, mysteriously when they tried to touch them, they disappeared and appeared on the other side of the pond while they heard some giggling laughter from somewhere, but they couldn’t see anyone. They fled as fast as possible from there! The elders say, the one who can touch them submerges in the pond and cannot l...

Long ago, there was a terrible war in the lands of Cuzcatlan. On it, Hoitzi and the Pipil people were fighting with Atlacatl and his group. No one knows the precise reasons behind it, but the results were catastrophic. After several months and uncountable causalities, the unthinkable happened. Hoitzi died, and when Princess Naba discovered her beloved was defeated and his body was lying down on the battlefield, she ran away to collect it. She took advantage that the King and his warriors were celebrating their triumph over the Pipil people. Throughout the night, Naba and her six maidens dedicated all their time to serving the wounded and comforting those who only waited for their imminent death. At midnight, some spies warned Atlacatl  what the princess was doing. The King enraged, and still, under the effects of chicha (a special alcoholic drink) went to face her. He wanted to demand explanations about her acts, but he saw what she was doing. She was next to Hoitzi’s dead bo...