Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!

6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

The legend of Puelchana (adapted from a text by Irma Zanardi1)

Puelchana is a mapuche girl. She has a wild beauty. She lives in a region with
high peaks, cliffs and dangerous volcanoes. The volcanoes roar and cover the
land with their hot, red lava.

"We must go now, Puelchana!" the man says.

"There is a cave up there! It can be a shelter!" the woman shouts.

Softly, the woman starts to sing, climbing up the hills…

Don't take me to another place...
Don't steal my life...
My roots will be always in these hills...
No rivers, no lava, no glaciers...

The man climbs up the hills looking for food, but he gets lost.
"Puelchana! Where are you?" the man shouts.
"Far... far... far..." the echo sounds.

Suddenly, the earth starts moving and the hills divide in halves. Lots of water
runs through the rocks... covering the hills...
"Puelchana! I will never see you again! Never!" the man shouts desperately.
"Never... never... never..." the echo repeats.

The cold wind and the snow came. And the land becomes a glacier. The man
reaches the shelter but the woman is not there. Where is she?
Hours pass. Days… months… years pass. The ice melts. The volcanoes stop
roaring.

Suddenly, the man sees something in the middle of the desert.

"Puelchana! There you are!" the man shouts.
The woman's song is in the air...
Don't take me to another place...
Don't steal my life...

Puelchana is not a woman. She is a thin but hard

plant now, with sharp thorns and her feet under
the rocks like roots.
The man tries to take her from there, but he
can't.

Since then, Puelchana, a cactus, grows in Lihué-Calel Hills. Nobody can take
her from there. Every morning, the Pampean wind softly plays with her, and
she gives it a nice, orange smile in spring.

1
http://www.lihuecalel.com.ar/la-puelchana-lihue-calel.htm

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 Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!
6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

The legend of Mar Chiquita lagoon

There are a lot of lakes in the world with

fresh water, but some have salt water.
Mar Chiquita, in Córdoba, is one of them.
But originally, it was a freshwater lake.

In Mar Chiquita, a beautiful Indian

goddess of the water lives in a crystal
palace in the lake. She is extremely
beautiful, but very cruel.

One day, she sees an Indian prince by the lake. He is dying but he smiles at
her.

“You are very beautiful, but I’m dying and I can’t admire your beauty”, he
says.

She feels love for the first time in her life but she is very sad because of the
prince’s sad destiny.

Suddenly, the lake becomes furious and it is chaos for one day and one night.

The following morning, the young prince is on the beach. He is ok but the lake
is different. The water is now salty and turbulent. Where is the beautiful
lady? He can’t see her.

He gets into the lake and begins swimming. Two kind arms hold him. They are
the lady’s arms. He turns into a beautiful flamingo that guards the love of the
goddess of the sea.

The waters of Mar Chiquita are now salty and they have healing powers: they
cure people.

Image source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Mar_Chiquita_(C%C3%B3rdoba)#/media/Archivo:Marchiquita.1989.w.jpg

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 Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!
6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

The legend of the Ceibo flower

One morning, Anahí, a guaraní girl with a

sweet voice is dancing and singing in the
forest.

Suddenly, she hears noises and strange

people appear.

“Oh, who are they?” she thinks. “White

men!”

The White men attack the tribe. They kill many of them and capture Anahí.

“Help me... Help me, please!”, she cries.

Yelling and crying, she waits for the moment to escape.

She kills one of the White men and tries to run away, but she can’t.

The White men catch her, tie her to a tree and set her on fire. But Anahí
never stops singing.

After the fire is extinct, she becomes a tree with soft, red flowers, called
Ceibo.

Image source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flor_nacional_de_Argentina#/media/Archivo:Erythrina_crista-galli2.jpg

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 Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!
6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

The legend of the Hummingbird (Picaflor)

This is the legend of a girl called Poti

(“flower”, in guaraní language). She is the
daughter of a guaraní chief. She is really
beautiful and she is in love with Guanumby, a
young man.

They are very in love, but there is a problem:

he is from an enemy tribe and their love is
forbidden. So, they meet in secret, at night,
when nobody can see them.

One day, a jealous woman from Potí’s tribe

discovers them and tells everybody about their romance. The chief forbids
Potí to meet Guanumby again.

Guanumby is very sad. He is desperate. The moon decides to help him and tell
him Potí is really sad, crying. The moon tells Guanamby that her father is
preparing a marriage for her daughter with a man from her tribe.

Potí wants to die. She asks Tupá, the great god, to kill her. Tupá listens to her
but doesn’t kill her… he transforms her in a flower and tell the wind about it.

But the wind and the moon don’t know what flower it is. So Guanumby asks
Tupá to help him find her:

“Great Tupá, please, help me find Potí… I can recognize her

kisses…” says Guanumby.

Tupá accepts and transforms him into a small bird, the hummingbird.

Now, Guanumby spends his days flying from flower to flower, kissing them…
looking for his love.

Image source: http://blogs.montevideo.com.uy/blognoticia_68271_1.html

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 Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!
6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

The legend of the Black River (Rio Negro)

Neuquén and Limay are two Mapuche

chiefs. Neuquén is from the north lands
of the region and Limay from the south.

They are very close friends. They climb

mountains together, hunt red deers and
dance to the rhythm of the cultrum.

One day, walking near the lake, they

hear the melody of a young lady.

“What’s your name?” Limay asks.

“My name is Raihué”, she answers.

Both chiefs fall in love at that moment and they become very jealous to each
other, risking their friendship.
Their parents are very worried, so they go with a machi, the wise woman of
the tribe, and she explains them the reason. The parents decide to test them.

“What is your favourite thing in the world?” they ask Raihué.

“I’d love to have a seashell, so I can hear the sound of the sea”, she answers.

The parents announce that the first that can reach the sea and return with a
seashell is the one who can get Raihué’s love.
The gods transform both chiefs into two rivers, one from the north and the
other from the south. Neuquén and Limay start their long journey to the
ocean.

The wind is furious because nobody asks for his permission, so he whispers to
Raihué:
“Neuquén and Limay will never return. The stars that fall into
the ocean transform into beautiful ladies that seduce the men and
prison them in the bottom of the sea. You will never see them again.”

Raihué becomes very sad because Neuquén and Limay don’t return. She goes
to the lake and offers her life to Nguenechén to save the men’s lives.

The god hears her prayer and transforms her into a beautiful plant, with long
roots, long branches and a red flower.

The wind, very jealous, goes to tell Neuquén and Limay about Raihué. They
feel very sad, so they forget about their fight, hug each other and turn their
waters black to show their sadness.
Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Rio_Negro_Argentina_map.png

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 Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!
6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

The legend of Yerba mate

One day, Yací, the moon visits the

Earth. She asks her friend, Araí, the
cloud, to accompany her. They
transform into two young girls.

They visit the jungle. It is the first time

they step on fresh grass, listen to the
birds, smell flowers and enjoy the clean
water of the rivers.

It is a paradise! Amazing!

Suddenly, a yaguareté (or jaguar)

appears, ready to attack them.
Yací and Araí are terrified!
At that moment, a guaraní hunter
appears and points his bow and arrow to
the animal.
The yaguareté sees the man and
escapes.

The hunter invites Yací and Araí to his

poor hut. He has a wife and a
daughter. The family offer them corn
bread and invite them to stay and rest.

The next morning, Yací and Araí say

thank you and goodbye, and they return
to the sky.

From there, Yací keeps looking at the

hunter and his family.

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 Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!
6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

After some days, Yací calls Araí and

invites her to give a present to the
generous family.

“It must be something very original”,

says Yací, and they have a great idea.

They return to the jungle. The family is

sleeping.

They plant some blue seeds next to their

hut and they return to the sky. And they
make it rain softly.

The next morning, the family finds little

plants, with dark green leaves and white
flowers.
Suddenly, they see a shiny white light
coming down to Earth. It is Yací.

“This is a new plant called yerba mate.

All men can share it as a drink as a
symbol of friendship” says Yací.

Yací shows the man how to toast and

grind the leaves to prepare the drink.

Later, she goes back to the sky.

The hunter follows the instructions and

shows other friends.

He puts the leaves into a dried pumpkin,

pours hot water and drink the water with
a fine cane straw.

And he shares it with his wife and

daughter, passing the pumpkin from hand
to hand.

This is the origin of the ritual of the

mate.

Image source: https://salaceleste.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/la-leyenda-de-la-yerba-mate/

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 Legends to discover… to learn… to enjoy!
6th grade C y D
Adapted versions by Prof. Romina Cheme Arriaga

The legend of the Ñandú

A tribe from the area of Mendoza, in the

Cuyo region, is about to be attacked by a
group of men from the other side of
Cordillera. People from the tribe need to
take the message to other tribes to tell
them about the attack and ask for help.

But to take the message, they need to

pass through the enemies. Nobody wants
to do it. It is very dangerous. The enemies are really ferocious.

A young man – strong, fast and agile - offers himself to do it. He is married to
a young lady. Together, they decide to go through the enemies’ zone.

Very early in the morning, the young couple leaves. They advance… always
together… for several hours.

Near the pre-cordillera, they find the enemies. The enemies start to chase
them, trying to catch them with spears and “boleadoras”. Always together,
they run fast, jump and avoid obstacles.

Suddenly, the young couple notices their bodies become lighter, their legs
become thinner, their arms change into wings and their bodies cover with
feathers. Both of them become big birds… ñandúes.

At full speed, the couple arrives at their destination and can deliver the
message. Their friend tribes can get ready quickly and defend themselves
from the attack.

Image source: https://misanimales.com/curiosidades-del-nandu/