La Llorona

La Llorona

A Folktale provided by Wilberth Medrano 2008

The people of León tell of another figure of the night that brings terror to the campesino communities with its ceaseless sobbing near the river. The story goes that a woman once had a 13-year old daughter who fell in love with one of the white conquistadores back during the times of the original colonization of Nicaragua.

They say that the mother told her daughter that she should not mix her blood with that of the “executioners” (Spaniards). Heedless of her mother’s warnings, the young Indian lass would go to the river to bathe. She found her white-skinned lover there on any number of occasions and became pregnant. But he had orders to go back to his motherland.

The girl wept desperately so that he would take her with him. The crying jags became so severe that one day she had an attack and fainted. On awakening the following day, she found a baby boy by her side. She took him in her arms and with anger she remembered what her mother had always told her: “The blood of the executioners must never be mixed with that of the slaves.” The rage built up to the point where she threw the infant into the river. Right away she realized what she had done, cried out “Oh, mother!” and jumped into the river to save him. But it was too late.

The young mother would walk weeping in the streets, driving people crazy with her wails, and so the people called her “La Llorona.” According to legend, her spirit comes out at night near the river, and one can hear her laments and weeping: “Oh, mother…! Oh, mother…!” Others claim she cries out, “Ayy, my baby…!”

One thing true though is that many of our grandparents still tell us this story and on hearing sobbing around midnight, our hair stands on end and our limbs are paralyzed with fear.