Folk Tales of Cuba — Part 2 (Ornoya · The Caiman · The Black Venus)
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
Part two. Three more traditions and legends of Cienfuegos, on Cuba's south coast, collected by Pedro Modesto Hernández and published by Adrián del Valle in Tradiciones y leyendas de Cienfuegos (Havana, 1919); heard here in a fresh in-house English translation from the Spanish. In Ornoya, the people of Jagua honour their hero, the victor over the fierce Lucaya chief Ornocoy, in the great ceremonial ground — the aged chief's collar and massive war club, the ball game of batos, the dances and songs, and the mock battles with which the festival closes. In The Caiman, the neighbours of the new-born Fernandina de Jagua, plagued night after night by a great caiman carrying off their animals, lie in wait for it — and Monsieur Bonón, his gun raised, hears the beast cry out in a perfectly human voice: "Don't shoot, Monsieur, for I am your friend!" And in The Black Venus, the mute woman of Cayo Loco, who will not eat, work or be clothed rather than live captive, slips away at last into legend as the silent protest against slavery. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Bandoneon Street Romance, heard also briefly between the stories.
Chapters
0:55 Ornoya
7:22 The Caiman
16:25 The Black Venus
Four further tales of the book are not read on this shelf, each excluded by name after a full reading: Guanaroca · Marilope · El combate de las piraguas · El Cristo de la Vereda. No claim of completeness for the book is made.
From Tradiciones y leyendas de Cienfuegos by Adrián del Valle with Pedro Modesto Hernández (1919), public domain — in a fresh in-house English translation from the Spanish. Narrated by Mira. Theme: Bandoneon Street Romance.
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