cuentos de barro - DSpace Universidad Don Bosco

A lootra oriya se oiba patente el butute 96
del guauce, llamando a la pareja para
beber sombra. En el escobillal oscuro
de la noche, el cielo y el agua quedaban
trabados, como guindajos arrancados a
una sombrilla de seda desteñida. El día
se alejaba, lento y cabecero, echando
polvo con las patas como los toros
cimarrones.
Llegada la noche, un tufo a tigre sopló
los matorrales, la laguneta sonaba como
una cuerda diagua a cada respiro, y de
cuando en cuando se oían los chukuces
de las mojarras asustadas.
La ranchería del vallecito estaba en una
ensenada oscurecida de tamarindos y
voladores. Había ranchos hojarasquines,
y ranchos palma barrendera, coludos
como pajuiles 97 , y ranchos empalizados
a través de cuyas paredes de esqueleto,
la luz candilera —esa tristura de
querencia nocturna— se filtraba a los
patios de barro desnudo, alargándose
en caprichosas luminarias.
Los chuchos empezaban a ladrar
con persistencia; con su quejumbre
peculiar, los tuncos revolvían las sobras
de huate que bueyes forasteros habían
dejado al pie de los morros, de troncos
limados por las cornamentas 101 .
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On the other end of the lagoon, the
singing of the Collared Forest-falcon
calling his mate to join him in the
twitlight was heard. In the dark bosom
of the night, the sky and the water
were stuck together, like fringes taken
from a faded silk umbrella. The day was
retreating, slowly and nodding, like a
cimarron bull pawing the ground.
When the night came, a stench of tiger
was wafting through the thicket. The
lagoon sounded like a trickle of water
at every breath, and once in a while,
the frightened mojarra 98 reaching the
surface were heard.
The shacks of the valley were nestled
in a ravine darkened by tamarind and
laurel 99 trees. There were shacks made
out of leaves, shacks made out of palm
trees, with long tails like the great
curassow, and shacks built with long
sticks. The light from the lantern, 100
that sad nocturnal haunt was filtered
towards the naked clay patios, and
through its skeletal walls, prolonging
the capricious lights.
The mutts began to bark persistently,
with their peculiar complaint. The
pigs were stirring the leftover fodder
that the oxen had left at the foot of
the calabash trees, 102 their trunks filed
down by the rubbing of the horns.
96. Canto.
97. Pájaro triste y lento.
98. A common sea-fish, like tilapia.
99. Volador in Spanish, a kind of laurel.
100. Used with kerosene in the country.
101. RAE: cornamenta. 1. f. Conjunto de los cuernos de algunos cuadrúpedos, como el toro, la vaca, el
venado y otros, especialmente cuando son de gran tamaño. U. t. en sent. fig.
102. Morros: Crescentia alata, a small mythological tree mentioned in the Popol-Vuh with hard shell,
rounded cannonball-like fruits that come out of the trunk.