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The Guitar Legend
Hilario lived in his "rancho" (shack), isolated from any Indian village. He
had the loneliness as only companion. Melancholic dawn and dusk saw that lonely
"gaucho" who did not hear more than the deep music of the woods, the frightening
quietude of the plain and the invading grief of the country with its horizon
of sky and land. From times to times he would go over the far villages hoping
to find the companion he dreamed about. That companion who joins the man’s
life to share his efforts, his fights and hopes. That companion who is sought
as comfort, as strength, united as "water in the stones, as cactuses in the
hill, as the moon tries to find in the sky the routes of the gods who left the
earth."
One day he met Rosa, the most beautiful and elegant girl of the near village.
From that moment the dark nights of the "gaucho" turned bright, lightened up
by the woman that he loved.
Hilario lived happily with his companion in his "rancho" settled in the middle
of the silent wood. Life had changed: dusk was a dreamer, the wind blew gently
at night, continuously talking to the leaves as the moaning of a village song.
But, the same as every good thing in live, it could not last. One morning Hilario
left Rosa alone to go to a near village. They said good-bye without thinking
that that bright morning would be the last, Amuray, an Indian Chief, had fallen
in love with Rosa but he had been rejected. The Indian saw that the woman of
his dreams loved another man. Amuray, resentful and vindictive, decided to kidnap
Rosa, and so he was continuously lying in wait. He had the opportunity that
day, with Hilariorsquos absence.
In the evening the "gaucho" came back anxious for his companion’s caresses,
without thinking of the cruel surprise that was waiting for him.
He found the "rancho" empty. In the yard there were fresh signs of desperate
fight and a horse’s track to the path. Imagining what had happened he
rushed desperately in pursuit of Amuray, until he finally got him. The fight
was fierce. But at last, the brave "gaucho" could take the captive from the
arms of the Indian who twisted up in the middle of the way being about to die.
But the unhappy "gaucho" did not recover more than a lifeless body.
Rosa had died in the fight. Desperate he held the loved body in his arms, sobbing
and calling her. The night came full of grief. Hilario fell asleep with his
head inclined over the loved face. At daybreak he woke from his deep dream with
the music of mysterious notes and he found in his arms a box of a woman shape
instead of his companion’s body. With her he sang all his life the memory
of his beloved. Because of this the guitar will always be a companion of pains
and sorrows.
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