The legend of Elegua

It counts the history that many many years ago, in the fastuoso

kingdom of an African monarch, was born its first-born son to whom

they called Elegua. To the 8 years, the young very precocious era,

daring and travieso and employed much to its ancestors. A day,

walking by the border of the sea with his they guardian, vió an

object to shine next to a palm and ran to take it. His guardian tried

to prevent it, coming up to him that he could be a dangerous object

since was rare and had two intense lights in the place of the eyes

and a white cloud and weighs left its mouth, but Elegua he escaped

of the hands of its protector and escorts and he ran to take the

object to take it to it. When it had vió that was the fruit of a coconut

palm and was fascinated, then it heard a voice that said to him,

"cuidame and líbrame of polillas and the worms that they will love to

eat to me with time; if you protect to me, I will give to health and

prosperity you ". The boy promised to the Coco to take care of of

him while he lived and he took it to the castle.

There he told his history to his father

and to all the cut, but all made fun

of of him and played ball with the

Coco, throwing it from a side to

another one without Elegua could

avoid it, and the advisor of the king

said to him to this one: "your son

will give problems you with that

imagination that he has, we are going to hide the Coco so that he

forgets that invention". But that one same day the boy became ill,

and three days later he died. The cut and all the town cried the

death of the prince and called to a fortune teller who said to them

that a good genius that he lived locked up in the Coco had been

ultrajado victim and and who for that reason had died the prince.

As of that moment the king, sorry, commanded to venerate to the

Coco and to request his pardon and protection, but the eyes of the

Coco never more returned to shine. Consulted the fortune teller

again it said: "we must put eyes, mouth and ears to him so that it

listens and it can speak to us to us". So they inlaid to him snails in

the place of the eyes and the genius returned to see. Soon they

inlaid two shells to him in the ears and the genius returned to listen

to its plegarias. Finally, they put a mouth to him and the genius

spoke and transmitted all his sabiduria to that ignorante town and it

pardoned it.

Those snails that the fortune teller used were bucios, since then the

bucios acquired the gift and the power to communicate to the

mortals their aims through the divination, as well as the will of the

spirits of deads and the one of the Gods. The Coco, to who they put

the name of prince Elegua, since then was adored and consulted

with respect by all the wise people, fortune tellers and healers of all

the times...