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Certain tribes in Pilcomayo
River area of Argentina call this strange tree “Woman” or “Mother Who is
Bound to the Earth.” Legend has it that among an ancient forest tribe lived
a very beautiful young girl who was coveted by all the men; however, she
loved only a great warrior. She was deeply in love with him, but then one
day the tribe entered into a war. When he left, he asked her only that she
pledge him her eternal love.
A long time passed, and the
warriors did not return. After much time had gone by, she assumed that he
was not going to return. Having lost her one true love and knowing that her
wounded heart would never heal, the young woman closed herself off to the
possibility of ever having feelings for another man. She refused all
suitors.
In her sadness, one night she
went deep into the forest to die. It was here that some hunters came across
her, dead in the midst of the undergrowth. When they tried to lift her up to
take |
The Palo Borracho tree
(Photo courtesy of Germàn Porten.
Used with permission) |
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her body back to the town,
they noticed, astonished, that branches had begun to grow from her arms and
that her head was bent down towards her torso. White flowers bloomed from
her fingers. The hunters, terrified, ran back to the village.
Some days later, a group of
hunters got together and went back into the forest. The young woman no
longer looked human, but had become a large tree whose white flowers had
turned pink. It is thought that the white flowers were the tears shed by the
young beauty for the loss of her love and that they turned pink in memory of
the blood shed by the valiant warrior.
Back to the Maiden's Tears Vase |
Palo Borracho tree in bloom
(Photo courtesy of Germàn Porten.
Used with permission) |
