7: The carrao

The llaneros patriarchs say that many years ago, in the immense Colombian-Venezuelan plains, there were two men very famous for their self-sufficiency in the hard life of the sabanero man; they were inseparable companions and known fully by nicknames or nicknames: one was called Carrao and the other was called Mayalito.

The first, osse "Carrao", was a man of those llaneros who never know fear and feel pleasure defying danger; resolute man, friend of the roads in the dark nights, great baquiano (expert) of the plain and extraordinary rider, no horse had managed to remove it from the loins no matter how brave it was, as a brave bull had never managed to touch it with its horns. The Carrao was happy walking in full nocturnal storms, he did not care that his horse was wild, more man felt, was so confident that he knew he would never fall off a horse, because his legs were born to tame wild horses .

Mayalito, his inseparable companion and friend, on the contrary, was his opposite pole; a man plumb, judicious and talented in all its aspects, faithful knowing that with llanera nature can not play too much because it is severe, of course without leaving that way, of being a man of great courage as all good llanero. That was Mayalito, who made an inventory of warnings to his companion, which were never taken care of or obeyed, because the rebellion and the courage of the Carrao constituted a patrimony of his, which it was not easy to forget immediately because with those features had been born.

One afternoon, when the sun paled and the night began to impose its color on the plain, there was a horrible storm on the nearby horizon that made us think that the night was going to be stormy, went to the mangrove and tied the horse that was trochando , he brought it to the corral, saddled it and hit the margalla, cagalerióla rope and riding on the brisk horse said goodbye to Mayalito. He opened the door of bars of the corral and in the midst of candelosos rays went away in the darkness of the savannah, this time ... never to return.

"Mayalito", seeing that his friend and companion did not return, was given the task of looking for him on all the dark nights in the different directions of the communal savannas, especially for the parts that he knew that "Carrao" liked to frequent.

There were many nights that Mayalito kept shouting incessantly at his companion "Carrao", "Carraooo", listening only to the response produced by the echo of his voice. One night, Mayalito shortened a crossing in the middle of a storm of lightning, in the light of a lightning saw something shine at the feet of his horse, got out and inspected the object, was surprised when he identified it as it was the shoes of the metallic brake of the "Carrao" implement, he picked them up and took them with him.

Since then he emphasized the search for his partner, he thought that something had happened to him and that he would not be far from there; He continued his task night after night, until Mayalito also never returned home, he was swallowed by the savanna along with Carrao. Mayalito became a bird that flies on dark nights producing a song: Carraoooo, carraooo.