THE STORY OF THE YARA - A Fairy Tale of True Love from Brazil
Autor: Anon E. Mouse
Número de Páginas: 35ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 410 In this 410th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the Brazilian Fairy Tale "THE STORY OF THE YARA”. The Brazilian Yara, also called a water-witch, is said to lure young men by her marvellous singing, much as the mermaids on the Rhine’s Lorelei Rock would lure sailors to run their barges aground with their singing. After seeing her, the youth would become melancholy and would haunt the river day and night where he had first beheld her. His friends and people would remonstrate with and warn him of the enchantress "whose smile is the smile of death", but the youth, be he chief or tribesman would not listen and he would go to the river. There the beautiful being would appear and as he rushed to embrace her the waters would divide, and the two would disappear, never to be seen again." In this story, the young lover Alonzo struggles to heed the warnings of his beloved fiancée, Julia, and stay away from the river where he encountered the Yara. The fact that he has seen the Yara causes him to act differently, to even laugh differently, and despite his intentions to listen to Julia, he is tempted back to the river....