Ayaymama
Legend of the Peruvian Jungle
It all started when one day, some children who lived with their parents in the
jungle, were left alone while they went to hunt animals to eat. The children
missed their parents, so, taking advantage of the fact that their older brother fell
asleep, they headed to the forest in search of their parents.
They advanced along paths and narrow trails, until night fell and the two
children were lost in the middle of the thick jungle. They began to cry from
hunger and despair, and exhaustion had taken over them too. They cried and
asked for their mother to be there to help them. After that, then the spirit of the
forest, seeing the two unprotected little ones, felt compassion and turned them
into small birds so that they could fly back to their home.
Finally, when they got home they found out that their mother died of sadness
realizing the loss of her two children. Since that day, the little brothers fly
through the jungle emitting their song that sounds like an "ayaymama" lament in
allusion to their mother's condolences.
