They say that it was a day of torrential rain, a good fire was lit and a man who had more than several years of life used that occasion, while sitting under a horcon (a tree from which the branches were cut, leaving three "cubits" cut off) and in the presence of many people, to tell a story that had apparently happened many years ago.
He started by saying that it was a love story which did not have a good ending. He asked for everyone's silence because they were about to hear the story of the Horcón.
They say that the old man asked for a very strong drink to clear his throat, because his mind, although it was that of an old man, still remembered everything that happened in detail. They say that a tear escaped the eyes of that old man as he began to tell his story.
“In my youth there was a terrible and mysterious event, a handsome young man came to town and applied for a job at the ranch. The foreman, seeing his efforts, quickly hired him as an employee of the ranch.
The foreman had a daughter who soon fell in love with this young man. The ranch's foreman had no objection to this union and very soon the nuptials were celebrated.
The farm prospered because of the boy's tenacity and their married life was also rewarded with the presence of a son. They were a very happy couple.
Over time the tasks and responsibilities of the young laborer increased and the commitments to keep the ranch afloat led him to stay away for long periods. It so happened that one bad day someone brought to the ears of this young man, that while he was away his young wife received visitors at his house during inappropriate hours.
Full of jealousy, the young man had an idea. He had told his beloved that he would have a trip for a few days and he said goodbye to her, while preparing to be away for a few days.
He arrived at night, without warning, and began breaking down doors, he came to the main room and saw the love of his life in the arms of another man. According to the story, his rage was so immense that he swiftly dealt with both of them, one body fell from one side and then the other fell from the opposite. There was no time for screaming, no fighting.
It was done quickly, no one heard anything.
In the darkness of the night he took the two lifeless bodies and buried them under the pole of a horcon.
Nobody knew exactly what happened, the only thing most people heard was... poor man, whose wife left him to go with her lover. Justice did not find out much about this either, it echoed the words of the people that justified the flight of a woman with her lover. "
And so the old man ended the story by apologizing to those present. At the end of his tale he told everyone that the bodies of those two were buried in that same horcon that they saw there, the one he was sitting under. He knew this because the actor in that tragedy had been him, after seeing his wife with another man.
He received the forgiveness of those present there, even his own son who sadly heard everything his elderly father did in the past.
That's a rather sad tale. I wonder if people will still remember his tale even after he passed away