First Voices
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Love
In the Amazon jungle, the first woman and the first man observed each other curiously. It was strange, what they had between their legs.
“They cut it off?” asked the man.
“No,” she said. “It’s always been that way.”
He examined her closely. He scratched his head. She had an open wound there.
He said, “Don’t eat casavas, and no soursop or any fruit that breaks open its own skin. I’ll help you get better. Lie down in your hammock and rest.”
She did what he said. He patiently brought her herbal teas and allowed himself to apply creams and unguents. She had to tighten her lips so as not to laugh when he told her, “Don’t worry.”
She liked the game, even though she became tired of living with fasting and lying down in a hammock. The very recollection of fruit made her mouth water.
One afternoon, the man arrived running from the green forest. He leapt about with euphoria and shouted, “I found it! I found it!”
He had just seen a monkey curing a lady monkey in a treetop. “It’s like this,” he said, bringing himself very close to the woman.
When their long embrace came to an end, a heavy aroma of flowers and fruit invaded the air. From their two bodies, lying together, there were emitted vapors and gleamings never before seen, and their beauty was such that the suns and the gods died of shame.
Translation ©2024. Terence Clarke. All rights reserved.
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About Eduardo Galeano? click here. For a selection of Galeano’s books, click here. For my recent Substack piece that tells of Galeano, click here.
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A charming Myth
I have been saying that for yours. Cures everything.