The Legend of the Tears of Carú
Venezuelan memory tells the story of Carú, a noble princess, daughter of the cacique of the Bailadores clan. Her heart beat fervently for her fiancé, heir of the Mocotí chieftain. The two tribes shared the joy at the coming union, but fate had other plans. At the dawn of the nuptial day, the alarming notes of the watchman’s horn resounded, presaging misfortune: the white men were approaching, and with them, the din of war was unleashed.
The battle ceased with the departure of the invaders, but left a trail of desolation. In the somber recollection of the fallen warriors, the cruelest misfortune was revealed to Carú: among the breathless heroes lay her betrothed. With the weight of love and grief, Carú undertook the ascent to the mountain, carrying the body of her beloved, beseeching the divine lord of the peaks for a miracle of life. After three days of tears and supplications, her strength left her and, in a last mortal embrace, her spirit faltered.
Moved by the depth of her love and her unwavering faith, the mountain god decided to eternalize her passion and grief. There, where the princess shed her last breath and her last tears, a waterfall gushed forth, a perpetual testimony of Carú’s tears, a liquid song that narrates to the wind the immortal story of love and sacrifice of this Venezuelan legend.
