Los Duendes 2

Like with La Llorana, as the first informant was telling her narrative, another informant nearby was nodding her head. She too had heard of the Los Duendes but in a different context.

The informant said that she knew Los Duendes for trading horse tails. She said that that’s what they’re known for and that’s why horses tails are braided She said that the braiding was so terrible because they would braid them super tight.

The informant said that at night, her cousins would tell her to pull her hair back or else Los Duendes will come and braid her hair so tight that she could not take it out the next morning. This scared her so of course she put up her hair to go to bed.

This example coupled with the informant’s from Mexico’s narrative about Los Duendes demonstrates that there is multiplicity and variation of this story. The story seems to shift a little bit from culture to culture. This informant is Colombian and she associates Los Duendes with tight braids whereas the other informant associated Los Duendes with causing chaos around the house. Both versions though describe Los Duendes as mischievous. In addition, it seems like Los Duendes in this variation of the narrative  emphasize cleanliness too, as they braid hair if the hair isn’t already in a tight and neat pony tail. The informant said that she went to bed with a “Perfect Pony” every night to stay away from Los Duendes.