The Legend of La Llorona

            The legend of La Llorona serves as an important contribution to the many Hispanic folktales we all hear about as children. It is of no surprise that we have some who believe this folktale to be true and some who believe this to be another one of the spooky folktales used to put a spark of fear in people's minds. Whether it is truly real or not, it is one of those stories you can never seem to forget. This short fiction, like any other, displays what Edgar Allan Poe calls a "single effect. " A short story having a "single effect " helps people to receive one emotion as they are being told the story. This is what makes the story so memorable, the fact that it is indeed a creepy story that doesn't leave you feeling multiple emotions except one, Fear. .
             The story is about a young woman named Cihuacoatl who is the most beautiful girl in the city and because she is fortunate enough to bear this quality she thought she was better than the rest. As she grew up so did her her pride and beauty. Abiding by the nature of a woman, she was on the search for the "right man. " Just her luck, one day a handsome ranchero comes riding into the village that happens to be the perfect fit for Cihuacoatl or so she thinks. He was the son of a wealthy rancher from the southern plains and Cihuacoatl was convinced that this was the man for her. She knew just the right tricks to catch his attention; she would ignore the ranchero and cause him to grow more eager to get her attention. This being said, that is exactly how the situation played out. It was before long that the two lovers soon got engaged and married. They had two twin boys and they seemed to be a happy family and acted as if things were just fine. After a few years the ranchero went back to his wild life of the prairies. He would often leave the village and wouldn't be back for a couple of months, when he would come back he only visited his children.