La Mulata de Córdoba

It is a Mexican colonial legend based on a case that happened in the 16th century when the Holy Inquisition accused a young and beautiful mulatto woman of witchcraft and whose complete file is in the Inquisition background in the General Archive of the Nation. About this legend there are many versions of which, the one presented here, appears in the book Cuentos de espantos y aparecidos, published in Mexico by Huracán editions in 1984 and is a version of Francisco Serrano and inspired by texts of the historian Luis González Obregón (1865-1938) and the poet Xavier Villaurrutia (1903-1950).

Legend has it that more than two centuries ago lived in the city of Cordoba, in the state of Veracruz, a beautiful woman, a young woman who never grew old despite the years. They called her the Mulata and she was famous as a lawyer for impossible cases: girls without a boyfriend; The workers without work, the doctors without the sick, the lawyers without clients, the retired military personnel, all went to her, and the Mulata left them happy and satisfied. The men, pledged of their beauty, disputed the conquest of their heart. But she did not correspond to anyone, she despised everyone. People commented on the Mulata's powers and said she was a witch, a sorceress. Some claimed that they had seen her fly over the rooftops, and that her black eyes gave off satanic glances while smiling with her red lips and her white teeth.

Others said that the Mulata had agreed with the Devil and that he received it in his house; She said that if she passed the witch's house in the middle of the night, there was a sinister light coming out through the cracks in the windows and doors, an infernal light, as if inside a mighty fire devoured the rooms. The woman's fame was immense. Everywhere there was talk of her and in many places of Mexico her name was repeated word of mouth. Long time, long time that lives in the neighborhood next to the square. Truly? It is not true! We have never met her in the courtyard, in the hall. Neither in the street, nor in the church nor in the market: Then she is not from this neighborhood, then came suddenly! In Cordoba, since when it suddenly appeared! ... No one knows how long the Mulata's fame lasted. What is certain is that, one day, the town of Cordoba was taken prisoner to the dark prisons of the Tribunal of the Inquisition, in Mexico City, accused of witchcraft and Satanism.

On the morning of the day he was to be executed, the jailer entered the cell of Mulata and was surprised to see on one of the walls of the cell the hull of a ship drawn with charcoal by the sorceress, who smiled asked him : - Good morning, jailer; Could you tell me what this ship is missing? - Wretched woman! Replied the jailer. If you repented of your faults you would not be about to die. "Come on, tell me, what is this ship missing?" The Mulata insisted. - Why do you ask me? He lacks the mast. "If that's missing, that will have," the Mulata replied enigmatically. The jailer, not understanding what was happening, withdrew with a confused heart. At noon the jailer re-entered the cell of Mulata and gazed in wonder at the ship drawn on the wall. "Jailer, what's missing from this ship?" Asked the Mulata. "Unfortunate woman," replied the baffled jailer. If you wanted to save your soul from the flames of hell, you would spare the Holy Inquisition to judge you. What do you want? ... The ship is missing the sails. "If that's missing, that will have," said the Mulata.

And the jailer withdrew, intrigued that this mysterious woman, her last hours drawing, without fear of death. At twilight, which was the time set for execution, the jailer entered for the third time in the cell of Mulata, and she, smiling, asked him - What is missing from my ship? ... - Unhappy woman , "Replied the jailer," put your soul in the hands of God our Lord and repent of your sins. The only thing left for this ship is to sail! It is perfect! "Well, if your worship wants it, if it strives for it, it will sail, and very far away." Let's see? "Thus," said the Mulata, and as light as the wind, she jumped into the boat; The latter, slowly at first and then quickly and at full sail, disappeared with the beautiful woman through one of the corners of the dungeon. The jailer stood mute, immobile, his eyes popping out of his sockets, his hair straight and his mouth open. No one came back to Mulata.