My grandmother tells me that a man who lived in the province of Vilcabamba who was a very poor healer. People always ignored him and never considered him at parties. One day he became a rich man, everyone wondered what had happened, but he never talked about it and now that he was rich.
Everyone wanted to be his friend. When he was very old, this gentleman revealed his secret to my grandmother and this is his story.
One day at 6 o’clock in the afternoon, when he was walking home, a very large black dog appeared and what struck him most was that its eyes were very red. The dog caused much fear and in Quechua he said to it “lloqsiy, lloqsiy” . That means “leave, leave.” The dog came closer and closer to him without making any sound.
When the man tried to run, the now very friendly dog approached him as it he knew him and wanted him to caress it. The man was tender and caressed the dog. He suddenly felt as if he were listening to what the dog wanted to say; the dog wanted him to follow him.
It was as if he had hypnotized him with those huge red eyes, and he did not have any more will of his own so he could only follow the dog. They were getting farther and farther away from the town when they came to a place where there were no houses and, if he remembered, that road led to a very high and dangerous cliff. He knew he had to stop but his body did not respond. Suddenly the dog jumped off the cliff and behind him the man did too.
Because of the fall he fainted and lay there until the next day. That night he had a very strange dream. In it he looked like a very old man with eyes as red as those of the black dog who told him, “you are a strong man. You managed to survive the fall off this cliff. Not many achieve that. So, when you wake up you must go back to your house and bring a knife to this place. Stick it into the very deep ground and go home.
The next day you must dig where you left the knife and there you will find happiness. When the man woke up and saw that he was at the foot of the cliff he did not remember how he had gotten there. He saw that he had many wounds. He got up very painfully and suddenly remembered what he had dreamed. It all seemed incredible. He returned home, cured his wounds with medicinal plants and picked up a knife from his kitchen.
Even with pain, he returned to that cliff and buried the knife just as the old man had indicated in his dream. He went back to his house to rest and recover. No one had noticed what had happened, because no one he cared. Sometime later, feeling very curious, the man decided to see if it what the old man said was true.
When returning to the place he dug. He gold coins. This was the great treasure large dog with red eyes guarded. This is how this poor man, despised by others, became a rich man who was full of joy. This black dog either leads you to your death or to your happiness.
