On the beautiful island of Paqueta lived a tribe of Indians, and in this tribe there was a beautiful girl named Ai. Everyone loved her for her cheerful disposition, but it so happened that she became sad and thoughtful. And all because she fell in love with young Avitiu, who sailed to the island to fish and hunt.
The young hunter did not notice the beautiful Aya, he passed by her indifferently. Ai shed bitter tears and, in order to dispel the melancholy, she sang and sang in a gentle voice about her unhappy love.
Every day at dawn the dark-skinned woman climbed the high cliff, waited and looked out for the indifferent young man on the shore, sang and cried until he sat down in the pirogue and sailed away home.
And poor Aya’s tears were so hot that they burned through the cliff, and in the grotto under the cliff the echo endlessly repeated her songs.
One day Avitiu got tired from a long hunt, went into the grotto to rest and fell asleep. Ai, as always, mourned her unrequited love on the cliff. Her tears burned through the stone and fell on the young man’s closed eyelids.
The young man shuddered and woke up. In confusion, he grabbed his bow and arrows, rushed to his pirogue and swam out to sea.
From then on, he began to be drawn to the grotto uncontrollably, and every day he came there to listen to enchanting songs.
One day he entered the grotto, and he wanted to drink. The young man fell down to the spring that had fallen through the stone and drank. Then a miracle happened. The magical source filled Avitiu’s heart with love, and from then on the lovers never parted, and when their lives came to an end, they died at the same hour.
People say that whoever tastes the water from the spring in the grotto of love will definitely fall in love with a young islander and, no matter where he goes, he will still return here for his beloved. They also say that the most beautiful secrets of love will be revealed to him.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru