Arpia By Javier Morales
At first it was the world. And the world was an egg. The egg was nurtured by a magnificent animal with the face of a woman and the body of a prey bird that saw everything. A termagant from the time when the women were birds with keen grey eyes. A termagant that when it nursed the egg, nursed the world. We have been humans for a short time. At first it was the world, the world was the egg, and the termagant knew it. Sometimes the termagant became other and went into the world, that was the egg. Those who saw her share it in a whisper so their human voices did not attract her again. A woman remembers when the termagant took her by her spine with its claws late in the evening and she was much younger. The termagants come along in Natagaima, Coyaima, and Purificacion, where the elders and the sainos came from. The Saino’s sound is commonly mistaken with a witch’s murmur. We have been humans for a brief time.