The Silver Bull
By Lecochom
A long time ago, in a small town in Argentina's Patagonia Region, there were two lakes connected by a river. Villagers were talking about something, saying that there was something "shining, white, and brightly colored" on one of the lakes. They said that there is a "Silver Bull" in one of the lakes that only shows up at midnight and during a full moon. Out of curiosity, "whether that is true or not," the villages shared the news and comments with each other and their neighboring villages, which later became a mockery for the people from Bariloche, where the lakes are located. The bull, according to visitors, is just another "bull story." And they laugh about the "Silver Bull," saying that in the past there was a white bull that was wild, furious, and mad that escaped from one of the ranches, and when the "Gauchos," horse riding experts, tried to rope and catch the bull, the white bull fell into the river downstream and disappeared.
Nevertheless, Barilochenses were faithful, proud, and believed that such a bull existed, and they were happy to use “The silver bull,” as a symbol of their town. And after a while “The silver bull,” that lived and ran freely around their lakes and river became a legend for the whole community and visitors. So, as the time went by, every night at midnight on a full moon, the small town of Bariloche, all people, villagers, farmers, and mines laborers decided to wait and gather together to see the silver bull, like they were doing it in those nights of full moon. Everybody was happy and it was a great opportunity to bring the whole town together, and those nights with the moon at its brightest and fullest, the lakes seemed to be illuminated by their own moon. As the years have passed by in Bariloche, one beautiful full moon night when Barilochenses were asleep, they heard a rapid-loud noise like a stampede of hundreds of bulls, and their small cottages trembled and shook the soil. They were afraid of something like an earthquake, but it was “The Silver Bull,” running along the river in direction to the other lake. They were confused, and as the noise approached the people saw “The Silver Bull,” running through the river towards the other lake and disappearing in their waters. Villagers were astonished to see the giant bright, shining silver bull! And the next day, early morning, Barilochenses were surprised to find precious silver coins along the river and around the lakes where “The Silver Bull,” ran away. Barilochenses were happy, the whole town was happy to be blessed with the precious silver coins, and the news spread to all the neighbors, and all of them were exited and wanted to be part of the fortune. As the full moon nights have passed by, and when the neighbor villagers of the neighboring towns were more excited to see “The Silver Bull,” the silver bull never showed up, so they lost interest and did not believe that such a silver bull existed! And they said “The bull was just a tale!” and they did not believe in the bull anymore.But, Barilochenses continued and still believed that “The Silver Bull,” actually existed and they hoped that the bull some day would show up and throw away that precious silver coins along the river and the lakes when they really needed the bull. A few years after 1890, Bariloche and the whole Patagonia region were affected by bad weather, and people suffered from food shortages and there was famine everywhere. People did not have enough food to save their farms, and feed their children, so the villagers agreed and planned to work hard and help each other within the region. So they worked hard, but still could not recover from the bad weather. At this time the farmers were weak and Barilochenses believed that “The Silver Bull,” could help them if he showed up.And, one midnight on a full moon, when the town of Bariloche was asleep, there was a tremendous sound! A rampant stampede echoing through the small village was heard, and to the surprise of all the community, the strong noise woke up the whole village, and when they woke up, they saw the night like a sunny day and they saw that the light was coming from the lake! The lights from the lake were herds of bulls! Bulls were running from the middle of the lake through the river to the other lake, throwing and sprinkling away solid shine silver coins from their mouth!After seeing what happened, the people from Bariloche knew that they would survive with the silver coins, and they were happy and thankful to “The Silver Bull,” that saved them of hunger. A few months later, the town started again to flourished with their farms and agriculture, and then Barilochenses and the whole region of Patagonia decided to commemorate and remember that they were saved by “The Silver Bull,” naming the waterfall between the lakes “The Silver Bull Waterfalls,” because every night on a full moon the waterfall spreads white, bright, shiny, silver color on their waters under the sky.
