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Overview

In an account collected at Santiago but set on an estate in Linares province, a handsome bull with golden horns inhabits Laguna Honda. It emerges to mate with the estate’s cows and sucks the blood of living beings entering the lake. When the owner loses the estate in a game of taba, the bull becomes angry, wraps itself in a thick mist of its own making and leaves with all the cows.

The animals plunge into the Longaví River, causing an overflow that floods farmland and ruins crops. The new owner must give the abandoned calves to the tenant families to rear. The lake dries when the bull departs. Only many years later does a mule bring water back and take up residence. This successor is equally dangerous: the unnamed woman informing the collector says it dragged her cousin under and he never returned. The story does not turn the bull into the mule or narrate the bull’s return; both successive lake beings remain grouped with their shared local account.

Bull with golden hornsCreates a concealing mistLeads cows into the Longaví RiverLake dries after its departureLater water-bearing mule drags a person under
01

Origins & earliest records

Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, Mitos y supersticiones recogidos de la tradición oral chilena, Santiago: Imprenta Universitaria, 1915. The appendix combines local reports, named correspondents and quotations from other writers; their different routes of transmission remain specified.

02

Records & interpretation

Appendix A, XLIV, El Toro de la laguna Honda, complete p. 329, including the final mule and missing-cousin passage. Collection labelled Santiago; narrated location Linares and Longaví. Individual woman unnamed.

In the literature

“El toro era muy hermoso y tenía los cuernos de oro.”
Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, collector; unnamed woman informant · Mitos y supersticiones: recogidos de la tradición oral chilena
Appendix A XLIV El Toro de la laguna Honda, complete printed p.329; quoted printed p.329 · Not applicable: inspected original Spanish

An unnamed account collected in Santiago places a gold-horned bull in a Laguna Honda on a Linares estate. It emerges to mate with the estate cows and takes blood from living intruders. After the owner loses the estate at taba, the angry bull creates fog, leads the cows to the Longaví River and causes a damaging flood; remaining calves are entrusted to tenants. The lake dries until a mule later brings water, refills it and remains a danger: the informant reports that her cousin was dragged beneath and did not return.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Mitos y supersticiones recogidos de la tradición oral chilena

    Julio Vicuña Cifuentes · 1915

    Appendix A, XLIV, El Toro de la laguna Honda, complete p. 329, including the final mule and missing-cousin passage. Collection labelled Santiago; narrated location Linares and Longaví. Individual woman unnamed.

  2. 02

    Mitos y supersticiones: recogidos de la tradición oral chilena — Appendix A XLIV El Toro de la laguna Honda, complete printed p.329

    Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, collector; unnamed woman informant · 1915

    Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Universitaria1915; original title page previously checked, selected complete sections below visually read in National Library MC0008702 PDF. No claim of whole-volume review.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Primary source witness

Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Universitaria1915; original title page previously checked, selected complete sections below visually read in National Library MC0008702 PDF. No claim of whole-volume review.

  1. An unnamed account collected in Santiago places a gold-horned bull in a Laguna Honda on a Linares estate. It emerges to mate with the estate cows and takes blood from living intruders. After the owner loses the estate at taba, the angry bull creates fog, leads the cows to the Longaví River and causes a damaging flood; remaining calves are entrusted to tenants. The lake dries until a mule later brings water, refills it and remains a danger: the informant reports that her cousin was dragged beneath and did not return.

    Appendix A XLIV El Toro de la laguna Honda, complete printed p.329

Collection place Santiago is distinct from the narrated Linares/Longaví setting. Bull and later mule are separate successive lake beings. The gambling loss is at taba; no ritual, one-eye anatomy, confirmed disappearance record or independent hydraulic mechanism inferred.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textVicuña Cifuentes 1915: complete selected appendix accountResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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