The Snake and the Coquis

A snake settles down with a group of Coquis who are perfectly happy, and tried to change them to suit her own agenda.

Once there was a fun loving, sometimes-wild bunch of Coquis that lived in the most lush and deepest part of El Yunque, in Puerto Rico.

They lived and played close to a very high waterfall that was just the perfect temperature, and kept the rocks and large leaves around the falls perfectly moist.

They were so happy, they called to each other and sang to each other all day, and all night.

In fact, almost every night, they would have a Baile, and the local Cuatristas would come out and play plenas and meringues, salsas, and sometimes Una Bomba.

They were very happy.

One day, a snake was transported all the way from a far off land. He had fallen into a truck shipping Platanos, and then put on a boat, and sailed to Puerto Rico. Once on the port, the box of bananas with the snake in it was carried onto a small truck and driven all the way to El Yunque.

Well, the snake slithered all the way to the deepest, most lush part of El Yunque, and found the Coquis in the middle of a cena eating Sancocho.

They invited Snake to join them, but it was insect Sancocho, and snake did not eat insects.

Snake decided she wanted to stay, and the Coquis were happy to have her.

She liked the music they played and the dances, but she did not like the awful, irritating noise they made.

Every night, she would bury herself in the dirt, or climb a tree to get away from the racket, but she could not get away from the sound.

Snake decided to call a group meeting.

For some reason, a rumor started and the Coquis thought Snake was going to make a Lechon Asado, so the Coquis made Arroz con Gandules, Tostones, Pasteles, Cuajo and some Bacalaitos.

There was no Lechon Asado, but there was enough food for everyone, so they all ate, and then Snake called the meeting to order.

“I have some ideas that would make your lives better, but I need to know that you will support me,” she said.

Well, all the Coquis became so excited they started cheering. They though Snake was going to organize parties and have Festivales and maybe some Artesanos come in and teach them all crafts. So, of course they all supported her.

“Well, then,” she continued. “The first thing I need to change is that you all not make your noise at night. I need to sleep, and I can’t sleep with all that “COQUI! COQUI! COQUI!”

All the Coquis became quiet.

“We can’t do that,” one said. “It’s how we are made.”

The others agreed.

“Well,” said Snake” If you can’t do this one simple thing, then maybe you are not ready for my program.”

The Coquis thought Snake was very smart, and seemed to know what she was doing, so after some deliberation, they agreed.

“Good!” said Snake. “Now for the next item of business…”

Snake went on to explain that she was very busy, and she was going to need everyone’s cooperation. She would, in fact, throw a couple of parties, but instead of being free like they usually were, all the Coquis had to pay. She made the Cuatristas angry with a rude comment, and so they stopped coming to the parties. She found other orchestas, and they were good, but they cost money too.

Another strange thing started happening too. Some of the older Coquis stopped coming to the parties and hanging out at the waterfall. In fact, for some reason, no one had seen those Coquis anywhere.

Every couple of weeks, another of the Coquis went missing.

Everyone assumed that they stopped coming because they just had to sing their beautiful Coqui song, and so they left the area to go sing where Snake could not hear.

Others had a suspicion that Snake had eaten them.

Snake asked one of the Coquis to prepare the area for a dinner party that was to happen the next afternoon. The Coqui went home and planned and made the centerpieces, called her friends and asked them to help with lights and table dressings, and was up till the very early morning.

When she woke up and carried what she could to the area where the dinner party was going to be, Snake had already set up the tables and decorated them.

“Well it didn’t look like you were going to do it, so I did it myself…I can’t count on anyone!” said Snake.

Snake did this often. She would ask someone to do something, and then end up doing it herself. She never delegated, although all the Coquis were willing to do whatever needed to be done.

Well, one day, Snake wrote a note and stuck it to the trunk of a Flamboyan.

It read: “Everyone must from this day forward, refer to me as Madam Vibora.”

The Coquis did not like this, and no one ever did it, except when they were talking about things she had said or had done.

A couple of them wanted to talk to Snake, I’m sorry, Madam Vibora, but whenever they said something to her, even it was constructive, Madam Vibora turned the criticism on the Coquis and claimed that she “always had to do everything”, and “No one helps me”, and “I’m very busy”.

The Coquis had a secret meeting to figure out what to do.

Although they came up with many solutions that would make Snake want to leave, they knew it was not right to do anything that would make her feel bad. They didn’t want to be mean or hurtful, so they decided not to do anything.

Well, you might not know this, but when Coquis are upset or stressed out, they sing.

Actually, who am I kidding, they sing all the time. When they’re hungry, fed, sleepy, happy, stressed, anything. Really.

What I’m trying to say is that the Coquis were about to explode. They had been very careful with not singing and calling out to each other so as to not bother Madam Vibora, but they couldn’t hold it in for very much longer.

One day, it happened.

At first, there was just one “COQUI!” sounding out. Then others followed.

Then, before you knew it, all the Coquis were singing and calling out and not caring if Madam Vibora could sleep or not.

This frustrated Madam Vibora so much. She tried to quiet them. She yelled at them and threw rocks at them, but the Coquis were so loud, (and so small) she couldn’t bother them.

Madam Vibora freaked out. She got so angry that as she yelled at them to stop, her fangs came out and she struck at one of the Coquis and swallowed her in one gulp.

All the Coquis went silent for a moment. They couldn’t believe what they had seen. Madam Vibora said nothing. She looked away from the judging eyes of all the Coquis.

Then, a distant sound came wafting in through the large green leaves of the lush rain forest. It was a Cuatro, a pandereta and a Guiro, and it was playing a Plena.

The Coqui playing the Cuatro sang:

Sana, sana culito de rana
Si no te vas hoy
Te iras mañana

The Coquis sang along as loud as they could, and Madam Vibora couldn’t stand it any longer.

She left El Yunque. In fact, she got on the next ship off the island.

The Coquis went back to living and playing as they had before Snake came along.

The truth is, the Coquis learned something from Madam Vibora. It was basically what NOT to do.

The Coquis elected a new president, and the group grew in quantity, but more importantly, in quality.

THE END

Here is a translation of some of the words used in this story.
Coqui: the common name for several species of frogs that live only in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
El Yunque: the rain forest in Puerto Rico
Baile: a dance
Cuatrista: a musician who plays a cuatro
Plena: folkloric music of Puerto Rico
Merengue: A type of lively, joyful music and dance that comes from Hispañola.
Salsa: a Cuban style of music
Bomba: a musical style with wild dancing and African type drumming
Platano: plantain
Cena: a meal
Sancocho: a stew
Lechon Asado: roasted pig
Arroz: rice
Gandules: pigeon peas
Tostones: Flattened and fried plantain
Pasteles: a plantain-dough wrapped meat pastry
Cuajo: soup made with tripe
Festivales: a festival
Bacalaito: deep-fried codfish and flour appetizer
Artesano: a native artist
Orchesta: an orchestra
Flamboyan: a flowering tree
Vibora: a viper
Cuatro: a 4, 8 or 10 stringed instrument
Pandereta: A Hand Drum
Guiro: A percussion instrument made from a hollow gourd with notches in the side.

Sana, sana culito de rana
Si no te vas hoy
Te iras mañana:

Heal, heal, Bottom of a frog
If you don’t go today
You will leave tomorrow