SAYONA
The legend says that "La Sayona" was a young woman named Melissa. She lived in a small town in the plains of Venezuela and was the most beautiful girl there. She was married to a great man, caring and loving. Melissa and her husband had a baby boy. One day, Melissa was swimming naked in a near-by river, when a man from the village saw her. After that, the man would always follow her and watch her bathe in the river. One day Melissa saw him and told him to leave her alone; he ignored her, and instead told her that he was there to warn her: "Your husband is having an affair with none other than your mother," he said. Melissa ran home and found her husband asleep with the baby in his arms. Blind with anger, she burned the house with them inside. Villagers could hear their screams while Melissa ran to her mother's house. She found her on the patio and attacked her with a machete, striking her in the stomach. As the mother bled to death, she cursed Melissa by saying that from then on she would have to avenge all women by killing their unfaithful husbands. And from that day forward Melissa became "La Sayona".
In other versions of the tale, it appears to lone men working in the jungle when they are thinking of women they left behind in their hometown or simply when they talk to their work mates about wanting to be with a woman. Later on, a woman would appear to them in the likeness of an unknown, beautiful and desirable woman, or a loved one, and try to lure them into the forests so it could then reveal their animal-like features and devour them or just mangle them, leaving their wretched bodies for their companions to find.
(ESPAÑOL)
La leyenda original de La Sayona narra básicamente la historia de una mujer muy celosa, que mató a su esposo y a su madre pensando que estos tenían un romance. Su madre, en la agonía de la muerte, la maldijo, diciéndole "Sayona serás para siempre, y en nombre de Dios, que así sea". Desde ese entonces su alma en pena vaga sin descanso ni paz, persiguiendo a los hombres infieles para conquistarlos y luego matarlos.
Existen miles de versiones de encuentros con La Sayona, que son los que ha popularizado a este mítico personaje. También se dice que La Sayona tiene la particularidad de “desdoblarse”, esto quiere decir que puede presentarse como un perro, un lobo o como la mujer antes descrita.
Pero todas las versiones concuerdan en que es una hermosa mujer de largos cabellos negros (aunque no mantiene esta apariencia, ya que una vez acorralada muestra su verdadera forma a la victima), que persigue a los hombres mujeriegos. Siempre se suele terminar esta narración con advertencias como: "Por lo tanto, es mejor que aquellos hombres que disfrutan engañando a su pareja, se lo piensen bien antes que se le aparezca La Sayona".
La leyenda también cuenta que La Sayona siempre viste de blanco y que su particular grito puede ser oído en la distancia y que además eriza los pelos de quienes lo oyen. Este último rasgo de La Sayona la asemeja aun más a las banshees.
