Carbuncle (legendary creature)
Carbuncle (Spanish: Carbunclo, Carbunco or Carbúnculo) is a legendary species of small animal in South American folklore, specifically in the mining folklore of northern Chile. The animal is said to contain riches of some sort; in some versions it is a precious stone that gives fortune and good luck to its owner. It may originate from the medieval guivre, which was said to have a carbuncle on its head.
The description of the animal vary. The chaplain and explorer Martín del Barco Centenera describes it in La Argentina (1602) as "a smallish animal, with a shining mirror on its head, like a glowing coal". As explained in the Book of Imaginary Beings Barco Centenera "underwent many hardships hunting the reaches of Paraguayan rivers and jungles for the elusive creature; he never found it." In the same book, the mirror in the carbuncle's head is said to be akin to two lights observed by Spanish explorers in the Strait of Magellan. Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés identified these lights with the gemstones hidden in the brains of dragons. The association is likely derived from the 7th-century Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville.
In Chile some say it moves like a firefly in the night. In Tarapacá, it is said to look like a bivalve with a strong white-blue shine from within the shell which can be observed from a great distance. This "bivalve" is said to have the form of a maize ear, with more than four feet. The "bivalve" Carbunclo is said to have a very good sense of hearing, which it uses to hide from people by closing its shell to be mistaken for a stone. The shining in the interior of the carbuncle is thought by some miners to come from the gold it has inside.
During the great drought of 1924–25 there were reported sightings of carbunclos on moonless nights. Around 1925 a family of carbunclos was seen descending from the mountain of Tulahuén towards Río Grande (Coquimbo Region). Also in northern Chile, a man named Gaspar Huerta is said to have encountered a carbunclo while digging an acequia, but reportedly he could not see what its shape was because he killed it on the spot to recover its riches.