11 A Sip of Power

A long time ago in ancient El Salvador history, there was a boy named Cal. He lived in a farm with his parents and was living in poverty. The family was known for their dairy product production like queso ( cheese) and crema (cream) sauce. The boy was ignorant of the benefits of the milk products and never drank it.

One day the boy coming from school took a shortcut home through the wilderness and encountered a majestic animal. It was a majestic cow like no other. It had long horns spiraling from its head and was very big. The boy flabbergasted, choked on his own spit and started coughing. The cow heard and noticed him and with a calm and deep voice the cow said “Do not fear me child, you may come closer for a reward shall be bestowed upon you for spotting me”. The boy slowly walked to the cow and noticed that the cow was floating a foot off the ground. The boy was too stunned to speak and the cow calmly said ” give me your hand child.”

Cal put out his hand and felt a bottle placed in his hand. He noticed that it was white and glimmering. The cow said “This gift I bestow to you will give you strength and power like no other in this world. Drink from this and you shall be a person with immense power.”

Cal was so confused and asked “Why do I want this ?” The cow calmly responded “I sense great wisdom from you and when the time is right you will know your duty and what is expected of you”. The boy glanced at the bottle and asked “What do you mean when the time is …” but the cow had disappeared.

Cal was so stunned and confused and wondered if he had been dreaming. The bottle in his hand looked like regular milk – nothing special. He has never tried milk and never planned to and now he has a magic bottle for ” when the time is right.” What? Cal felt tired and uneasy and made his way home.

When he arrived home his parents were crying in fear and Cal asked “What happened?” The parents cried ” El Tigre ! El Tigre! ” and pointed to the sky.  Cal looked up and saw the sky turning ashy black over the land.

“El tigre” means “the tiger” but in El Salvador/Honduras , there is a strato volcano named that. It’s the oldest volcano in El Salvador and Honduras.

Cal realized that the enormous volcano was erupting after years of remaining dormant. His parents cried and were scared for their house because it was the only thing they had left. Cal ran towards the volcano to see what he could do.

His parents screamed “Get back ! It’s too dangerous for you! You can get severely injured!” While Cal usually listened to his parents, something inside him told him to go toward the volcano. Cal ran faster and faster towards El Tigre and noticed a huge boulder.  Cal realized that it could cover the top of the volcano and stop the eruption from happening, but he was way too small and weak to lift this boulder, which probably weighed several tons.

He remembered the magic milk bottle that the cow had given him. With no hope and no expectations that anything could stop the destruction to come , he opened the bottle and thought “What’s the worst that can happen?” Holding his nose he drank a sip of the milk and a giant flash of blinding light appeared out of nowhere. When he opened his eyes he felt much taller and noticed his body had transformed into that of a powerful man. He felt his bones were super strong and felt like he could run for days!

Cal was too amazed to even consider his newfound power but he remembered his family and their home. He ran towards the boulder and began to push the boulder up the side of El Tigre.  He wasn’t sure if he could do it, but Cal thought  of his family, his land, and his heritage that he became determined not to give up.

Soon he was almost at the top of El Tigre, but he felt weaker. He didn’t think he could make it but he chugged the whole bottle and gained a final boost of power. He carried the boulder on his shoulder the few remaining meters and threw the boulder inside the volcano which stopped the eruption.

Cal had the weight of the world on his shoulders but he was inspired to action because he did not want to give up on his land , his family, his culture and his civilization.

When the volcano calmed down Cal came down to his family and his shocked parents asked him “Where did you acquire this ?!” He smiled and chuckled and said to them “I suppose this is what happens when you drink milk”.

This story was told generation after generation. When scientists heard of this story they named the mineral that gives your bones strength calcium after the heroic Cal.

Fun facts

Calcium is important for bone formation and is found in shells, coral and pearls.