THE LEGEND OF MARIO

THE LOST TREASURE OF PUNTA CORAL

Written by Cecelia Reid

As legends go, no one is really sure where it started and if there is any truth to the legend; but this is what we know.

In 1665, a pirate named Mario and his sailors, made up of thieves and murderers terrorized the Indians in villages up and down the pacific coast of the New World.

The legend tells us that the ship, a four master schooner called, Lady Kimba, was filled with a cache of gold coins.  The ship and the coins disappeared without a trace.  What happened to the treasure?

A legend, chanted around campfires and passed through generations, tells us the story of the missing pirate and his treasure.

After spending 5 years traveling up and down the Pacific Coast of the New World, the sailors of the of the terrible pirate ship, planned a mutiny that was overheard by the captain.

Captain Mario was incredibly strong with almost supernatural strength.  He ran a tight ship.  He had lost an eye during a battle with Cannibals the pirates encountered near the Equator.  The damaged eye socket festered for days and after an agonizing week of incredible pain; the hole filled with puss and the good eye was in danger of getting infected. To clean the infection Mario used his own urine to clean out the hole left by the missing eye.  It worked and soon the infection was gone and although he was left with a hole, the wound was clean and now covered in a black patch.  The accident only made him meaner.

Mario was even meaner when he had rum in his belly and everyone on board the pirate ship was afraid of him.

The legend tells us that he overheard his crew of cut throat sailors and their plan to commit mutiny and decided that in order to save himself and his ship; he had to get rid of them all.  Mario planned their murder.

The pirate was familiar with black magic man and had hidden in his cabin a strong potent of a mixture of leaves and barks taken from a witch doctor during a massacre of Indians in the jungle near the Amazon. It was a sleeping potion.

Captain Mario knew he could not protect himself from the 30 sailors on board his ship; but he was very cunning and had almost predicted that the day would come when he would have to defend himself from the cut throat sailors.  He had tried it out on, Vigilante, a servant, who was almost as mean as Mario. The potion worked and the poor servant was left unconscious for 12 hours.

Each day the sailors were given a ration of rum. One afternoon, Mario placed the sleeping potent into a keg of rum and a jug was given to each of the crew.  Mario, stood on deck stroking his shaggy beard and watched, a slight grin on his face that showed he was missing most of his teeth.  He could hear the whispers of the crew as they planned amongst themselves the mutiny planned for the next day.

Soon, one by one, the greedy crew fell into a drug induced sleep. Mario had the strength of three men and one by one he and Vigilante threw the unconscious men into the ocean.  It wasn’t long before he had a trail of huge sharks that began feeding on the bodies of the crew. 

After he threw the last man into the water and watched in fascination as the last of his crew was devoured by the school of sharks, he threw his head back and laughed.

To celebrate, Mario drank from his personal cache of rum until he fell into a deep sleep on the deck of his ship.

Legend tells us that during the dark hours of the night Mario woke up with a start.  He felt a huge thump.  To his amazement the bow of his empty ship started rising and looking over the side Mario realized that he had run into a Blue Whale, the biggest mammal in the ocean.  Jumping to his feet, he didn’t notice the boom as it moved from side to side, hit him on the side of the head knocking him unconscious.  He fell to the deck.

Hours later, the cold ocean water brought Captain Mario to his senses.  The Lady Kimba was sinking.  He had to abandon ship.

Not wanting to loose all his treasure, he went below decks and was able to get one treasure chest and carry it to the top deck, lower the only life boat and with his companion Vigilante, who was always by his side, rowed away from the sinking ship.

As dawn broke, he saw the last of his mighty vessel as it finally sunk into the depths of the ocean.

He may have lost the majority of his treasure, but he was content that he was able to save at least one chest of gold.

Mario and Vigilante began to row towards the land he could see in the distance.  They had no fresh water to drink and the blazing sun beat fiercely on them.  Hour after hour they rowed and finally landed at the beach of Punta Coral where both fell face down on the beach and lost consciousness.

No one knows how long they lay in the sand before an Indian princess found them.  Mario felt before he saw, soft hands as they gently turned him over and lifted his head to give him some fresh water to drink.  When he opened his one good eye, he saw the beautiful maiden. 

Mario soon regained enough strength to sit up.  He looked for his treasure; but it was gone. He went into a rage.  Indians from the small village came out to see what all the commotion was about.  They became afraid of this mad man.

The legend tells us that the Indians jumped Mario and tied him to the nearest tree.  Then they dug a big hole in the sand and buried Mario up to his neck and poured honey on top of his head.  Soon his angry shouting was replaced with pleading cries to free him of the agony of the giant Army ants that began to devour him

What happened to Vigilante?  Legend tells us that he married the beautiful princess and they lived happily in the forest known as Punta coral.

What happened to the treasure that was buried at Punta Coral?  No-one really knows.  It has never been found.  The legend of the pirate Mario lives on and has been passed through generation after generation by the Indian tribe that lived around Punta Coral.  Will the treasure ever be found?