The Legend of the Pear Girl -Niña de las Peras

The Pear Girl is one of the most interesting legends from the Canary Islands, believed to have originated in the late 1800s. The tale takes place in the town of  Güímar on the volcanic island of Tenerife.

A young girl around ten years old, was outside playing in the street with her friend, when her mother called out to her to go to the Barranco de Badajoz to pick some pears for their dessert. The girl set off alone to the pear trees and after a short fifteen minute walk, she arrived at the tree. She began picking pears, but after only gathering a few, she was overcome by a drowsiness so intense that she had to lean back on the trunk of the tree and rest in the shade.

After a few minutes, she got back up to continue picking pears and get back home, when she saw a tall figure dressed entirely in white who was motioning with his hand to follow him down the winding path toward a large cave on the ravine’s slope.

She followed the being deep into the endless cave until they came to a narrow gap. She squeezed in between two volcanic rocks, which opened up to a valley filled with fruit trees and nearly everyspecies of tree that had once existed on Tenerife. They descended the steps to see there were other beings there, also dressed in white. She was overhwelmed with a sense of peace and tranquility, everything from the gentle breeze to the lush greenery. Not a word was spoken between them but she felt a huge happiness wash over her.

Only a few minutes had passed before her guide signalled for her to follow him once more. She took his hand as they retraced their steps and left the cave back to the pear tree and said goodbye.

The girl felt such a sense of serenity and suddenly recalled that she needed to still collect the pears for her mother. She picked a few more and began to head back home, but the heat felt stiffling, more than what she remembered only half hour ago. It was almost impossible for the temperature to have risen that much in such a short period of time. As she continued, she heard a strange noise that made her look toward the Güímar hillside.She was surprised to see a new road with vehicles on it that looked like they were from the future. She then looked out to the sea and saw ships without sails that weremoving along the coastline propelled with some invisible means.

As she approached her town, it seemed that Güímar had grown. There were many, many new homes that looked different than when she had left half an hour earlier. When she came to the corner of her street to begin the steep climb up the path home, she walked by a woman who must have been in her forties or so. The woman shreiked in terror, and ran toward the door of the nearest house, which was the home of the little girl that was playing with the pear girl in the streets some forty years ago.

She was in shock as the pear girl had dissapeared for all that time, and had just returned the same as she had left; a ten year-old girl wearing the same clothes that she wore when she had gone to pick the pears.