The Trauco, chauco, thrauco, or huelle is a mischievous and in love dwarf, who stalks the maidens to become intimate with them.
History[]
The Trauco is a being with the appearance of a man with unpleasant features like an ogre, short, measuring no more than 80 cm, and his legs have only stumps (ends at the ankles), so he does not have feet.
The Trauco walks through the forests of Chiloé, carrying a twisted staff called pahueldún and a small and magical stone ax, with which it is said that he is capable of cutting down any tree with just three blows. His clothing is a conical hat that, like the rest of his clothing, is made of quilineja, a climbing plant that grows in the Chiloé jungles.
The trauco is known for seducing women with his eyes, blowing his breath at them, getting into their dreams and seducing them and then making them pregnant.
This creature would live with his wife, Fiura, in hollow tree trunks or in small caves; and he only feeds on oranjitas, the fruits of the quilineja plant.
El Trauco also when he is interested in a woman, but he cannot take her, since as a precaution she is never alone in the forest; El Trauco would act first by communicating her presence to the girl, by depositing her yellow excrement in front of the door of her house. Later he would announce to the young woman her visit to her house, sending her lustful dreams; in which he would transform into a handsome young man in order to magically convince her. If the girl's family becomes aware of these facts, they must take precautions, since the Trauco could sneak into the house transformed into a bundle of quilineja along with the rest of the branches, charcoal or firewood used in the house; in this way he would wait for the night to take the victim from him.
El Trauco would not act in front of witnesses, and that is why he is always alert. But if someone bothers the Trauco, and he is not a woman; she is able to kill him by using his gaze, or by breaking his bones. Likewise, through his magical breath it is said that he can twist his mouth, leave him hunched, stunned, speechless, and condemn him to die in a short time.