Bryan Romero

Bryan Romero

Mr. Lehman 

English 8th 

 October 29, 2025

The differences and similarities of folk lore El cuco and my El Cuco

 My monster was originally an evil entity that preys on bad children but I kept that the same. El Cuco in my story is a trapped soul forced to do evil. In folklore he is a mythical monster that is equivalent to the boogeyman. He is a shadowy shapeshifting creature that snatches children who misbehave. In my story he is a soul that is trapped and whomever kills him he gets freed.

The differences I put were he was a trapped soul and he was forced to be evil. He also was grateful to be freed by odelia. he was a blue glowing soul that came out when odelia killed him. When he was killed he went up somewhere to the sky when he died. He also was just a regular guy that came out when Odila killed him. 

The similarities I've kept are that he is still evil and still preys on bad children. He also still shapeshifts to anything he wants. He still feeds on human pain and suffering and misbehaving  children. He is also still a mythological being similar to the boogie man he also still chooses to shapeshift into a tall man. His story is still told to children to encourage good behavior.   

The main differences are that he was a trapped soul in the el cuco. The main similarities are that he is still a shapeshifting monster that preys on children. The theme that I have is that there is always good in evil. When Odelia killed El cuco a guy came out that's like the good in the evil. You can see this theme in real life like when a criminal turns his life around and become a better person.

My sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_(folklore)

Bryan Romero 

Mr.Lehman

English 8

2 October 2025

El Cuco 

After the morning of the killing the lechuzas they found themselves walking in the woods. Then it started to get dark out so the sisters started to set up camp. As they were starting to settle down, Pita started to hear weird noises and tried to tell Odilia but she did not listen. Then while all the other sisters are asleep Pita wanders off to investigate.

Then Pita screams in terror which wakes up all the sisters. Odilia wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. Then she checked on the other sisters and they were all good. Odilia tries to fall asleep but she can't because of the thought of something getting her sisters while she was asleep. Eventually odilia falls asleep then pita wakes up to the weird noise then she goes to investigate without telling odilia.

 Then pita screams loud enough to wake up every one then Odilia tries to run to pita but an unknown monster snatched pita before Odilia could do anything. Then the monster flees the scene. So odilia had to think fast before the monster gets to far so she thought of the ear pendant. So she said, “Aztec queen Tonantzin Holy Mother of all mankind, lend me your magical assistance Sing to me, Mother Queen, sing me the song of the cave then la liorona showed up and gave odilia a magical bow and the power to track. So odilia goes off to find  the monster then she finds him while all the other sisters are asleep. 

The monster then tries to hit Odilia but she does a roll to dodge the attack. Then Odilia jumps up, already drawing her bow from her quiver. Then she let the arrow go and it hit its shoulder dropping pita. Then it got filled with rage and rushed forward to attack Odilia. But Odilia was too quick and shot it in the heart then it dropped to the floor. As the creature took its last breath a glow came from its chest. A peaceful spirit came out of its body, its face calm and human. It looked at Odilia and whispered, Thank you, you've set me free.

Then Odilia and Pita went back to the other sisters; they were still asleep. So odilia tried to fall asleep with pita. So they eventually fell asleep. Odilia had a good dream before she woke. Then in the morning they just stayed at camp for a little while before doing anything. Then they all woke up. Im tired velia said and she fell into the nest of clothes we had built ourselves the night before.