The Lost Hearts of El Dorado

~A Revisionist Historical Tale from Cornerstoregoddess~

El Dorado was the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into the lake Guatavita.



Imagined as a place, El Dorado became a kingdom, an empire, the city of this legendary golden king.

Pursuing the legend, Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro set sail from Quito in 1541 in a famous and disastrous expedition towards the Amazon Basin. 



Then, in 1595, the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh set out to find it




The city was never found, though  Raleigh wrote at length about his venture to South America and claimed he had neared "the great Golden Citie of Manoa (which the Spaniards call El Dorado)."



Of course, his narrative also described a tribe of headless people... causing a loss in credibility.



Until now, when the headless people emerged from their hidden village bearing hearts from El Dorado.



And then, as mysteriously as they had appeared, they disappeared into the mists once more.



All that remains are the hearts.



Really.