Every hundred years, a kite in the Spanish mountains lays a red egg in a gorse bush. From that egg hatches a black and white bird, larger than a chicken, which lives exactly fifty years. When that bird dies, a green worm emerges from its rotting flesh. That worm gradually metamorphoses into a Gallo de la Muerte – a Rooster of Death.
A gallo de la muerte has black plumage and a white comb with blue and reddish spots. Anyone who hears its whining, screaming quiquiriquí is doomed to die the next day.
The only remedy for this death sentence is a particular herb that grows among the mountain apple trees from the start of spring till the month of May. This herb is blue and has black roots. The remedy involves boiling this herb in rosemary water and praying over the concoction before it is imbibed.
References
Candón, M. and Bonnet, E. (1993) A buen entendedor…Anaya & Mario Muchnik, Madrid.
Llano, M. (1998) Obras Completas, t. I. Alianza Editorial, Madrid.