ZAPOTEC LEGEND OF THE PRINCESS DONAJI
A little-known variation on the legend of the Princess Donaji, is that which is told in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Here the story has nothing to do with the aggression of the mixtec and zapotec peoples, but with the zapotec race and the white man. Impregnated with loving sentiment for the ismeno people, here we are presented with the sacrifice of the zapotec woman facing an impossible love. The context and part of the history is altered but the credible elements and the values which are proclaimed remain unchanged: Donaji is a zapotec princess, a brave woman who chooses sacrifice above failing to fulfill a promise, in this case concerning love.

King Cosijopi, direct heir to the exploits of his predecessors, was a terrible indomitable indian, of bronzed complexion, who had a daughter, the beautiful Donaji. This king liked to have a variety of options for his escapes routes in order to defend himself from his enemies, the mixtecos, the aztecs and especially the spanish conquerors. And for this purpose he installed himself in a place named Cerro Venado, or Dani Dixhina(deer hill), where a palace was constructed, in the vicinity of the town of Tlacotepec.

After her walk she would bathe in Guela Bupu, and sometimes she liked to get away from her usual domain. One day she went so far away that, unable to find her way home, she decided to rest at the foot of a pale leafy tree, where she fell into a deep sleep. In her slumber she was discovered by a castilian captain who silently watched and admired her. Astounded by the indian beauty he had in his sight, he did not disturb her until she awoke naturally. Now awake and startled by the white man beside her, she set off and ran to her palace, where she found her parents greatly alarmed by her tardy return and who had sent their guards to look for her. The next day, as was customary, she went out for her stroll and to bathe in Guela Bupu. Upon her return she came across the white stranger, who spoke of his love, a love which was requited by her.

Despite the lack of knowledge of each other’s language, the friendliness and charm, the attraction and the admiration and the glances played their part in creating the understanding required. Naturally her parents, the King and Queen, aware of the passing events, did not accept in any manner the attitude of their royal daughter, for whom they had already prepared a marriage to a dark, brave warrior well-known to his people. The princess immediately and emphatically rejected the idea and proposition of her adoring parents: she begged for mercy, and not being granted it, swore to the heavens that she would die before marrying a designated warrior of her own race.
Full of sordid melancholy, desperate and worried, she set out on her ritual stroll, to her waterfall, to the beautiful Guela Bupu. She climbed to the adjacent peak from where she threw herself falling rapidly to her death in Guela Bupu, which ravaged the princess’s defenceless body, torn and bloody.

The legend states that since then the local people see a beautiful zapotec goblet which idles on the surface of the water, one which no one can reach, nor is even capable of attempting to.
They know that inside the goblet lies the beautiful Donaji’s heart and the power of her love, a symbol of the virtue and integrity of the glorified zapotec race.