Texas State Historical Association - My Texas

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Rite of the Horned Toad

When drought descends upon the semi-naked South Texas land,

Chicharras send their shrill warning sound across the barren sand.

"Beware!" cicadas cry. "The dry spell is here with furious might,

And you, the horned toad, the victim of a rancheros' rite."

This ancient rite demands a horned toad from its spine to hang,

To dangle from a tree until torrential rain has come to drench the land.

A scaly lizard had been captured, though camouflaged it was in pebbled ground.

Thus began a desperate ritual, a plea to God for rain, by people from around.

A string was tied to its spiny crown, and the horned toad dangled from a tree,

Casting shadows of a hanging Christ, He who begged his Father to set him free.

Three long days and lonely nights the hanging animal seemed to pray for rain,

But the clear heavens gave no promise of relieving the creature from its pain.

A ranchero's boy tormented by a rite that seemed so cruel and senseless,

Feared a voice that cried to him, "Set the lizard free; the drought is endless."

The rite decreed that no one must let the victim go until it had brought rain,

But the voice he heard assured him it was meant for him to break the chain.

The still, dark night convinced the boy the act he was about to do was right.

He stood before the hanging creature and cut the string with all his might.

The horned toad was set free by a boy who broke the pattern of an ancient rite.

That night it rained and rained. The boy in awe asked, "God, did I do it right?"

Commentary from the poet: I grew up in a ranch in South Texas. Life at the ranch was desolate and brutal, but for a child with a vivid imagination it was a world of adventures and mysteries.

Lauro Canales
Riverside, California
Published: November 14, 2005