The story, told to the librettist's mother Pastora Imperio, is based on a popular legend. He stars a gypsy named Candela that has been abandoned recently by a man who believed he loved her. So she turns to a witch so that prepare a love potion to bring back her man from her; she goes to the lair of this witch, but finds it empty, so you sudden witch herself and the spell fails. The man who had betrayed her appears in the den of a sudden, he does not recognize the mistakes for the witch and he is afraid. Candela warns him that he had recently launched a curse on him that can be broken only by returning from its previous woman. The man, who has fear of the witch, promises that will do so, then recognizes Candela, but now the spell worked and he can no longer do without her now that he has in hand.