Last summer, on August, I was enjoying my holidays in a rural area, located on the north of the spanish mainland, in the province of Zamora. Its name is Sanabria.My friends and I stayed in a very little village, where few people live along the year. In summer, it is crowded, but despite of it, everybody seemed to know the others.
At night, we went walking to visit a near small town. It was close, so it wasn´t necessary to drive. After drifting in the old streets for a while, many photos were been taked. The ancient stone houses looked us seriously, as wondering if they would remain there for another century.
When we had finished the visit, we came back home. It was very late. We had covered approximately half of the way. All was quiet and, out of the blue, my friends and I heard the sound of what we thought to be a bell tower. It was strange, because we could see no reason to hear the bells at night and in that area, in the middle of nowhere.
We didn´t mind it . The next day, we remembered about that sound and asked an elder woman about it. Her face turned grey, and She told us this legend:
There was a ancient village, located in a fertile valley. High mountains were around it. A river passed through that village.
That was a heavily rainy day. The storm threw water and lightings to the little village.
Nearby midnight, a pilgrim arrived to the town. He was dressed in a black linen cape. A large and dark hat was on his head. A shell from a scallop was on it. He also had a large wooden staff. He had long dark hair and bear, and seemed to be tired.
He went to the houses asking for something to eat, and a place to stay for the night.
Everywhere he went, the people rejected to help him. He seemed to them not a trustworthy person, he was a black point in the darkness of the night.
At last, when he was going to leave the village, she found two women working in an oven. They were working, making bread. They invited him to enter and get dried. After that, they put a little piece of pastry inside the oven. It started to grow enormously, and they hardly could extract it.
They gave him that bread. After eating it, he told them: "You are the only one who have helped me, so I advice you to leave the village, because a tragedy is going to happen here"
...to be continuedNearby midnight, a pilgrim arrived to the town. He was dressed in a black linen cape. A large and dark hat was on his head. A shell from a scallop was on it. He also had a large wooden staff. He had long dark hair and bear, and seemed to be tired.
He went to the houses asking for something to eat, and a place to stay for the night.
Everywhere he went, the people rejected to help him. He seemed to them not a trustworthy person, he was a black point in the darkness of the night.
At last, when he was going to leave the village, she found two women working in an oven. They were working, making bread. They invited him to enter and get dried. After that, they put a little piece of pastry inside the oven. It started to grow enormously, and they hardly could extract it.
They gave him that bread. After eating it, he told them: "You are the only one who have helped me, so I advice you to leave the village, because a tragedy is going to happen here"
The Sanabria Lake Chronicles, Chapter I.
[Edited: It continues here]
