Almond Trees

The Moorish ruler of Silves brought some prisoners to the Algarve from a northern campaign. A young woman among the prisoners was of special charm, and the ruler fell in love with her. Winter after winter, she became sad and sadder and the ruler no longer knew what to do and finally questioned an old fellow prisoner about the cause of her depression. This one explained that in winter she missed the white snow, which was always plentiful in her home country at that time. She was homesick! After some deliberation, the ruler planted almond trees everywhere, bathing the whole land in a white-pink sea of flowers from about the turn of the year. When the young lady saw this from the castle walls in Silves, she lost her homesickness and sadness. Now then she became the king’s wife, and both lived and reigned happily for a long time.


The Portuguese cock

This legend from the north of Portugal tells of a farmer from Barcelos (north of Porto), who was on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Shortly after his departure, he was accused by a wealthy landowner of silver theft. The farmer was put on trial despite vehemently denying the act, found guilty and thus spoken to death by hanging. Shortly before his execution, the farmer demanded as his last wish to speak with his judge. The judge was just about to eat a fried rooster. Then the condemned man predicted that the cock would bounce off the plate to prove his innocence and would crow during his execution. When the farmer was to be executed, the rooster actually jumped up and then also began to crow. The judge ran as fast as he could to the town square to stop the execution. There he saw that the strand had opened like a miracle. The farmer was saved and now moved his way.

Years later, the farmer returned to his hometown and built a memorial to St. James and the Virgin Mary.


The stone girl of Salir

The Moorish ruler Aben-Fabilla had built a castle in what is now Salir (in the hinterland of the Algarve), from which one could survey the whole country. One day the guards saw from the castle wall the Christian King Alonso and his army advance to the castle. The Moors immediately realised that they had no chance against these superior numbers. They quickly buried their treasures in the castle and fell back. When King Alonso and his men entered the castle, they found only the beautiful daughter of Aben-Fabilla, who prayed to God that he would allow her to stay in the castle. If she had to leave (in Portuguese “salir”) it, she would rather die. The Christians were very impressed by her courage, but they still captured her and wanted to carry her out of the castle. Aben-Fabilla watched the process from a hill nearby. He stretched out his arm and mumbled some mysterious words. At that moment the knight Dom Gonçalo Peres saw the beautiful girl turning to stone. The message spread like wildfire through the Christian troops and since that time the place is called Salir.

One day the statue of the girl disappeared. Even today it is said that since then she has occasionally at night wandered around in the ruins of the castle.