Felipe won the Young Writers Competition initiated by Manuela Istrate, an English teacher at Escola Básica e Secundária de Bemposta, Portimão. Tomorrow published the winning entries of the competition. Felipe is 17 and studying theatre at Bemposta. He has been researching the legends of the Algarve, hearing stories from the older generations and other sources.
The Legend of Praia dos Três Irmãos
Long ago, a family of fishermen lived on the southern coast of what we today call Portugal. This family had a tough life. They had to work hard to bring food to the table, and they did not make enough to sell. They needed a miracle.
Legend has it that one day, a deity came to their aid, and so they made a deal. This god or goddess (whose name has been lost in time) would increase the number of fish they caught, and the fishermen would then have to give something in return.
And so it happened that suddenly the fishermen would return home with bucketloads of fish; their families were healthy and well fed, all thanks to the unknown god. However, when it came time to pay their part of the deal, the fishermen became greedy and told the god they would not keep the promise they had made. Instead of destroying the fishermen right then and there, the angered god told them that their greed would be their undoing and that they would regret it. Not today, but soon, they would wish they had kept their promise.
Many years later, three brothers of the same family of fishermen went out to sea to fish in the hope that they would make a worthy catch. Unfortunately, once they set off to sea, a tremendous storm blew, and they were right in the middle of it.
The boat rocked in the waves, water crashing inside. Every second, it sank deeper and deeper. The men knew they would not make it out alive. So now, if you go to Praia dos Três Irmãos near Alvor, you can see three rocks which symbolise the brothers; the gods put them there to remind others not to renege on a promise.
Note: This legend came from an oral tradition and is based on all the details we know. The rest has been lost to time.
Pedra Mourinha
This is the story explaining how Pedra Mourinha (Moorish rock), located near the city of Portimão, got its name. This tale is as old as the rocks themselves! Legend tells the story of a young, fair Moorish lady who lived in the territory we today call Monchique and fell in love with a Christian man. However, because her father had already promised her hand in marriage to another, their love was forbidden. So the two young lovers decided to elope together but were quickly found out by her father, who in return locked her in a tower and banished her lover to Portimão.
The beautiful girl cried for countless days and countless nights, miserable and missing her lover, and her tears pushed a large rock found beside the tower all the way down to Portimão, to her love. Legends also theorise that her lover’s longing attracted the large rock to Portimão together with her tears.
The rock is, in fact, a menhir originating in the Serra de Monchique, located around 20 kilometres away. This legend was probably created by our ancestors to explain the mystery of how it made its way to Portimão.
Told by Gisela Oliveira, Portuguese teacher in the Algarve.
The Window
There is a window far within the city of Lagos, but it is not an ordinary window. Legend says it was here that the great Portuguese king Dom Sebastião watched the mass below before leaving for the great battle of Alcácer, from which he never returned, and his body was never found. Some school friends and I decided to investigate further and put our own interpretations on this well-known local legend.
After talking to some locals in Lagos, I heard a different version of the story. This legend tells of a maiden who lived in the castle in Lagos and that, after all these years, if you look through the window, you can see her spirit there.
Dom Sebastião took to the throne at only 14 years old and never had a wife or children. Some historians believe that he was gay. However, I don’t believe that’s the case. Another local from Lagos told us that they heard of Dom Sebastião meeting someone at that window. So what if his last appearance there wasn’t to observe the mass at all?
What if Dom Sebastião and this mystery maiden were in love? Maybe a type of forbidden love such as Romeo and Juliet. That would certainly explain why he never had a wife during his life and all those secret meetings at the window. But one thing remains a mystery: why does the spirit of that maiden haunt the castle? Well, for that, we must take a look at another legend about Lagos.
When leaving to fight in Alcácer, Dom Sebastião left from the port in Lagos, and legend says that one foggy morning his spirit will return when the Portuguese people need him the most. I believe that Dom Sebastião’s last appearance at the window before leaving for war was, in fact, a farewell to his lover, who eventually found out Dom Sebastião would never return and was left with a broken heart. Now, her spirit awaits his return, patiently and in misery.
Sources: Joan Martins, Maria Pilar and high schoolers from Lagos.
