Basque tales 14

Basque tales

Here are various tales Basque : The brothers of the Imatzene house, The threshing of wheat, The geniuses of Jentilbaratza

Basque tales

The brothers of the house Imatzene

On Good Friday, three from the Imatzene house (Ataun district) went to the mountain pastures of Ubedi on Mount Araoz in the company of their sheep.

When they passed near Ubedi's sinkhole, three red calves came out and walked towards them.
The three brothers got scared and fled to the heights of Agaoz. The calves followed them.
One of the three brothers died at the breach called Aldatsa in Agaoz; the second, in the neighborhood of Erremedio, a house in the Aitzaarte district.

The third arrived at his home but he lived a few days.


Threshing wheat

In the past, therefore, the Lord Jesus came and went in this world, with the great Saint Peter. One evening, at nightfall, they asked to sleep in a house, and immediately they were told that they would have a room, with a bed in that room. Wanting to reward our people, Jesus immediately asked them what work they were to do the next day. They replied that they had to thresh wheat.

Jesus then commanded them to countermind the workers; they would thresh the wheat, he and his companion. And our people did as they said. The next day, the master of the house firmly believed that Jesus and Saint Peter would begin their work before daybreak. But they just weren't moving! And we were not happy all around! Then the master, having entered the room, ventured to ask if, having so much wheat to thresh, they did not see that it had been daylight for a long time already? And they said yes, that they were going to get up.

But, as they were still in bed, the master got angry and, again, asked them if they wanted to get up or not. And they always answered yes, that they were getting up immediately. But they never got up. Then red with anger, the master came to them with a stick, and vigorously he struck the one of them who was on the edge of the bed.
- poor Saint Peter.

Then he left. Whatever reason he had for not wanting to get up again, Jesus heard the repeated moans of Saint Peter and said to his companion:
- «these people are very irritated against us… Come in the corner of the bed where you can caress your bruises; otherwise, on this edge, they will hit you again. "

Saint Pierre was therefore hardly installed in the corner, when, furiously, the master arrived with his stick and shouted at the top of his lungs:
- "Wait a moment, wait!… Right away, we'll see if you are not going to get up this time!… It was, just now, the turn of the one who was on the edge; Who's around now? "
And, for the second time, he hits and thumps with importance the poor Saint Peter who had put himself in the corner.

So they arose - Saint Peter with a strong sigh; and they piled up the grain and set it on fire. At this fire, all the grain was shattered; straw on one side, beard and chaff on the other, and grain on another side. Our people were thrilled. Very quickly, they forgot all their morning impatience. But they did not know how to keep the smallest secret, and the neighbors, having learned from them how Jesus had shelled the wheat with fire, also set their wheat on fire, and…. they burned it all.


The geniuses of Jentilbaratza

On Jean Aguerre, former lord of this house, as well as on his descendants, weighed the curse of the spirits who lived in the cave and in the old fortress of the neighboring peak called Jentilbaratza (garden of the Jentils).

One day when he was ill, the spirits came to visit him and put a gold bedspread on his bed. They did so on one occasion, when the patient was to receive the last aid of religion. As it was dark, the spirits stayed at the Aguerre house to keep their friend company.
The latter's parents, driven by greed, nailed the gold blanket to the bed frame. Then, by a play of lights, they caused a rooster to throw its KUKURRUKU.

Hearing this song which announced the end of the period of the nocturnal geniuses, the inhabitants of Jentilbaratza fled in a precipitous manner, not without pulling the blanket. They tore it up and took only shreds home. What remained remained at Aguerre.

Then they understood the plot of which they had been the victims and hurled this curse at all times:
 "Agerre'n Agerre dan arte, ez dik or eriik edo maliik uts egingo"
(As long as there is an Aguerre à Aguerre, there will be no shortage of impotants or penguins here).

The curse is inevitably fulfilled.