The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-06-04
SOME WEIRD LEGENDS
OF OLD MEXICO
Tale of Supernatural Events Which Have Been
Handed Down From Generation
to Generation

attempt was made later to recast
it, the bewitched metal rebelled and
refused to fuse.
One story with foundation in fact
is the legend of Don Juan Manuel
AS the tale survives in the folk lore
here, Don Juan was an amiable
enough gentleman, except that he had
a bad habit of wandering out nights
and numbering people. His custom
was to approach somebody ON the
street and ask him the time, and
when he replied, telling him he was
lucky because he knew the hour OF
his death, stabbed him to the heart
This went on until one night Don
Juan killed his dearly beloved nep-
hew, whom he had not recognized.
Stricken with remorse, Don Juan
confessed to his priest, who, for
penance, ordered him to go alone at
midnight to a certain church, before
which was a gallows, and to tell his
rosary under the gallows. Three
nights he attempted to fulfill the COM
mand, but was driven back by the
groans of the persons he had muir
dered. After begging in vain for a
lighter penance, he finally reached hi.
goal under the gallows. And then
angels from Heaven came down and
hanged him.
Janvier points out as matter OF
history that there was such a person
in Mexico in 1641, and he was dis
honest collector of revenues. He was
jailed, and to secure his liberty, his
wife was compelled to suffer incredi-
BILE humiliations at the hands of a
Judge. Don Juan broke prison, went
to his home, found the judge there
and stabbed him to death. Later he
was mysteriously lynched one night
before the church, and from this
grew the legend that the angels had
punished him for his sins.
Another rather curious story is
that of certain very tall nun, who
had been remarkable for her strict
obedience to the orders of her su-
periors. She died, and, for some rea-
son, it became necessary to bury her
at once. When coffin was sent it
was found to be too short. There
was no time to get longer one, so
the body was put into the short one.
The mother superior. commanded the
corpse to be as obedient in death as
| the nun had been in life, and to ac-
commodate itself to the box. Imme-
diately it began to shrink until it was
the proper size.
A story of the ghostly vengance is
called the Legend of the Bridge OF
| the Priest. 1t seems there was a
certain priest, Don Juan de Nava,
who was the guardian of his orphan
niece, a beautiful girl. A Portuguese
nobleman, Don Duarte de Sarraza,
| fell in love with her, and she recipro-
Gated the attachment, but the priest
rejected Don Duarte because he was
! known as a gambler. One night the
priest came upon Don Duarte talking
! to his niece through her window.
Duarte struck the old man with his
dagger, which was imbedded in his
skull, killing him. He threw the
body, dagger and all, into a ditch.
| Just one year later Don Duarte was
found dead at the site of the crime.
kneeling on him, one of its bony
hands gripping his body by the
throat, was skeleton in priestly
garments, with dagger sticking in
it's skull. !
This is the legend of the beautiful
Mulata of Cordoba: She was surpass-
! ing fair, so that all men fell in love
with her, but she scorned all her suit
ors for the love of her master, the
devil. Her evil deeds finally reached
the ears of the inquisitors, and the
Holy Office seized her. She was con-
demned to be burned at the next au-
to delfe.
The chief inquisitor, before the
hour of execution, went to her cell to
urge her to repentance. He was sur
prised to find she had drawn on the
wall a picture of full-rigged ship.
Mocking the priest, she went to the
wall, leaped to the deck of the ship,
grasped the tiller and steered it
straight through the wall. She
never was seen again, but the chief
inauisitor became a maniac.
The fearful penalties of failing to
fulfill vow are told in another tale.
Don Tristan de Alculer, according to
the story, had vowed to the Blessed
Virgin of Guadalupe that if she
would heal his fever he would make