How a Christian woman took the Moorish castle of the beautiful town of Alquézar, in our region of the Spanish Pyrenees.
Legend has it that the tyrant Moorish king, Jalaf Ibn Rasid, during his reign in Alquézar (Huesca) and the vast region of Somontano in Spanish Pyrenees, demanded that the most beautiful virgin maidens of the area be surrendered to satisfy his most intimate desires.
Until one day, a young woman from the nearby village of Buera, as brave as she was beautiful, decided to take vengeance into her own hands. At her signal, the Christians would attack the fortress-castle of Alquézar and easily defeat the Moors.
Everyone tried to dissuade her, convinced that her plan was madness. But as night fell, the courageous young woman dressed in her finest, most delicate garments, pinned up her hair with a sharp hair comb, and went to the castle to offer herself to the Moorish king.
Once presented, King Jalaf Ibn Rasid, intoxicated from the wine at dinner, was overcome by her beauty.
After taking her, and drowsy from the wine, the king fell asleep. It was then that the young woman seized the moment, stabbing him in the heart with her sharpened comb. She then used the king’s own sword to cut off his head and displayed it from one of the tower windows the signal the Christians had been waiting for to launch their surprise attack and easily defeat the Moorish army.
It is said that the souls of the Moorish soldiers still wander through the ravines of Alquézar, and that on certain nights, their agonized cries can still be heard echoing through the canyons.
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