Tartalo

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In Basque mythology Tartalo is a one-eyed giant very similar to the Greco-Roman Cyclops. It is speculated that the name may derive from the Greek underworld Tartaros. He lives in caves in the mountains and catches young people in order to eat them, and he also eats sheep. It has an enormous strength. In Biscay it's known as Alarabi. There is a story about him that appears to be derived from the Odyssey.

[edit] Story

One day, while two brothers of the Antimuño baserri (a kind of basque farm) were hunting, a storm broke, so they decided to take refuge of the rain into Tartalo's cave. Soon after, Tartalo appeared with his flock of sheep. He saw the two brothers and said: "Bat gaurko eta bestea biharko" ("one for today and the other for tomorrow").

That same day he cocked and ate the eldest one, and then, he got asleep. While he was sleeping, the youngest brother stole Tartalo's ring and then he stuck the burduntzi ("roasting spit" in Basque) in his only eye. Tartalo was blind, but not dead yet.

He started to look for the boy among his sheeps, but he put on a sheep's skin and escaped from Tartalo. But, unluckily, when he got out of the flock of sheep, the accuser ring started to shout: "Hemen nago, hemen nago!" ("Here I am, here I am!").

Tartalo got out of his cave and he started to run from the back, while he was hearing the screams of the ring. The young one wasn't able to take off the ring, so, when he arrived to the edge of a cliff, he cut off his finger, and since Tartalo was near, he decided to throw it down the cliff. Tartalo, going from the back of the rings screams, fell off forever.