Galtzagorriak
Encyclopedia
Galtxagorriak. In Basque mythology
, galtzagorriak, meaning the red-pants, are a type of iratxoak
or imps.
According to the legend, a certain peasant who sought a way to do less work, was advised to go to certain shop of Bayonne
and buy a box of galtzagorriak. He did that and, when he was back to his farm, he opened the small box. A bunch of little imps with red pants jumped immediately from it asking "what do we do, what do we do?" He immediately put them to work: repair the fence, prepare the land, milk the cows, redo the ceiling... in few minutes the galtzagorriak had done all the jobs and asked again "what do we do now, what do we do now?". The peasant ordered them to do many other things and again the job was done in minutes. But the galtzagorriak kept asking what to do. The more than pleased peasant had to say: "nothing". Frustrated the imps started to undo all the jobs they had done. Eventually, the peasant managed to get them back into their box and, from then on, he decided to do his job by himself.
Basque mythology
The mythology of the ancient Basques largely did not survive the, albeit late, arrival of Christianity in the Basque Country between the 4th and 12th century AD...
, galtzagorriak, meaning the red-pants, are a type of iratxoak
Iratxoak
Iratxoak are the imps of Basque mythology. Usually benevolent, they help with farming labors in the night if given presents of food.A particular category of iratxoak are the galtzagoriak....
or imps.
According to the legend, a certain peasant who sought a way to do less work, was advised to go to certain shop of Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
and buy a box of galtzagorriak. He did that and, when he was back to his farm, he opened the small box. A bunch of little imps with red pants jumped immediately from it asking "what do we do, what do we do?" He immediately put them to work: repair the fence, prepare the land, milk the cows, redo the ceiling... in few minutes the galtzagorriak had done all the jobs and asked again "what do we do now, what do we do now?". The peasant ordered them to do many other things and again the job was done in minutes. But the galtzagorriak kept asking what to do. The more than pleased peasant had to say: "nothing". Frustrated the imps started to undo all the jobs they had done. Eventually, the peasant managed to get them back into their box and, from then on, he decided to do his job by himself.