The next stop on my journey was Spain's Northern coastline, which follows the Cantabrian Sea.  It is a region that is very cold and rainy, but strikingly beautiful in a harsh way.  The coastline is jagged and cruel after being punished for millions of years by an unforgiving sea.  I decided that there was no better way to experience it than walk some of it myself.  I checked into a hostel in the sleepy fishing village of Santander.  After I deposited my luggage I headed down to the pier and found some local fisherman who told me of a special cave along the coast.  They said the cave had some of the oldest paintings made by humans, but I was soon to find out that it held many more secrets than that.
As I was walking along the coast I could see in the distance a large black mass.  It seemed as if you could access the innermost depths of the earth through it and I knew it was the cave I was looking for. As I made my way to it I was unexpectedly approached by a small child.  He kept tugging on my coat and pointing up to the cave.  He led me over to a circle of rocks where a fire was smoldering in the middle.  We sat down and began to tell stories.  The child told me in a story the secret I knew the cave held. 

It was the story of Basa-Jauna the Wild Man.

Once upon a time there lived in a cave a crazy man and wife.  They were so rejected by society that they lived a very isolated life, which made them even crazier.  Around that time, three sons of a local farmer approached their mother and told her they were leaving home.  She could do nothing to stop them, and so they left.  As night approached, they knew they must find shelter so they looked for any sign of assistance.  In the midst of the cold, dark night they could see a fire burning way up on top of a mountain that overlooked the sea.  Seeing this as a sign from God, the brothers made their way to it.  As they approached the cave the wife, Basa-Andre (wild woman), spotted them.  The brothers begged that she allow them to stay the night, but she refused.  Basa-Andre told the brothers that if her crazy husband saw them that he would eat them for dinner.  The brothers eventually convinced her, and she placed them each in a separate dark corner to sleep. 
Later that night Basa-Jauna (wild man) came home and could immediately smell that her wife was hiding something.  He threatened her that if she did not reveal what was in the house that he would eat her.  Basa-Andre brought each boy out individually and each boy trembled with fright at the idea that they may get eaten.  Instead, Basa-Jauna asked each boy to be his servant and all consented.
Meanwhile, back at the farmer's house, the younger sister of the brothers discovered that she had three older brothers whom her parents never told her about.  Later that night the girl set off from the house in secrecy to find her brothers.  She, too, came to the cave and Basa-Andre hid her.  Eventually, Basa-Jauna found her and asked her to be his servant.  When she was placed with the boys it took them awhile to realize that they were siblings, but when they did they were all happy. 
Not much time passed before the sister began to grow very thin.  The brothers were concerned with her health, and became even more concerned when they found out it was because of Basa-Jauna.  The siblings plotted to kill him by catching him in a ravine, which they did successfully.
One day, Basa-Andre became suspicious that the children had killed her husband so she gave each boy a large tooth.  She commanded that their sister put one tooth in each of their bath water that night.  As soon as all three brothers had finished washing they became oxen.  For a long time the young girl drove all three oxen in the fields, plowing up the land and the only thing she ate were the birds the oxen found. 
Eventually, the young girl came upon Basa-Andre under a bridge she was passing over.  The young girl threatened Basa-Andre that if she didn't change her brothers back to boys that she would burn her in a red-hot oven.  Basa-Andre revealed to the young girl the secret act that would convert the oxen back into boys.  The young girl did as she was told and the oxen became her brothers once again.  The siblings all lived happily ever after in Basa-Andre's cave.

The young boy and I told each other stories throughout the rest of the night until the light of the morning began seeping through the darkness.

Author's Note:

The main change I made to this story was the setting.  In the original, Basa-Jauna and his wife lived in a castle.  However, I wanted to tell this story in a way that incorporated an important geographic region in the Basque country, which is the Cantabrian Sea and the Northern coastline.  I easily imagined this crazy couple living in a cave, and that's how I came up with the idea.  I kept all the characters, but left out a lot of the detail that made the original story longer. I used a young boy as the narrator because it left the reader to decide on whether he was one of the boys from the story, or just a local child who had heard the story.  I liked this story because it is unlike any story I had included in my storybook thus far.   I also liked it because it contains a little seriousness, but a little humor, too.  I like the idea of a couple of children being able to defeat two crazy adults.

Bibliography:

Story Title: Basa-Jauna, the Wild Man
Story Websource: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/basque/bl/bl20.htm
Book Title: Basque Legends
Author: Wentworth Webster
Year: 1879

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