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Cuentos y leyendas de Alfarnate

Diputación de Málaga
Portada Guía de cuentos y leyendas de la Axarquía.ESP

Cuentos y leyendas de Alfarnate

Zip Code 29194
Chronicles and Legends (si se trata de historia)

The name Alfarnate comes from the Arabic word“al-farnat” meaning flour mill.

  • Name of its inhabitants:

Alfarnatenos.

  • Nickname:

palancos.

  • Interesting stories:

One of the interesting things in this town is the tradition that lovers followed during Midsummer Night. The ideawas to pull off two fig leaves – one with stalk on as asymbol of the man and the other one without it as asymbol of the woman – and leave them out all night somewhere out in the fields. If, at daybreak, the leavesthat had been left joined by the stalk appeared stiff thismeant that the couple were in love; however, if theywere not stiff, then they were not in love. Stemmingfrom the nocturnal escapades linked to this rite relatedto love, there is a saying in the town that says that if agirl is out during Midsummer Night, in June, with herboyfriend then she will be having a child in March.

  • Legend:

The most significant legends are related to banditry.One of the many rumors or legends about the banditsthat moved around the area and sought refuge around Alfarnate tells the story of Josê Marîa El Tempranillo,one of the best known bandits of the time, who, duringone of his visits to Venta Alfarnate, went up to a table where some people were quietly eating from the same pot and asked if he could join them. The locals said he could not under the pretext that they did not have a spoon to lend him.

El Tempranillo, who did not like that excuse, tookout a piece of bread from his bag and made it into a spoon. Having overcome the only obstacle, he started to eat with them. Once the pot had been emptied, ElTempranillo said: as we have finished the food in the pot, let us now eat the spoons.

He quickly ate his spoon made of bread and forced theother men to bite theirs, which we presume were made of wood.

At the time when banditry was at its highest, the famous horseman El Rojo was arrested there; he was one of the seven boys of Écija and therefore a friendof El Tragabuches, the bullfighter-bandit from Ronda.The story goes that in the loneliness of the cell, whilehe was waiting to be taken to prison, el Rojo sang  this fandango: A woman led to my first downfall, as allman’s downfall is caused by a woman.

Venta Alfarnate, which dates from 1690, due to itsstrategic situation between the interior and the coast,was the place where horses were changed and this led to it being a place of refuge for bandits.

It is known that one of the rooms was set up as a celland that the bandit Luis Candela spent a night there, as confirmed by an inscription there. Another well-knownbandit called El Bizco de El Borge was a regular visitor when he went there to meet his lover, a married woman.

 

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Discover more about the province of Malaga

Discover more about the province of Malaga