The Enchanted Moura of Sintra

The wooded hills of Sintra, near Lisbon, are threaded with springs, wells and ruined towers that Portuguese folklore populates with 'mouras encantadas,' enchanted Moorish women bound by spells to guard hidden treasure until a mortal breaks the curse holding them. Local tradition around Sintra tells of one such moura who appears at dawn or dusk near old wells in the Serra, sometimes combing her long hair with a golden comb, sometimes weaving with a golden shuttle, always watched by anyone brave enough to spy on her unseen; if a witness seizes her comb or interrupts her spell at the right moment, the story goes, the enchantment breaks and the treasure she guards, or the moura herself freed from her Moorish form, becomes theirs. Villagers historically avoided drawing water alone at certain wells after dark, fearing to disturb her rather than to find her, since offending a moura was said to bring bad luck, not reward. The legend, common across the old Moorish frontier of the Iberian Peninsula, is thought to preserve folk memory of the Muslim populations who once lived in these hills before the Christian reconquest, reimagined over centuries as magical guardians of the land.