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Overview

Webster introduces Basa-Andre as Basa-Jaun’s wife and notes different depictions: a sorceress in his selected tale, or a beautiful cave-dwelling woman combing her hair with a golden comb in other accounts. His comparison with a land-mermaid is explanatory language, not evidence of a fish tail. In Estefanella Hirigaray’s story she answers the castle door, warns three travelling brothers about her husband’s appetite and conceals them until he detects their presence.

After the brothers kill Basa-Jaun, Basa-Andre brings three large teeth and directs their sister to put one into each brother’s washing water. The brothers become oxen, which the girl leads into the fields. Finding Basa-Andre beneath a bridge, she demands that the change be undone. The wild woman tells her where to obtain three hazel sticks and how to strike each ox; the instruction restores all three brothers to human form. The story ends with the siblings living together in the castle. This account gives Basa-Andre both an initial protective role and a later retaliatory transformation, followed by its reversal.

Wild-woman designationShelter and concealmentAssociation with three teethHuman-to-ox transformationHazel-stick reversalDifferent cave-combing representation
01

Origins & earliest records

Wentworth Webster, Basque Legends, chapter IV, pp. 47, 49–53. Selected tales attributed to Estefanella Hirigaray; section commentary also includes unnamed informants.

02

Records & interpretation

A located historical English collection retains named tale attribution and distinguishes its introductory comparisons from the narrated actions.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Basque Legends, IV: Basa-Andre in Webster’s Wild-Man Tale, pp. 47, 49–53

    Wentworth Webster, collector and translator; Estefanella Hirigaray, selected tale narrator · 1879, second edition

    Actual edition title checked; selected tales read through the final outcomes.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary historical collected narrativeWebster: Basque Legends, chapter IVResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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