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Overview

Each of three travelling brothers encounters an old woman washing clothes before reaching the Tower of Ill Luck. She warns that visitors do not return and later recalls the previous travellers. Her repeated presence links the brothers’ otherwise separate arrivals.

To the youngest she explains why she must remain at her task: while washing on a Sunday, she answered a passing poor man’s objection by saying that she needed food that day too. He sentenced her to wash throughout her life. The tale never names him as God or identifies her as a dead spirit. Its ending frees the tower victims but reports no release for the washer.

Continual washingWarning to travellersMemory of earlier brothersUnrelieved sentence
01

Origins & earliest records

Consiglieri Pedroso, Portuguese Folk-Tales, translated from the original manuscript by Henriqueta Monteiro, London: Elliot Stock for the Folk-Lore Society, 1882; tale XI, pp. 45–49. The selected account does not identify an individual narrator or collecting locality.

02

Records & interpretation

The located 1882 English translation presents this figure within a complete collected narrative. Pedroso’s introductory pp. 1–2 describe the thirty published selections from his larger collection.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Portuguese Folk-Tales XI: The Tower of Ill Luck, pp. 45–49

    Collected by Consiglieri Pedroso; translated by Henriqueta Monteiro · 1882

    Located complete narrative in the original London edition; Ralston’s comparative introduction is separate commentary.

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 textPortuguese Folk-Tales, original 1882 edition scan and transcriptionResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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