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Overview

Webster’s introduction describes Tartaro as a huge man with one eye in the centre of the forehead, but the tales he collects give different circumstances and behaviours. Estefanella Hirigarray of Ahetze tells of a king’s son transformed into a monster, whose release requires marriage. His pursuit of an unwilling woman uses a speaking ring. She removes the ring with her finger and throws it into a pond; the pursuing Tartaro drowns. This transformation account is not automatically the biography of every Tartaro.

A version communicated by d’Abbadie identifies its narrator as Abbé Heguiagaray of Esquiule, remembering his mother’s story. This Tartaro is a one-eyed shepherd and hunter of people, with a strong barn and a witch mother. A captive blinds him with a heated spit, attempts to escape in a sheep skin and slips free when the giant catches the disguise. His mother’s offered ring calls out the fugitive’s position; removing it permits escape. Here the giant is not said to become a human bridegroom.

Laurentine’s Grateful Tartaro account reverses the relationship. A young prince frees the captured creature and later receives his help after exile. Tartaro supplies gardening advice, horses, clothes, weapons, a dog and scented water for successive combats with the seven-headed serpent. The rescue and eventual recognition secure the prince’s marriage, and the ending explicitly leaves Tartaro in their service. The harmful pursuers and helpful captive remain different witnessed roles, without smoothing their outcomes into one fixed moral character.

Central single eye in stated formHuman predation in one accountSpeaking-ring pursuitTransformation in another accountGrateful assistance
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Origins & earliest records

Wentworth Webster, Basque Legends, second edition, London: Griffith and Farran, 1879, The Tartaro; M. d’Abbadie’s Version; The Grateful Tartaro and the Heren-Suge, pp. 4–6, 22–32. Estefanella Hirigarray; Abbé Heguiagaray via d’Abbadie; Laurentine

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Records & interpretation

Located historical collected narrative and its attribution preserve this specific version. Webster’s solar interpretations and proposed ethnic etymologies are not adopted as facts.

Selected bibliography

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

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    Basque Legends: The Tartaro; M. d’Abbadie’s Version; The Grateful Tartaro and the Heren-Suge, pp. 4–6, 22–32

    Wentworth Webster, collector and translator; Estefanella Hirigarray; Abbé Heguiagaray via d’Abbadie; Laurentine · 1879, second edition

    Title-page edition checked; complete selected account or explicitly identified summary read through its outcome.

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, The Tartaro; M. d’Abbadie’s Version; The Grateful Tartaro and the Heren-SugeResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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