La Reina Lupa (The Queen of the Manifying Glass)
Legend says that a ship, not too dissimilar to those that sailed around the Middle East during the time of Jesus Christ, sailed into Galician waters without anyone at the helm. On board this ship were four young men, dressed all in white and standing guard over a body.
The winds off the coast of Galicia blew them towards the mouth of a river and up the river until the ship hit a sand bank. The occupants of the ship jumped out and tied the boat to a large stone column or pedron. They removed the body from the boat and placed it on a large stone slab which, as if made of wax, softened and adapted itself to the shape of the body.
As this place did not seem an appropriate place to bury the body, the youngest of the four men decided to go to find some help in transporting the body to a suitable burial site. The remaining men stayed to look after the body of their master.
The young man began walking along a path that ran close to where they had disembarked and continued to walk along this path until, with the light fading, he saw a light in the distance. He headed towards this light and there at the top of a hill he could see a large building. He approached the wooden doors and with some force knocked at them. A voice called out to him asking who he was and what he wanted at that time night to be disturbing the mistress, La Reina Lupa. He was also told that if he wanted to speak with the mistress he would have to come back the following morning.
The young man waited and at dawn the next day was granted an audience with La Reina Lupa and was asked what he wanted. He asked the Queen for a cart to allow him and his companions to transport the body of the holy man he was accompanying to a place for burial and he said to the Queen, God has sent you in death he who you did not want to receive in life. Take him and honour him in order that you may be honoured when your time comes.
The Queen, smiling, told him to go to see Regulo, the high priest of Ara Solis in Duyo. This the traveller did, but instead of Regulo helping him he imprisoned him and his companions.
That night a light, like that made by a firefly, appeared in their cell and created a hole in the wall large enough for the travellers to escape and head back towards the pedron – the place where they had left the body. After a short time they realised that they were being pursued by Regulo and his men. They ran, but did not have to run far as a bridge spaning the River Tamara (now known as the Tambre) collapsed, as if by by a miracle, leaving their pursuers burried under tons of rock, or dragged into the deep waters of the river.
Word spread quickly through the villages and the travellers were again directed towards the castle of La Reina Lupa to ask again for help. They told the queen that, God is with us and it would be wise to help us, we need a cart and a pair of oxen. The Queen agreed, but she told them that she did not have any oxen herself, but that if they wanted some they could go to thehills and could choose whichever ones they required. She also informed them of the best place to find the wild bulls. The four men went to where they had been directed and, as luck would have it, the oxen were not wild but quite tame and went with them with ease.
The travellers tied the oxen to the cart and went back to retrieve the body. They placed the body of their master, Sant Yago, on the cart and, guided by a star, reached a place called Libredon where, without being seen, they buried their masters body.
It is said that La Reina Lupa was so taken by these selfless acts that she destroyed the temple at Ara Solis and converted to Christianity.
The pedron stone, that the travellers tied their boat to, now has pride of place under the altar of the parroquial church of Santiago el Mayor in the centre of Padron and it is from pedron that the town Padron derives its name.
The holy man that the travellers were transporting for burial is believed to be Saint James the Apostle, known in Spain as Santiago.