This collection of Basque legends, fairy tales, ballads, and popular stories having their origin in the ancient traditions which formed a portion of the sacred inheritance bequeathed to the Basque people by their forefathers, and handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. These tales constitute the archives of the Basque people, the treasures of their science and of their beliefs; they are the records of the lives of their forefathers, the landmarks of the grandeur of their past history. In the midst of the great revolutions which have agitated the whole of Europe, causing radical changes, levelling to the ground or converting into ruins great empires, powerful nationalities, monuments; sweeping away languages, and even the very races themselves--the Basques have somehow passed unscathed through the many storms of devastation, preserving intact their nationality, institutions, laws, language, and customs. In this volume you will find the tales of Aquelarre, Arguiduna, The Song of Lamia, the Prophecy of Lara, the Virgin of the Five Towns and more. So take some time out and travel back to a period before television, or even radio for that matter, when families would gather around a crackling and spitting hearth and granddad or grandma or an uncle or aunt would delight and captivate their audience with stories passed on to them from their mothers, fathers and grandparents. A percentage of the net sale from this book will be donated to charities for educational scholarships for the underprivileged.