The Enchantresses of La Vall de Boí
They say that La Vall de Boí was full of “enchantresses”. Those mysterious little fairies, or water ladies, who lived on the banks of rivers and ponds, and which had the power to restore nature. You could find them on the edge of the port of Rus de Taüll path, hidden in the cave of the Roca de la Carrera de Barruera or in the ravine of the Ecorts de Cóll. The enchantresses often washed their clothes near the river. One night, a man who had seen them, secretly snatched a towel from them. When they saw this, they exclaimed: “Pull it, pull it with all your might. If you get it, you’ll be neither rich nor poor.” And so it came to pass. At that time it was said that owning a piece of clothing brought you fortune, but it could also be wrong. Two girls who also tried it could not get out of poverty, no matter how hard they worked, until they burned the towel.
