A View from the Witch's Cave: Folktales of the Pyrenees

by José Miguel de Barandiarán (Editor), Luis De Barandiarin Irizar, Linda White (Translator)

A lifetime of wisdom infuses the collection of stories gathered by centenarian Jos Miguel de Barandiran, patriarch and interpreter of ancient Basque tales, a sample of which are available for the first time in English in A view from the Witch's Cave.

131 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

About the author

José Miguel de Barandiarán y Ayerbe, fue un sacerdote, antropólogo, etnólogo y arqueólogo vasco, ​ autor de numerosas y reconocidas investigaciones relativas al folclore y etnografía vasca.

Reviews

[pietastic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sense I'm not getting the full picture of these tales, not knowing much about the culture from which they originate. That said... the stories are really weird. The fables don't seem to have any purpose or lesson and the stories and legends often consist of many details that have nothing to do with one another, their disparate parts making for some random and abrupt storytelling and leading to quite a few double-takes from me wondering just what the point was or what just happened. At times it seems like the stories got lost along the way, like parts were skipped or repeated incorrectly over generations of retelling, like a very long game of telephone, and what remains today is an incomplete picture of what it probably started out to be.

I know that makes it sound like I didn't like it, and in a way I was not satisfied, but I definitely still see value in this little book. There are many seeds here that made me curious to learn more about this culture and its folktale traditions. If I ever come across a used copy, I will certainly add it to my library.