El Monte de las Ánimas The Mountain of Souls

Cerca de Soria hay un monte llamado el Monte de las Ánimas. Hace mucho tiempo, los templarios y los cazadores lucharon allí y todos murieron. Desde entonces, se dice que sus almas cazan en el monte la noche de Ánimas.

Near the city of Soria rises a mountain covered in oak trees and long shadows, which the locals call the Mountain of Souls. Centuries ago, that land belonged to the Templars, the powerful order of religious knights, but the noble hunters of Soria also wanted to use it for their hunts. The dispute over hunting rights grew so fierce that it ended in a brutal battle one autumn night: Templars and hunters clashed among the trees, and neither side survived intact. Ever since, the legend says, on the night of All Souls, that is, the night from the first to the second of November, the souls of those dead warriors rise from their graves and hunt across the mountain until dawn. That is why no resident of Soria dares set foot on the mountain that night.

En el día de Todos los Santos, un grupo de jóvenes nobles salió de caza cerca del monte. Entre ellos estaban los primos Alonso y Beatriz. Al anochecer, una campana avisó que debían volver al castillo.

Many years later, on All Saints' Day, a group of young nobles organized a hunting party around the mountain, never actually entering its interior out of respect for the old legend. Among them were two cousins: Alonso, a young nobleman in love, and his cousin Beatriz, beautiful, proud and somewhat capricious. As evening fell, when the sun began to hide behind the trees, a distant bell rang out the hour by which everyone had to leave the area near the mountain. The whole group headed back toward the castle amid laughter and talk of the day's hunt, paying little attention to the cold beginning to rise from the forest. Only Beatriz looked back now and then, toward the dark shadow of the mountain, with an expression hard to read.

Beatriz dijo que había perdido su cinta azul en el monte, la misma que Alonso le había regalado. Sabía del peligro pero, riendo, le preguntó a Alonso si de verdad la amaba lo suficiente para ir a buscarla.

On the way back to the castle, Beatriz put her hand to her neck, feigning surprise, and said she had lost the blue ribbon she had worn that afternoon, the very ribbon Alonso had given her as a token of his affection. She knew perfectly well it had fallen somewhere on the mountain, and she knew, better than anyone, what the legend said about that night. Even so, with a half-mocking smile, she began to taunt her cousin: she asked whether he truly loved her as much as he claimed, or whether his love was nothing but pretty words with no real worth. Alonso, wounded in his pride and wanting to prove his courage and devotion, felt he could not let the challenge pass without answering it.

Sus amigos le advirtieron a Alonso del peligro, pero él no escuchó. Montó su caballo y volvió solo al monte a buscar la cinta. Beatriz sintió miedo al verlo partir, pero ya era demasiado tarde.

Although several of his friends tried to stop him and reminded him of the mountain's legend and the hour the bell had already struck, Alonso would not listen to any warning. He mounted his horse again, turned around, and rode off from the group toward the dark forest, determined to find the blue ribbon before full night fell. Beatriz, watching him ride alone toward the forbidden mountain, felt a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the November weather, but it was already too late to call him back. The rest of the group continued on to the castle, uneasy and silent, while Alonso's figure gradually disappeared among the trees and the first shadows of the night of Souls.

Esa noche Beatriz no pudo dormir por el miedo y la culpa. Alonso no volvía. A la mañana siguiente encontraron su cuerpo sin vida en el monte, con la cinta azul manchada de sangre a su lado.

That night, in the castle, Beatriz could not sleep. From her window she heard the wind blowing among the trees of the mountain, a sound that at times seemed like a moan and at other times like distant footsteps, or the echo of ancient swords clashing. The hours passed painfully slowly and Alonso did not return. Beatriz, growing more frightened and with a weight of guilt building in her chest, began to pray quietly, regretting having thrown out such a dangerous challenge out of mere pride and flirtation. The next morning, a group of servants went up the mountain to look for Alonso and found him lying among the trees, lifeless. Beside his body, half sunk into the earth, lay the blue ribbon, stained with blood, as though something with claws had also been there, struggling for it.

Beatriz quedó muy triste después de la muerte de Alonso. Tiempo después, en otra noche de Ánimas, la encontraron muerta en su cama, con marcas parecidas a las de Alonso. Nadie explicó bien qué pasó, y en Soria todavía se cuenta esta historia.

Alonso's death left a shadow of sorrow and silence over the castle, and Beatriz, consumed by grief and guilt, scarcely left her room again. Some time later, on another night of Souls, the servants found Beatriz dead in her own bed, with strange marks on her body, very similar to those Alonso had borne that morning on the mountain. No one could explain with certainty what had happened, and in Soria it is still told, to this day, that on that night the souls of the mountain came down to the castle to also claim the young woman who had sent a man to his death out of pride. The legend offers no clear answer, only the echo of the bell, the wind among the oaks, and a silent warning for whoever dares defy what should not be defied.