The Theft of Wheat

In the most ancient times, when humans still did not know the secrets of the earth, Basajaun jealously guarded the knowledge of wheat cultivation in his wooded domains. People lived by gathering and hunting, unaware that beneath the soil slept seeds capable of feeding whole communities.

One day, a clever youth named San Martinico, or Martintxiki in Basque, decided it was time for human beings to obtain that valuable knowledge. He approached the forests where Basajaun cultivated his hidden fields and watched how the shaggy giant sowed the golden seeds in perfect furrows.

Martintxiki waited until the Lord of the Forest had fallen asleep after his hard labour. Then, with the stealth of a wildcat, he slipped to the giant's granary and filled his pouch with wheat seeds. But Basajaun awoke and, in fury, hurled his axe at the fleeing thief.

The axe grazed the youth?s heel, yet the seeds had already reached human hands. Knowing he could no longer recover what had been stolen, Basajaun shouted: ?Martinico, Martinico, have you sown the wheat yet?? In his anger he also revealed the proper moment for sowing. Thus agriculture was born among the Basques, a gift wrested from the Lord of the Forest by cunning.