**Urkamendi** ::leyendas 
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Legend says that in the neighborhood of Artadi, near Zumaia, a family rejoiced at the birth of their beautiful daughter. One day, as the child slept under a large holm oak, a mysterious woman approached her, attempting to kiss the baby. The little girl’s terrified cry startled her. This woman, who had lost her own child at birth, took the reaction as a deep insult and uttered a terrible curse: “Cursed be you, and cursed be the soul of the first young man who falls in love with you and receives your first kiss of love.” As years passed, the girl grew into a beautiful young woman, and a Basque boy named Irantzu fell sincerely in love with her. Eventually, the two shared their first kiss.
But happiness didn’t last. Outraged, the girl’s father expelled Irantzu and gave him only fifteen days to prove he was worthy of her; otherwise, she would marry another suitor. On his way back, desperate for a solution, the young man followed a strange blue light that guided him to the church of Itziar. There, blinded by despair, he stole the jewels of the Virgin of Itziar. As he fled, the mocking laughter of the old woman—the one who had cursed the child—echoed through the night. At dawn, exhausted and disoriented, Irantzu realized he had no salvation left.
When morning broke, he heard armed men coming for him. Seeing no escape and feeling trapped by the curse, he decided to end his life by hanging himself from a great chestnut tree. When they found him, his lifeless body swayed gently in the Cantabrian breeze. And so, the ancient curse spoken beneath the oak was fulfilled, leaving on Urkamendi the tragic memory of an impossible love.
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