Barcelos - Lenda do Galo de Barcelos

The legend of the Rooster of Barcelos ("Lenda do Galo de Barcelos") tells the story of a dead rooster's miraculous intervention in proving the innocence of a man who had been falsely accused and sentenced to death.

According to the legend, silver had been stolen in Barcelos, and the inhabitants of that city were looking for the thieve. A man from Galicia became suspect, despite his pleas of innocence. The Galician swore that he was just passing through Barcelos on a Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

The authorities arrested the pilgrim and condemned him to hang, but he asked them to take him in front of the judge who had condemned him. So he was taken to the judge, who was holding a banquet with his friends. Affirming his innocence, the pilgrim pointed to a roasted cock on the table and exclaimed "It is as certain that I am innocent as it is certain that this rooster will crow when they hang me." The judge then not eat the rooster, but he ignored the Galician's appeal.

However, while the pilgrim was being hanged, the roasted rooster stood up on the table and crowed. The judge ran to the gallows, to discover that the Galician had been saved from hanging thanks to a poorly made knot in the rope. The man was immediately freed and sent off in peace.

Actually the legend exists in different variants along the different "Caminos de Santiago", but here the pilgrim returned to Barcelos and sculpted this "Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo".