Tartalo

Tartalo (Tartaro, Torto, Alarabi), the one-eyed man-eating cave-giant of Basque mythology — the Basque cyclops — undone by his own crying ring after the hero blinds and outwits him. Closely paralleling the Polyphemus episode of the Odyssey (and the Irish Balor), as Webster noted. Documented by Webster and Barandiarán (secondary).

Domains

• mountain caves and herding
• man eating monstrosity

Powers

• See with a single eye in the middle of the forehead and overpower and eat his captives

Epithets

• Tartaro Basque · Tartaro · vernacularcommon byform of the one-eyed giant's nameWebster, Wentworth (1877). Basque Legends. (secondary)
• Torto Basque · Torto · vernaculardialectal byform of the nameBarandiarán, José Miguel de (1972). Diccionario ilustrado de mitología vasca. (secondary)

Sources

• existence: W. Webster, Basque Legends (London, 1879), Tartaro / 'The Tartaro' tales (secondary); J. M. Barandiarán, Diccionario ilustrado de mitología vasca, s.v. Tartalo / Tartaro / Torto (secondary)