Tradition / Region: Andorran Mythology
Alternate Names: Godmother Witch
Category: Witch
The Myth
La Padrina is a powerful older woman with hidden magical abilities, appearing at first as an ordinary village godmother but capable of invoking supernatural punishment when faced with grave injustice.
During the time of the Carlist Wars, three deserter soldiers arrived in Andorra and were given shelter in a house where she lived with her granddaughter. Although they were initially grateful, the men soon revealed themselves to be violent and undisciplined, drinking heavily, causing disorder, and committing thefts.
One night, drunk and out of control, they demanded a supposed hidden treasure in the house and began destroying the home in search of it. They forced the young girl to join them, and the situation escalated into brutality, ending in her assault and murder.
Faced with this atrocity, the godmother revealed her true nature. In her grief and fury, she used her powers to exact immediate justice, transforming the three soldiers into stone.
These petrified figures are said to remain in the landscape as the “Xemeneies de les Fades,” serving as a permanent mark of punishment.
La Padrina represents a form of righteous supernatural justice, a figure who does not act until a moral boundary is crossed, but once it is, responds with absolute and irreversible power.
Sources
Valls, À., & Carol, R. (2023). Llegendes d’Andorra. In Encamp-Montellà: Anem Editors. p. 58.