Encantada

The moura encantada is a supernatural being from the fairy tales of Portuguese and Galician folklore. She often appears singing and combing her beautiful long hair, golden as gold or black as the night with a golden comb, and promises to give treasures to whomever sets her free by breaking her spell. (In Galicia, though, they are more commonly redheads). Legends describe the mouras encantadas as young maidens of great beauty or as charming princesses who are "dangerously seductive". The mouras encantadas are shapeshifters and there are a number of legends, and versions of the same legend, as a result of centuries of oral tradition.

According to ancient lore, they are the souls of young maidens who were left guarding the treasures that the mouros encantados (enchanted spirits) hid before heading to the Mourama. They appear as guardians of the pathways into the earth and of the "limit" frontiers where it was believed that the supernatural could manifest itself. Often they guard castles, caves, bridges, wells, rivers, and treasures.