& "DESPUES DE DIOS, LA CASA DE QUIROS"
(After God, the House of Quiros)
Sometime during the 12th century, in what is now Northern Spain, a wandering Greek came upon a group of cutthroats that were attacking the local king who was out visiting his loyal subjects. The situation was very grave. All his soldiers had been killed and the king was valiantly defending himself, fighting for his life. The Greek, with complete disregard for his own life, rushed into the fight to help the king. The two men fought back to back against overwhelming odds. The Greek cried his war cry "Qui, Qui". The king, bolstered by his new found help, killed the attackers facing him and turned to help the Greek, who had just finished of the last thief fighting him. Fearing more bandits, they quickly mounted their horses and fled back to the castle and safety.
That night there was a great celebration at the castle, for the king was very well loved and kind to his subjects. They greatly feared his death, as there were no male heirs to assume the throne. The king only had one daughter. She not only had a mean disposition but was also ugly.
During the party the king asked the Greek what was the word he had shouted during the battle with the thieves. The Greek explained that the word was "Qui" and that loosely translated (very loosely) it meant "be brave, help is here." When the party reached its height, the king asked for silence and had the Greek approach the throne. In front of all his subjects he said, "I owe this man my life and without his help I would have no kingdom at all. So from this day forward I give half of my kingdom to him and from now on he will be known as "King Quiros". Quiros to mean, "He who saves".
The king continued with, "To make this title official, I give him my only daughter, the lovely Cordilia, to wed. May they have many children and be always happy."
There was complete silence as the people looked and wondered. What would this Greek do? It was clear that the gift of instant kinghood had a price! The princess looked meaner than ever. The crowds begin to snicker and chuckle. Quiros looked at the princess, turned to the crowd and said. "Your highness, I gladly accept all of your fine gifts of a name, a kingdom and a wife. But of all of these, I value most your daughter and Let no man think she is not the most precious thing here tonight." The crowd got real quiet.
Then something wonderful happened, as before their very eyes, the princess begin to change. She took on softness and a glow and a beauty that made all there gasp. She had become beautiful. All her life she had longed for a man who would be brave and love her in spite of the way she looked. She had become very bitter and disappointed with all the men who had sought her hand for they had no spirit. They only wanted the kingdom. Here was a man who would save her from a life with such worthless men.
So, they soon married and no matter where they went, all knew him as "Quiros, the one who saves" and she as "Cordilia, the one who was once so ugly".
They had six children. The oldest were twins,
Their names were Macarena Isabella and Anna Liona. Macarena Isabella became a famous belly dancer and Anna Liona became a famous horse thief. In later life they reformed and went to deepest darkest Africa and formed Horse bellies anonymous which help many with those that had hit rock bottom caused by thieving and dancing
Mavriko, “El magnifico”, joined his brother Thomas, “El Bravo” and invented a vicious weapon called legosmuchos. The idea was to cover the battlefield with the nasty little things to cause damage to the bare feet of the Moors. It didn’t work very well as the mores wore pointed shoes, but many centuries later some of the legosmuchos were discovered by archeologists and used as toys, and became very famous.
Victoria, Virginia, Viviana, Vianca, Valentina, Vemita, Vera, Viviana, Violeta, Volupia, Valencia, Veronica, Velma, Vanessa, Valeria, known as “La maximavivi” stayed home and became a princess and wore red velvet ballet dressses. In later her life, after the Mores had been defeated, she collected thousands of pointed shoes.
The youngest, Catharina, known as “La queta” did not want to be “NO STINKING PRINCESS”. So, she became queen .
Several generations later, the Quiros kingdom had come upon hard times, for it was the 14th century and Northern Spain had become the last stronghold of the Catholic faith in all of Spain. Around the kingdom there was much fighting. The people were poor and sorely pressed, as they had to spend much of their time defending themselves against the moors, who would change all of Spain to the Moslem faith and make everybody wear pointed shoes.
The Quiros kingdom had barely managed to pay the bills by digging gold out of the hills within the kingdom. Then one day the miners reported to the king that they could find no more gold within the mountains. They had given up.
King Quiros, who was the great-great-great-great grandson of Mavriko, “el Manifico”, would not hear of it. He asked for volunteers, and six very loyal miners stepped forward and returned to the mine. The King went out to fight the moors to give the miners a chance to save the kingdom. He vowed that the people of Spain would not wear pointed shoes.
The miners kept digging and the king kept fighting. On Christmas Eve when all was feared lost, the miners found a new vein of gold. It was a very good vein, and would supply more that enough gold to save the kingdom. They pulled out a huge nugget of gold and went to the King's home to present him with the find. The King was very pleased, for his people had been saved.
He told the miners, "Go to mass and give thanks to the Lord, for the kingdom is saved. When mass is ended come back here." As it was Christmas Eve, they went to midnight mass and afterwards returned to the Quiros castle.
When the six faithful arrived, the king gave each miner a key and said, "From now on for the rest of your lives on Christmas eve, go to midnight mass and then return here. That Key will open a box for each one you."
The men took the key and as each opened his box, they found a huge piece of gold. The king had taken the gold nugget the miners had found, divided it into eight pieces, and had put a piece into each box. So it became the custom that after Christmas Eve mass they went to the Quiros castle to receive their present. From that custom was born the Quiros motto, "Despues de Dios (after mass), La Casa de Quiros” (to the house of Quiros and our gold gift).