Enchanted moura

The Enchanted moura or moura encantada (enchanted female Mouros) is a supernatural being from the fairy tales of Portuguese and Galician folklore. Very beautiful and seductive, she lives under an imposed occult spell. Shapeshifters, the mouras encantadas occupy liminal spaces and are builders with stone of formidable strength. An enchanted moura would often appear singing and using a golden comb on her long hair, which is either golden or black, though in Galicia, they are more commonly redheads. She promises to give treasures to whoever sets her free by breaking her spell. According to José Leite de Vasconcelos, mouras encantadas are “beings compelled by an occult power to live on a certain state of siege as if they were numb or asleep, insofar as a particular circumstance does not break their spell". According to ancient lore, they are the souls of young maidens who were left guarding the treasures that the males, mouros encantados (enchanted mouros) hid before heading to Mourama.