Es Fus de sa Geganta (the giantess's spindle), Torralba d'en Salort, district of Alayor: a conspicuous standing stone in the midst of the talayotic settlement of Torralba d'en Salort.
The tradition is that at midnight the Ginatess from the talayotic well of Na Patarra nearby carries on her head a trough of water for sacrifice at the Taula (table shaped stone monument) among this group of monuments. After making the sacrifice she returns to the depths of the well. The giantess is the guardian of the monuments here, and after the sacrifice she makes rope with her spindle.
The well, dating almost certainly from the talayotic period, is among the most spectacular ancient structures in Menorca. The mouth is 7.50m by 5.00m; the depth 45.80m; and there are 199 rock-hewn steps in eight flights, with banisters 0.5m broad. It is not surprising that it has attracted folklore. Its construction was attributed to giants as early as the late 16th century.
The traditions connected with it are the subject of the poem 'Na Patarra: Tradicio Menorquina,' by Angel Ruiz y Pablo ([extract of] translation by Dr. Antoni Turull):
It is said there was an immense cave
Hewn from the living rock
By the hand of the heathen
Inhabitants of these islands ...
Hallowed by time the cave
As was the falling water;
Hands of priests hewed
The cavern in the living rock;
And the tradition tells
That a giantess
At midnight would carry out
The basin on her head
And in the light of the white moon
The friend of our ancestors
Would wash the living blood
From the sacrificial altar.
The sacred dolmen watched over
The virgin priestess
And at daybreak
She would return the basin to the cave
And in the sacred solitude
Of that heathen cavern,
The purified water
Issued forth night and day.
The Popular Names and Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Menorca
L. V. Grinsell
Folklore, Vol. 95, No. 1 (1984), pp. 90-99.
The tradition of the Naveta dels Tudons and the Pou de sa Barrina (the well of the driller) is the most interesting of all the Menorcan traditions associated with prehistoric sites. Two young friends courting the same girl, who was undecided whom to marry, agreed on a wager to settle the matter for her. One would build a structure in the shape of an upturned boat (naveta) on the plain at Es Tudons, and the other would drill a well nearby until he struck water. The first to complete his task would marry the girl.
When the young man building the boat structure was on his way with the last stone he leaned over the top of the well and asked his friend how he was getting on. His friend replied that he had just struck water. In a fit of savage jealousy the builder of the navetathrew his last stone into the well and it killed his rival. The naveta builder was never seen again.
The earliest printed version of this tradition known to the writer is d'Albranca, the pseudonym for Francesc Camps y Mercadal (1910).
An attempt to date this tradition can take account of a good deal of circumstantial evidence. It is certainly not 'tourist folklore' or fakelore, as there was very little tourism in Menorca until the late 1950s, and the printed versions are nearly all in Spanish or Catalan and in publications of extremely limited circulation [...]
A glance at the Naveta dels Tudons, combined with a study of all known illustrations of it in elevation, dating from c. 1890, shows that since the late 19th century it has been in its present condition as far as its uppermost remaining course is concerned: only one slab of the top remaining course is in place. Unless the tradition originated when the top surviving course was more complete (in the writer's opinion unlikely), the conclusion must be that popular tradition sees no significant difference between one stone missing from the top course and only one stone remaining of the top course.
Indeed, during a visit to Menorca in July 1981 the writer noted that at least one tourist guide told her party that the monument was completed all but for one stone; and the 'average' tourist seemed to accept this without question. This may become one of the first examples of fakelore to be produced for the Menorcan tourist trade.
From the esteemed L. V. Grinsell, in 'The Popular Names and Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Menorca' - Folklore, Vol. 95, No. 1 (1984), pp. 90-99.
Just 90 minutes before airport check-in time and I was paying to get in to Trepuco, cutting it a bit short but as it's so close to the airport I just had to. It had been raining all day but it just made me feel more at home, besides there were plenty of places to shelter from the rain, The cave is just a few metres beyond the kiosk/shed, and the giant talaiot is a good wind-break, but the best place to stand was under the taula. It's not the most intact of poblats some of it even off bounds, and even though half of the taula sanctuary is concreted in place it was still well worth the entry fee (2 euros i think), and before long I was getting a phone call from the car,it was time to go.
But Menorca just kept on giving, even on the runway we could still see Toellonet talaiot.http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/67507/images/torrellonet.html