Legend of the Cabral Family

The story is told that a shepherd in the Serra da Estrela area heard a voice in his dreams three nights in a row: “Go to Bethlehem and there you will find your treasure.” He set off, and when he got to Bethlehem, three days passed by, and he didn’t find his treasure. He started on his way back home and met a mule driver. The shepherd told him what had happened, and the mule driver said he had had a similar dream; at Belmonte, beneath a rock cliff, where there was a yellow goat and her young, there was a golden goat and kid. When the shepherd reached Belmonte, he removed a shed, where he found a golden goat and kid. He decided to give one of the pieces to the King and told him he had a goat or a kid to offer him. Which did he prefer? The monarch said he wanted the kid, which was always more tender. The shepherd offered him the kid, and when the king saw that it was made of gold, he said that if he had known it was made of gold, he would have chosen the goat. The shepherd gave him the goat, too, and told him how he had found these presents. In repayment, the king told the shepherd to go up the mountain where he found the treasure, and he would offer him all the lands he could cover on horseback from that point in one day. So it was that the Cabral family gained their power, and this explains the two walking goats (cabras) on the family coat of arms.