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Borg Gharib
 

Clearly visible from the same Rabat - Xewkija - Qala road, in the area known as il-Gudja, there is a mysterious lofty heap of stones called Borg Gharib.

Legend says that a foreigner lies buried beneath this mound. The story goes every day at dusk, a man on a white steed rode towards Qala to light a lamp in the shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was a rider shrouded in mystery. He came from west, but no one knew whence he came from, nor where he went after his daily run. Many were curious to break the mystery but no one dared to break his run.

The mystery proved to much for a Muslim that lived in the vicinity and he decided to solve the mystery once and for all. The people goaded him in his venture as he planned a stratagem to halt the horse. He put an obstruction just after a hairpin bent convinced that it would bring to a halt both the rider and the horse. He hid behind a rubble wall patiently awaiting to gratify his curiosity. That night the horseman was later then usual but at long last the hopping hoofs announced the approaching horse. In front of the obstacle, the horse neighed and rose on his hind legs. The Muslim immediately sprung from the hiding and clung to the horse's tail but he was jerked hard onto the rocks as the horse glided over the obstacle and galloped at greater speed. The people found him lifeless the following morning but did not dare to touch his corpse. Instead they threw one stone after another until they covered him completely. And soon a borg (mound) was formed over the gharib (foreigner) that dared the horseman to affront.

It is more probably that the mound was formed by chips of unused stones stacked by a maker of kwiener, an old stove made of local stone.

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