When St James was beheaded, some of his followers who, after their travels in Galicia preaching the Gospels, had gone with him to Jerusalem, collected the apostle’s body, put it on a boat, and made out to sea. [...]

When they were sailing from Portugal along the Galician coast to a village called Bouzas, a great celebration was being held there. And it was to celebrate the marriage of a magnate from the lands of Gaia, on the banks of the Duero, with the daughter of another magnate, the lord of A Maía.

And it happened that, when the bridegroom was jousting on his charger, it suddenly leapt into the sea and sank into it. And the terrified people saw how man and horse disappeared in the water. And all that could be seen was what looked like a wake of foam floating on the waves of the sea and moving towards a boat that could be seen quite far off and that was the boat on which the body of the apostle St James was being brought. Finally the horse and its rider came to the surface of the sea, by the side of the boat. And all the people on land could see that miracle.

And the bridegroom looked down and saw his horse and saddle and breastplate and spurs and cloths all covered in scallops, and to find out more about what was happening he took off his hat and saw the same there.

The horseman told the men on the boat everything just as it had occurred and, showing them the scallops, asked what they thought about it all.

They replied:

‘Truly God wishes to raise you up; and Jesus Christ, through this his servant whom we are carrying in this boat, has decided to reveal through him his power to you and to all those now alive and to those who will live in the future who wish to love and serve this his servant; so let them come to him wherever he shall be buried, and let them wear shells like those with which you have been beshelled, as a sign and seal of privilege.

[...]

And, ever since then, all pilgrims who have gone to Santiago de Compostela in search of St James have worn scallop shells as a sign on their hats and on their woollen capes.

Leandro Carré Alvarellos,

unpublished translation