Encouraged
by the posts in the forum, I was trying to find what
type of sling was used by sheperds to hit Don Quixote
de La Mancha, in the inmortal book written by Miguel
de Cervantes.
It’s
not easy. Nowadays, slings aren’t almost in use
neither in my country nor in my region. Shepherds lead
cattle with the help of dogs and, in fact, most of them
are not Spanish but immigrants: it’s difficult
to find the tradition on the slings in times of Don
Quijote, or how shepherds usedthem.
I
have found a good information in Montiel (Ciudad Real,
Spain), a small village with a lot of history: many
famous battles took place in it, one of which allowed
Elisabeth to rise to the throne of Castile. This Queen,
Isabel la Católica financed Christopher Colón's
voyage to America.
Finally,
I found D. Fernando. He is not like the well known Apache
Grandfather, but old enough to remember the way shepherds
used to sling when he was young, and gentle enough as
to make one for me, to present it in this site. Here
it is:
I
see notable differences between all the usual slings
I have seen and those of La Mancha:
-
Slings “manchegas” are really big (long
and broad): on handing one, one has the feeling of
a weapon in the hand, not a more or less dangerous
toy like mines.
-
The material for the braiding was very varied, what
they had near by, but fundamentally plant fibers like
hemp or sisal, better “esparto” or “pita.”
- The
retention cord is longer (120 cm) than the release
one (100 cm), with no finger loop. The retention cord
is hold rolled around the hand, as the picture shows.
- The
missiles were rounded stones bigger then a tennis
ball.
-
The pouch (called “buttonhole”) is aprox.
17 cm long.
Some details:
- The
one that I present in the photographies is done with
plastic fibers, because D. Fernando had not esparto
at home.
-
The sling was used as a defensive weapon against beasts
or people, more than to direct the cattle. Their principal
aim wasn’t hiting, but to scare the enemy and
to dissuade from approaching the sheeps or cows.
-
This kind of sling is reliable and shoots strongly.
Although shepherds of the past have much more capacity
in slinging than me, in my first shot I succeeded
hiting in the center of an olive tree more than 80m
away. I had heard in another village, El Robledo,
that somebody had killed a cow with a sling ... now
I think that it could be possible.
How
they made slings:
A
picture is better than a thousand words. I’ll
ilustrate the process with one made by me in two colours
for better understanding (I hope). It’s smaller
than D.Fernando’s, for my usual stones, less than
a golf ball.
- Slings
were braided. Usually they began knotting three strings
(better, groups of plant fibers), and go ahead braiding.
I have used 3x3m cords.
- On
having come to the wished size for starting the “buttonhole”,
they added three short strings more (aprox. 30cm),
to complete the pouch, so that each cord of it have
the same width than the retention and the release
ones.
-
Finnished the buttonhole (aprox. 8cm), they continue
as in the beginning.
-
The release cord also ended with a big knot, as the
first one.
Conclusion:
I
have tried both (D. Fernando’s and mine). Both
are very comfortable and the retention cord never slides,
and there is some difference between one and the other..
It
seems to me that I am going to change the way I make
my slings. With smallers slings as mine, I feel better
grasping de cord in this other way:
-Pío
Santiago |
