Legend: Man with the Bag

“If you behave badly, the man with the bag is going to come and take you away. In the Netherlands, a Bavarian man would attack the Spaniards around the time when Spain had control over much of the world in the age of exploration. The man with the bag would come and kill Spaniards so that they would lose their control. The man with the bag would come and kidnap children if they misbehaved.”

According to Pablo, the man with the bag legend was known all throughout Spain. He said he heard it from his mother in Pamplona whenever his mom thought he misbehaved. She would always tell him that if he continued to cause trouble, the man with the bag would come and get him. All the children knew who this legend was so they were all deeply afraid of him. Whenever their parents told them that the man with the bag was coming, they usually stopped misbehaving. The man with the bag legend scared Pablo for much of his life as he always thought that if he got into trouble, he would be taken away from his family. He said this influenced him and other friends to act better in front of parents.

Pablo said his history teacher told him that the legend came from the time Spain was in the age of exploration. At that time, Spain was exploring the Americas and all over the world. In order to slow the exploration of the Spaniards, the Bavarian man would slaughter everyone he came across. Therefore, the man with the bag was feared throughout all of Spain.

According to Pablo, this legend helps him treasure his family to the fullest, whether or not the man with the bag is real. He doesn’t know if it is true or not but it helps him realize that his mother is looking out for him by telling him to behave. Most kids like to disobey their parents but this legend helped him listen to his mom in all aspects because he was scared the man with the bag would come and get him. Because of this, he usually would do anything she told him to do.

I believe this legend helps parents have more control of their children. By telling them that an evil man with the bag is going to come and capture them, the children will behave appropriately. Children are easily scared by unknown forces. By threatening them with the man with the bag story, the children will do whatever their parents tell them to do. Additionally, I think this legend represents the Spanish culture because it came from their age of exploration. It shows that although civilizations can try to gain absolute power, there will always be a force slowing them down, like the man in the bag in this case.