The Legend of Spanish Moss

Legend of the Spanish Moss in Louisiana

Rough, old meanie that he was,

From Spain came Don Gorez Goz.

As he cast a wary eye about

A pretty lass espied this lout.

He bought her - this Indian maid - 

For a cake of soap, a year of braid.

The grieving beauty fled with cause

For tarnished braid indeed it was.

Gorez pursued both hard and fast

Until she climbed a tree at last.

As Gorez followed her he leered

How those branches caught his beard!

The beard remains, but Gorez has gone

And still the tale goes on and on.

What an ominous warning it should be

To see Spanish Moss hang from a tree.

A cake of soap and a yard of braid

May be enough to win some maid.

Look, though, swain, and make thou sure

The braid is clean, untarnished - pure!

-P. M. L.

unused 

Legend of the Spanish Moss

As the legend goes ....

A bearded brute, Gorez Goz, once purchased a beautiful Indian maiden for a bar of soap and a yard of braid.  She was so frightened by the sight of this Spaniard that when he arrived to claim his new purchase she ran away.  He chased after her and finally she was able to climb up a tree.  As Goz climbed up toward her, she dove into the water below and escaped from his grasp.  His gray beard became heavily entangled in the branches of the tree and he soon died.  To this day we can still see his gray beard as the Spanish Moss dangling from the trees.

from 2009 - a USA 44 cent Christmas stamp is attached