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Cattle raiding as a motif figures prominently in early Castilian literature. The author attempts to explain why by describing cattle raiding as symbol and practice. Cattle raiding is a master motif in early literature from Greek myth to the Bible to medieval European epic to the early literature of Mexico. It is also a practice associated with certain economic, ideological and ecological conditions, not the least of which are scarcity, a political border and arid zones. Information about cattle raiding in Castile is found in legal documents (fueros), historical chronicles and in the poetic record.