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The Legend of the Tamal Queen
Native American legend has it that the San Francisco coast was once an unbroken mountain range where the peaceful Tamal tribe lived. Across the bay to the east, on barren Mount Diablo, lived a warlike tribe who was jealous of the Tamal's lush mountains and launched a huge invasion across the bay to take the Tamal land. High on the mountain the Queen of the Tamals saw the invading warriors in their tule and reed boats and she knew that her gentle people stood no chance against the attackers. The Queen raised her face to Heaven and prayed to the Great Spirit for aid.
The Great Spirit heard her prayer, split the waters and the mountains creating a chasm which swallowed the invaders whole and created the Golden Gate passage out to the Pacific. When the Tamals looked up to the mountain top to give thanks they saw that their Queen was gone but an image of her face had been carved into the craggy mountain side, where it can still be seen today, a large face in profile, pointed upward to the sky on the side of Mount Tamalpais.
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