The story has it that in the late 1870 a group of Apache Indians after several raids to steal cattle for food, were cornered by the US Cavalry at the top of a mount. Hugely outnumbered, out of arrows and so having no means to defend themselves, the proud apache warriors chose to leap to their deaths rather than surrender to the enemy and suffer a fete which to them was far worse.
When the apache women found their loved ones at the foot of the cliffs they were grief stricken beyond belief and cried for a whole moon. So sincere were their tears that the apache gods turned them to dark translucent stone as they hit the earth and it is these stones that we now know as Apache Tears.
It is said that to give a friend or loved one an Apache Tear is to give them good luck and that they will never have a need to cry because the Apache women had already cried the tears for them.
NB: It is thought that the legend was based on a real event near Superior, Arizona and the mountain was later renamed Apache Leap.