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Myths and tales from Şicula, Romania

Origin of the name Şicula

Legends say that in the old times the village was scattered among the region to avoid the great floods of the Crişul Alb River. The previous community consisted in fact of many „cătune”- hamlets- spread on the highest places of the field. The old men gathered to set a new settlement and decide upon the place and the name of the new village. One of the chieftains, Cula, by his name, was angry and late for the meeting. The other ones thought he wouldn’t come at all, but to everybody’s surprise he showed himself at last. When they saw Cula one of those local chiefs said: “Iacă şi Cula” (Here‘s Cula, too). Thus they agreed to call the settlement Şicula. Cula is a short form of the Romanian name Niculae, Nicolae; there are several people in Romania and Moldova with Cula as a surname …

The tale of the rivers called Criş

The old men say that, once upon a time, when the men lived together with the giants, there was a prince of the fields, greedy for gold. He heard of a big gold mine in the Eastern Mountains, although nobody knew the place, but Criş the Old and his three sons. The prince had them captured, dungeoned and beaten by his guards to find out the fortune. The old man died in torture, but he did not reveal the secret. The lads, scared, decided to tell the place and live so that they could revenge their father’s death. So they set out for the place where the sun rises to find the mine, in unsteady steps, followed by the soldiers. After three day and night’s tiring walk the three lads disagreed on the way to follow, each of them pointing to another direction. The elder one said they had to keep the sunrise road, the other two said the right path would be souther. Quick tempered, the elder brother got angry and started hotfoot where he thought the way was, escorted by a group of soldiers. The second brother, a light-colored lad, and the youngest brother, a black one, turned south.  Later the youngest brother thought that the first brother might have been right, so he turned east, too. They wandered many days and nights in search of the golden mine, escorted by the guards. In the end the second brother, who went south, came across the treasure in the mountains. But when he wanted to show it to the soldiers, Vâlva Comorii (=the female spirit protective of the treasure) came out of the mine and put a spell on the lad turning him into a rock and the land under his feet into a stream. Vâlva did the same the other brothers, so that they would never find the treasure. The soldiers were also turned into springs. Thus the quick tempered brother became Crişul Repede (the rapid/quick one), the black brother became Crişul Negru (the black one), the faired-haired brother became Crişul Alb (the white one), while the guards became the other “Crişuri” (streams with the name Criş), too. The rocks of the three brothers can still be seen at the springs of the rivers, if not grounded by winds and rainfall.

Agricultural myths and tales from Romania

LATVIA "Agricultural calendar of myths and tales"

 

 

Myths of Kulautuva, Lithuania

The legend about The Stone of Jonučiai Princess

About this stone there is a legend that in ancient times lived the king of Žemaičiai in Kulautuva. Once the land was attacked by cruel enemies. They were burning farmhouses, killing people and robbing their property. All women and men, even children, went to defend their land against the enemies. Just the princess of Jonučiai with her beloved boy secretly ran away and hid in the forest.

When the king learnt about that, he became very angry and started to ask his powerful gods by saying:

-The daughter who does not appreciate her country is unhappy. By the name of the gods I forsake her and curse her forever. The Mighty Thunder, punish her!

At the same time in the forest next to the spring of Narėpai was standing the princess and she turned into the stone. She stayed there reminding that everybody has to protect their country.

This stone is also amazing, because people who sometimes walk in the forest clearly can see that The Stone of the Princess is really there. But sometimes the stone disappears and it is impossible to find it.

The Stream of Narėpai

Myths Lithuania

Origin of the name Kulautuva

 

Local residents link the name of the town with the word beetle (lith. kultuvė). It is said that in ancient times there were no permanent residents in Kulautuva, just from the neighbouring villages were coming women to wash their clothes next to the Nemunas River. They were beating the beetles so loudly that the sound was spreading widely. Even the people who lived on the other side of the Nemunas River heard it. They used to say: “The beetles are washing the clothes again”. From that came the name of the settlement – Kulautuva.

 




The sculpture “Kultuvė” (eng. “Beetle”) close to Kulautuva region (the author – Ž.Karkauskas

Some of the researchers think that the name of the town came from the surname of the noblemen – Kolotauskai - who lived there in the 18^th –the beginning of the 19^th centuries.

The others think that the name of the settlement came from a Lithuanian verb „kūlauti“ which means to catch fishes under the ice beating them with the poles.