LITHUANIAN GEOGRAPHICAL LEGENDS
By Gloria O’Brien
NERINGA
On the western coast of
Lithuania, where the sun plunges into
the waves of the Baltic Sea, where the Nemunas spills its waters into the
Courish lagoon, on a tall hill once stood the mighty castle of Ventė. An amazing
giant daughter was born to its rulers, and they named her Neringa. She grew, and grew, so quickly, that at nine
months of age, she was as tall as an adult, and her flaxen plaits reached the
ground. She was beautiful, good, and
courageous. She always willingly helped
everyone. When the foaming sea
threatened to overturn a fishing boat, she boldly waded through the waves, and
carried the boat to safety on shore.
Tales of Neringa’s beauty, her good heart and fine mind, spread far and
wide.
One day a great storm
arose from the west. The sea carried
sands onto the shore, piling up large hills, and the strong winds tore them
down. The waters of Nemunas and the sea
threatened to overtake the land. Ventė, which guarded the mouth of the Nemunas, was in
deadly peril. Neringa, thinking quickly,
immediately began to build an embankment around the castle. She filled her apron with sand from the sea
bottom, and carried it towards the land near Vente, then emptied it. Again and again, despite the
raging wind, Neringa carried the sand, and built a long rampart, saving the
castle. As she carried the last apronful
of sand, the ties on the apron broke, and a veritable hill of sand fell into
the waters near shore. In that place,
the lagoon is shallow, not more than one meter deep. And that is how the Neringa peninsula
(“Curonian spit”) was made, and the
famous dunes of Nida were created.
HOW ANYKSČIAI GOT ITS NAME
A young country girl came to a little river, which ran from the Rubikiu lake into the Šventosios river, to wash some clothes. She worked for a long time, vigorously
flailing at the wash with her wooden beater.
Weary after a while, she fell to daydreaming and accidentally hit her
thumb so hard that she cried out in distress and pain: “Ai nykštį!, Ai nykštį”!! (Ow, my thumb! Ow, my thumb!)
She shouted so loudly, and
complained so pitifully, that many people from the neighborhood rushed to
help. When they saw what had happened,
they consoled the girl, laughed a little, and went back home. From then on, people began to call the little
river Anykšta, and when a town grew at its mouth, they named it Anyksčiai.
Near the little town of
The highest hill in
Samogitia (Žemaitija) is Medvėgalis,
which is actually made up of seven mounds.
Many tales are told about Medvėgalis, where, it is said, pagans in
olden days burned ritual sacrifices to the old gods. There once was a mighty, impregnable fort at
the top of Medvėgalis, and it is said that the fort, with all its warriors
and inhabitants, sank into the hill, never to be seen again. But when long, dark nights arrive with
autumn, frightful things happen on Medvėgalis. Oxen are heard to scream and bellow; horses
neigh in response, and loud and terrible moans are heard from deep underground. Then a hundred horsemen emerge from the
depths of the hill, thundering, rattling and clanging, making the ground
rumble. And when the cock crows, they
disappear and quiet returns.
The hill of Šatrija is thought to be the most beautiful in Lithuania. It is round in form -- a puffy bump on the earth’s backbone. Long, long ago the great giant, Alčis,
mourning the death of his beloved, Jaučerytė, buried her deep in the
hill of Šatrija. Šatrija has a most mysterious atmosphere, and people
say that, just as in bygone days,
witches still ride their brooms to meet and celebrate here on many a
night.
Long, long ago, on an
island in Plateliai lake, there lived an evil queen possessed by devils. There she had a very fine castle, and she
often rode along the shore on a beautiful white mare. The villagers feared and hated this queen,
and tried many times to shoot her dead, but never succeeded in their
attempts. That was because the queen
wore iron gloves, and always caught their flying bullets.
Once, a few people decided
to make a bullet of salt. With this
projectile, they shot at the horse, hit its forehead, and killed it. The horse sank to the bottom of the lake, and
with it, so did the queen. The people
were overjoyed, and named the place where the horse drowned, “Arkliakakte”, the
Horse’s Forehead.
In the middle of the
slowly, peacefully flowing Nemunas, there lies a tree-covered little island
known as the “
One day, some young
maidens gathered on the shore of the Nemunas, weaving flower wreaths and
floating them on the river. One very
pretty young girl let her wreath flow away on the current. Much time passed. The same pretty girl and her beloved rode in
his rowboat on the Nemunas. And
suddenly, as they passed an island, she spied her own flower wreath on the
shore. It had taken root, and the
flowers were blooming. This was a sure
sign of her beloved’s great and constant love.
The girl, in her great joy, jumped up into his arms and embraced him. The boat overturned, and both the girl and
her beloved disappeared into the depths of the Nemunas. Ever since, people have called that place “
Not far from Druskininkai
lies the impressive
them, and allow them to
rise to the surface. But above them and
enclosing them, is a thick swampy bog and dense growth. It is said by the old folk, that the salty
water of Druskininkai is the tears of those trapped underground at Raigardas.
© Gloria
O’Brien - 2006
This
artcle was printed in Bridges Jan/Feb 2006