Folktales, Legends, and Stories
Bratislava
Castle - The Legend of the Giant.
In
Slovakia, there is a fable about the history of Bratislava Castle. In Bratislava,
before the Great Moravian Empire, some common people moved into the
four-tower castle. These people had a problem with tiredness every morning and
they noticed that everything was out of place. Soon, everyone was so tired the
king decided that something had to be done. But no one knew what to do until a
little girl spoke up and said. “My grandfather is a witch, and he has a
crystal ball. I bet he could tell us.” After looking into the crystal ball,
the Grandfather said there was a giant that lived in the mountains to the west
and worked in the mountains to the east. Every morning on his way to work, he
flipped the castle over and uses it as a table. The witch suggested making a map
to show the giant a new and shorter route to follow. The best artists were
contracted to draw a new route for the giant, but the next morning the people
realized the map was too small to attract the giant’s attention. Some one
suggested releasing pigeons to fly in formation, but it would take a long time
to train the pigeons to do this. Another suggestion made was to cut down trees
and use them to draw the map, but it still would take a lot of trees and time.
So they decided to make a map out of rocks in the courtyard of the castle.
It worked. When they woke up the next morning, they were fully rested and
everything was still in its proper place.
This folktale is from Jean Olexy and Frank Luther’s “Castles of Slovakia” presentation held on May 3, 2006 in McGowan Hall at King's College. It is a part of a series of presentations scheduled by King's College Ethnic Community Outreach.