Ukraine – The Bliznitsa

Around the Mount Petros there once lived a Hutsul family. Once during summer a neighbor came to them with his twin sons. The Hutsul father had a daughter. Over a long conversation it was found out that the children in both families were born in one year and on the same day. After this visit, the girl and the young men met frequently walking in the picturesque surroundings of Petros. Boys loved the daughter of the Hutsul, and the girl liked the guys – one better than the other. The guys were long tormented by indecision, yet each brother in secret from each other opened up their feelings to the girl. The parents were not against the wedding, only she had to decide whom she liked more. But it was difficult to make a choice.

Finally, she told the brothers: “Who among you will bring me for a gift a silk flower, then to that person I will give my heart and hand.” Boys long walk through the mountains in search of silk flowers. After rising to the meadow, they met an old shepherd and told him about their concerns. The old shepherd offered dried edelweiss to the boys, but they refused. Then the shepherd pointed to the steep slopes of the triceps Mount: “There grows the silk flower. But this flower can only get a very brave and strong guy. Climbing the rocks is very hard. Besides flowers are guarded by very nice girl sorceress. They will give them to you, if you will stay forever in their mountain kingdom. Otherwise, they will drop you from the cliffs into the deep gorge … “

It did not scare the guys. Love gave them strength. A long and arduous was the road into the mountains. At inaccessible cliff they saw, finally, a single flower. Ahead of each other, brothers in a hurry climbed the steep cliffs. Both wanted to first pick the flower. One of the guys managed to get to the edelweiss. But then the sorceress came, inviting young men to remain among them. Brothers did not agree. And the angry witch said: “You will not see happiness in thy life!” Under the feet of the guy who reached for the edelweiss, dropped a rock, it broke down and knocked the boys into the abyss…

The girl waited for the boys for a long time. After that she decided on searching for them. The same Old shepherd told her of his meeting with the guys and showed the rock to which they had gone. Girl rose to the rocks and saw traces of a terrible disaster. The girl could not bear the grief and jumped off a cliff into the abyss…