Legend of Rozafat Castle

The legend of the Rozafat castle

Proudly rises above the wide Buna and above the city of Shkodra the ancient castle of Rozafat.

When was the first stone laid in the foundations of this castle? It is not known. Its history is lost in the fog of Illyrian antiquity, the ancient inhabitants of this morning. One thing is well known; it was once owned by the Labeates and then the Ardians, who were strong Illyrian tribes. At that time the whole further Adriatic coast, up to the sensational Tergesten or Trieste of our days, was an Illyrian coast. Later the Romans then poured out the Slavs, the Normans, the Venetians the Turks and many other foreign peoples.

Over the centuries those dry creeks beneath the walls of Rozafat, as well as the castle walls themselves, have been drenched in streams of blood from those who attacked and defended it. Foreigners came and went and our people remained stuck in this Illyrian land. The construction of Rozafat has a beautiful but also bitter folklore that has come from antiquity to the present day.

Here is what this legend says:

The fog fell on Buna and covered it all. This fog remained there for three days and three nights. After three days and three nights a gentle breeze blew and lifted the fog. He lifted him up and led him to the hill of Valdanuz. Three brothers worked on the top of the hill. They were building a castle. The wall they made during the day was broken at night and so they could not raise it.

A good old man goes there. - Good job, three brothers. - Good luck, good old man. But where do you see our prosperity. Day we work, night breaks. Do you know how to say a kind word to us? What can we do to keep the walls standing? "I know," said the old man, "but it's my fault for telling you." - Put that sin on our heads, because we want to keep this castle standing. The good old man thinks and asks: - Are you married, brave? Do you have all three are married ? - We are married - they say - all three of us have our wifes , of course they do housewors . So tell us what to do to keep this castle? - If you want to stay, connect with besa besa: do not confess to girls, do not gather at home for the words I will say. The one of the three wifes who will come tomorrow to bring you bread, take it and wall it alive on the castle wall. Then you will see that the wall will take its place and will stand for life and weather. The old man said so, then he went; now it was seen, then it was not seen.

But older brother broke his promise: he told everything to his wife so and so, he told her not to came there the next day. Even the middle one broke his word: he told everything to his wife. Only the little one kept his word, the word: he did not gather at home, he did not say anything to his wife.

In the morning the three of them get up quickly and go to work. Hammers strike, stones are broken, hearts beat, walls rise ... At home the wifes of the boys knows nothing. He says to the first bride : - My wife , craftsmen want bread and water; love pumpkin with wine.

The big bride returns: - Besa mother, today I can not go because I am sick.

Returns to the middle says: My lovely wife, craftsmen want bread and water: they want pumpkin with wine. - I am going to my mother's place , today I cannotcome ,I will go to the tribe to stay.

- The boys' mother returns to the smaest boy.

- My little bride ... Little brof standing bride: - Order lady mother! - Craftsmen want bread and water; love pumpkin with wine. - Besa mother I go, I have a little boy. I'm afraid she will want to drink and cry. - Go, go so that we can look for the boy and not let him cry, - the sisters-in-law say. SHe gets up small, good, takes bread and water, takes the pumpkin with wine, kisses the little boy on both cheeks, departs and falls into Kazena; from there he climbs the hill of Vladanuz, approaches the place where the three craftsmen work: the two cousins ​​and her husband.

- Good job, master! What is so? The hammers stop and do not strike, but the hearts beat faster and harder. Faces fade. When the little one sees his wife, he throws the hammer from his hand, lifts the stone and the wall.

His wife says: - What do you have, my God? Why do you curse the stone and the wall? The big brother-in-law is thrown: - You were born in a dark day, my sister-in-law. We have made it a word to wall you alive on the castle wall.

- Hello you, my brother-in-law. Yes I will leave you a message: when you wall me on the wall, let my right eye out, my right hand out, my right breast out. That my son is small,if he starts to cry- I will look at him with one eye, caress him with one hand, shake his cradle with one foot and give him a breast to drink. May my bay be walled, may the castle stand, may my son be brave, may he become king and reign!

They take the little bride and wall her at the base of the castle. And the walls rise, rise, no longer collapse as before. The stones around them are still wet and mossy today, because the mother's tears for her son continue to drip ... And the son grew up, fought and braved.

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