Durmitor mountain: Devil’s lake
Once upon a time, in the years of the old legends, Greek Gods from Olympus mountain chose Durmitor to be their rest home. It’s known that in the old times Greeks lived in these parts, and it’s possible that they chose this mountain for their other Olympus. What can simple man say about this place of Gods and about all the region that surrounds it, watched out and protected by Gods themselves. The Gods care and protect it, together with fairies that live deep in the bosom of the mountain, with winged horses that fly from one peak to another.
Throughout its long history, many legends are told about Durmitor, its peaks, caves, lakes and heroes. I will tell you some of it, so when you visit this mountain and hear the thunder of horses in winter nights or fairies singing, you will know those are still all just stories and legends or maybe …?
Once upon a time, Jezera (Lakes, now large plateau), was all covered with pine forest. Then, a thunder roared, burned all the pines, and the wind blew the flames across the entire forest. The forest was then filled with all kinds of beasts and creatures. Beasts have fled to Durmitor, fairies to the clouds, and the devil, and his wife found the shelter in the lake, in the middle of Lakes. They made a delightful castle in the lake – all of the ice crystals and they live there to this day. This beautiful lake became a diabolical home, so they called it Devil’s lake. When you swim in it you can feel that it is the coldest Durmitor lake. It’s because the Ice Castle’s cold spreads everywhere. And when the young girl swims across the lake, the devil goes out from his castle, grabs her and drags her to the bottom, to his ice castle. If the boy swims, then the Devil’s wife grabs him and pulls him to her ice chamber at the bottom of the lake. Some say the devil usually occurs when the darkness falls, and even comes out on shore. Once they saw him in the form of a huge horse and sometimes he appears as the bull with huge horns. The bull eats a grass on the shore, passionately roars, blares and everything around him is trembling from his voice.
Beside the devil, there’s also a beautiful, red-coated horse. In the long, starry nights he emerged from the lake and made love to the mares from the flock of the celebrated Duke Momcilo, who lived nearby, in the town of Pirlitor. After their love act being consummated, he would kick the mare in the stomach to make her loose the fruit of their love act. But, once, when he tried to kick the mare, shepards came from the nearby hills, and forced a horse to return to his lake. The mare gave birth to the winged horse, named Jabucilo, on whose back Duke Momcilo flew from Pirlitor to Durmitor.
Durmitor mountain is the cradle of legends, the cradle of spiritual energy which makes me feel that I can be anything. That I can be the one with Mother Nature, its leaves, water, sounds. That I can be endless. Growing up in the lap of the one of the most beautiful mountains in the world is an enormous honor. It’s a fortune for a little girl to be the fairy and to stay the fairy in this big, cruel world and to have all the mountain where she can escape when she needs a home.
When you go from Zabljak to the direction of Niksic, on the ninth kilometer you will see Vrazje jezero (Devil’s lake ), known as a cradle of winged horses.
