Once upon a time, a poor mining family was living in Banská Bystrica. They worked in a mine on the outskirts of the town. There was neither gold nor silver nor copper in it. The family had a hard life. They barely had anything to eat. The father still believed that one day they would beat the odds. He kept going to the mine with his son, digging strenuously, but to no avail. The father was losing patience. He had lost hope completely. He wanted to leave the mine. As he approached it to say goodbye, he noticed a glimmer of light at the end of the mine. He followed the light, but it took him deeper and deeper into the shaft. He ran after it, but suddenly it stopped moving. When he got closer, nobody was around it. He wondered what magic could be behind it. He looked around and was trying to figure out what has happened. Then he recalled the story that his grandpa used to tell him of a knocker living in this mine. He had always thought it was just a fairy tale for kids. He questioned why it came to his mind particularly at that moment. All of a sudden, a small gentle voice spoke to him from his left side. It commanded him to look to the right. However, the father was too curious and wanted to find out who was talking to him. He started turning his head to the left. At that, the light slowly disappeared, and the mine started shaking. The small voice told him to look to the right, not to the left. As he started turning to the right, the light shone again, and the mine stopped shaking. There was something orange on the right side. The man got closer and discovered a copper vein. He could not believe his eyes. He rubbed them and looked again. It was still there. He thanked the light loudly with tears in his eyes. He kept asking whom he should be thankful for. Then he heard the small voice again. It said that the man should thank his grandfather who had saved the knocker when he had lifted him out of the debris. The knocker had promised to help him and his children or grandchildren if they ever got into trouble, but under the one condition – that no one could ever see him. The father gave thanks once again and started mining the copper ore. The deeper he dug, the more copper he found. He ran home to get his son. Thereafter, they mined new copper reserves every day. Finally, they began to prosper. The family was happy that they could live a better life. They thanked the knocker, who was secretly watching them from behind a rock every single night. The mother baked scones for him and put them on the rock behind the mine every day. However, when the owner of mines noticed the great success of a poor family, he decided to look into it. He crept into the mine at night and even with the faint light of his lantern, he could see a lot of copper everywhere. As he touched it, his lantern went out and the mine started shaking. In the distance, another lantern lit up and the small voice told him to run away before he became angry. The voice wanted him to confess that he was about to steal it from the miner. Otherwise, he would never find any copper in his mines again. However, the rich miner did not admit to his evil intentions. Within three days, all of his mines quaked. And when he dug a new one, it fell down as well. Nevertheless, he stood his ground, and as a result, became poorer every day. The knocker disliked this behaviour. He got really angry at people, considering all of them to have the same wicked natures. He took back everything he had given them before. Since then, the copper vein can not be found in Banská Bystrica.
Story from the book What Is Whispered About the Copper City, Primary School Moskovská 2, Banská Bystrica. Author of the story: Patrik Čierňava, Primary School Moskovská 2, Banská Bystrica.
