The Travertines of Miciná A young man Martin was walking back home with a head full of gloomy thoughts. There was one thing bothering him as the other young men working on meadows in Mičiná. The master of the Butchers’ Guild and the master of the Mining Guild came to a conclusion that in those meadows are huge deposits of copper ore and they want to find it. Martin’s anger grew. ‘What am I going to do?’ he lamented, ‘It’s impossible to find the right place just in one day. We won’t do anything wrong if we don’t find it. They cannot seize our possession in revenge.’ Splashes of water interrupted his thoughts. He followed the sound. When he got to the rough mountain stream he saw a strange scene. A girl was sitting on a lonely rock in the middle of the stream and she was crying. She got paralyzed with fear when she spotted him. ‘Don’t be afraid, I don’t want to hurt you, I want to help you,’ he tried to comfort her. Then he looked around and found a slender beech, cut it down with an axe from behind the back belt. In a little while, it fell down next to the rock and made a safe bridge for the girl to cross the stream. She moved gracefully along the tree. She had fair golden hair, a wreath of wildflowers on her head and she was dressed in a fine linen dress. As he was watching her, he felt strange. ‘I look like a beggar beside her,’ he thought when he examined his loose overcoat and worn-out boots. Awful! The girl looked at Martin with tearful eyes and she spoke in a lilting voice: ‘Thank you.’ She took a bright bluebell out of her wreath and gave it to Martin. ‘I am a daughter of Fairy Queen of these meadows. This bluebell will fulfil two of your wishes but remember never speak them with greed or hatred. Otherwise, you will have to pay the price.’ With these words, she disappeared. Martin was confused. He kept looking at the place where she stood before. Then at the bluebell in his hand and said: ‘Maybe it was just a dream.’ The thunder interrupted his thoughts. He looked horrified at the heavy storm clouds. He put the flower into his pocket and ran home. He was soaking wet when he got home. ‘For goodness sake! Where have you been, Martin?’ said his grandmother and put a bowl of dumplings in front of him. ‘What are you gaping at? Eat now!’ Martin ate his dinner and went to bed. It did not take too long and he was fast asleep. In the morning, he got out of bed quickly, but he was still thinking about yesterday’s events. When he got to the meadows of Mičiná, he was greeted by a malicious smile of the Butchers’ Guild master. He was really arrogant and showed disrespect to others. ‘Let’s get down to business. I don’t have much time to spare. Ďurička, did you find anything?’ The poor lad was in cold sweat and the others felt sorry for him. Yet at the same time, they were wondering what was going to happen to them. ‘No, but…’ ‘What am I going to do? You know, I am a rightful man, but I’ve made a deal with the mayor that if you don’t accomplish the given task, I have to take your possessions,’ said the master. ‘That’s what he is after,’ muttered Martin. People believed that the master had become poor since his herd of cows had died out. ‘No, you won’t!’ said Martin and fearlessly stepped forward. ‘You won’t steal our properties! You are cruel, selfish and pitiless. I wish you vanished into the thin air,’ he shouted furiously. Suddenly something unexpected happened. The earth, the master was standing on, began to sink. He disappeared under the ground in a minute. Everybody watched the scene silently. After a while, they burst into cheering. The Mining Guild master returned into the town and described the story to the mayor. ‘Has this really happened?’ he asked in surprise. He could not believe his story. ‘Honestly,’ nodded the guild master. ‘What are we going to do with Martin? Perhaps, we should make him a caretaker of the meadows. We cannot punish him, people admire him as a hero,’ said the mayor. The mayor did as he said. Martin became a new meadow caretaker and everyone likes him. People believed that he was a gift from the heavens. Unfortunately, he was always quick-tempered and gradually, he got blinded by greed. ‘Martin,’ the guild master said, ‘we want to mine copper ore in the meadows of Mičiná. The villagers trust you and if you persuade them to find rich ore lode, you won’t regret it.’ Martin made a deal with the guild master and began with mining. He did not have to do a lot to persuade the villagers. With the promise of a reward, they were keen on working. They had to dig out a long shaft before they found some copper. There was not much of it. Though, there were signs of rich copper ore deposits further ahead. However, the next day was the mining tunnel backfilled with soil. Martin ordered to guard it, but it was the same the day after. ‘Knockers,’ people whispered, ‘they won’t give us the wealth hidden under the meadows.’ Martin thought hard that night when suddenly, the bright bluebell caught his eye. He remembered the wish and he said angrily: ‘I wish the knockers uncovered the treasure hidden underneath the meadows.’ He went to bed because he was sure his wish would come true. In the morning, to his surprise, he found a message carved into the stone: ‘You will never get the treasure hidden underneath the meadows in Mičiná. This treasure is beyond fairies’ power.’ Martin knew that the tunnel would be backfilled again. He got angry and said without a next thought: ‘I wish you and your treasure would vanish into the thin air. If you want that treasure, you can keep it to yourself!’ At that very moment, the tremendous boom was heard. The earth collapsed and huge reserves of underground water flooded the mine. Shaken Martin tried to fight his conscience on his way home. His inner voice said: ‘Your wish had just come true.’ He did not want to hear it. It was not his fault, it was a disaster. The whole village grieved over the miners. Fortunately, not all of them were in the tunnel during the disaster. As time went on Martin has almost forgotten about the disaster. Then one day he met an ugly old woman in the village. ‘Martin, do you remember the bright bluebell?’ she asked. ‘What are you talking about you mad old hag!’ he shouted and walked away, but she kept on saying: ‘You’ve got to pay your debt. You have to tell the truth and apologise, that’s all.’ Martin walked away but she shouted: ‘This is just a warning. But remember in the twelfth month of the tenth year you’ll get what you deserve.’ Martin did not take her words seriously. So in ten years when he walked along the meadows in Mičiná, he heard a voice: ‘Martin, Martin, you’ve made a huge mistake, but you haven’t regretted it. We warned you, but you didn’t listen. You had enough time to regret your action and now it’s time for your well deserved punishment.’ After that, small streams began to run down the meadows. They gradually grew bigger and stronger and after a while, water was pouring from all directions. It was not just water. It was hot and red as if mixed with the blood of the dead. Suddenly, terrified Martin sank into the ground. We do not know what happened to the knockers. Nevertheless, this is the story of the Travertines of Mičiná. They are in a place where people died because o

Story from the book What Is Whispered About the Copper City, Primary School Moskovská 2, Banská Bystrica. Author of the story: Ivana Považanová, Primary School Moskovská 2, Banská Bystrica.