Tatra Fairies – Končistá

A FOLKTALE ABOUT A FAIRY

Everyone knows the folktale about the peak Končistá. It is said that the huge boulder at its top once served as an anvil of a giant of evil nature, who meant to break the mountains because he got irritated by their size. He laid the boulders, which did not disintegrate enough under the club’s blows, on an anvil and crushed them with his huge hammer. So he blunted the peak Tupá (literally „Blunt“), curtailed the peak Ostrva, dwarfed the peak Klin, and with their fragments he covered the bottom and slopes of Zlomiská. More clever siblings, however, expelled him from the Tatras just in time and thus put an end to his actions. However, few people know the story of the merry fairy, which has been dancing since then from the saddleback Ostrva to Končistá. As soon as she got up in the morning, she was washing in the morning dew and was already singing and dancing.

“I’ve been watching you, beautiful fairy, for a long time,” a vodyanoy from Popradské tarn spoke to her one day. “I see you from the tarn in the morning, noon and evening, and I can’t help but wonder, why are you always dancing?”

“And why not? Soon the day will come when my beloved will return. He promised that as soon as the evil giant takes the anvil away from Končistá, he would be back. “

A month passed, another passed, but the beloved still did not return to the fairy. Every morning the vodyanoy watched from the tarn and every morning the fairy danced happily in anticipation that her sweetheart would return. She’s still dancing there for hundreds of years. The fairy appears on Končistá only occasionally, to check if the anvil is still standing there. It is said that when lightning struck the anvil recently, and half of the rock fell down, it was only her beloved calling the servant of God for help. From time to time the fairy appears here in the saddle Ostrva, to please at least the eyes of her friend vodyanoy.

HIKING TIP

You can follow this fairy on one of the more challenging alpine winter hikes, which you can take along the red trail (Tatranská Magistrála) from Popradské tarn through the saddle Ostrva to the Mountain Hotel Sliezsky dom. Don’t forget to check the current conditions and take your climbing irons, ice axe and avalanche equipment with you.