Folk medicine and beliefs from Velika Kladuša

Autor: Raif Esmerović


Luck and wellbeing

-Person born on Thursday will always have his clothes torn or soiled quicker.

-In milk from a milked cow, there is no advancement (luck) if you don't return some of the milk to the cow. One would perform this by placing some milk into the hand and stroke the cow from the back towards the head, so that it goes "up the hill" i.e. towards advancement.

-On 6th of May it is good to slaughter and grill a chicken for advancement, in a family which has inhabitants whose name starts with the letter A.

-For a house to be lucky with money one should plant marigold near the house, or better yet in a vase, in which one would place three metal coins, underneath the root of the plant and one would keep it on the window.

-Money should never be placed in a visible place so that it wouldn't be lacking.

-When someone comes to visit a household in which people are drinking coffee or in which people are having lunch, the guest would be characterised as being lucky or that he is coming with good fortunes (sa nafakom).

-For a new house to be happy and blessed in the spot where one is planning to build the entrance door a young ram needs to be slaughtered at that spot.

-In the past when one would take a cow to the cattle market, the housewife would hit the cow with rakes a few times repeating: "How many teeth the rake has so many buyers may you have!".

-For a house to be without jitters and shakes, one needs to heat up a coffee pot on the stove, cover it with a saucer and leave it there for three minutes, then ground coffee needs to be placed inside of it, mix it so that "it releases its fragrance" and then pour hot water. This coffee is called rahatluk kahva (delight coffee).

-It is considered good luck if the first child in the marriage is a female one, while if it is a boy, one of the parents will die prematurely, i.e. the son will take away at least a minute from his destined time.

About children

-In Velika Kladuša that there are nine types of mothers. Similarly it is said that to the children the mother is of the earth and to the mother the children are of the heart.

-It is a good deed to caress an orphan. People say that the sun wouldn't shine without orphans. A person can make the biggest transgression against an orphan.

-In the first 40 days when the child is conceived in the womb, Allah decides its fate and his entire life.

-It is not good for a pregnant woman to have her teeth taken out, her child will be katil (thief).

-When a pregnant woman cannot give birth, someone from the family should split wooden hayfork above her uttering "Bismilah rahmanir rahim".

-It is believed that if a woman gives birth to a daughter on Friday, she will give birth to another five.
-When a small child sneezes it is said:"pis mace, zdrava djeca!" (shoo cat, the children are healthy).

-For a child to start walking sooner, one looks for a girl whose father had died before her birth "she didn't remember her father" and she was then given gifts.

-When a child's teeth are growing slowly, its parents don't want to have more children.

-When a small child gets thrush the mother swipes a cats tail three times between his lips and the thrush will disappear.

-When a child is born the mother places a nail in his cradle, the evil spirits won't be able to hurt it.

-The child will be timid if the mother wraps him in pantaloons after its birth.

-If the child has curly hair it will be of a quick temper (angry).

-If the woman loses milk in her breast in the first 40 days after birth, she needs to repeat the prayer Ihlas three times and utter Allahu akbar between each prayer. Then fresh milk is placed in a vessel and heated on a stove, as soon as the milk boils, some salt or sugar needs to be added, and while dipping in a piece of bread, which she will eat, the woman needs to utter: "as the milk is boiling, so too shall milk boil inside of me". This ritual needs to be repeated a few times before the milk fully returns.

-After circumcision, one must perform lead melting ritual against fear, to the child.

About love

-The one that separates a husband and a wife on purpose, committed such a large sin which cannot be washed away not even by building nine mosques.

-If the girl is shivering or spills something or even breaks something during the first meeting with a man, then it is believed that the two of them shall fall in love and get married.

-When the boy is going on a date with a girl for the first time he needs to step on her foot with his so that he will always get his way.

-If a boy or girl are drinking coffee from a chipped cup they will get married to a widow or widower.

-Whoever sits on the edge of a table will not get married easily.

-Whoever sings while eating will have a mentally unstable marital partner.

-To a woman whose coffee often boils while she is making is a sign that her husband loves her.

-For people who as children loved dogs and cats, it is believed that they will be loyal and in love with their partners.

Divination

-It's not good to divine "on empty", for free, since then the prophecy will not come to life, also you should not determine how much people should pay. For divination, people need to give as much as they can and what comes from the heart.

-When you go to see a diviner, you shouldn't tell anyone where you are headed, since none of it will come to life. The same rule applies when going to see an Imam or stravarka.

-Whosoever kisses their dead mother three times, will see her whenever a bad thing is about to happens, she will appear as a warning.

-When sparks fly from the house fire, a wedding will occur soon.

-Whoever finds a white corn while working in the corn field, he shall soon get a letter.

-For a girl to find out who she will marry, on the eve of May 6th she notches three onion leaves, equally, and names them: boyfriend, married, widower. The one that grows most by the next day, reveals the answer.

-A sign of a long and beautiful autumn are blossoming strawberries during the beginning of autumn.

-When there is dew on the leaves of the trees and when the sun rises high in the sky, it is a sign that among the folk there will be great tears - a tragedy will occur.

-It is believed that judgement day will happen on a Tuesday and people believe that the Imam is speeding up the last prayer of the day out of fear.

-The earth "cleanses itself" every forty years, and according to belief a great war or natural disaster occurs.

-Old people claimed that when a female Jinn rules over the world (from the end of the last century) our (Bosnian) people will disperse across the world and that we shall desire to see one another. While the male Jinn ruled over the world the world was a better place, so claimed the elderly.

-When water for coffee won't boil quickly it is said that it is waiting for someone.

-While pouring the beans into a grinder if some fall onto the table or the ground, it represents a sure sign of having guests soon. How many beans - so many guests.

-When putting away spoons after lunch, if some stay on the table accidentally, it is a sign of death in the family.

-When someone is full but is having hiccups then he is being mentioned by a friend, but if he has the hiccups while hungry he is being mentioned by an enemy.

-When a vessel on top of the stove is shaking it is a sign that one will have guests soon just like when dough is being torn during preparation of it.

-When two people are having a conversation and say the same thing at the same time, one of them will have guests soon.

-When a magpie is crowing in the yard, it is a sign that a guest is coming. If it turns its tail while crowing then a woman will come and if the head is turned, then it is a male.

-If a frog appears in front of the entrance door, someone is making spells or sending evil against the household.

-If a bird called Meknjača is heard at night someone from the surrounding will die soon.

Spells and magical formulas

For a basma (magical formula) it is believed that it walks across the entire world. In Velika Kladuša it is said that there is one especially powerful basma on which the entire world stands on. When someone would manage to find out the text and utter it, he would rule over the entire earth.

-For a man to madly fall in love with a girl she drips three drops of blood from her pinkie finger of the right hand and utters three times "Ehum vehum..." in reverse.

-To place a spell on someone, one needs to draw a string of thread from his clothes, ignite it uttering "Ehum vehum..." three times in reverse.

-Spells last until the next moon phase or 40 days and then one has to create new ones. There are those which are repeated every six months or every year.

-To find out who is making spells against you, during the night of the moon phase one takes foxglove to a crossroad and turns it upside down uttering:

Whosoever makes spells against me,
may he be planted on top of a foxglove!

then one needs to move away and watch for the next person that will come by.

-To stop anyone from making spells against you, you need to put a pin on your clothes in a visible spot, with the head turned downward.

-For a husband to stop beating and harassing his wife, she needs to throw some dirt from a grave across the lateral side of his body while he is sleeping.

-When one moves into a new house one needs to rub the doorstep with a fistful of salt, so that no one can perform evil against the house.

-Curse can be removed from children by tearing three to four leaves of rue (Ruta graveolens) and throwing them into the water. Then while uttering Euzu - bismillahi three matches are lit and extinguished by the water and the water is used to wash the face of the person which has been cursed.

-If the child has been cursed and is crying a lot for no reason, the mother takes him to the bathroom immediately and pours some water in her mouth. While she is holding the water in her mouth, in her mind she utters Euzu bismillahi, and then she places her right hand underneath her right leg and spits the water in her hand. She then wipes the child's face with the water, down the arms and legs and the curse will disappear.

-While milking the cow the woman avoids any discussions with other people out of fear that the cow may curse her.

-If the milk would get burnt on the stove often people would suspect a curse. to remove the curse, one would place basil and ćabarska herb on top of the stove, sprinkled with sugar.

-Amulet against sihir is 9 grains of wheat, piece of hawthorn and yew and some lead. All of this is placed in red cloth and sown and is worn at all times.

-According to folk tradition Mujo Hrnjica carried an amulet on him made out of nine grains of wheat which protected him from all evil. His enemies found that out and stole his amulet before he died.

-When one goes on a journey he needs to pour some water in his mouth, and in his mind the verse Felek is uttered, then the water is spat out on the right side. If this is done the journey will be lucky and without danger. Men utter Falek and women Nas.

About animals

-Every house has its guardian snake, which mustn't be killed. This is one of the ancient beliefs of our Illyrian forefathers which has been kept in consciousness of the people.

-It is good to see a snake during spring since it will guarantee that you will be healthy and full of strength the entire year.

-It is not good to hold a raven in the hand because your hair might fall off

-When a cat raises its leg and is licking itself in front of the house she is announcing arrival of a guest with a staff.

-Whoever hears a woodpecker will receive good news.

-Cuckoo bird shouldn't be called by her name, instead it should be called singer, since according to people, the bird answers to the name cuckoo - "may your mother lament!"

-For chickens to bear eggs better one would knead droppings of a wild rabbit with grains and it would be thrown in front of the chickens so they can eat it.

-For an owl it is believed that it knows nine languages. In the past people mandatorily close the dormers at night out of fear that an owl might enter the house, allegedly, everyone in the house would die then.

Other beliefs

-When someone has constant headaches or is troubled by insomnia, he should move alms (money or an item) around their head three times in the direction of the sun while uttering Euzubillah...

-One can accidentally step in dog or cat poop, which is called sugreb, which causes a body part to get a rash. Curing is done by stroking the spot with a piece of bread which will then be given to a dog to eat.

-When a child has epilepsy the father needs to get a young black ram without any white hairs on him and go with him and his sick child to an intersection. There at the intersection he quickly needs to tackle the child to the ground and place a knife next to his neck as if he is about to slaughter him, so that the child shivers out of fear, and then the father immediately slaughters the ram with the knife. The meat of the ram mustn't be eaten, instead it is dismembered and thrown down a river, the skin is left so that the child can sleep on top of it until it is cured.

-Whoever dies on the eve or on Tuesday or Saturday will be dragged to the other world and tortured by Jinn.

-Into a new house the table is brought in first, rolling pin and bread and a rooster, which needs to spend the night in the house, the next day it needs to be slaughtered and the meat should be distributed into three households.

-Hasuma (enemy) should always be looked at through the underpants and one should say: "may you be in my pants instead of the other way around."

-For a house to be free of spells and evil spirits for 40 days, the house should be fumigated by the root of Elecampane (Inula), a stem of ćabarska herb and a pinch of ground coffee and sugar.

-It is not good to be doing something inside the house or outside while the Imam is calling for prayer, since it is the only time when the suffering of those in hell stops.

-When a gipsy appears in the yard, tongs on the hearth cry out of fear that the housewife might offer him half of the baked bread.

-St. Georges day (May 6th) was called by old people from Kladuša Mijena, since it signified the end of winter and the beginning of summer.

-One whose peppers are growing in the yard is a liar.

-It is best to say prayers for the dead on the eve of Monday and Friday. What one prays for must be gifted. When one visits the graveyard one utters Fatiha (at the end one adds: I give you this prayer, from the heart, as a gift, may you rest in peace eternally) and a handful of dirt is thrown over the grave.

-Whoever is afraid of thunder and lightning should eat burnt corn bread.

-Whoever has warts on their hands needs to steal salt from someone's house and rub the warts with the salt, they will disappear soon.

-When the sun is shining and rain falling one needs to stand under the roof of a house or against a wall, utter Fatiha and Ihlas and make a wish.

-When one sees a new moon for the first time he needs to say: "Mashallah, look at the new moon!" This is done because of the belief that the new moon can be cursed.

-When seeing the new moon, one needs to utter verse Fatiha three times and make a wish.

-When new moon is visible, women go outside and holding their hands spread apart, chest height, the utter "Amentu bilahi" three times and ask for good health for their children.

-Whoever laughs on Friday will cry on Saturday.

-Around sunset it is not good to switch things from one hand to the other.

-Before going on a trip it is good to turn upside down a piece of clothing "so that you may be of one mind" - be focused.

-When a drunkard dies with a bottle in his hands or there is some alcoholic drink left after his death, and if that drink is drunk by another alcoholic, he will immediately give up alcohol.

-For hair to grow faster and have strong roots on a young Sunday, before sunrise, one needs to cut three locks of hair and throw it under a young quince tree while uttering Euzubilet.

-It is not good to cut nails in someone else's house. If they need to be cut then you have to ask someone from that household.

-It is not good to cut nails at dusk so that a person won't be befalen by evil spirits.

-For nails to grow faster they should be cut during Tuesday and slower on Friday.

-If your tongue is itching someone is badmouthing you. To make it stop, one needs to spit three times into the fire and say each time: "whoever is making spells may he go into an anus!".

-Before going on a large trip it is a sevap (good deed) to tour your entire property.

-A great sevap is give money for digging or arranging a well as well as mending a road.

-Corn is sown at spring when the frogs sound themselves, since it is warm enough.

-Cherry is a bird's tree whose fruits the birds especially love. That's why it is said: "don't touch bird's food because you may get hurt!", i.e. whoever climbs a cherry can easily fall off and hurt themselves.

-When a guest heads home after lunch, the housewife, as soon as he exits, turns the table or casserole towards the door, the part that has food on it, so that good fortune can stay inside of the house.

-It is not good to return an empty plate or bowl in which someone from the neighbourhood brought cheese or milk, instead some salt needs to be placed in the plate if there is nothing else, since everyone has salt, so that livestock can eat it. It is for sevap.

-Cabbage is pickled on days of a new moon, but never in the last lunar phase. On the bottom of the barrel in which cabbage is being placed a leaf of blackberry and the cabbage won't get sour.

-Onion should never be planted early in the day, only at noon and it won't go bad or stagnate.

-Onion in the yard should be dug "when the moon gets old" i.e. when Uštap (full moon) passes.

-Pumpkins are planted on Wednesday. In a bowl with pits some corn flour is placed "so that they become yellow" and some sugar - "so that they're sweet". When planting pumpkins one needs to squat and turn the seed upside down.

-For potatoes to be large they're planted on Thursday. If someone asked why are you planting them on Thursday you can't say so that they're large since it won't work then. It is good if an obese person participates in potato planting with you.

-Beans are planted from the first Thursday in May and in the afternoon "so that it can be cooked quicker".

-To stop a wild rabbit from eating the stem of beans one needs to place five beads of beans into the first hole while planting it, but with your eyes closed.

-Cucumbers planted on Tuesday are always bitter and those on Thursday will be curly.

-Women like to dig the yard on days when the flea market is active, since it will give the most yield then.

-For those people which follow every superstition people often say that they will be followed by many things in life.

Folk medicine

A very important document about healing of inhabitants of Velika Kladuša was put together by Dr. Husein Džanić, whose text was published in 1992 by Bosnian herald Behar (Zagreb), which represents an invaluable historical and cultural annex about the understanding and treatment of sick people in this area, during the period between 1790 and 1878.

"About bole (diseases), our Grandpa new a lot about it. He described it with his colourful language. Diseases can be external, internal and džanbole (diseases of the soul). External disease are wounds when a man gets cut, whether during a physical altercation or during work. The wounded can be cut or stabbed. If the wound was made with the poll of the axe, hammer, knife or wooden stake then we're talking about ubita rana (blunt trauma). It is then blunt force trauma (uboj).

Uboj is a closed wound. A wound is also made when a human is bitten by a dog, wolf, fox, wasp, bumblebee, snake, bee, mosquito. A wound can be made when one gets a blister, when an ulcer bursts, when you burn yourself with hot water or milk or when an itch occurs (svrab), lichen or some other trouble.
From internal diseases, Grandpa mentioned: "For numerous diseases we don't know the origin nor the cure. With some we know how to help hasta (diseased). From the oldest time in Kladuša there wasn't a soul which hadn't had a headache. It is a headache. It can be in the forehead, temples, back of the head, and with some children the entire head hurts.

Toothache feels as if someone was hitting the teeth with a hammer. Stomach (trbuh), when it hurts, then a man is bending and writhing like sapeti teljig (grip of a wicker basket), and in front of his eyes dots are flashing. When someone has stomach aches often we say "da ga je strunio (stomach torsion)" and it is considered to be a dangerous diseases, "since a man can lose his džan (soul) - die."

Increased temperature (called by people "fire") can be so strong inside the man that he feels like he is burning, and if there was no water, he would lose his džan. Opposite of fire is the fever which can be different. Often a man feels like he's freezing to death. Phthisis doesn't hurt. A man is being dried like pastrma (beef jerky), he is feeble and he dies. There is no cure if the disease takes root. Measles is among children. It is a red rash. The skin gets red. The child is thirsty, but he is not allowed to drink, since the water will make it worse. Smallpox are another children's disease. Blisters break out on the face and body, full of stinky puss. When a child cures this disease his skin stays multi coloured.

Cholera starts with stomach pain, and it forces hasta to drink water. When he drinks water, he immediately pukes. Diseased dies quickly from this disease for which there is no cure. Jaundice makes man go yellow like the wax. People lose kuvet (strength) from it. Rabies is a difficult disease which come about when a person is bitten by a rabid dog. Rabid man doesn't know what he is doing and there is no cure for this disease. Earache is a strong pain and one doesn't know what to do. Disease of the eyes is when they're crusty. A man has spikes in the eyes and eyelashes which need to be removed.

Džanbole are rare in our area, but it still occurs. A man is seeing things, but there is nothing there, hearing things but there is no sound. Mentally ill is sometimes happy, or sad, or crying - but there is no reason for this. For such a patient they say that he is vilen. There is no real cure for them.

Besides memories which are transferred from one generation to the next (written documents were burned in 1878, 1919 and 1942), about the existence of barbershops in Mala and Velika Kladuša, and people which applied medicine for curing inhabitants of their region, numerous folk songs testify of these phenomena, among which the song about the captivity of Hrnjica Mujo paints most vividly this picture, created at the end of the 17th century but recorded in 1888 (K. Hoerman).

Curing wounds

My grandfather told about making drugs and healing: "Mehlem (balm) for large and small wounds is made from marrow of bovine or horse feet, or brain, in which you would mix green mold from wheat bread, egg yolk and on the tip of a knife some crushed root from comfrey (Symphytum officinale L). Mold from wheat bread is prepared in such a way that cut slices one moistens with warm water, leaving them in a closed box next to a stove. After eight days, when green mold grows, the bread needs to be dried in the sun and cut into powder. Powder is placed onto pussy wounds, it is drunk with water by those that have a fever, best with watermelon or honey.

Comfrey balm for curing wounds is prepared from shredded root, leaf and flower and is wrapped everyday on the wound which heals quickly. Pussy wound or a bleeding wound, can be cured by burning with glowing iron. Onto small wounds leaves of Plantago and is wrapped in a cloth and it heals quickly. Onto wounds, caused by hot water, one needs to place ground coal and it should be covered by cabbage leaves or grated potato. A good wrap is also made using marigold or fresh milk, which can be found in every house. Fixing bones and joints, when there are no open wounds is done by wrapping ketenovim povismom (flax fibre) which is coated with egg whites, dried and removed after three weeks. Joints is fixed by pulling, after which it is wrapped in flax fibre coated by heated tallow and hot schnapps.

When the stomach is moved (hiatus hernia), a berber or a skilled stravarka fixes it by massaging veins in the left hand more vigorously from the fist to the elbow. Then the stomach is being massaged around the bellybutton from the right side to the left, until the pain subsides, the stomach is being helped by butterfat and is wrapped by a warm flax cloth and is kept in a resting state for two or three days, with a lot of Plantago tea (one coffee pot (0,5 litres) and three spoons of Plantago leaves).

When a person has difficulty urinating, he takes pumpkin seeds and eats a handful three times a day or drinks tea from pumpkin seeds. Lumbago and uboj are cured by placing a flax cloth coated in warm pine or cherry resin. Lumbago and kidney pain are cured by birch tea or birch juice, in spring, from the bark.
Earache is cured by wick which are made out of cloth soaked in bee's wax, which is then bent in the form of a cow horn; it is placed inside the ear and the tip is lit on fire, in such a manner all the impurities from the ear will drain out.

Measles and smallpox among children are cured by warming the children and by tea sweetened with honey. Hasta cannot get cold, he can become worse if this happens. When the pimples burst, the child is very hot. Ulcers, pimples and blisters are cured by wraps finely chopped and crushed onion or potato. Ulcers are cured well with boiled flax or marigold flower.

This is how you cure jaundice. It is usually cured by rue, dried flower of primrose, nettle, out of which one can make a mixture of tea which is drunk for three days.    

Salivanje strahe when someone "nagazi", i.e. has a meeting with demons or black magic, it is done in such a way, that in the tea of the root of Hellebore, one pours molten lead, and that water is being drunk. If there is no Hellebore, then coal from the stove is used, ash from the pipe can also be used. Amulets are worn against nagaz and fear.

Cure against fear and various kidney diseases is produced as a tea, 10 spoons of leaves and root of nettle (Urtica dioica), two spoons of plantain and one spoon crushed spruce berries in two coffee pots of water (500 ml), to which two spoons of honey are added.

For female diseases one drinks tea from barberry, and during a difficult child birth a midwife takes the child by the head or leg and drags it out forcefully. Bosnian people mustn't believe in magic, he must be cured with drugs/herbs, as God intended, whether the man has money or not, berber (doctor) must help him."

These were sayings repeated a hundred times, by my 84 year old Grandpa Osman Hašić, which told these series until his death 1942. He spoke about diseases, drugs and curing with pleasure, about food and celebrations, about male and female suits, about war and serving the army, about Mujo Hrnjica, Halil, Hasanaga Pećki, about folk games such as kliasnja and šuškanje, about Baš Čelik, Tali Ličanin and Mustajbeg Lički. He used to entertain his grandchildren late into the night and tell them about his work, life and customs which he knew and remembered from his forefathers. With his stories the long winter nights were short for us kids. Memories of the Grandfathers stories about diseases, drugs and healing of wounded and diseased Bosnian people in Mala Kladuša in the period between 1790 and 1878, he would end in words by Safvet bey Bašagić:

What I knew, I wrote,
Whosoever knows more,
may he write it down.

Snake-girl


There is an interesting legend among people from Velika Kladuša about a buried treasure in the settlement of Rudnik, which is allegedly guarded for centuries by an immortal giant snake. This legend begins like this: during the time of the Roman occupation of the Illyricum in the area of today’s Velika Kladuša a Japodean family lived there – a father with seven sons and a daughter. Their lives were full of everyday chores and work until one day out of wrath and boredom the brothers placed a piece of bread on a large stone and they competed who will be the first to hit it with a spear. Horrified by this sacrilege the father tried to reason with them not to do it, but young and willing to prove themselves, the son’s didn’t listen to him, until the moment something happened which scared them – blood started to flow from the bread. Seeing this, the father wept in a desperate voice, holding his head and gazing towards the sky:

-You spilled blood! The Gods will curse you and punish for your craziness, the scared, poor man repeated.

Not long after that incident the weeping father died and the son’s one by one left the home without a trace. The only one that was in the deserted house was the daughter, since she couldn’t find the strength to leave the graves of her parents. In her sorrow and loneliness the wrath of gods hit her though she was innocent, and she was turned into a giant snake. In that form she was given a task to guard their gold and precious stones in a deep hole in the ground, until the moment someone strong and brave appears and stands in front of her and allows her to kiss him in the forehead, between the eyes.

A lot of time has passed since then, a lot of centuries, but the memory of the curse of the Illyrian gods and the large snake-girl, guardian of the unseen treasure, stayed in the legend which the old people from Kladuša transferred from one generation to the next to the young, warning them to respect the bread which feeds them. The legend in long winter nights woke up a desire among the young to be brave enough to stand in front of the giant snake, so that she may kiss them, which means that they would be immensely rich and that they would get a loving wife.

Every spring around the Mijene (May 6th) the giant snake-girl would exit at dawn from the depths of the earth and she would wallow in a sad voice.

-Oh, help! Are there any males, Muslim or Christian, to come to me, to allow me to kiss him between the eyes so that I may be a wife or sister. I will give him all the gold!

Everyone knew about her lament but rare were those which dared to head towards her, they were never brave enough, and so through centuries the girl-snake had less and less hope that she will ever be free of the horrible curse.



Persuaded by a stravarka a poor lad decided to head to the snake, around a hundred years ago. He waited patiently for the phase and one night, before dawn, he headed towards Rudnik, threading carefully through the forest. During the road he consoled himself that poor as he is he has nothing to lose even if the plan goes wrong. Suddenly in the darkness he heard a sorrowful female voice how it pleadingly called for a brave human heart to come and save her. He carefully came to the place where he heard the voice and suddenly a silence befell him, he stood, scared waiting to see what would happen. Suddenly in the darkness two eyes shined and the head and entire body of the giant snake appeared, such that the human eye has never seen. Frozen out of fear the young man watched the giant snake approach him looking into his eyes. At the moment when the snake was close to his head his bravery gave up on him completely, he pushed her away and started running as far as his legs could take him. The snake looked at him sadly and uttered:

-May you suffer as I do, may you die when I cannot!

Uttering that curse she disappeared in the darkness, receding into its lair. Soon the boy died and no one knew of what. From that time no one heard that sad cry of the snake-girl.

How the snake saved all life


From the old days among the Bosnian people the snake was considered to be a saviour of mankind, which is proven by this short story. During distressful times, when general floods raged and everything hid in Noah’s ark, days and nights passed in fear for the future. Even the wild beasts were so frightened that they didn’t even think about hurting one another, their cruelty disappeared and all souls thought alike – hope in salvation. But, only one animal among all didn’t feel fear nor hope, it was ruled by evil and selfishness. It was a mouse. Being led solely by his own desires and needs the mouse started nibbling the bottom of the ark, not thinking that he is endangering everyone on it. Luckily, the snake saw him at the last moment, realising what disaster may strike the snake leaped, swallowed the mouse and curled at the place where he nibbled the wood, in order to stop the water from breaking in. Since then, in Velika Kladuša it is believed that it is not a sin to kill a mouse even from a prayer mat, while praying to god.

Shaitan and the woman

Long time ago there was a man and a woman, they constantly tried to outsmart each other, they tried to prove who was smarter and more resourceful. Neither of them wanted to quit, and these pranks of theirs would last forever until the man came up with a bold idea. He suggested that it would be best for them to compete who could talk the devil into entering a hollow pumpkin where they could trap him.

-The devil (Shaitan) is a liar and a scrappy, no one can fool him, and whoever succeeds is the smartest, said the husband to his wife.

In this almost impossible task the husband tried first, trying all day in various ways to trick the devil. He begged him, promised hills and valleys, but to no avail. Night came and he got tired and gave up. The wife smiled and took the pumpkin from him, looked inside and started to wonder, her eyes widened, inhaling and smiling to something that she sees inside. This immediately sparked the devil’s curiosity but he didn’t want to react he waited for the woman to start to gaud him as the husband did. But the woman didn’t even look at the devil, looking into the pumpkin she started to switch it to her right eye so that she can see better the thing that amazed her. Now, the devil was evidently nervous and curios, not being able to wait any longer, he asked the woman what is so amazing inside, she mumbled something quickly and continued to look into the pumpkin. This angered the devil and he shouted at her, to which the wife replied calmly and mellifluously:

-It would be best, powerful and great devil, that you go inside and take a look by yourself, since myself, illiterate, poor woman – the woman started to act and fake – couldn’t describe what type of wonder is inside. And you my dear devil, are so eloquent and very smart, you will recognise this thing immediately.



To these words the devil laughed haughtily and answered to her that he agrees with her, since a stupid woman like herself doesn’t know better than to look into a pumpkin and laugh, and it is best for him to see. As soon as he said these words the devil rushed and entered the pumpkin to which the woman quickly closed it and in the end won the hard bet. Since that time it is believed that a woman and the devil are one and the same – both use lying and seduction to get their will.