Life with devils and witches
In times without television and radio, people from Kostel told stories to their children, who were keeping warm by the stoves at night, that they had heard from their parents or grandparents.
These stories didn’t lack characters like witches or devils, perhaps also because of the peculiarity of the landscape, which, with its many caves, sinkholes, and picturesque playful terrain, offers immense possibilities for the imagination. Thus, the stimulating narratives kept the minds of little children thinking where strange and mischievous creatures lived. Amongst the old stories from Kostel is also the one below.
The story of the Mikul's devil
They had a devil at one house in Kostel. He sat by the fireplace and kept nagging the housewife. She gave him beans to eat, and he ate the soft one and threw the hard one around the house while saying, “Soft, hard. Soft, hard.”
Then, they got tired of the devil. Houseowner Martin put him in a sack, bound it and threw him into Kolpa. He thought, “We got rid of this devil forever!”
From Kolpa he gasped uphill toward his home. He was already tired and sweaty. When he got home, he saw the devil sitting by the fireplace. The devil said to him, “Martin, I'm already dry!”
The story of the Mikul's devil is also known in other villages along Kolpa, where the devil is not called Mikul, but the Trški Devil (Trg = Market = Kostel).
Source: Primc, Joze. 1997. Okamneli mož.
Photo source: Dragana_Gordic / Freepik
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