Mountain ranges / Karawanks / Hribarska (Huda) zijalka

Hribarska (Huda) zijalka

Country: Slovenia

Mountain range: Karawanks

Elevation: 1140 m / 3740 ft

Lat/Lon: 46.4278°N 14.682°E

Type:

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Views: 157,511

Popularity: 58% (1554th place)

Number of pictures: 6

Number of paths: 1

Number of GPS tracks: 0

Description of mountain:
Hribarska (Huda) zijalka is located below the precipitous walls of Huda peč hill above the village Solčava. There are no records of the chasm, only this legend.
In olden times, wild nymphs lived there who could not bear the sound of bells ringing or whistling. Solčava shepherds, unaware of this, grazed their sheep on the nymphs' alpine pastures.
One day, a young shepherd from Solčava drove the master's sheep and cows up to the pastures around the cliff. To avoid losing the livestock in the dark mists, he tied cow bells around each animal's neck and whistled to the sheep whenever they strayed too far across the vast pastures. The cow bells rang, and the shepherd whistled incessantly, so the nymphs, hidden in the chasm below the cliff, plugged their ears and raged that they would kill the shepherd if they caught him.
Day after day the shepherd grazed there. One day, the finest sheep from his flock strayed onto the cliff but could not return. It bleated and baaed; the shepherd pitied it and climbed the steep pasture to the cliff to rescue the sheep.
As soon as he approached the chasm, enraged nymphs burst from the cliff, strangled him and threw him into the abyss, where he lay with a shattered skull among the rocks. The cattle and sheep returned home by themselves that evening.
The next day, the people of Solčava went up to the pastures to search for the shepherd. They called and whistled for him, but no one found him. Finally, the shepherd's master climbed to the cliff, stopped in front of the chasm and whistled loudly, thinking it would wake the shepherd if he had fallen asleep in the hollow. But at his whistle, furious wild nymphs leapt from the chasm, dragged him to the top of the rock and pushed him into the precipice, so he lay with a shattered skull beside the slain shepherd.
The Solčavani, who heard terrified screams echoing down the valley, saw nothing on the cliff but white mist and the master falling from the rock. They rushed to the rocks and there found both him and the shepherd, both with shattered skulls, both dead.
Since then, Solčava shepherds have never grazed cows or sheep on that hill, which they named "Huda peč". They prefer to graze elsewhere, where they can whistle to the sheep without worry, where cows with bells around their necks can jingle for days on end...