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Bulgaria
Vida's love
A wealthy man lived in one town. He had three daughters and a large estate.
The smallest of the daughters was called Kula, the middle one was called Gumza and the biggest one Vida.
Everyone liked the biggest one because she was wise and beautiful and worked hard. And the little ones were lazy. Both sisters were married but they were not happy.
Vida was already supposed to get married too but she didn't want to. One boy fell in love with her, but she didn't want to marry him. He told his mother about it. His mother, who was a witch, couldn't watch her son’s suffering.
One night,while Vida was asleep, the witch enchanted her not to marry at all and even killed her father.
After a long mourning Vida decided to build a castle. She lived there till her old ages until she died. Because of the fact that she has built the castle people began to call the castle Baba Vida.
Simona and Nikol, 9 grade
The Baba Vida Fortress
Woman Fortress
She can't love,
She doesn't know love!
She gave her name to the fortress ...
The name is glorious so far
It is called Baba Vida!
She is the eternal guardian of Vidin,
And a majestic carrier,
From the beginning of history
until now Baba Vida is the guardian!
Stivan and Vesisilav
Baba Vida castle rock
Baba Vida castle rock
keeps Vidin like a hawk.
The town is save
and the enemy stays away.
Kristian
Serbia
foto - JANA MAKSIMOVIĆ
Kalemegdan sekret
I was rushing home, took a taxi and suddenly I arrived at Kalemegdan. It is a historical place, a fortress, where the Sava and Danube rivers meet. It was built by the Romans in the time when Belgrade was called Singidunum.
While I was walking on the Belgrade promenade, I saw many historical monuments covered in a veil of secrets. Each of them could tell their own story. I was there till midnight and at the stroke of midnight there appeared many scary, flaming skeletons. They wanted to kill me because I possessed the secrets of Kalemegdan. A battle began between me and the skeletons. I heard the crackling of their bones under the full moonlight. There appeared black witches, a monster with three heads, a huge Medusa and they were attacking me together. With my great gymnastic skills, I was able to dodge their attacks and find sticks to throw at them like javelins. The first secret is the sticks are magic ans anything struck by them will disappear. While I was trying to defeat them, one statue came alive. That was the statue of Despot Stefan Lazarevic. He looked strong and powerful, he had a sword and a shield. In his shield Medusa saw her own reflection. Right away she became a beautiful fairy who protected me and I told her my second secret whish was that the skeletons and all evil powers are trying to rule over the world. I had one more important thing in my pocket and that was the talking paper. The talking paper said: “ Guns, warriors, come to life, arrows, fire and shoot the dragon!” Everything was in flames. Slowly, the sun rose, skeletons became colourful flowers on Kalemegdan. I threw the talking paper into the Roman Well which was built by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
At eight o’clock in the morning, I saw a little girl at school. She winked at me and I knew she was the fairy who had saved me the night before. We both were very happy.
Lazar Zwirblis, 3rd grade
Legend of Kemza
Legend of Kemza
This is the story of a pretty interesting legend about one not identified river monster from the river Danube.
One fisherman from the city of Smederevo was getting prepared for his daily fishing routine. He woke up and he was excited to go to another fishing adventure. He grabbed his fishing rod, baits and bucket so he can store fish in it and went to the Danube on his good old boat to finally start fishing. After a long time, he felt something strong pulling his hook very hard from the cold waters of the Danube. Suddenly it was getting really tough to hold on that big fish. At first, he was not even thinking about giving up on that big catch. But after fighting with it for a while he finally gave up, and the fish was able to go out free. It was only seen a few times after. He was not able to identify what fish it was, but he was able to see only some parts of his body. He was convinced that it was not any existing species. He thought about the name that he is going to have, since no one gave him name. So, he decided that his name is going to be Kemza. He was also interested in writing and it was his hobby, and this was a pretty good inspiration. So, he wrote “He pulls fishermen and bathers into springs where his tail entangles a victim who then has no salvation” where he was describing Kemza’s power.
According to the stories of those who reportedly experienced a close encounter, Kemza is a very big fish, mostly like a catfish covered in silt and grass. Still others claim him to be more like a man with claws and a long tail. After the fisherman from Smederevo closely encountered this giant monster fish, he started carrying legends about it all around Serbia. A lot of Serbian newspapers were writing stories about this river creature. A lot of people who live near the river Danube were very curious about where Kemza came from and if it was dangerous. No one knows when Kemza first appeared, but judging by the name that has Turkish roots, the story probably goes back to the time of the Ottoman Empire. Since they do not know him very well, they do not exactly know if he is dangerous. Buy they are really sure that it can only live inside the water.
The Danube is a big river and it carries a lot of legends like this one. It is very interesting and mostly not explored from the inside but usually pretty amazing and river full of magnificent, wonderful, cool and very delicious creatures that live in it.
Andrej Vujaklija
8th grade, Serbia
foto - IVANA VELJKOVIĆ
DUŠAN BJELAJAC - foto
The story of Kalemegdan
Once upon a time, there was a boy whose mother was very ill. They went to every single doctor in the town, but nobody had the cure. One day he realized that the only thing left for him was to go on a trip to find it. He found the boat and went down the river Danube. Everything was good until one day really strong wind overturned his boat. He slowly started to drown and everything went black. He woke up in a bed. He saw a couple of people standing over him. They told him that they are a Kalem family. A girl came to him and asked him what had happened since they found him in the last moment. He explained everything to them and thanked them for saving him. Then, an old man sat next to him. ’’I’m going to tell you a story “, he said. “My grandfather once told me that under the confluence of the rivers Danube and Sava is a cave. There lives a magic crab. You can ask him for a one wish. However, he is only going to make it true if your wish is good. If you wish for something bad or evil, he will trap you in his cave forever.“ The boy thanked him and the next morning he continued to sail. When he finally came to the junction, he jumped into the water. After a long time, he saw the cave. He went in, and told his wish to the magic crab. “I will give you a cure, since you are honest, and you wished for something good. But in return, you must do something for me. After your mother is well, you will return here and build a tower on that hill in my honour. If you forget, your mother will become sick again. By the way, my name is Nebojša.“ The crab gave him a bottle, and the boy promised he would not forget about the tower. He went home and his mother drank the potion which magic crab had given him. Then he returned and built not only a tower, but the whole fortress. He named it Kalemegdan, in the honour of family who saved him and the tower – Nebojša tower.
Kalina Radojević
8th grade, Serbia
The Danube
The Danube
The Danube, that powerful, big river which connects eight countries, different people and religions. It flows towards the Black Sea, somewhere it is wavz, and somewhere it’s calm, somewhere wide or narrow.
I decided to go on a 2875 kilometre long journey by boat. I boarded the boat only with the most necessary things for this adventure. In my heart, I felt scared in front of the huge, long river.
I started in Germany on the mountain Schwarzwald where the river begins. A while later I saw a castle, the first of many ones. Not long after I got to Austria. In Austria the river became wider and straighter, like the waltz music “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”. The contrast between the big green hills and valleys and big cities was astonishing. For me completely unknown Slovakia was showing me all its beauty. Low houses, wide fields and the blue sky were following me through the whole 25km in Slovakia. In Hungary the danube gets narrower, the river also gets wavier. The waves were hitting my little boat and it was shaking. I felt uncertainty, but the lights of Budapest fascinated me. Not surprisingly, there were not many castles in Hungary as it was pretty flat terrain. Soon I got to the Serbia – Croatia border where the Danube is a natural border. From my boat I could look at two countries and two shores. On the journey through the 588 km part of the Danube through Serbia, I felt proud about my homeland. As I was going through Belgrade, I greeted Kalemegdan, the most well-known fortress in Serbia. Now I am going to Djerdap where the Danube is the widest. Djerdap lake connects Serbia with Romania, the country of Count Dracula, castles and beautiful nature. At the end of my adventure, I arrived to Bulgaria, another beautiful country where the Danube ends and goes into the Black Sea.
Throughout this whole journey which started in Schwarzwald, which means black forest in German, to the Black sea I expected some darkness, but I didn’t find it. Instead, I was fascinated by the blue, green and black shades of the Danube.
Jovan Vukosavljevic
8th grade, Serbia
SOFIA TRIFUNOVIĆ - foto
UNA SAVIĆ -foto
The beautiful blue DANUBE
Ten European countries have the honour to be blessed with the Danube going through them. That is real blue gold. This unique rug spread its magic in some of the most beautiful cities in the Europe, like: Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava, and Novi Sad.
As it meanders through several countries, this river brings the real inspiration for many artists. One of many who accepted the challenge was Johan Strauss Bach who composed one of the most famous pieces, called "On the Beautiful Blue Danube".
When the hottest temperatures come, many citizens find their peace in the clean waters and they go swimming and enjoying.
This magic starts in Germany on the mountain Schwartzwald and it ends in the Black sea flowing into the Atlantic sea.
With the length of 2.850 km, this river is the second largest river in Europe, after Volga.
This giant has perfect nature around it with a variety of many different species.
Big hydro potential of this river is used to produce energy. So, our country has two of them on Djerdap. There, the Danube is the widest in its whole flow.
Just like magical Euphrates and Tigre, cribs of the civilization, the Danube is something like that in Europe.
In our wonderful country we have many castles proving that even people before us were amazed by his beauty; like: Kalemegdan in Belgrade, Smederevo castle, one in Kladovo and one in Golubac (many people say that this one is the most beautiful of them all). I could talk about Danube's wonderfulness for days, but I am going to try to represent it to you through music, so close your eyes, open your soul and enjoy.
Lana Djokic
8th grade, Serbia
LIFE LIKE THE DANUBE
Life is the time we spend in this world. It is full of various events: good and bad, rises and falls, sunrises and sunsets. Life is, in one word, an indescribable wonder.
People try to describe it in their own way which only they understand. Life can’t be described in one sentence without ignoring many aspects of it. For me, life is like a river.
Life is born at its source , from a small stream it grows into a powerful stream, it curves and meanders and ends like any other river. It empties into the sea or ocean and disappears in great blueness.
One of the most powerful rivers in the world is the Danube. It is the second river in Europe when we consider its length.
It originates at the Schwarzwald in Germany and passes through 10 countries. Although it passes through many different landscapes, it still remains the very same. No one can tame and change the Danube, because it is unchangeable, like all of us.
For thousands of years the Danube has been clearing and building its way. It went through the rocks, carved the coast, carrying gravel and sand with him ... That's like the life of us humans.
We are plain water that flows through this world. We are building our path which can never be changed again. We carve and beautify our coast. Our feelings are like fresh water coming from a spring. This water is our past. In this water, every pebble tells its story and reminds us who we are and where we are from.
The Danube has watched battles for centuries. Its water flowed with the spilled blood of warring people and many innocent people. Many loves were born on the banks of the Danube. New friendships were made. Families rested and admired its beauty.
We meet such situations as we go through our life. Many people pass by us that we do not know and do not even notice. They simply stay on the river banks of our lives.
There are people who come into our lives and swim with us. With some we swim for the rest of our lives and some we throw out and leave on the shores behind us.
The powerful Danube River, at certain times of the year, floods its banks. This situation represents our anger, crying and fury.
We must never allow all water to flow out of us. We need to control and contain it.
Many species of fish are also found in the Danube. Fish represent our ideas and dreams. They just swim through us. We either catch them or not.
We as humans need to join our rivers to create one but strong river. Like the Danube, which is powerful and strong because of its tributaries. So we should stick together and not to spread hatred but to love eachothers. Let's allow our fish to socialize and mix. Maybe one day something new, stronger and more beautiful comes from our fish.
Nikola Marinkovic
8th grade, Serbia
Croatia
Croatia
A golden brother
Two brothers were swimming in the Danube. The older brother was faster than the younger brother. Suddenly, the river mermaid swallowed the younger brother. He disappeared in the black waves of the Danube.
The older brother quickly jumped into the wild river. On the bottom of the Danube he saw a golden statue of his brother. The river mermaid asked him: „ Would you have a golden statue, or you want your brother back? Take the statue and you will be very rich!“ The older brother said: „Give me my brother back!“
The river mermaid kissed the golden statue and the brothers swam away together.
Primary school Tin Ujević, Osijek, Croatia
Seven brothers
Once there was a river, strong and big.
Near the river there were seven villages.
Seven brothers owned the seven villages.
Their names were: Deutsch, Ostrisch, Sloak, Magyar, Horvat, Sarb, Roman i Bulgar.
Brothers were fighting over a beautiful woman Duna. Duna had beautiful blue eyes like veins and hair made of river grass. Duna, the mighty river that connected them before, started to split them up.
All of the seven brothers decided to propose her. Deutsch brought her gifts first: beer and sausages.
Then Ostrisch organized a magnificent ball just for her. Slovak brought the whole mountain so she can ski. Magyar cooked the most delicious fish soup just for her. Horvat brought the whole sea for her to swim. Serb sacrificed his only two-headed eagle for her. Bulgar picked the most beautiful roses. And, finally, Roman build a wooden church for her. Duna wasn't impressed and she told her brother Danube that they were annoying her. Danube got so angry that he killed and swallowed all the brothers and their armies. The river was red from blood the whole year.
But the legend about Duna's beauty still remained in the words of a poet: „She had eyes the colour of veins, the colour of veins, the colour of the Danube…“
Primary school Tin Ujević, Osijek, Croatia
Romania
Vintilescu Ana-Maria
The story of the Danube
The Danube seems like a simple stream of water , but its secrets were told to me by the whispers of the Severin Fortress.
The Danube and the fortresses on its shore are old friends and share all their secrets. I managed to find out one of these secrets and I want to share them. A long time ago, the Black Forest Mountain ruled over the land. It was a tall and majestic king looking for a queen. He fell in love with the Black Sea, a delicate princess whose waves waved at him. The mountain ordered his servants to find a way for the king to communicate with the sea. The servants gathered millions of moles to dug a path in the ground to allow the queen to reach to him. The Black Sea flowed its water through the dug road, managing to meet the king. The Danube was their way of communion, the Black Forest Mountain and the Black Sea ruling the land together happily. To prove his eternal love for his queen, the mountain king built castles and fortresses in every country through which the Danube passes.
This was the story of the Danube that was born out of love.
Danube′s Legend
by Elena Eleftheria Katsoulis
Before humans existed on earth, the world was ruled by nymphs. The strongest of nymphs was called Europe. She had ten daughters whom she loved very much. Each daughter received a part of Europe′s kingdom to rule.
They ruled their countries with wisdom and kindness, and the whole empire prospered. Time passed and the nymphs began to miss each other. Europe saw their suffering, and decided to build a bridge between them.
Europe stretched a river like a blue ribbon starting from the country ruled by the eldest daughter to the land ruled by the youngest daughter.
After she finished the settlement of the river, Europe said: ”Daughters united again from now on will be united for an eternity”.
The river was named after the initials spoken by Europe: DANUBE
The Danube
At the beginning of time , when God created the sea and the continents, he hided water under the mountains.
Many years later, two lovers who went in the mountains to see the view of the town, they have found a cave. Of course, acting acording to their age, they entered the cave. They found water there, sparkling blue water.
Suddenly the water took the two teenagers and passed them through almost all Europe. They finally arrived in Romania. They saw mountains, plains, hills but also a turbulent sea. They called it Black Sea. Watching the sunset, they wondered what name should they put to the water that brought them in that place .
They finally named it Danube and after all these years it still exists and passes through Europe carrying the love of the two teenagers.
MARIN ALEXIA
8 th grade
Slovakia
Bratislava Castle - Patrik Krč
A Giant
Once upon a time Bratislava Castle inhabitants used to wake and everything used to be upside down. It was like beds slept on them and not people on the beds. The water from buckets used to be spilled and cups and mugs used to be broken as well. Countess Julia was not pleased with it so she called a witch. The witch was a fortune fortune-teller. The Countess wanted to know what the matter was with the castle because everything had been destroyed every morning. She did not understand what was happening. The witch raked the ash and read: Klingsor, the giant – a wizard who lives in Sedmohradsko goes to Germany, his homeland, every year and Bratislava Castle is on the way there. By using his wizardry, he always turns the castle upside down to its towers that serves as a table for him to relax comfortably. Then he just sits and relaxes by watching the river Danube. The witch offered she would send a white crow with a message for him to stop relaxing like that. Since then, the Bratislava Castle has been a peaceful place forever.
Alexander Tuider, Slovakia
A water goblin living near the Devin Castle
Under the Devin cliff, there lived a water goblin in the river Danube. He was young and he often danced with women who walked to a market with their goods. Men were not pleased with it so they decided to catch the water goblin. He was successfully repelled by the men far away from the river until he found out he had nowhere to escape so he changed into a beautiful horse with a green mane. Then he was taken by an innkeeper. He looked after the horse very well, but he never allowed him to drink or to go to the river. As the time passed, the horse started to be weaker and weaker and Matthew, the innkeeper, could not look at it anymore. When he was feeding the other horses, he gave some water to the green-maned one as well. As soon as the horse drank, he changed into the water goblin. As an act of gratitude, he gave Matthew three ducats and ordered him to build a mill in the Devin area. In a short time, Matthew became a rich miller.
Filip Varga, Slovakia
Devin Castle - Oliver Blada
Bratislava Castle - Oliver Blada
The young lady from the Bratislava Castle
The legend is about the daughter of the lord of the Bratislava Castle. The daughter was a beautiful young lady. The lady was supposed to get married but she refused many rich grooms. Her father was really desperate and unhappy with her decisions. One day, the Turkish army attacked the castle but it was victoriously defended by its inhabitants. After that, a Turkish messenger came to announce the arrival of his chief. The chief, Nakič Husein, entered the castle unarmed to make peace. The young lady just glanced at him and fell in love at first sight with the fierce man. After she met Nakič Husein, she rejected even more proposals. One day her father lost patience because somebody had told she had fallen in love with a Turk. He got angry at her and decided to imprison her. A soldier who was secretly in love with the beautiful lady released her from the jail. To escape the jail, they took a secret corridor. Later, she met with Vid Zjeravič. He was a Hungarian spy. She told him her love story and asked him to take her to the Turkish camp, because her heart belonged to Nakič Husein. The spy got there easily taking with him a letter from the lady, leaving her behind. Husein read the letter and he started to laugh. Zjeravič took his sword to defend her honour and a wild battle began. When the guards came to the tent of the captain, Husein was smiling at the end of Zjeravič's sword. They ran away from the tent with fearful eyes. Zjeravič went to the forest, where the lady was waiting for him. When she saw the head of her lover at the end of the sword, she lost consciousness. When she woke up, Zjeravič explained to her what had happened. Finally, they got married and lived happily at Bratislava Castle.
Jakub Éršek, Slovakia
Bratislava Castle - Patrik Krč
The Legend of The Virgin Tower
It is said that Knight Mikuláš, the monarch of Devín Castle went to find a bride. He fell in love with the virgin Margaret the daughter of a rich family. Her father politely refused him the hand of his daughter, but the knight kidnapped Margaret. The virgin Margaret didn't resist at all, because she liked Mikuláš. Apart from that, she also liked his beautiful castle.
Later, Margaret's uncle, came to the castle in order to set her free. His soldiers caught Margaret and they brought her home to Carinthia. Mikuláš ran after them and won his bride after a short fight. Back to the castle, they started to prepare the wedding.
But just after the ceremony, the uncle cheated the guards and assaulted the castle. But The Carinthians outnumbered the warriors defending Devín Castle and compelled Mikuláš to retreat to the slim tower above the confluence of the Danube and Morava, where he was killed.
His young bride jumped into the Danube desperate with her sorrow. The muddy water of the river buried the virgin Margaret on her wedding day and since then the tower on the rock has been called the Virgin Tower.
Adam Gajdoš, Slovakia
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