The Thunderstruck Rocks

In a long forgotten past, at the foot of his Mount Ceahlău there lived a boyar. He was so rich that he himself lost track of his countless and endless fortune. If you do not believe me, I’m telling you that had he gather his cattle at one place and then herd them to water in the crystal-clear and lively Bistrita River, and then at once would have dried it, part of the cattle would have died of thirst!

Well, every man was given his share of misfortune… And so was our boyar: although he was kind-hearted and hard-working as one could rarely see (as it was not by theft or greed that he gathered such wealth), none of his three sons followed in his footsteps. Well, you see, they got used to living carelessly and they no longer knew its price. Let me add that of late they vied wasting – as if with four hands instead of two! – all they reckoned they deserved of the plenty but not toiled wealth…

Their father was patient enough, he would urge them to be wiser and industrious, but as they say, it went in one year and out the other. As soon as they saw they pockets full, among fiddlers, pails of wine and women skilful at turning men’s heads with sweet words and sly whispers, nothing of what they had promised to their father that morning, with lamb’s voice, was worth a penny that very afternoon…

However, the boyar’s patience had its limits! This is how, one day, the poor man drew the strings of his heart and – despite his parental sorrow – decided to let the three without any fortune – that is, to disinherit them completely, even of the good and undeserved living of some prodigals indulging in debauchery and idleness. Then he sold all his fortune leaving only a little he and a few servants could live on, as he had no wife and no other kin…

Then, almost all the gold he thus gathered they loaded in bags and put them on stout mountain horses, trained to trod on slopes they – the boyar, the horses, and the servants – lined up Mount Ceahlău majestic peak. The miserable father was well acquainted with a hermit who had been dwelling – in devout and profound prayer – on the Sacred Mountain for a long time. The boyar had helped the hermit dig his hermitage under the edge of a tilted cliff, not far from Piatra Altarului [The Altar’s Cliff]. Both of them – the boyar and the hermit – knew very well that “money is Satan’s eye” and they buried it deep, in a safe spot, under a great rock, the entire fortune carried in bags. They further consecrated the spot and erected a wooden cross above the hide to keep evil spirits or any of devil’s work away.

Many years went by – more than one or two centuries. The wooden cross rotted and disappeared as if it had never been there, and those who had known the secret of the treasure turned to dust, too.

Only Satan, the tireless evildoer, remained to care for the money that he knew could help him drag many a people – easy to turn away from the right path and good deeds – into sin. As he himself did not know where the treasure was as the hermit’s divine services made the treasure invisible to Satan’s sly eyes, began digging among the rocks. He could not find a penny! Then, redder in the face with anger, redder than the fire in the hell he came from he threw a flow of thunder onto the huge rocks, among which the one with the treasure.

Our Lord from Heaven’s height saw Satan’s vile work so that he could find the treasure and lose so many Christian souls. He then sent from the skies a long lightning like a pole of light. All the gold melted instantly and disappeared into the impenetrable depths of the earth. It is only the thunder-struck and crashed rock, like a saw’s grin, that reminds us to this day of the Satan’s plot and the Almighty’s punishment…