- Genre
- Mythological legend
- Source status
- folkloric
- Motifs
- Šatrija, Midsummer Eve, flying ointment, mortar, grey horse and birch
The story
A man named Lembertas lived in Naukaimis, in Šiluva parish. When he died, he left a wife, a son and seven daughters. The son died young and the surname disappeared, while the seven sisters were spoken of as witches. Their farmhand, Adomas Ramanauskis, refused to believe the rumours. Still, he noticed that the sisters vanished at night and decided to find out where they went.
On the eve of St John’s Day he hid inside the house. After dark, one sister took a little pot from beneath the stove, rubbed its ointment under her arms and flew through an opening overhead. The others followed one by one. The last put the pot back under the stove.
Adomas came out and used the ointment himself. Afraid of flying too high, he tied a mortar to his feet. He pushed off, flew out through the top of the house and reached Šatrija hill, which was crowded with witches. His seven mistresses were among them.
The eldest recognised him, asked what he would do there and told him to ride home. She gave him a handsome grey horse. He rode down the hill and fell asleep on the way. When he woke, he found himself sitting on a bent birch tree.
The next day he searched for the ointment, hoping to visit Šatrija again. But the sisters had hidden it, and he could not find it.
Reading the story
Place names and personal names give the legend the form of a local incident; its accusations of witchcraft are not verified biographical facts. The seven sisters, the mortar tied to the farmhand’s feet and the horse revealed as a birch distinguish this version.
Told by Ona Vaičiulienė in Žalakiškiai, Šiluva parish; recorded by P. Šivickis in 1905. LMD I 144(49).
Source and retelling
Lietuvių tautosaka, IV (1967), Nr. 404, p. 459–460: „Raganos ir bernas“. An original retelling of the recorded traditional narrative cited here. The sequence of events and ending are retained in modern language.