- Genre
- Recorded place narratives
- Source status
- Editorial discussion of recorded accounts
- Motifs
- drowned wedding party, river stones, parental curse, narrative variants
Three accounts of one place
The stones in the Neris are associated with a wedding party that drowned. The texts published in 2007 differ: a river crossing matters in some, broken ice and a parental curse in another. This page offers an editorial comparison; the recorded texts remain available through the source.
Who told the stories
No. 188 was recorded from Zenona Gotovt-Šumska, aged 66, in Verkšionys in 2005; no. 189 from Irena Špak-Satkievič, aged 76, in Pugainiai in 2005; no. 190 from Jadviga Dakšievič-Jakonis, aged 79, in Buivydai in 2003. Ida Stankevičiūtė recorded all three. They appear in Tautosakos darbai XXXIII, pp. 245–246.
These dates identify interviews, not the origin of the legend or the date of an alleged accident. The narrators' home villages are not three separate locations of the stones.
What changes between versions
The first narrator remains uncertain about the stones' appearance or growth. The second leaves the cause of the tragedy unresolved. The third links five carts and five stones to parental opposition to a marriage. Combining all these details would create a new story that none of the three actually told.
When comparing them, ask whether the stones represent the wedding guests themselves, mark their deaths, or give a later explanation for a river feature. The shared name cannot settle that question.
Place and limits of the evidence
These are the Wedding Stones in the Neris near Verkšionys. The publication documents local memory; it does not verify a particular drowning or provide current access information. A recollection of crossing at low water is not a present-day crossing instruction.
Keep the text number, narrator, recorder and date together when using the original. They allow a general stone legend to be traced back to an identifiable local account.
