But after a period some children started to build small huts from mould and decided to cover them with moss (as a roof) and then said: “This is mine!”, “And this is mine!”. Some of these children were though lazy and would try to inhabit the huts already built not willing to struggle to raise their own houses. The owners were not too glad about that situation so they started to fight the intruders and that was how the first quarrel and the first battle had begun. Few kids went to Caraiman to complain about what was happening. The giant was very sad to hear that but thought of giving to each of his children their own houses and even a small garden so they all can be equally rich or poor. Unfortunately that was not a solution to last: some kids were hard working and some were lazy… and the lazy ones did not cultivate their gardens and went on stealing others’ crops and again there were fights between those two sides.

The wizard was very browned off and thus heavy rains fell down the children’s world when their father was crying his eyes out because of the little humans misbehavior. Caraiman wept for days so there were floods all over the place and people and animals were drowning. When he realized what he was doing the mighty wizard blew out strong winds to dry the lands and mend his fault. But his children did not love him anymore and thought Caraiman was sending them troubles only by haughtiness… some of them decided to beat him and went to Caraiman armed with shafts, spears, tweakers and stones. The giant laughed at them so powerfully that he gave birth to a rattling earthquake. Others came with torches to burn his beard but he sneezed so hard he blew up their fires and made them run away.

In the end the children thought of stealing his bagpipe while he was asleep because they believed that was the tool of all the disasters. But no one could steal the bagpipe as the wizard was sleeping with his giant head on it so it was extremely heavy and impossible to move. Then few brats had an idea: they made a small hole in the bagpipe so it cannot be used any more. But alas!… a strong wind and then a raging storm came out from the drone and all the children and their animals were killed. Caraiman did not wake up ever  – today he is still sleeping with his magic bagpipe under his head. Sometimes the drone jangles gruffly and then storms come down the Prahova Valley.

True facts:

Caraiman peak is one of the most spectacular mountain tops in Bucegi and it is very easy recognizable due to the Heroes’ Cross – a monument raised on the flank which looks down to Busteni resort.

The cross – made up of steel concrete plated with stone – was build between 1926 and 1928 and its building was sponsored by Queen Mary of Romania. It was erected to honour those Romanian soldiers who were killed during the First World War and fought the German troops to regain Transylvania. The monument is 28 meters high and it is situated at 2291 meters of altitude. The cross is lit at night using 300 light bulbs of 500 W.

Author: Irina Petre

Photo: Ioan Bodean

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

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