One day a mayor of Banská Bystrica thought hard about his town. ‘We’ve got a beautiful church, a very nice square, a new town hall, but something is missing.’ As he was walking along Horná Street, he got an idea. ‘There is a tower missing in our square. And it would be best to have a clock tower.’ He couldn’t sleep ever since. The idea was troubling him all the time. The soulless mayor waswalkingaroundandponderinghowtobuildthetower.Onenightwhenhewaswandering restlessly around his house a dark figure appeared right in front of him. The figure stank of sulphur. Then he noticed horns on his head and hoofs instead of feet. He felt scared silly when he realised who the figure was. It was the Devil! ‘I have been watching you for a long time now and I know the reason for your dreamless nights and lifeless walks. You want to build a tower and here I have a deal for you. Solve my riddle and I will build your tower, but if not, I’ll take your soul,’ he said. 12 The poor mayor agreed. ‘Listen carefully,’ the Devil said. ‘It moves quickly here and there, it always gets everywhere, into your house or a castle. What is it? I’ll come for your answer tomorrow.’ With these words, the Devil disappeared. The mayor thought hard. He repeated the riddle for himself again and again, but he couldn’t come up with anything. Then a thought crossed his mind: ‘Maybe I won’t be able to solve the riddle, but the wise herbwoman might help me.’ He set off to find a herbwoman, who lived in Urpín Forest. He was walking for a long time lost in the forest when he came to a cave. Before he could enter it, he heard a voice saying: ‘Come in, mayor!’ When he walked in, he found a herbwoman with a crow on her shoulder sitting on the wooden bench. ‘Why have you come here,’ she asked. The mayor told her everything about the deal, the Devil and the riddle. The woman said: ‘The answer is very simple. Listen!’ The mayor sat down and listened. ‘What do you hear?’ she asked after a while. He was tempted to say that he cannot hear a thing, but just then he noticed a quiet rustle. ‘That’s it!’ he said. ‘Thank you.’ And he was gone. He couldn’t wait for the Devil to come the next day. When he finally appeared, he asked: ‘Well, mayor, do you know the answer?’ He was sure, that the mayor hadn’t solved the riddle and he would take his soul down to Hell. ‘Yes, I do,’ said the mayor, ‘it is the wind.’ When the Devil heard his answer he got very angry, but he couldn’t break the deal. He built the tower and he thrust it into the ground so hard, that one side of the tower was leaning towards the ground. Since then there is a leaning tower in Banská Bystrica and every time people look at it they tell a story of the mayor who outwitted the Devil.
Story from the book “What is Whispered about the Copper City”, Moskovská 2 Primary School, Banská Bystrica. Author of the story: Gallasová Barbora, ZŠ SSV, Skuteckého 8, Banská Bystrica
