Along, long time ago,there was no fountain in Banská Bystrica town square. There was only a small pond. People who lived in the town liked meeting there when they came to collect water. They were tittle-tattling about the news, what they had bought or had seen, and about everything that had happened. As time passed by, everyone dug their own well in their yards and no one needed the pond in the square anymore. Yet, they still enjoyed meeting there. When the mayor saw that he called a mason master Tomáš Wolf and told him: ‘I have a job for you. Build a fountain in our square, but not an ordinary one. A fountain that will be the only in the whole wide world. A fountain that will sing. If you complete this task, I will reward you well.’ Master Tomáš thought a lot about the mayor’s offer. He drew designs, made mockups. One day the mayor came to his workshop. He was excited about the designs. ‘Wunderschön! Beautiful! Ce Magnifique! I promised you a considerable reward and I will keep my promise, but not until the fountain stands in its place.’ Tomáš was pleased. He was promised to get three hundred Ducats. 20 However, there was one catch. The construction he had designed was grand but dreary. It was nothing special. Master Tomáš failed to fulfil the second part of the mayor´s task; he could not make the fountain sing. To build a fountain-like no other, to carve beautiful statues from the stone, there he was a master over the masters, but to teach an inanimate stone to sing – he had never heard of that. He sat down at the edge of the fountain and looked sadly at the choppily surface. ‘What am I going to do?’ he thought. Suddenly, he saw a nightingale flying. He cooled down his dry throat with freshwater and sang with joy. Surely, you will not guess why! A cursed fairy Astrid dwelt in the pond. The nightingale sang so nicely to make her smile and please her heart. Master Tomáš hid behind a nearby tree immediately and watched the singer and the beauty in secret. He was standing and looking at them riveted to the spot, for he had never seen or heard anything more beautiful. He kept sculpting, knocking and placing heavy stone blocks throughout the night to build a water castle for the graceful fairy and the singer. He worked hard to finish his work as soon as possible. When people went for a walk the next morning, they saw a stone castle and heard a beautiful nightingale song. Suddenly, someone shouted: ‘Itis the fountain of Master Tomáš that sings!’ Besides, another one said: ‘You’re right!’ Since then there is a singing fountain in the square of Banská Bystrica.
Story from the book “What is Whispered about the Copper City”, Moskovská 2 Primary School, Banská Bystrica. Author of the story: Filadelfi Linda, ZŠ, Spojová 14, Banská Bystrica.
