Once upon a time, velns* was travelling the foreign realms and he was returning from Sweden to Dundaga along his trails below the sea.
Whirlwind who was velns’ faithful servant kept him good company and Whirlwind sought to amuse velns now and then by wrecking a ship here and there which delighted velns greatly as he could be heard chuckling beneath the waves.
Once velns had reached Dundaga, velns was attacked by Thunder who banished that piece of devilry to the very Jaunjelgava lands.
Near Jaunjelgava, velns had his clog fallen down off his foot on some hilltop and thus the hill was turned into a bog.
Yet velns found no peace and haven there, and he fled further to Lestene where velns gathered a large sackful of stones and he intended to hurl the stones striking at Thunder.
In Lestene, the scoundrel stole a corpse out of some granary* and drove the dead body away in a cart pulled by four black horses.
Thunder pursued velns in Lestene and chased him down straight to Pienava.
On his flight, velns aimed the stones at Thunder drawing them out of the large sack but the sack – once it had been undone – could not hold the stones any longer and the stones were scattered all over the Pienava lands.
Upon battling Thunder, velns lost his other clog, as well.
And that was how the Pienava Marsh came to be.
Velns fretted over having to trot forth bare-footed and Thunder was nowhere beheld therefore velns lay down to have his sweet nap by the Stagari Village.
Yet where shall such evil find his rest, where – his fine slumber?
The Stagari Village rooster who was velns’ dire enemy crowed by and by and that innocent crowing drove velns to the Lithuanian lands.
Upon that spot where velns had stretched out his weary limbs and lain his head on a knoll, a bottomless pit was formed and, to this our day, that pit is known as the Velns Acs (Velns’ Eye).
The old ‘Krauči’ housemaster from the Stagari lands once spun three pounds of wooden thread to measure the depth of that pit but never he succeeded at reaching it.
***
*Velns – the deity of fertility, the chaotic and disruptive, destructive aspect of creation in the Latvian mythology, also Christian devil.
*The deceased household members were frequently kept in the granary before proceeding to the funeral.
Find on Map! (Pienava (where the narrative was recorded), Dundaga Parish, Jaunjelgava, Lestene, Stagari)
Latvian Folk Tales 