Legends

Legends about the Devil’s Stone

Once upon a time there was a Knight in Muszyna who fell in love with a pretty shepherdess from Krynica. Because the girl was poor, the Knight’s father didn’t want to give his consent for the marriage. So he sent his son to the war hoping that, being away from the girl he will forget her. The young knight was lucky in the war and returned healthy to his homeland, but was attacked and robbed by highwaymen on the slopes of the Parkowa Mountain.
He was heavily beaten and wounded and left to a certain death in the forest near Krynica. His moans were heard by the shepherdess who tended her ship near by. When she found her beloved bleeding, she knelt down and started to pray asking God’s Mother for help. With great surprise she saw a spring rising at her feet. After washing with this miraculous water the knight was healed. When the father learnt about the event he let his son marry the girl, and the young couple lived happily ever after. The local people often used to come to the spring to get the healing water. But the dark powers also learnt about the spring and decided to destroy it. The Devil took a huge chunk of rock from the Tatra Mountain range intending to throw it over the spring. But when he was just about the summit of Jaworzyna, a cock crowed, and the Devil was forced to drop the rock. There it stands to this very day…..

Thankful for the life-giving spring, the Krynica inhabitants and patients put up the statue of Virgin Mary the Queen of Krynica Springs on the Parkowa Mountain. Nowadays the statue is also called the “Virgin Mary Forest Shrine”, and services are held here in the spring and summer.