Myth and folktales

59
avalanches, pounding rain, and 
storms made them go back where 
they came from.
Their snow-white chamois grazed 
and stood guard on the mountain 
ridge whose walls fall steeply down 
into the Soča Valley. If an intruder 
approached, the White Ladies made 
rocks roll down the slopes. The cham-
ois were led by a strong chamois with 
golden horns called Zlatorog. The 
White Ladies made him invulner-
able. Even if a hunter’s bullet hit him, 
a plant with magnificent medici-
nal power would spring up from a 
single drop of his blood regardless of 
where it fell, be it a bare rock or icy 
snow-covered ground. This plant, 
the rose cinquefoil, was called the 
“miraculous balm” or the “rose of Triglav.” If Zlatorog ate a leaf of this plant, 
he instantly recovered, even if the bullet hit him in the heart. Even greater 
was the power of his horns. If someone managed to get close to Zlatorog and 
take one of his golden horns, he would have the key to all the silver and gold 
treasures that the Many-Headed Snake kept in Mt. Bogatin (literally, “Rich 
Man’s Mountain”).
A seeker of gold from Venice waited at the entrance to Mt. Bogatin and saw 
how Zlatorog touched the snake with his horn, and the snake became gentle 
as a lamb and let him dip his horns in the golden stream that ran through 
the cave. The gold seeker later found a piece of the golden horn that Zlatorog 
scraped off on a rock. This is how he was able to get all the treasures of the 
world with it. His entire life he carried bags of gold out of Mt. Bogatin and 
they were all sent to Italy. 
A hunter from the Trenta Valley was not so lucky. People’s ingratitude and 
thoughtlessness turned the high valley of the White Ladies into a rocky wasteland. 
It happened like this:
At that time there were no roads in the Bovec Region, there was just a trail from 
Kobarid through Bovec to Tarvisio. Italian merchants used it to carry rich 
Zlatorog/Goldenhorn in Bohinj, Stojan Batič, 
1978 (Photo: M. Kropej, 2009)

---

60
Venetian goods to Germany on their mules. At the confluence of the Koritnica 
and Soča rivers, there was a very popular inn where these merchants gathered. 
Its excellent landlady was well known far and wide because she knew how to 
sweeten up their rest with good food and red wine. Even more pleasing was 
her daughter, who was virtuous and the most beautiful girl in the valley. She 
had many suitors, but she gave her heart to a boy from the Trenta Valley. He 
was said to be the best hunter far and wide and was called “the hunter of the 
Trenta Valley.” He was the son of a blind widow, and when she became old 
he took care of her with all the faithful love of a child. They also say that he 
was protected by the White Ladies. He knew all the trails in the mountains 
and he was permitted to climb the highest mountains without having to fear 
the landslides. He would bring many fat chamois, capercaillies, and bunches 
of beautiful flowers down to the inn, and in this way he won the girl’s love.
Because gold and finery are bound to turn people’s heads, along with all the 
coaxing and flattery of the Italian merchants, the girl became arrogant. One 
Sunday, when the winter was nearly over, some Italian merchants came to 
the inn carrying rich goods from Venice. One of them, a rich young gentle-
man, tried to seduce the girl with gold and promises. He put golden rings on 
her fingers and tied a pearl necklace around her neck. He treated the other 
guests to strong Italian wine and ordered the musicians to play, so that people 
could dance. 
Then the hunter of the Trenta Valley approached. When he asked his girlfriend 
for a dance, she frowned at him and, when he reproached her for wearing 
the Italian’s golden finery, the beauty told him with a sneer that “the Italians 
are polite gentlemen, much more well-mannered than my lover, who despite 
knowing all the treasures of the mountains, has never even brought me the 
rose of Triglav.”
Because mockery goes directly from the mouth to the heart, the boy felt the 
harshness of these words in his heart and replied in the same arrogant manner: 
“I know where to find the key to the treasures of Mt. Bogatin and when I do 
find it I’ll be a king compared to your Italian peddlers, and you are free to 
stay their barmaid”. 
He was deeply offended and left the inn. On the way, he met a wicked man 
called the Green Hunter, who was said to have murdered many upright boys. 
The Green Hunter told the boy many things about the treasures of Mt. Bogatin 
and the beautiful girls in Italy that are visited by many treasure seekers. That 
same night they both set out for the mountains to stalk Zlatorog because the 
hunter of the Trenta Valley knew all his favourite resting places. They spotted 
him in the morning, and the hunter’s bullet hit Zlatorog. Badly wounded, 

---

61
he found shelter on a narrow ledge in an inaccessible wall. “Come with me,” 
shouted the Green Hunter, “the keys to the treasures of Mt. Bogatin are ours!” 
Suddenly, on the dangerous path amidst the snow and ice, the boy saw the most 
beautiful flowers he had ever seen, and among them also the edelweiss, which 
in past years he had often picked in order to brew  medicine for his mother’s 
eyes. The memory of his mother and his guardian angel warned him: “Stop, 
don’t go any further, and be happy with the roses of Triglav. Your beloved will 
be ashamed and will ask for your forgiveness because she laughed at you.” 
Then the Green Hunter shouted: “There is still time to subdue Zlatorog before 
he eats the miraculous balm. Take courage and you’ll be richer than all the 
peddlers that made your girlfriend unfaithful.”
The voice of evil won, and they followed the tracks of the bleeding goat marked 
with flowers along the path between life and death. But Zlatorog regained his 
strength by eating the miraculous balm and, newly revived, he came galloping 
down the narrow path towards his pursuers with his horns shining in the sun 
more beautiful than ever. The hunter was blinded and looked into the endless 
depths. Zlatorog made one more jump and the hunter lost his footing and fell 
into the abyss. The Green Hunter laughed maliciously and shouted after him: 
“Have a nice trip to Italy!”
In the meantime, the girl regretted bitterly what she had done to her hunter 
and waited sadly for him to show up again. It was only after the swallows 
began returning home and the waters of the Soča began rising because of the 
snow melting in the mountains that the river brought down his dead body 
holding a bouquet of the roses of Triglav. 
In the late summer, when the shepherds came near the valley of Zajezeram, 
they found a desolate rocky country. The White Ladies had left the land forever, 
and with them the white chamois were also gone. There was no trace left of 
the former Alpine paradise. In his rage, Zlatorog had laid waste all the most 
beautiful pastures and even today the traces of his golden horns can be seen 
on the rocky ground (Dežman 1868: 325–7).
37
37 
Dežman’s text attracted the attention of Viljem Urbas, a professor at the German high school in 
Trieste. He conveyed it to the German poet Rudolf Baumbach, his friend in Trieste, who widely popu-
larized the story by creating an epic poem titled Zlatorog (1877). Written in the style of a romantic 
epic poem, it praises the glory of the mountains, and in this setting focuses on the love story between 
a young hunter and Jerica, the daughter of a tavern owner. The love between Jerica and the hunter 
rouses the jealousy of pretty Špela. In comparison with Dežman’s record of the folktale, this epic 
poem is decidedly more romantic. Unlike Dežman’s folktale, it contains a number of additional 
motifs and characters. At the end, the poem contains the motif of the saviour in the crib (Ranke 
1911), which is relatively frequent in this type of folktale. Rudolf Baumach’s epic poem Zlatorog 
has been published in 1877 and translated into Slovenian by Anton Funtek in 1886. Later, Zlatorog 
inspired many poems, operas (Victor Gluth 1910, Viktor Parma 1919), ballets and symphonies.

---