Myth and folktales

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standing twelve metres away. He resembled a crocodile. In Celovec, they had 
a rascal locked up whose name was Hercules and who had been sentenced to 
death. He was unusually strong and fearless, so they said to him: “If you kill 
this dragon you will be pardoned.”
Hercules immediately agreed. He made a heavy club into which he hammered 
thick, sharp nails. Knowing that the dragon had such a strong breath that he could 
draw people towards himself, he tied himself to a tree that grew close to the lake.
The dragon appeared out of the lake, drew in his breath with all his might, but 
he could not tear Hercules from the rope. He breathed in even harder, with 
such force that the dragon himself was drawn towards Hercules. When he 
was very close, Hercules hit him over the head with his club and the dragon 
instantly toppled over and died.
In those days Celovec was rather small. It was only later that it grew into a 
city. At the New Market Place they erected a monument to Hercules. It shows 
what he was really like and how he felled the dragon with his club. (Šašel 1951: 
4; Kropej, Šmitek, Dapit 2010: 38–41) 
Another famous dragon that lived in the mountains is the dragon in the mountain 
Krim. People told stories that he occasionally made the Barje (the Ljubljana moors) shake.
Among the dragons that lived in the mines, the dragon in Idria could be men-
tioned. When the miners started to take away his treasure, he tore away a piece of 
the hill Kobalove planine. 
The dragon from Ormož in Štajerska had its head under the bell tower while the 
source of the stream was right under its tail. 
THE LJUBLJANA DRAGON AND THE ARGONAUTS 
According to some ancient sources, Jason and the Argonauts sailed on the river 
Ljubljanica. The Greek historian Zosimus was the first to establish the connection 
between Emona (now Ljubljana) and the Argonauts (5
th
–6
th
 century AD). He writes 
that the Argonauts sailed on the Ljubljanica River in a region where Emona stands.
74
 
Johann Weichard Valvasor
 (1689, XI: 705) narrated that on his way past Emona, where 
Ljubljana stands today, near the Barje (
the Ljubljana Moors)
, Jason slew the dragon; 
to this day, the event is depicted in the Ljubljana coat of arms. 
In his historical overview of Vrhnika (Roman: Nauportus), Jože Rode also men-
tions the legend about Jason, who allegedly sailed on the Ljubljanica. According to 
this legend, Jason, who sailed past Veliki Močilnik, leaned with his fist against the cliff 
74 
Zosim, 5, 29, 1–3; after: Šašel Kos 2006: 17.

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with such strength that you can still see 
the print of his hand in the cliff which is 
named “Jason’s Fist”. The famous Greek 
hero Jason and his comrades went on 
a dangerous quest to bring the magic 
fleece of a ram with golden wings. His 
magnificent ship of fifty oars was made 
out of wood, which could not decay, by 
the most reputable builder. The ship was 
named “Argo” after the man who built 
it and whose name means “a fast” ship.
Jason and his men (the Argonauts) 
stole the Golden Fleece from the king 
who had his kingdom on the shores of 
the Black Sea. While the ship fled from its followers, it accidentally sailed into the 
Danube instead of into the 
Aegean Sea. The runaways had people trying to track 
them down behind them and could not turn back; thus, they continued to sail on the 
Danube, entered the Sava River and finally rowed to the Ljubljanica River. Suddenly, 
a violent storm started, which threatened to crash the ship against the cliffs in Veliki 
Močilnik. Jason, who was a hero among heroes and had a big and strong fist, struck 
it against a vertical wall which caved in. His heroic fist anchored the ship like a pow-
erful anchor. The ship was actually so light that they could carry it (after they took 
it apart) on their shoulders on their twelve-day walk. The track of Jason’s fist can be 
clearly seen in the rock above the Velika Ljubljanica source.
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These folktales have been kept by the people up to this very day.
BASILISK (BAZILISK)
The imagination of the people created numerous similar mythological beings, 
using the dragon or the snake as a role model. The bazilisk (in Slovenian lore called 
also káčec) was mentioned in the Bible. According to ancient religious beliefs, the 
bazilisk was an extremely poisonous snake with wings, head, and feet of a rooster. 
Bazilisk was so poisonous that it could kill with one glance or with its breath. It was 
supposedly hatched from the egg of a seven- or fourteen-year-old rooster, which had 
been buried in the mud and grew under the protection of a toad, a frog, or a snake. 
From this point of view, the notion of the basilisk influenced the tradition about “the 
dragon from an egg of a rooster.” According to Pliny the Elder (23 AD–79 AD), the 
75 
After: Cerar-Drašler 2004: 46.
The dragon on the coat of arms of Ljubljana; 
Valvasor (1689, XI: 666)

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basilisk allegedly lived in Libya or Egypt. Hildegard von Bingen’s “Physica” (VII, 12) 
from the 11
th
 century, was largely responsible for spreading the tradition about the 
basilisk in the Middle Ages. According to medieval writers, the basilisk was believed 
to be a real animal and thus it is no wonder that it was in 1474 when the Town Council 
of Basel, sentenced an eleven-year-old rooster, which was believed to have hatched 
an egg, to death by decapitation and cremation. 
The lore about snakes with a rooster’s comb on their heads and a diamond 
underneath their tongues was spread among South Slavs. Amulets in the form of half 
a snake and half a rooster were found in the Balkans, which indicates that people 
must have believed in the protective power of these animals. In alchemy, the basilisk 
symbolized the destructive fire that foretold the transformation of metal. The basilisk 
was also believed to have the power to heal, similarly as the horn of a unicorn. That 
is why it was also used in medieval medicine. 
MALAVAR
An animal similar to the basilisk is malavar, named also malavr, molavr or bala-
ver. It is not as similar to the snake as it is to a large black lizard with a comb on its 
head, which is similar to that of a rooster. It was believed to have a diamond beneath 
the comb, bulging eyes, a big head and the body similar to a lizard. The malavar was 
believed to be so poisonous that his breath could kill in the same way as the basilisk 
could. The folktales about the malavar were kept in Primorska and in Karst.
76
 Anton 
Pegan, from Štanjel on the Karst Plateau, noted a folktale about the malavars in the 
middle of the 19
th
 century:
The malavars are big lizards, which sing extremely beautifully. They have a 
red comb on their head and a diamond right beneath it. But the Lord protect 
the man in which it blows because it will kill him instantly. And vice versa, 
a man can also kill them as well if he is faster and is the first to blow in 
their direction. Those who wish to have their diamond must leave them on 
an anthill for a fortnight, so that the ants eat their meat and the diamond 
becomes clean. They only show themselves once in a year, on the hottest day 
of the year. They sunbathe in the clearing from noon until one o’clock and 
then they again disappear for a year.
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76 
Compare: Marija Jamšek, Čudna pošast v Kobjeglavi. Tedenska tribuna. Ljubljana, 5. 10. 1958.
77 
Manuscript of A. Pegan, 1868, Archive ISN ZRC SAZU: ŠZ 8/16. Published: Dapit, Kropelj 2004:35; 
Pegan/Černigoj 2007: 154–5.

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