Myth and folktales

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In the Mežiška valley in Koroška, 
people also said that the giants (ajdi) 
first lived on the Glass Mountain, which 
presents the world above us. From there 
they moved to various summits and 
hills. They are described as not very 
clever, a bit clumsy and so tall that 
they were able to ladle the water from 
the stream while they were standing 
on the top of the summit. They threw 
the objects they needed from one hill 
top to the other and also talked to each 
other from great distances. These fea-
tures of theirs were not typical only for 
the giants in Slovenian lore but also in 
folklore from other European people. 
These stories sometimes also contain 
the motif of competition of who can 
squeeze the stone the hardest (ATU 
1060 “Squeezing the Supposed Stone”).
The giant crushes the stone into the 
dust, while the man takes the cheese and only water comes out of it. This is enough 
for the giant to become scared so he does not wish to fight against the man anymore 
(Möderndorfet 1946, 96–97). 
According to Slovenian lore, the exceedingly tall ajdi represented an ancient 
population which lived in the mountains, far away from other people. 
THE RIB OF THE PAGAN GIRL IN GORNJI GRAD
A horrible rib hangs in the church in Gornji Grad, such as no animal living on 
earth has. The writer does not know when and if it was there that they dug it up. 
The folktale says that it belongs to a pagan girl and also says that when the rib, 
from which one drop falls every year, remains with none left, the Judgment Day will 
come. 
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85 
Pukmeister 1857: 239; Barth. Kopitars Kleinereschriften. Herausgegeben von Fr. Miklosich. Wien 
1857: 151. A similar folktale was documented in Crngrob in Gorenjska (Upper Carniola).
The Ajd/Giant, Veno Dolenc (Dapit, Kropej 1999)

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128
GIANTS BUILDING CASTLES ON THE MOUNTAINS
Slovenian folk tradition also tells that the giants built castles and altars and had 
to break the rocks and tear up trees by the roots. They passed the tools to one another 
from one hill top to the other. The castle on Planina was supposed to be made in the 
same way, as well as the church in Maria-Gail/Marija na Zili in Kärnten/Koroška. 
On the mountain near Dobrla Vas, they set up a giant’s altar, which is as tall as the 
mountain (Kelemina 1930: 238–239). 
The church on the Mt. Hum was also built by the giants and they passed the 
hatchet from Martjanci to Tišina. In another folktale, the giants passed the hatchet 
from Podgora to Zabukovec, as is described in a tale written by Josip Vidic 
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 from 
Št. Pavel pri Preboldu (St. Paul near Prebold) in the Savinja Valley in 1910.
The ogres of Zabukovec and Podgora
The mountain ridge of Savinja is split down the middle by a valley near 
Sevnicnica. Lining the right bank are the Podgora hills and on the left, the 
Zabukovje hills. They say that in the olden days two ogres built their houses 
there, one on Rudenik and the other on Travniki. These two hills are of approxi-
mately equal height and stand opposite each other. As the two ogres owned 
only one hammer, they threw it from one hill to the other across the valley as 
long as they needed it for building. (Kropej, Šmitek, Dapit 2010: 66).
 
There are many tales such as this in Slovenia. One of them has also been preserved 
near Šmarje and Rogaška Slatina, and describes how the giants built the church on 
Tinska gora/Mt. Tnje. When they finished their job, they threw the tools to Krapina 
in Croatia and built a church there as well:
tinska Gora and the Giants
The belief in Ajdi has been kept in Slovenia up to this day. This is what they 
say about them: The Church of the Mother Mary, near Tinska Gora in the 
parish of Zibika in Šmarje, was supposedly built by the pagans Ajdi. They 
were extremely tall and powerful and people were afraid of them. Their 
daughters brought the builders plaster in giant tubs, which they carried on 
their heads. 
When the men finished their job they picked up their construction tool and 
threw it from there to Krapina in Croatia and later they build up the church 
there as well. 
The succursal of the Mother Mary on Sveta Gora at St. Peter’s perish was 
86 
The manuscript of Josip Vidic, Archive ISN ZRC SAZU: ŠZ 7/166. Published: Dapit, Kropej 1999: 40–41.

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built by the Ajdi, which also carried the bells on their shoulders up to the bell 
tower (Dragoslav 1884: 204). 
Folktales about the giants have different historic background and often testify 
about the old pagan population. People often interpreted the ancient forts and 
temples as being built by the ajdi. The name of the town Ajdovščina has its roots in 
such beliefs. In order to distinguish such connections between the giants and the 
archaeological findings of ancient settlements, one needs an in depth knowledge 
about the folk tradition, as well as the knowledge of the past. The appropriate course 
of such research has been presented by Katja Hrobat with the example of Ajdovščina 
above Rodik (Hrobat 2005). 
The historical aspect of folklore about the giants was also stressed by Andrej 
Pleterski, who tried to distinguish the connection between the tradition about the 
giants and the ancient population in the outskirts of Istria, where the Vlachs lived. 
He attempted to prove that the oral tradition can also serve as the source of informa-
tion about the migration and settlement of the people in the past (Pleterski 2004). A 
similar connection between the tradition and the settlement of the people was made 
in Police in Tolminsko (Pleterski 2006). The fact that the Vlachs presented a giant 
ancient population proves the name lah, meaning a giant, which is derived out of 
the word “Vlachs”, later also “Lahs” (Italians). 
In some tales, people built a church or some other building out of stones that 
were brought by a pagan girl (ajdovska deklica) in her apron, such as the one in the 
tale from the Mežiška Valley in Koroška (Mőderndorfer 1946: 97). 
PETRIFIED GIANTS 
Individual mountain tops, rocky cliffs and layers of rocks were, according to 
the folk belief, created because the giants brought the stone cliffs from the flatlands 
into the hills. The Kamnik Alps were supposed to be made in this way because the 
Bewitched Soul (ukletnik) was constantly rolling the rocks into a godforsaken place, 
where he was chased away by a hermit (Andrejka 1918: 140–141). People also believed 
that the stone tops of the mountains were made because the giants threw at that exact 
place a certain item, for example, a stone needle used by the giant’s wife to sew his 
shirt (Zupanc 1969: 21), or that a giant’s dragon’s tooth fell in that exact spot, as is 
explained in one of the tales about the solitary mountain Babji Zob (Hag’s Tooth) 
near Bled. 
Almost all of the hills pointing out in the sky in Solčavske planine (Solčava 
Mountains) are believed to be the giants (orjaši or stramorji) turned into stone. 

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