How did the waterfalls in Melderupīte appear

In bygone days all devils got the task to barrier the rivers so that they overflow and extinguish people. They had to block the rivers with the stones that were at the river Daugava.

The first devil tried to embank the river Daugava. He took the biggest stone and carried it. Carrying was allowed until the first cock sings. The big stone was heavy, during the night the devil brought 2 or 3 stones. Suddenly the cock sang and the devil had to vanish.

The second devil’s task was to obstruct the river Meldrupe at Ieriķi. As he noticed the first devil’s failure with the big stones, he diced to carry smaller ones and ask animals for help. The devil had not much time, so he did not call animals for help, but tried to catch them. Firs animals caught by the devil were those who moved slowly – a spider and a snake, and some sleeping crane. Then he realised that they will be of no good for him in carrying stones. Afterwards he made an effort and caught a little doe. Bad luck again, because the helper doe was slow and the cock sang, and the devil again had to vanish.

Next night the second devil looks – there is a small waterfall in the river. He has to start the work once again. He brought several armfuls of stones – the cock sang again. Thus the cock destroyed the devil’s plans a number of times, but Meldrupīte got its waterfalls.

Who wants to know how many night was the devil working, let him come and count the waterfalls! But the devil turned his slow helpers into moss dolls.

 

Jurģis Krauklis (Ieriķu primary school 7th class)

 

The tale of the Old Watermill

In days of old in the very middle of Latvia, on the banks of a small river there was a beautiful mill, where a miller and his four daughters lived. When the daughters were born, for each of the daughters he planted a linden that grew and spread wide at the mill. The miller loved his daughters very much, and he liked also animals; that is why there was always a lot of wildlife.

There lived a family of does in the bushes of the riverbanks; a wild sow with her youngs foraged in the moss in the nearby wood, and the snail daddy had also found a shelter in the humid area nearby the river. Even a company of snakes had found their home in a nearby heap of branches, and in the attic of the house there drowsed big spiders having waved their nets. Touring trades people passing by had brought a pair of flamingos and handsome talking parrot.

The time passed and the daughters of the miller grow and became the ore and more beautiful and it seemed that nothing bad could happen.

But then the bad times came, enemies attacked the country and the miller went to guard his land and disappeared in the vastness of his country. The daughters of the miller were scattered around the vast world and the big waterwheel stopped. The old mill fell into silence.

Now many years have passed and it is only debris left over from the mill. There is only one linden at the ruins, and people say that one of the daughters of the miller is still living somewhere in the vast world.

The time has altered also the river valley that has now overgrown with bushes, and only the trodden paths testify the bygone days. People have eternalized their memories in beautiful images on the riverbanks, but the big waterwheel that has been motionless, has now resumed its pace to remind us the time that does not stop.

 

Monta Klaudija Jansone

(9 years, Ieriķu primary school 3rd class)

 

The authors of the texts are the winners of the tale competition 2006/2007.