Grandfather and Grandson (Serbia)

On the right bank of the river Mlava, near the village of Krepoljin, is situated a very high hill, Gradatr (Fort) by name, on which one can see the ruins of an old disabled and deserted fort. The popular tradition says that it was once a Roman or Latin fort. The Romans who occupied this fort were very bellicose people. Their leader ordered all the holders of the fort up to forty years of age to be active fighters, from forty to fifty to be guards of the fort, and after fifty to be killed, because they have no military value. Since that period the old men were killed.

An old man who was nearing his fiftieth year had a grandson who was very fond of him. On the eve of the day on which the old man was ordered to be killed, the enemy attacked the fort. The grandson used this opportunity and forced his grandfather to fly. The old man fled and hid himself in a cave which was in the neighborhood. After the enemy were dispersed, and when the people looked for the old man, they could not find him.

Some time after, the leader commanded them to be ready to go to war in a distant land.

At the moment when the army was prepared to start, the grandfather appeared secretly to his grandson and said to him, "For this long way ride a mare which has a colt, and when you come to an unknown land, kill the colt, and then go farther. God protect you! Farewell!"

The grandson obeyed the orders of his grandfather, rode a mare with a colt and went with the leader and his army to the war. They went for three days and then they came to a river, on the opposite side of which was a dense forest. The young man looked on all sides and was sure that he was in a perfectly unknown land. Then he secretly killed the colt. Crossing the river the army marched through the forest. After six days of traveling they came to a vast plain, where they found the enemy waiting for them. The fight was very severe, and at the end the leader and his army were defeated and forced to flee. The vanquished army did not know the way, but the mare of the young man went in the direction where her colt was lost and so led them to the river, from which they knew the way to their own country.

Everybody was astonished, and the leader asked the young man who taught him to act so, and he, after some hesitation, told him that it was his grandfather. When they came home the leader invited the old man, recognized his cleverness, and ordered that further on the old men should not be killed, but respected, because they knew much more than the young men.