Opposite the Castle of Rozafa, in downtown Shkoder, just before taking the motorway into or out of the city, you see the entrance to romantic and amusing Restorant (Restaurant) Legjenda (Legend).
A tunnel of greenery leads you to the gardens. They are filled with amusing statues surrounding the restaurant. You can inhale the aroma of the flowers and hear the birds singing.
The rustic restaurant has stained glass windows.
Paintings of the Legend
Inside the rustic restaurant is a mosaic bar.
Along the back walls are frescoes, intriguing panels and paintings of the legend of the castle. Three men. What are they doing?
Romantic though they look, the story is a bit grim. Three brothers were building the castle and had no success. Did it keep tumbling or crumbling? They consulted a wise man. (I would say an unwise man.) He told them that the first wife to bring them food next day should be walled up inside the castle and all would be well. They should not warn their wives.
Two of them, the oldest, did warn their wives. The third was honest (or stupid) and did not warn his wife.
She was apparently resigned to her fate, not the least distressed. Her only worry, or her chief worry, was for her young child. Her wish was that she should have one half of herself outside the castle wall in order to hold her child on her knee and breastfeed her child. Another version said, an eye, a breast and a hand. Up in the castle, a stone relief shows her half encased with parts of her body showing though holes.
(I was hoping for a twist, some happy ending. Maybe some kind soul can update this story.)
The legend says that the child survived, grew strong, fulfilled his mother's hopes and grew to be a brave and successful soldier. (Not killing his two uncles, or better still the wise man?)
The moral of the story? People often ask why three Albanian brothers were so stupid? Once answer is that only the third one was Albanian, and he was the only honest man.
Albania has a notable Nobel Prize nominee writer still alive. But he wrote a grim story about Italians coming to find their dead comrades after WW2. So there's no point in me, or you, writing to him, asking for a rewrite of the legend with a happy ending. If you can come up with a modernized happy ending, let me know.
Apparently the Brothers Grimm and Goethe heard this story. The brothers Grimm grimly, but happily, repeated it in translation. Only Goethe complained about the nastiness of it.
I was troubled when I heard the story. I am still troubled by this legend's unhappy ending, days later.
I think I have the solution. I shall rewrite the story. Here goes:
The Legend of Razafa Castle
Three brothers were building a mutual home, a large castle with many rooms, walls, and turrets at the end. The three borthers were all married, but the youngest brother was the first to have a son.
The two oldest brothers were jealous, and they carefully numbered all the stones to be sure each brother build his section of the castle. But each day they found yesterday's stones had all gone.
They went to visit an old wise man who lived nearby was also building a house, for his himself and his little grand-daughter, much more successfully than they were. His house was almost finished. They asked him the secret of success.
He said they should give him just ten stones, three bottles of wine, red, white and then next morning, wall up the wife who first visited them with food.
That evening, unbeknown to her husband, the devoted third wife decided she must help.
In the morning, before breakfast, at dawn, the third wife, escorted by her two chastity guards, went to consult the wise man. In his grand house, she noticed that the stones which had vanished from the castle every night, had built the grand walls of his palace.
She asked him to accompany her back to the castle, with her two chastity guards. One the way she fell, ripping open her gown. (Or when she entered, the old man attacked her and she screamed.)
The chastity guards / body guards demanded that the old wise man should give her his black cloak to cover her modesty, and, in exchange, gave him the torn purple woman's gown.
When the group reached the castle, the two brothers jumped on their supposed sister in law, silenced the person in the black cloak, and put the person behind the walls.
Meanwhile, the young wife, pretending to be the old man, hid in the grand palace of the wise old man. With her child, the little son, who played with the old man's grand-daughter..
That night the walls were safe. After a week, the brothers decided to visit the old wise man to thank him. They entered his home, searching, and were astonished to see the numbered stones. Then they found the young woman, and were overjoyed that she was still alive. They took her and her son and the little grand-daughter back to their castle.
They were angry with the old man but when they went to kill him, his grand-daughter, burst into ters. The youngest sister's son raised his arms to stop them.
So they, relunctantly, forgave the old man and returned him safely to his house, But they took back all the stones needed for their three brothers, three wives, and umpteen children in the castle.
On the gate of his house they engraved the words,
Do not believe any unscientific predictions, stories or legends you hear here.
What happened years later? They had returned to the castle, and released the old man. He had gone mad, from old age and the shock of the incarceration.
But his grand-daughter married the son of the youngest brother!
Now a road runs between the Rozafa castle and rustic Restoran Legjenda in Shkoder. The river still runs both sides of the restaurant. The greenery forms a barrier between the noise of the cars on the big, busy road and the quiet oasis of the restaurant. You can hear the birds singing. But ...
Sometimes at night, it is said, you can hear the sounds of a wedding party. Listen, and you might hear an old man singing, merry on three bottles of wine. Sometimes you can hear the sound three brothers and their three wives laughing. Sometimes you can hear the merry, laughing tourists in the restaurant.
Story by Angela Lansbury, Wed 28 Jun 2023. Copyright.
I feel much better now that I have rewritten the story with no deaths, a happy ending, the good and innocent rewarded, and some humour.
Here is the address of the restaurant. Rruga is Albanian for road. The code for Albania is 355.
Food and Drink
The restaurant is very popular for weddings. I tried a very good freshly squeezed juice.
Vines and Wines
They make their own wines from vines growing in neat rows in the garden. The roses on the ends of the rows are not there for decoration but an early warning sign of potential problems with the vines because roses are even more susceptible.
Bar Restaurant Legjenda
Rruga Agron 1
Schkoder
Albania
tel: 355 699 33 20 24
355 69 40 777 40
Useful Websites
Rozafa Castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozafa_Castle
Lake Shkoda Nature Reserve
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Shkod%C3%ABr_Nature_Reserve
Please share links to your favourite posts.
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