ĐURĐEVA WATER SPRING AND LEGEND
ABOUT ALIJA ĐERZELEZ KILLING A DRAGON

Alija Đerzelez travelled from one village to another across Pešter and, looking for water to drink, he came to a well in a dense forest; through its branches, he saw a lake. After he had drunk enough water from the well and watered his horse and his greyhound, he went to have a look at the nearby lake which he had seen, wondering why people had dug a well despite the big lake and so much drinking water in it.

When he reached the shore, he scooped handfuls of the lake water and it felt much colder and better than that from the well. Since he was very tired, Đerzelez sat on a tree stump to have a rest, but he fell asleep and slept soundly. Immediately thereafter his horse and his greyhound fell fast asleep as well. That night, he dreamt that there is a dragon in the lake and that as soon as girls from surrounding villages draw water, it immediately seizes and swallows them. It woke him up and, when he opened his eyes, he saw a girl crying. Đerzelez asked her: “What's the matter, why are you crying?” – and she replied: “Of course I'm crying, because as soon as the sun rises, the dragon will come out of the lake and swallow me.”

And she told him how many people the voracious monster had swallowed, people from nine villages who drank water from the lake. Đerzelez remembered the nearby well and asked her: “Why don't you draw water from the well?” “The dragon cast a spell on this well” – the girl said crying – “whoever drinks the well water will immediately fall fast asleep and can hardly wake up. So far, only one man managed to wake up after ten hours of dead sleep.”

Đerzelez took a watch out of his fur coat: it had been exactly ten hours since he had sat on the stump to have a rest. He got up and woke his horse and his greyhound from the dead sleep. And at this very moment the lake water swayed, waves pounded the shore and the dragon, yawning with three heads, swam out of the lake and started toward the girl. Đerzelez gave the sign to his greyhound to attack it, but the greyhound snatched only one dragon's head, while it yawned with the other two, trying hard to seize and swallow him. So Đerzelez came to rescue, took out his saber and severed all the three dragon's heads. But lo and behold: at the same moment, the whole lake turned into red water. When he went to see the water in the well, he realized that the dragon's blood boiled there and that bubbles were coming out, as if it were plunging into the ground. In no time, the lake dried out, s if there had never been any water in it. Only a huge rock remained in the middle of the lake. Seeing that there was not a drop of water in it, Đerzelez got terribly thirsty, weary and almost fell by his greyhound and the horse, who were dying of thirst. He had no choice but to start with the saber, which he still held in his hand, hit the rock with all his strength and split it all the way to the ground. And a waterjet squirted from the rock, clean as a tear, and Đerzelez, his horse and his greyhound immediately began to drink it. The spring is still here, and one can discern marks of Đerzelez's boots, his horse's hoofs, and his greyhound's paws.

And this water is still called Đurđeva spring. (Folk story)