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To enter the realm of legends of the Jiu Valley,
you have several options
if you come from Orastie
before entering in Simeria Noua
you divert from DN 68 to Hateg and then, through Santamana Orlea
you head for Petrosani Depression, or you come on DN 66,
from Tg. Jiu, cross the defile with the same name,
and about 1-1.5 km before entering Petrosani
turn left and go through Vulcan to Uricani,
Neag’s Field and the Fir Trees Valley.
Another route, equally beautiful, twisted and wild,
is the route through Cerna Defile, through Domogled – Cerna Valley National Park,
on DN 66A, and you will also reach the Iorgovan’s Mountain.
The wilderness of rare beauty starts off
at the foot of Sarmisegetusa and goes down on the Jiu Rivers’ Valley,
where the stone geminates with the water
and legends say that Iovan Iorgovan
had buried his sister, after killing the Dragon.
The hill grassland bordered by the Retezat Mountains
ripples up under the eyebrow of Oslita and Soarbele,
to Corcoaia and Cerna Gorges.
The one that comes for the first time in Retezat and the Jiu Rivers’
Valley will marvel at every step.
The alternation of wavy valleys or steep slopes chiseled
by the unseen hand of time
and the avalanche of rocky jags have impressed
and attracted the hordes of invaders,
which then had spread their bones amalgamating them with the rock of these mountains.
The rainbow of colors,
from the blue of the sky to the immediate horizon
that seems to scratch the distance line, the ragged crest of the mountains,
the gray-rusty waves,
the rainbow captive in the twisted crests of the mountain,
the walls penetrated by the mythical Dragon,
the green of the grasslands or of pine trees
the stories and legends remissly frozen on a sign from the Cretaceous,
all leads to the pride of the people in these places,
which have paid the price of eternity for their freedom
but have not knelt in front of anybody,
neither in front of Rome,
nor in front of the Austrian
imperials and in front of time.
Tradition says that the giant Iovan Iorgovan
had buried his sister alive in the mountain
with the figure of a petrified hefty which bears his name.
Seeing such an iniquity,
Cerna had slowed down its course
to listen to the heartbreaking wails of the buried human being.
And from that moment on,
everything is silent in this place as if it is in a perpetual listening.
Long, long ago,
when there still were dragons in the caves of the Danube,
four little babies, as beautiful and cute as the sons of emperors,
a boy and three little girls,
got lost from Cerna’s lands in these regions
they were Iovan Iorgovan and his three sisters.
Innocent, the children ran around playing through
the dense forest, until one day when they lost from each another.
None of them died.
Iorgovan was depending on hunting
he walked on the horseback all day long, with his faithful dog following him.
One day he came at this place,
where the mountain seems to wish to close the Cerna’s Valley
Up, on Cerna upward, / Many hefties went
And all died. / But one brave Romanian
Remained, Iovan Iorgovan / Arm like a mace
/ With a dog / Like a little eagle...
Suddenly he hears in the forest the moan of a woman screaming for help.
He could not hear very well where the cry was coming from,
as Cerna was making a deafening noise.
and then he promised Cerna a big fish with golden scales
if it would keep silent, to be able to hear which part the moaning cry was coming from
Keep silent, Cerna, keep silent, my praised water
Because I will grace you and give you/
A silver distaff mantled in tow that spins by itself.
Cerna, allured by Iorgovan’s promise
kept silent as a mute. Iorgovan realized that the scream was coming
out from under the rock at the foot of the mountain.
In a couple of jumps, he approached to the cliffs
and saw that an impure sea dragon,
big and ugly as hell, had caught a beautiful girl and was bearing her along him over the cliff.
Another man would have been petrified with fear,
but the giant Iogovan, who did not know what the fear was, took his mace,
jumped off the horse and rushed to the dragon.
A powerful shot between its eyes big like a fist
made it to stand still and drop the girl, who fell to the earth senseless.
A struggle for life and death burst between the hefty man and the dragon:
Iovan Iorgovan, / Arm like a mace,
Was spinning her into the wind,
Hitting the snake / And tearing it into pieces...
The sweat was flowing like spout down
on them and they were so hot that rock began
to melt under their feet.
The one who climbs the cliff today can see the footsteps of Iorgovan,
of its horse and its dog and of the dragon imprinted in the rock.
And currently the local people, especially shepherds or woodcutters
say that Iorgovan’s rock looks like the petrified silhouette of the legendary
hefty having the mace in his hands and bearing
along him over the mountains the corpse of the dragon,
giving it the wind in a deep cave.
The traces show also how the valley that breaks
from the sheep yard in Campusel up to Iorgovan’s cave
was steeped by the cadaver of the dragon,
while the brave man dragged it over the mountain
after killing it in a fierce fight which lasted as long as a summer day from dawn to dusk.
And the legend says that venomous flies,
called poison-flies, come out age after age of the venomous body
of the snake, still oppressing us by killing our cattle with their poison.
Iorgovan had not lingered
A luat-o înapoi şi, purtat de calul său
He went back and carried by his quick-as-the-wind horse
over the valleys and mountains,
returned in a hurry to the senseless girl,
where he had left it.
When he saw her,
it seemed that an Angel came down on Earth,
or that a fairy came from other realms,
so beautiful and charming she was.
He brought at a run cold water from Cerna,
splashed her face and when she opened her eyes,
big and black like blackberries, her glance penetrated the depths of his heart.
He began to caress her and covered her lilied lips with a sweet kiss.
That moment, however, two other girls appeared out of nowhere beside him,
telling him that they are all his sisters,
those who have lost from
him when they were little.
If the sky would have been broken and fallen over Iorgovan’s head,
he would have not been more surprised,
more embittered and crushed,
hearing these words.
A terrible anger darkened his mind. Mad with pain,
he buried alive the sister he had saved from the dragon’s claws within the mountain.
Poor girl wailed and asked his brother to spare her young life,
but everything was in vain because
Iorgovan was no longer human.
Ana Ghiodanel predicts, in a way, Manole’s Ana
. Only the motivation is different. Iorgovan,
the symbol of the frontier hero set off to conquer new horizons,
builds the legend with the revenge of the sacrilegious love;
the other frontier hero builds it with the faith of immortality.
Two joined altars, one with the sacrifice
of doomed love and the other with the sacrifice of sublimed love.
The earth covered her and her young
life extinguished prematurely
Iorgovan wandered for a while around because
as crazy as he was he could not separate from the place where
he had buried what was most precious in his life
until one morning
when he was found dead
on the grave of her sister and the
place has been called Iorgovan’s Mountain since then.