Memorial bench of the lipless lady

“You silenced Miss Tornallyay / her secret-keeping lips / with your wild Tatar murderous sword / forever” – this inscription, which is now difficult to read, stands in a secluded corner of the garden of the Tornallyay orphanage, the former Tornallyay Castle, and commemorates an event from 774 years ago, the steadfastness of a self-sacrificing girl. ; ; The Lipless Miss ; ; Many locals know the legend that in 1241, after the Tatar defeated the army of Béla IV at Muhin, he galloped through the Sajó valley, hungry for booty. According to the legend, the Tornallyay family fled to the Vasas and Cselény forests with all their possessions and serfs, and only their daughter named Zsófia remained in the castle. The Tatar found her here and began to question her about where the treasures were hidden and where the entrance to the tunnel leading to the Sajógömör castle was. Zsófia remained steadfast and did not betray her people, which is why the Tatars cut off her nose and lips so that she would never be able to speak again. A memorial bench was erected in 1942 in memory of the ancestor in the fairy-tale story. The legend of the tunnel still existed a few decades ago, but no trace of it has been found so far when the castle was excavated. Due to the terrain, it is certain that such a tunnel did not exist between the two castles, Tornaja and Sajógömör.