A Tale of the Flood of the Váh

The floods of the Váh were part of life here. To prevent the flood from damaging the village, great efforts were in vain. The natural disasters were stronger than human capabilities at that time. Many new discoveries, many nationwide works were needed to complete the embankment and to secure the people of the villages along the river against the floods. During the last flood mentioned, such a trick saved the village of Váha. ; The water is rising inside the embankment. The highest level of danger. The people are no longer working, they just stand around, run around, and wait for the flood. The water is rising the most in the upper border of the village of Váha. There is a lot of traffic in the roadside inn in Kajal. The people go there to drink, they hear the latest news there. The people of Kajal are happy that Váha is in danger and Kajal is not damaged. They mock the Vága people drinking there, who sadly clutch their glasses and in their depression cannot answer the Kajal people. It is night. The village is not sleeping, neither Vága nor Kajal, but the inn is very loud. ; Vága had an outlaw. He was rarely at home, only on special occasions. Now that he had heard of Vága's danger, he came home to his native village. He encouraged the people. He walked on top of the embankment, soaking his feet in the gurgling water. The Vága notary approached him and began to negotiate with him. He asked him something that no other request or order would have dared to do. "Go and cut a spade's mark through the embankment at the lower edge of the Vága border!" The outlaw took on the job and at midnight he cut through the embankment to ward off danger from Vága and at least lower the water level by Vága. The unexpected, the unimaginable happened. The water broke through the dam in the wake of the spade and poured its roaring torrent towards the inn. The rushing water dug a deep ditch. The people of the inn were frolicking in the water in minutes, terrified. The whole of Kajal was swimming. There was great joy in Vága: "It's not us, it's them who are mocking, that's how they deserve it!" From that day on, the people of Vága mock the people of Kajal as: "Gurgés"! From that day on, there is an eternal rivalry between Vága and Kajal: who can fool and make the other look ridiculous! The inn, the pub, has brought many curses to the village ever since, but there is no education, no recovery. ; (Source: History of the Vága parish by Danczi Lajos)