A castle once stood above the village of Lipovce. Its mission was to guard the important trade route from Prešov to Levoča, which also led through the villages of Šindliar and Lačnov.
One of the lords of Lipovec Castle, happily married, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. His joy did not last long, however, because after a year his wife died. The boy, who was in great need of his mother's care, began to wither. The lord of the castle had no choice but to remarry. The new wife was beautiful, but evil and heartless. She also married only for the sake of property.
The little boy didn't get a very caring babysitter. Well, when the lord of the castle once asked her why she didn't take care of the little boy, she just angrily replied that she didn't get married to be someone's nanny. The lord of the castle was angry with her, but he controlled himself, quieted his little son, and then walked away into the dark night without a word. But in a moment the child wept again sedately, and the stepmother was furious. She seized him, threw him into a corner of the room, and went to amuse herself. The little boy cried so piteously that the soul of his dead mother could not bear it, and she went back to him, took care of him as only mothers can, and the little fellow fell quietly asleep.
When the stepmother came back and saw the baby sweetly sleeping in the cradle, a new heart entered her. And immediately she decided to marry the child. She took him out of the cradle and stealthily made her way out of the castle. She scrambled up a high cliff, stood on the very edge, and was about to drop the child into the abyss that was opening under the rock. Suddenly the little boy cried out, and all at once there was a flash and a terrible clap of thunder.
And in the morning, when the sun flooded the whole surroundings of the castle with its warming rays, people saw a stone woman standing on the top of the rock - a stepmother with a child in her arms. It was rumoured that it had been struck by the hand of a loving mother.
While only a little of the castle has been preserved, the stone baba - the petrified stepmother can be seen even today.
Source: (RNDr. L. Dostál, 1980)
Photo: Robo Mazanik (2000) Idea construction
