Stone River

At the foot of Mumlava Peak, from the Zielony Klin peat bog, the Kamienna River rises. It meanders through picturesque valleys, among stones and boulders, separating the Karkonosze Mountains from the Jizera Mountains.

In the past, when people lived in harmony with nature, they were able to perceive more. Who knows, perhaps the legends were not figments of human imagination at all, but rather something more hidden behind them.

Such was the case with the water lion, sighted a hundred years ago in the streams of the Karkonosze and Jizera Mountains and the Kamienna River. It inhabited secluded places far from human settlements.

One story mentions a certain young woman, Selma Hoyer from the village of Tkacze, who saw the water lion jump out onto the riverbank and sit on a stone. She described him as follows: "It was a small man, wearing a belted jacket and a tall, pointed hat. His attire resembled the gray man the inhabitants of Szklarska Poręba had seen in Sowiniec, but unlike him, the water bearer wore a green, quilted doublet, decorated with water sapphires set in silver."

Selma noticed the figure begin to walk toward her. The creature was about the height of a small child. The water bearer decided to approach her even closer. They were now standing a few steps apart. The small, thin, hunched creature, with wrinkled skin, stood and glowed with cat-like eyes. His skin was as gray as stone. Dark tendrils of hair peeked out from beneath a felt cap pulled tightly over his head. Suddenly, he gurgled and bared thin, sharp teeth capable of tearing apart fish and smaller animals. The water screeched again and jumped into the water, and a terrified Selma Hoyer ran toward her house, never to be seen again.

And what's it like today? If you're brave, check it out for yourself.