This legend was recorded in August 1896 from Mykhailo Pustai in Zbuj, in the former Zemplin county, and published by Volodymyr Hnatiuk in the first volume of his ethnographic materials from Hungarian Rus'. It belongs to a local Christian apocryphal and folk-Biblical storytelling world, joining the rise of Sodom, the name Sodom-Gomorrah, Lot, famine, imprisonment, divine destruction, and the salt-stone motif.

The source contains hostile period ethnic and religious motifs, including an anti-Jewish explanatory motif for Sodom-Gomorrah. It also contains famine, cannibalism, imprisonment, torture, and divine-destruction scenes. These are translated as harmful motifs in a nineteenth-century folklore witness, not as fact and not as descriptions of any living community.

Several local civic, storage, prison, and place terms are kept cautious in the English and explained in the colophon. The original source text is included below for verification.

Sodom and Gomorrah

A young man did not want to marry unless he could take a wife who had the
same nature as he did. He did not marry for many years. After many years God
came to him and said, "Why do you not marry, when you are such a good man?"

"Because I am afraid of such a wife, one with a bad nature."

"I will give you an angel to carry you to another country, because today there
will be a wedding there, and the bride has the same nature as you."

They came there. The angel brought him just as they were going to take the
marriage oath. The bride said to the young man with whom she was going to take
the oath, "You are not mine, and I am not yours. Now an angel has brought my
true husband, and I am going to take the oath with him; I will live with him."

Her father and mother grew angry that the girl had brought shame on them, and
they drove her away. By God's command the angel carried them to a mountain
where there was a beautiful place. There they found a beautiful field. "Here
you will live. Build here. First there will be a village here," the angel told
him, "and then a town. It will be called Sodom, many years from now, when a
great posterity has multiplied after you."

When three hundred years had passed in that place, a town arose. What fine
name should they give it? The elders said, "Our grandfather said that it would
be Sodom." They began to enlarge the town greatly, and to build large,
beautiful houses. Among them there came to be many proud people, unbelievers,
people who wanted no one else to live, only themselves: pagans.

People from the districts around that town came into the town for work, poor
people. The pagans were disgusted by them and passed this law: they would not
let in that people which came into their town to work, because such a person
would only come into the town to take money, grain, flour, and clothing out of
the settlement, making the town poorer.

Among them were three wise pagans. They heard this and rejoiced in that law.
One had great houses and many fields. He sold everything for money, because
the town would be built up and closed off so that no one would go there. When
he had a great deal of money, he would be king.

The second, likewise wise, sold all his property, gave up all his money, and
bought a great deal of grain. "Nothing will go into the town; shopkeepers will
not buy anything once the town is closed with iron gates. The townspeople will
only sit there, eating and drinking what is ready in that town for a hundred
years, for the whole town, which covers seven miles of land." He bought bread
for that people who were in the town, in Sodom.

But the third, just as wise as the other two, bought a great deal of salt.
"Bread and fat are no good without salt. I will be king. Here the people will
not work in our town, in Sodom; they will live from what is already prepared.
Whoever gives them food, him they will honor as their king. And that will be
me, because I have much salt. I will give them salt; when it is salted, it will
be good. If our Sodom-Gomorrah people do not make me king, I will not let them
use my salt. Then no salt will be brought here, when there is an iron gate on
the town which lets nothing out from the town to the villages, nor anything
from the villages into the town. They must live on what is already prepared."

The second man, who had much bread, had great grain bins where grain was
poured, thousands and thousands of bins full of grain, because he was preparing
to feed all the people who were in Sodom for a hundred years. He wanted to be
king. "For I think this: where people do not work, only the one who gives them
food will be king, not the one who orders them to work; because the town will
be built up so that no one can ever go out of it, nor into it."

The third man reasoned with himself, "Who here in our town is as wise as I am?
I have great storehouses with salt, flour, and grain. I have sold everything
and gathered gold for myself. No one else will have money. When the town is
shut, only I myself will give them enough money, and some will buy from others.
I will be king by my money. Whoever I give my money to, I will write down what
I have for my money..."

The Sodom-Gomorrah people finished all their work. They held an assembly:
everyone gathered on a great plain, and there they shouted about how it ought
to be, and whether it was permissible for those mad pagans to do such a thing.
They said that they were wise, that they wanted good for the people: to wall up
the town, dig a three-fathom ditch around it, and raise a wall three fathoms
high above that ditch. God confused them so much that those who said they were
wise pagans in Sodom-Gomorrah had in fact gone still more mad.

They did not lay a foundation under the wall. Instead, beside the wall, outside
the town, on the village side, they had a three-fathom ditch dug. They rejoiced
that whoever put a ladder to that wall and wanted to go out of the town would
fall into the deep ditch, and there he would die.

The people shouted on that plain, "Honorable lords, we agree to this!" They
made a written record so they would know it had been settled.

The three Jews, who were the worst pagans, rejoiced: one had much gold, the
second had much grain, and the third had salt. The one who had salt said, "It
has turned out well for me, because I will be king. They will not be able to
eat anything unsalted. All will beg favor from me; by that I will obtain it,
that they will set me up as king."

The second man spoke, and he did speak the better truth, but the pagans did not
believe him: "If the town is shut so tightly that no one goes either out of it
or into it, then the people will not live unless they eat. I will give them
enough, and so they will set me up as king."

The third man reasoned that he had gold. He would give it to the people, to
the whole town that lay over seven miles of land, and they would set only him
up as king.

What the pagans wanted, they accomplished. They shut the town and set iron
gates on it. They dug those iron posts deep into the earth, so that the gate
would never fall and the iron posts would not rot. They laid out the road by
which people had gone to Sodom and measured out the ditches among the
townspeople, so that each would dig for three years. In three years the town
would be shut for a hundred years; the Sodom-Gomorrah lords wanted to know
whether this would be good.

In three years the town was completed by those people who were in it: they
walled the town, dug the ditches, and at the end of the three years shut the
gates together. They did not simply lock them; they forged them together with
iron rings, so that no one could ever open them.

They gathered in the marketplace in the middle of the town. One said to
another, "What we wanted, we have accomplished. Let us send letters through our
town, so that all the townspeople over the seven miles of land will come to us
in the marketplace and tell the three of us which of us is wisest, which among
us can most fittingly be king in Sodom-Gomorrah."

They congratulated themselves. Until that time the town had been called only
Sodom, but their nature had already carried them so far that it was now
Sodom-Gomorrah. The people gathered, shouting about who could be king. They
cried, "All three of you are kings: the one who has money, the one who has
grain, and the one who has salt!"

The three of them began to quarrel. One said to another, "How could you be a
king like me, when I have gold?"

"What good is your gold in our Sodom-Gomorrah when the town is closed? We will
not carry money anywhere, and we cannot eat it ourselves."

The one who had gold became very angry that another now boasted more loudly
than he did with his gold.

Then the third said to them, "I have been listening to what you two are saying.
Neither one of you is fit to be king. Your gold will be of no use here, because
no one here will buy or sell anything. The town is shut, and each person asks
only God to let him survive."

The two said to him alone, "Perhaps you want to be king?"

He answered them, "That is exactly the truth. Your gold is not needed; your
bread is worth nothing if it is unsalted. But I have salt, and I will give the
people in this Sodom-Gomorrah salt for free for a hundred years, according to
whatever law we have judged."

They called an assembly of all the people who were in Sodom-Gomorrah. They
sent letters across Sodom-Gomorrah, over the seven miles of land, so that the
people would come to the marketplace in the middle of the town and decide who
could be king in the town. The people gathered, a great crowd, and shouted,
"All three of you are kings; this is how we have judged it. One cannot live
without money, without bread, or without salt."

The three could not agree among themselves. So they began to argue: "How could
I not be king, when I have storehouses of gold?"

"Your gold is for nothing. No one will eat it."

The one who had grain was glad, thinking his good companion was testifying for
him that he would be king. But the third answered, "There is nothing in bread
that is not salted."

The salt man grew angry at this and answered him, "I will be king. Your gold
is worth nothing, and your grain and flour, if they are unsalted, are no good."

The two turned on him: the one who had gold and the one who had grain. "For
salt-stone you would already like to be king! People will live without gold
and without salt, so long as they have bread. No one lives on salt alone."

The man who had salt grew angry, jumped up from the table, went home, took
matches, and set the town on fire. The gold burned. The town was walled, and
no one could flee out of it. People burned in the roads; only those remained
who had cellars. Everything burned in Sodom-Gomorrah.

There was one lady faithful to God. She had a husband and one boy. The three
of them had very much property: bread, fields, and three storehouses of gold.
They had only one son. Every day they weighed their son on a scale to see how
much he had gained in a day. As much as the son gained and grew, that much
gold from the weight she offered to the church.

When the gold became scarce, Sodom-Gomorrah burned into one great stone,
because the gold melted and then became one stone again. Sodom-Gomorrah was
left without bread. Everything burned: people, bread, and cattle. Those who
remained began eating themselves. That lady, who had raised her son so
beautifully, slaughtered him, cut him into pieces, and ate her own son.

She went into the town to look around the marketplace, in case something had
remained under the wall. After what she had eaten, she herself found a rind or
bark from hunger, took it, and began to eat. She was seized by vomiting. Lousy
and ugly beggars had gone through the town and had pushed such things there,
and she began to retch.

No one could go out of the town. The iron gates had not burned, nor the
ditches, nor the walls. The villages that were around Sodom-Gomorrah heard
great shouting and screaming and saw a great fire. They thought, "Let us get
to the town and see what news is there." But they could not, because of the
deep ditches and walls.

In that town, in one place near the wall, beside Lot's house, the wall and
ditch passed by. An angel came in to him, because he alone had not burned, nor
had his household; his house stood outside the town, in the garden. The angel
told him to dig a hole right in the house: "The walls have no foundations. If
you dig the hole, you will come out under the wall. People are standing beyond
the ditch, and they will pull you out. When you make a hole to the ditch, do
not go first yourself. Go into the town, look for the people who have not yet
died of hunger, and drive them through that hole out into the ditch."

A hundred people came out through the hole. People from the village brought
ladders to let the people out of the ditch. Some of them had not eaten for
half a week. When the village people gave food to those people from the ditch,
they ate their fill and immediately died.

The people from the village thought, "Let us not give them food, only a little
piece and a little water. Let us rub their necks and hands with something sour,
and then they will survive. Let them tell us how it was in Sodom," because
they still did not know that the cursed Jews from Sodom had made
Sodom-Gomorrah. There had been burning, and they had cried out in great alarm.
Then Sodom-Gomorrah came into being.

It was true: when they began rubbing them with the sour stuff, not one of them
died of hunger. They said that in Sodom-Gomorrah the ones who had not burned
were eating themselves.

Then the people from the village dug under the iron gates and overturned them
downward. They released the people from Sodom-Gomorrah who were still alive.
For three hundred years Sodom-Gomorrah multiplied again. The pagans in it made
themselves still worse than they had been.

What did they devise? Whoever spent the night in the town from the village,
whether a lord, a Jew, or a beggar, was to be shut in jail and never released
until he died there.

They shut up one man who was not a beggar, but had only come to buy something
and had remained in the town until evening. The police locked him in the prison
to die. They gave the innocent man no food in jail, so that he would die of
hunger.

What happened in the town? The jailer had a servant girl. She took pity on the
innocent man. From what they gave her for supper, she always set something
aside and carried it to the prison. The jailer, his wife, and their children
ate supper in another room, and the servant was alone in the kitchen. The key
to the prison was on the kitchen wall, so she unlocked it herself. She fed the
innocent man for one month.

Every day the jailer went to the prison to see whether the man he had locked
up had died, but he was alive. "What kind of miracle is this? Perhaps he is
holy!" When he told the pagan lords in court that the man had not eaten or
drunk for a month and was alive, they said, "Guard him, to see whether someone
is bringing him food."

The jailer caught his own servant girl, bound her hands and feet, and threw
her into the prison until morning. He came to tell the pagan lords, "My servant
girl stole from me and gave it to him. What should be done with her?"

"Bind her hands and feet, smear her with sweet honey, and lay her before the
bees."

The bees landed on her for the honey and realized that it was a body, not a
tree. They stung her terribly and left their stings in her. She swelled up,
even her eyes. She cried out to God in a loud voice, because the town was
accursed.

God grew angry at Sodom-Gomorrah, at the accursed town, and answered, "It will
not stand more than twenty-four hours. It must sink away, so that only a depth
will remain in that place. Only one man, with his daughters and his wife, is a
pity; I will release them. I will send my angel to tell him to leave the
household and go away from there, because tomorrow Sodom-Gomorrah will sink."

The angel came as a man late in the evening. The townspeople saw that some man
was going there. They asked Lot urgently where that man was who had come to
him, and whether he was permitted to spend the night in the town. The angel had
himself hidden by the Bible, under a trough, and stayed there until morning.

As day was about to come, the angel shouted to Lot that he should eat breakfast
and go away from there, if he did not want to meet death by drowning; for
whoever stayed there longer would be drowned. Lot's wife cooked soup for
breakfast for her two daughters and her husband, and she gave some of it to
the angel too. For the householder, her own husband, and for the daughters she
salted it; to the angel she gave it just as it was, saying, "Salt is too much
to waste on a strange man!"

After breakfast the angel cried out, "Gather yourselves and let us go, because
there will be blue water here, where this town stands. The four of you are not
permitted to look back until you have gone beyond the border of this district."

When they crossed into the next district, Lot's wife looked back and became a
salt stone, as punishment because she had begrudged the salt. The angel had not
used her soup, nor had he needed it.

Recorded in August 1896 from Mykhailo Pustai in Zbuj, Zemplin county.

Hnatiuk's parallel note points to Ivan Franko's Old Testament Apocrypha,
including brief Sodom and Gomorrah material among the Abraham stories and Lot
material on pages 86-90, with further comparison on pages 330-333.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from Volodymyr Hnatiuk's Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, published in Lviv in
1897 as Етноґрафічний збірник, volume III. The translated unit is legend 5,
Про Содому і Гомору, printed on pages 7-13.

The English was translated directly from the source-language text, using the
OCR only as a navigation aid and checking the text against source-page images from the scanned PDF. No existing English translation was used as the
base.

Reader caution: the hostile anti-Jewish material, the погани language, and
the violent famine, cannibalism, imprisonment, and torture scenes are retained
because they are part of the nineteenth-century source witness. They are not
presented as fact, doctrine, or community description.

Dialect and source notes: Судогомор is rendered "Sodom-Gomorrah" to preserve
the source's local name-making motif. варош is rendered "town" and валал
as "village" or "settlement." дийта is rendered "assembly"; page 28 confirms
the civic gathering context. сіпанці is rendered "grain bins" from the
storage context on page 8. грацький орсаґ is rendered contextually as the
road or civic territory by which people went to Sodom; this remains a cautious
reading. рамґаз is rendered "prison" or "lockup"; page 12 confirms the
imprisonment context, and Verkhratsky supports рамгаз as a prison term. The
angel hiding-place line, відля біблії пуд корито, is rendered "by the Bible,
under a trough." The famine-recovery passage about sour rubbing is translated
as a source motif, not as medical instruction.

Source route: Internet Archive identifier etnohr_03-1; source images checked at IA PDF pages 26-32 /
printed pages 7-13. The underlying 1897 source is public-domain-era under the
Good Works Library's United States operating posture.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican
Church, 2026.

🌲

Source Text: Про Содому і Гомору

Ukrainian/Rusyn source text from Volodymyr Hnatiuk's 1897 Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, legend 5, printed pages
7-13. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the
English translation above.

5. Про Содому і Гомору.

Йиден леґінь ни хотів са женити, лем таку жону хотів узяти,
що таку натуру має, йак і вун сам. Ни женив са за много року.
У много року прийшов д ньому Бог: Чому ти са ни жениш, а ти такий
добрий чоловік?

Бо са бою такої жони, що натури пудлобої.

Дам ти ангила, оби тьа понюс до другого краю, бо там буде
днесь веселя йидної вінчої, що таку натуру має, йак і ви.

Прийшли там; принюс го ангил, коли йшли до присяги. Отповіла
молода тому леґіньови, с котрим йшла до присяги: Ти не мій, а йа ни
твойа. Мойого ґазду типерь ангел принюс і с тим йду присягати, с тим
буду бувати.

Прогнівав са отець і мати, жи зробила дівка ганьбу, одогнали
йи гет. На розказ божий понюс йіх ангил на йидну гору, де було
шумной місто. Ту найшли шумной поле: Ту будеш бувати. Збудуй са ту.
Найперше ту буде валал, повів йому ангил, і варош - буде са називати
Содома - у много року, йак са розплодить по тобі великий потомок.

Йак були три сто рокуу на тум місці, зробив са йиден варош.
Йакой йому красной мньа дати? Казали родичі: Сказав наш дідо, жи
то буде Содома. Дужи почали варош величати, великі доми будувати
і красні. Сотворило са межи німа много гамішних льудий, невірникуу,
що ни хотіли, жеби другий жив, лем уни самі, погани. Ходили до них
льуди із боку того вароша до вароша на заробок, худобні; погани са
вид них бридили і осудили такой право, жеби тот народ ни пустити,
котрий до йіх вароша ходить робити, бо вун лем ту прийде з вароша
гроші забрати, зерно і муку і шатьа з обуду, жеби буў варош
худобнішший.

Межи німа були трійй мудрі погани. Учули тото і радовали са тому
правови. Йиден великі доми мав і много польа. Ушиткой продав за
гроші, бо са варош забудуйе, жеби там ніхто ни йшов; йак вун буде
много грошний мати, так вун буде царьйом. Другий також мудрий
спродав ушиткой свій майиток, оддав от себи ушиткі гроші, накупив
много зерна. Ни буде йти до вароша нич, ни будуть склепарі купувати
нич, йак са варош замкне на жельізні брани, лем будуть льуди вароські
сидіти; йісти а пити готовой, у тум вароши, на сто рокуу, на цілий
варош, що буў на сім миль землі; накупив про тот льуд хліба, що у
тум вароши були, у Содомі. Зато третій, также мудрий такий, йак
тамтоті двайй, накупив соли много: хліб і омаста крем соли нидобра:
Йа буду царьйом. Ту льуди ни будуть робити у нашум вароши, у Содомі,
будуть з готового жити. Хто йім буде давати йісти, та го будуть
величати, жи вун йім царьйом. Та йа буду, бо маю много соли. Дам
йім солити; йак буде солоной і так буде доброй. Кидь ньа ни
поставлять за царьйа наші Содогоморци, ни дам йім суль свою
хосновати. Тогди са ту суль ни привезе, йак на грацькуй буде
жильізна брана, що ни пустить нич, ані з вароша на валали, ані з
валалу принести дащо до вароша; з готового треба жити.

Тот другий, що мав много хліба, великі сіпанці, де са іссіпувало
зерно, тисяч і тисяч сіпанцюу повні із зерном, бо вун ладить ушиток
народ, що у Содомі йи, живити на сто рокуу. Вун хочи бути царьйом:
Бо йа так думав, де льуди ни роблять, там лем тот буде царьйом, хто
йім буде йісти давати, а не велить робити, бо буде варош забудований,
що би нікади ніхто ни вийшов із нього, ані до нього.

Росклав собі третій: Хто ту такий мудрий йи у нашум вароши,
йак йа? Великі боуди маю іс сульоу, із мукоу, із зерном; том випродав
ушиткой, зобрав йим собі золото, ни буде другий мати гроші, йак буде
варош запрений, лем йа сам буду йім грошний дост давати, будуть йидні
из других купувати; йа буду царьйом за свойі гроші. Кому дам свойі
гроші, запишу собі, що маім за мойі гроші...

Доконьчили Судогоморци ушиткой свій діло. Зробили йидну дийту:
ізуйшли са ушиткі на велику ровень, там гойкали, йак має бути, ци
слобудно тим поганам шаленим так учинити. Уни казали, жи уни мудрі,
жи уни хотять добрі льудьом, варош замурувати і на три саги шанець
навколо вароша вибрати, на тот шанець до неба у гору на три саги мур.
На тулько йім Бог замилив, що тоті, що казали, що уни мудрі у
Содогоморі погани, а уни щи ушаліли!

Пуд мур не положили фудамент, лем попри того мура з вон вароша,
с того боку од валалу, дали вибрати три саговий шанець. Радовали са,
же хто положить лазиво на тот мур, буде хотіти пуйти вон із вароша,
упаде до глубокого шанцу, там му буде смерть. Гойкали льуди на туй
ровени: Чесьні панови! на то пристаіме. Зробили собі запис, жеби
знали, що кончили. Радують са трійй жиди, котрі найгурші погани:
йиден, що много золота мав, другий, що много зерна мав, а третій,
що соли. Тот казав, що суль мав: Добрі ми стало, бо йа буду царьйом.
Ни будуть мочи йісти ни соленої; ушиткі ми са будуть панькати; то
з німа достаульу, же ньа поставлять царьйом.

Повідає другий - али тот буў йиден мудрий, найліпшу правду, лем го
погани ни віровали: - Йак варош буде так запрений, що ніхто ни вийде
ані з нього, ані до нього, та льуди ни будуть жити, жеби ни йіли, а
йа буду йім давати дост, тай ньа поставлять царьйом.

Росклав собі третій, жи ун має золото, буде льудьом давати,
ушиткому варошови, що йи на сім миль землі, та лем його царьйом
поставлять.

Що хотіли погани і доставили. Варош заперли і жельізні брани на
ньум поставили; глубоко тоті слупи до землі жельізні закопали, щоби
нігда брана ни упала, ани жильізні стоупи ни пудогнили. Мали навхрест
грацький орсаґ, кади льуди до Содоми ходили. Розміряли шанци на
варошан, жеби каждий до трьох рокуу вибрав, бо у три роки запре са
варош на сто рокуу: хотять панови Судогоморські знати, ци добрі то
буде. У три роки дуставив тот варош, тоті льуди, що у тум вароши
були: варош обмуровали, шанци вибрали, на послідку у три роки заперли
брани у йидно і ни замикали, на жильізні каріки у йидно сковали, жеби
нігда ніхто ни утворив. На піяц серед вароша ізойшли са; казали йидні
другим: Щосьме хотіли, тосьме доставили. Дайме пісма по нашум вароши,
жеби са зуйшли ушиткі ід нам на піяц на сім миль землі, ушиткі
варошчани, жеби нам повіли трьом, котрі йисьме мудрішші, котрий
скорій можи бути із міжи нас у Судогоморі царьйом!

Самі собі привінчовали, же до того часу ни кликав са тот варош, лем
Содома, а йім уже натура зносила, жи то Судогомор. Ізуйшли са льуди
гойкати, хто можи бути за царьйа. Кричать: Трійсьте царі і тот, що
має гроші і тот, що зерно і тот, що суль!

Почали са уни трійй вадити. Повів йиден другому, жи: деби ти такий
царь буў, йак йа, коли йа маю золото!

Що с твойого золота у нашум Судогоморі, коли варош замкнений? Ни
понесеме гроші нігде, самі йіх ни пойіме.

Тот са дужи росердив, що золото мав, жи уже тот са гурше хвалить,
йак вун золотом.

Тот третій повідає йім: Йа щи лем слухав, що ви двайй бесідуйете;
ни годнісьте бути ні йиден царь. Твой золото ни буде са туй хосновати,
бо ту ніхто нич ни буде купувати, ані продавати, бо варош замкнений і
каждий на тулько уже лем Бога просить, жеби сам обжив. Повідають йому
двайй самому: Ачей ти хочеш бути царь?

Вун йім отповів: Такой так йи правда. Твой золото ни потрібно,
твуй хліб нич ни стоїть ни солений, а йа маю суль, дам льудьом за
дармо у тум Судогоморі суль сто рокуу хосновати, на кулькосьме право
'судили.

Дали диййту на ушитких льудий, котрі були у Судогоморі. Загнали йім
пісма по Судогоморі на сім миль землі, щоби прийшли на піяц на серед
вароша, хто можи бути у вароши царьйом. Зуйшли са льуди, велика товпа,
і кричать: Ушиткісьте трійй царьйови, такосьме 'судили; ни мож жити
крем гроший і крем хліба і окрем соли.

Не могли са трійй на тум порувнати; зато уни почали са рьаховати:
Йакби йа ни буў царь, кидь йа маґазини із золотом маю?

Твой золото задармо, ни буде го ніхто йісти.

Порадовав са тот, що зерно мав, жи його добрий камират присвітчить
йому, жи вун буде царьйом. Тот отповів третій: Нич іс того хліба,
котрий ни солений.

Тот са на того посердив, отповів йому: Йа буду царь. Вашой золото за
нич і вашой зерно і мука, що ни соленой, то нидоброй.

Обернули са на нього двайй, йиден тот, що золото мав, другий що
зерно: За суль-каменьа уже бись хотів бути царьйом; льуди 'бжиють
про золото і про суль, лем ньай мають хліба. Іс самої соли ніхто ни
жийи.

Тот са розгнівав, що суль мав, вискочив от стола, пушов дому, узяв
шваблики, запалив варош. Погоріло золото. Варош буў обмурований, ни
мож вон вароша утечи. Льуди по путах пожарають, лем тоті 'остали,
котрі пивниці мали. Ушиткой погоріло у Содогоморі.

Йидна вірна паньі була ід Богу; у нейі буў пан і йиден хлопець.
Они трой ушиткого майитку мали дужи много; мали хліба і польа і золота
три маґазини; сина лем йидного. Важили свого сина каждий день на вазі,
ци много вун приобрів за добу. Тулько до бужні золота офіровала іс
тьажа, кулько син приобрів, вируст. Йак золото на троску стало, йак
згорів Судогомор на йиден великий камінь - бо са ростопило золото і
назат стало на йиден камінь - Судогомур зустав крем хліба, ушитко
ізгоріло і льуди й хліб і марга. Самі себе йіли, котрі щи зостали.
Тота паньі, що так красні сина годовала, заколола го і на фалатьа
порізала, сама свого сина ззіла. Пушла на варош позирати по піяцу,
ачей дагде дащо на вароши пуд муром остало. Що йіла і уна сама нираз
біжадму, із біжадма найшла кору, лупину. Узвала і почала йісти.
Завиділо йув са, жи уна ни раз такой вергла; ходили по вароши жебраки
вушлаві і бридкі; то уни тото там запхали. І почала векати.

З вароша ни мож пуйти; жильізні брани ни погоріли, ани шанці, ани
мури. Тоті валали, що коло Судогомору були на около, чули великий гойк
і писк і великий огень виділи. Розмислили собі: Добивайме са до вароша,
що там за новина. Ни мож перед глубокима шанцома і мурами.

У тум вароши у дну коло самого муру попри Лотовойі хижи прийшов мур
і шанець. Увойшов ангил ід ньому, бо вун йиден ни згорів, ані його
челядь; з вон вароша у кірті буў його дум. Розказав му ангил от свойого
стовпка, жеби дьіру брав, такой у хижи: ни мають мури фудаменти,
попуд мур вийдеш, йак будеш копати дьіру. За шанцом льуди стоять, так
тибе виймуть. Йак дьіру зробиш до шанцу, обись сам перший ни йшов.
Іди на варош, глядай льудий, котрі щи з голоду ни померли, заганяй йіх
на тоту дьіру вон до того шанцу. На дьіру вийшло сто народа. Принесли
лазиво із валалу випустити льудий иш шанцу. Такі були, що й пів
тиждень ни йіли. Йак йім льуди дали йісти тоті з валалу, йак са
найіло і од разу умирало. Що собі льуди додумали тоті з валалу?
Ни давайме йім йісти, лем по кушьчьок і маленько води; бодай чим
квасним тріме йім шиї і руки, та уни 'бжиють. Ньай нам повідять, йак
йи у Содомі - бо уни щи усе ни знали, жи прокляті жиди іс Содоми
учинили Судогомур! Горіло, гойкали на великий ґвалт. Учинив са тогди
Судогомур! - Правда була, йак почали квасним терти, ані йидной вид
голоду ни умерло. Повіли, жи у Судогоморі котрі ни погоріли, та самі
себе йідять!

Тогди льуди із валалу жильізні брани путкопали і пирерернули долов.
Пустили льудий іс Судогомору, котрі щи були живі. До три сто рокуу
розмножив са назат Судогомур. Справили са у ньум погани ишчи гурші,
йак були. Що додумали? Хто са на вароши 'бночуйи із валалу, ци пан,
ци жид, ци жобрак, заперти го до арешту, ни пустити нігде, закля
тамой ни умре.

Йидного чоловіка заперли ни жобрака, лем що прийшов купувати і до
вечира добув на вароши. Заперли го поліціайти на смирть до рамґазу.
Ни дали му йісти, котрий буў у арешті, нивинному, щоби з голоду умер;
чого у вароши почував? У кльучарьйа, у того, що до рамґазу замикав,
служниця служила, нивинного чоловіка посановала: с того, що йуй дали
на вичерьйу - кльучарь із жоноу усе у другуй хижі вичерьали і йіх
діти, служниця лем сама у кухни; кльуч буў од рамґазу у кухни на
стіні - усе му одділила іс свойій вичері, до рамґазу носила. Кльуч буў
у кухни, та сама видмикала. Годовала нивинного за йиден місяць.
Каждий день до рамґазу кльучарь ходив позирати, ци умер, що го до
рамґазу запер, а вун жийи. Йакой чудо? Ачей вун сьатий! Йак повідав
поганським панум на суді, жи за місяць ни йів і ни пив а жиў: вартуйте
го, ци му дахто йісти ни носить. Кльучарь імів сам свою служницю,
звязав руки і ноги, верх йий до рамґазу до рана. Прийшов повідати
поганським панум: Мойа служниця вид мене крала, а йому давала; що з
ньов учинити? Руки, ноги ізвязати, солодким медом намастити, перед
пчоли йий покласти. Пчоли за медом на ньу сідали, усе учули, жи то
тіло, ни дерево: дужи кусали, йуй жала лишали. Уна пухла; ищи й вочи
йийі... До Бога йойкала голосом, жи проклятий варош!

Погнівав са Бог на Судогомур, на проклятий варош, отповів: Ни буде
стояти, лем двацять чотіри годин; мусить са загнути, жеби лем там
глубина на тум місці була. Лем йидного чоловіка із його дьівками, з
його жоноу чкода, та йі випущу. Зажену мо' ангила, жеби му ознаймив,
жеби ґаздуйство лишив, а сам йшов відтам гет, бо завтра загни са
Судогомур. Прийшов ангил чоловіком пізно у вечур. Відьіли варошчани,
йакийсь там йшов чоловік. Дужи Лота звідовали са, де йи тот чоловік,
що прийшов до нього, ци слобудно му на вароши ночувати. Ангил са дав
ісховати відля біблії пуд корито і до рана там буў. Йак хотів бути
день, ангил на Лота закричав, щоби пофриштиковав і йшов відти гет,
кидь ишчи ни хочи прийати смирть затоплену; бо хто ту довше зостани,
каждий са затопить. Уваріла поливку Лотова паньі на фриштик свойім
двом дьівкам і панови і про ангила с того дала. Про ґазду, про
свойого пана і про дьівки посолила, ангилови такой дала: Чкода соли
чужому чоловікови! Скричав ангил по фриштику: збирайме са і ступаймо,
бо ту буде вода синьа, де тот варош стоїть. Ни слобудно са вам
четверім по'зирати, закля с того хотарьйа ни вийдете за границю.
Йак перейшли на другий хотарь, по'зирала са Лотова жона і стала на
сульний камінь за тот штроф, що соли сановала. Ангил ни хосновав
йийі поливку, ани му ни треба було.

Зап. в серпни, 1896, від Михайла Пустая, в Збую, Земплинської столиці.

Паралелї: Коротеньку згадку про Содому і Гомору диви: Др. Иван Франко,
Апокріфи старозавітні, ст. 87, при оповіданнях про Авраама.
(Памятники українсько-руської мови і літератури, т. І, 1896). Про
Лота тамже, ст. 86-90. Диви також: ст. 330-333.

Source Colophon

Source witness: Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, Lviv, 1897, legend 5, printed pages 7-13. Internet Archive identifier: etnohr_03-1, https://archive.org/details/etnohr_03-1.

The source text was checked against source-page images of IA PDF pages 26-32.
IA PDF page 26 contains the end of legend 4 and the beginning of this unit; IA
PDF page 32 contains the end of this unit and the beginning of legend 6. This
source transcription is a lightly corrected reading witness and is not a full
diplomatic edition.

🌲