Ungvár: Striking from Hiding (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns in and around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

Ungvár is a city in the Ukraine with about 110,000 inhabitants, 8000 of whom are Hungarian. In historical times, this area used to be a part of Hungary. Techincally, the legend itself is tied to the village of Komoró nearby, on the Hungarian side of the border, and Ungvár is only mentioned in passing, but I needed a place for U, so here we go.

First, you need to familiarize yourselves with the Hungarian term guta. It is an old name for an illness-demon, one that can strike people suddenly and cause a stroke, apoplexy, or a heat stroke. Today, we still say "megüti a guta" (the guta will strike them) when someone is about to have a great shock or sudden anger.

Later on, legends began to develop to explain the forgotten origin of the term.

Legend claims that there used to be a famous robber in the area of Ungvár, by the name of Guta Jakab. He was a master of the slingshot, and he could strike a target from a great distance with precision. He used to hide in the bushes and hedges outside a village and attack unsuspecting travelers - striking them like a sudden act of God. The legend claims this is where the common term "lapos guta" (flat guta) or "lapul mint guta" (lying low like the guta) came from: from the bandit lying low in the bushes, throwing flat stones with a slingshot.

Sources claim he was eventually captured, and executed in 1393 in Ungvár for his crimes (they hanged him by his ribs)

(I don't know about you, but I find it fascinating when legends develop to explain the origins of other, older, forgotten legends)

(Sources here and here)

Image from here