Jūratė and KastytisLithuanian legend

The name Jūratė (Yourate) comes from the Lithuanian jūra (youra). It means the sea.

After a storm at the Baltic sea you can find some amber in the sand. Children collect these little yellow stones and remember the story of Jūratė and Kastytis.

Long long ago a young fisherman Kastytis lived together with his mother Motule.

Their life wasn’t easy. Many fishermen died in the sea. So did Kastytis’s father.

Motule loved her son very much. Once she gave him a beautiful band and said, “I made this for you. It

will protect you. Please put it on your waist”.

Kastytis thanked his mother, made a bow and went to the sea.

Here is Kastytis in the sea. He throws his net, but there’s no fish. Suddenly he can hear a

beautiful voice.

It is the sea princess Jūratė singing. She came up from her underwater amber castle

to sing her magic song to Perkūnas.

Perkūnas is the God of thunder and lightning.

Jūratė can see the young fisherman, she swims to him and… finds herself in the net. Kastytis pulls the net and finds a

beautiful girl there.

– Who are you? – asks Kastytis.– I’m Jūratė, the sea princess from

the amber castle.

The Baltic sea is my kingdom, the fish are my servants. Kastytis sets the princess free.

Meanwhile the God of thunder Perkūnas saw Jūratė in the

fisherman’s boat. “How dare you touch the princess of the sea?” Perkūnas throws a lightning at Kastytis. The fisherman’s boat

drowns.

Poor Motulė asks the birds on the shore.“Beautiful white gulls, can you see my son Kastytis?” “No, we can’t. We can only see his broken boat”. Poor Motulė starts crying.

Deep under the sea in the beautiful amber castle lies the dead fisherman. Jūratė kisses him and he wakes up.

– Kastytis, tell me about the land, – asks Jūratė.

And Kastytis starts singing, “The land is wonderful, it’s warm and sunny. There are beautiful dunes and pine trees, and many happy birds. There’s my mother waiting for me…”

Jūratė doesn’t want him to be sad. She claps. “Come on, fish! Make Kastytis happy! Dance, play, let him forget about the land”.

The golden fish say, “Now he’s happy”.

But Jūratė has forgotten it’s time to sing the magic song to Perkūnas.

High up in the sky, in the beautiful white clouds there’s Perkūnas’s castle.

Perkūnas is looking for Jūratė. “Jūratė, where are you?” Finally, Jūratė swims up and sings.

Meanwhile, the old nanny fish says to Kastytis, “The gulls said your mother is very sad. Stop dancing!” Kastytis runs out of the castle. “I’m going to the land. Where’s Jūratė?”

  “She’s singing to

Perkūnas”, says the nanny fish. “Hurry up!” The fish points to the shell with seahorses. Kastytis jumps into the shell and hurries to the shore.

Perkūnas listens to Jūratė singing the song. This is the song Jūratė heard from Kastytis.

Where did you hear this song? Is there a man in the castle? I’ll destroy the castle and kill the man! And Perkūnas starts throwing

his arrows.

The sea goes stormy. Thunder booms, lightnings strike… The amber castle breaks

into pieces.

Jūratė is looking for Kastytis. She finally finds him and they swim to the shore. They

can see Motulė.

Suddenly Perkūnas shows up in the clouds. He throws his arrow at Kastytis.

But Motule’s band protects the fisherman. The lightning kills the sea princess… She disappears, and

her amber necklace is all he can have.

It was long long ago, but the Baltic sea still brings amber stones – pieces of Jūratė’s castle. And Lithuanian men still give amber necklaces

to their girlfriends.

Photos by Marina Lutsenko, Raisa Shapiro, Daniel Milner

This is the legend of the origin of amber. According to the legend, amber stones are pieces of Jūratė‘s castle.

ScupltureJūratė and Kastytisin Palanga, Lithuanian resort by the Baltic sea

Illustrations made by pupils of „Svajos“ primary school, Vilnius

YEAR 3:Ann Litvin, Eva Koucherova, Valerie Verbelyte, Aliona Gritsan, Martin Bodrikov, Zlata Semionova, Ilya Orlovich, Amina Vilbik, Artur Nikitin, Kate Loukyanova, Konstantin Loutsenko, Nikita Kolpachenko, Kseniya Siniova, Neliya Griaznova, Milan Lila, Daniil Yefremenkov, Arina Belous, Arina Stepanenko, Liza Rolichute

YEAR 4:Mark Makarovsky,Liza Yemelyanova, Karolina Karandei, Daniil Samuilov, Ernest Rudenas, Neonila Ivanovskaya, Patricia Adamovich, Dasha Siniovaite

This is a part of Comenius project Legends of Our Regions 2012-2014 activities