The cross of the Cavezai

The cross of the Cavezai

Go to the main page

Once upon a time there was a tranquil married couple who dwelled in Sabion.

One night two characters knocked at the door, saying that they were vagrants and asking to come in to rest a bit. The couple, giving proof of the well-known Trentine hospitality, let the two subjects in.
While the man played host his wife started again to spin; but although he talked kindly with the guests without fearing for any danger, two woman didn't feel calm.

(

I open here a parenthesis: in most of the fairy tales and of the legends, as well as in the television ads, the lady of the house is gifted with outstanding wisdom, while the husband is the worst among the simpletons.
Tut: this is literary discrimination!

)

Anyway, the cunning woman made the spindle fall: stooping to watch them better realized that mule hooves stuck out under the clothes of the strangers: they were the very feared Cavezai

(at page 55 of Aneggi the definition [translated by me] “cavezàl = n - fancied monster with two legs and asinine feet.” )

Without losing heart she thought up a plan: she suggested to cook the polenta. The Cavezai, who being from the Trentino were clearly greedy for it, agreed with enthusiasm to the proposal (I like very much the idea too, actually

).
There was a problem, though: the house wasn't provided with running water. The woman asked therefore to them to go and water at the well, and gave them what in the semi-darkness looked like a bucket.
In fact it was a wicker basket; the monsters didn't perceive the deceit until they tried to pull up the water.

In the meanwhile the husband and wife barred the door and amassed pieces of furniture and fittings on it to try to avoid that it can be opened (do you remember the Blues Brothers in the final scenes?); moreover, they put a crucifix on the door.

The Cavezai, furious and thirsty for revenge, would have been able to easily sweep away the door with their superhuman strength. But the cross prevented them from approaching it (a bit like for the vampires). So they started to shout, beside themselves with anger: «Se no te fuśi en do che te sei, te faréśen su fina come i to cavèi!» (“if you weren't where you are, we'd tear you to tiny pieces, thin like your hair!”).
At the end, unable to sustain anymore the nearness of the crucifix, they ran away.

From then on it has become established the custom of nailing to the doors little crosses (called “le crós dei Cavezai”, i.e. the crosses of the Cavezai) in order to protect the houses from the monsters.
Some of them can be still seen, especially in Stedro.

The strange beings could then be held at bay. Nevertheless people kept on perceiving their presence: little disappearance of food and strokes were indeed ascribed to the monsters.
I wonder how many Cembran kids stole the jam, pulling then the blame to the Cavezai.

As in all the legends, also for the one of the Cavezai many variants exist (for instance in another version, in the house there were three young girls). A different legend about the Cavezai is written below.

Once upon a time there were two Cembran countrymen who making poles to support the vines from a trunk of a tree they cut down: after they had made a groove in the wood, they hammered big wedges in it.

At a certain point two suspicious characters appeared and they offered to help the men. The two workers noticed the mule feet and, smartly, they requested the strangers to put their hands in the crack: «So it'll be easier to break the trunk.».
Also in that occasion the Cavezai turned out to be really foolish: not suspecting anything they did what the men had asked. Suddenly the Cembrans took the edges out with a stroke of hammer, trapping the limbs of the strange individuals in the groove; then they took to their heels.

The next morning the men, with great terror, saw that inside the trunk there were still the torn hands of the monsters!

From then on the Cavezai haven't shown up anymore in the valley.

Go to the main page