Treasure Mountain

Hidden in the clouds lies Treasure Mountain, where legend has it that an immense treasure is buried. Tarragon seeks this treasure to save the Kingdom of the Lake at the End of the World, which is reeling from a wicked curse. But how does he know of the treasure? And what of the dragon that stands guard?

Treasure Mountain draws inspiration from the real-life Mount Bogatin, which literally translates as “Rich Man.” It is a 1977-metre-high mountain in the Julian Alps of Slovenia. Tales abound of an immeasurable treasure buried beneath Bogatin, guarded by either a dragon or a multi-headed snake. Many have sought the riches that lay below, and some have even gone mad as the famous Slovene mountaineer Julius Kugy elaborated:

There is not an old farmer there who has not dug on Bogatin. The whole mountain is covered with traces of shovels and dumps, with wounds and scars. And woe betide you, if a farmer found a piece of iron crockery like this. Now he thought he was on the trail of real gold, and he dug and dug further, further and further. There is no help for such a person.¹

The most famous of tales that speak of gold on Bogatin is the legend of Zlatorog (“Golden Horn”). Zlatorog was a sacred white goat with golden horns. It was said that his horns were the key to accessing all the riches of Bogatin. One mortal set out to kill Zlatorog, take his horns and claim this fortune. Suffice to say, he paid the ultimate price for his transgression. This legend is well known throughout Slovenia, less known, however is the prophecy penned by Julius Kugy:

Zlatorog's gold in Mount Bogatin has not been dug up to this very day. But after seven hundred years grows a fir tree in Triglav's rocky sea and from the wood of a mature tree planks will be hewn for a cradle and in that cradle shall lie a baby boy, to him, Bogatin's treasures will be revealed.²

1. Julius Kugy, Julijske Alpe V Podobi (Maribor: Obzorja, 1971), 121. The translation is attributable to Daniel Goulding.

2. Ibid. The translation is attributable to Daniel Goulding.

3. Jakob Kelemina, Bajke in pripovedke slovenskega ljudstva (Celje: Družba sv. Mohorja, 1930), 127. The translation is attributable to Daniel Goulding.