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Katarina Srimpf
coming from the center of Slovenia, we can conclude that stories about Lemberg
also existed in Ljubljana and other towns around Slovenia. Contrary to the stories
that could come from the “center,” it is entirely possible that a newer story of the
Lembergs, that I would like to present, began circulating with the precise inten¬
tion of undermining the authority of the market town’s ruling segment. As Orrin
E. Klapp states, “Being made a fool is a type of disgrace. Ascription of the fool role
or any status is a descent. The fool is lacking in rights and responsibilities; nothing
serious is demanded of him; the bauble of the fool symbolizes his incompetence, and
nobody wants to follow him” (Klapp 1949: 161). The jokes can therefore “under¬
mine the legitimacy of the elite members’ success by ascribing to them the quality
of stupidity, the hall-mark of failure in a rational social order” (Davies 1982: 395).
In fact, one of the tales relates a story of how the Lembergs were unable to keep the
parish headquarters in their town. In 1754, the construction of a large pilgrimage
church in the neighboring settlement of Sladka Gora was completed. This church
was erected on the site of a former chapel where miracles were said to have happened
in the past. The residents of Sladka Gora wished to have the parish headquarters
moved to their town. This story can be seen in terms of an undermining of legiti¬
macy of the Lemberg ruling class since it deals with how Lembergs were incapable
of keeping the attribute of ecclesiastical domination. The ruler, from whom the
symbol of government is stolen, is not the capable ruler. This is the story:
“The virtuous people of Lemberg could not bring themselves to accept the trans¬
fer of the parish. When ecclesiastical and temporal lords sent their consent and the
parish priest already moved to Sladka Gora, they guarded the church day and night,
convinced that no one could take their parish as long as there was holy bread in
the church of St. Nicholas. When the parish priest realized that not much could
be achieved by force, he tried to trick them. Back then, the Franciscans from Celje
would come to help the local priest at the Assumption and other events of pilgrim¬
age. That year the visiting Franciscan was called Jernej Macek [in English, “cat”]. The
local priest requested that he celebrate the Holy Mass in the Lemberg church, which
he agreed to do. After the mass, the Franciscan told the parish clerk to get ready, as
they were going to see a dying person in Sladka Gora. The Lembergs believed that the
priest was taking with him only what he needed to deliver the last rites. But Maëek
the Franciscan took all of the holy bread and ventured with the parish clerk toward
Sladka Gora, where the residents received them with bell-ringing and firing mortars.
This made the Lembergs pay attention. They checked the tabernacle and realized
they had been swindled. ‘The Lemberg claimed, as they still do, that a Cat stole their
Lord” (Sladka Gora 1937) in reference to the Franciscan’s name.
Due to the friar’s surname’s association with an animal, the story was reduced
to a phrase conveying that “a cat ate the Lord,” which refers to the story about the
theft of the parish headquarters. Nowadays, Lemberg is merely a small village lack¬
ing power or special value (among outsiders), and the stories about them are slip¬
ping into oblivion as well. To younger generations, Butalci became a replacement