Mysterious Nun

This legend (truly even three ones) is connected with one of estates, which was situated not far from Minsk those times. The author by some reason calls it "Utkino". Though there wasn't any estate with such a name in Minsk suburbs. Probably he does that taking care about security of some inhabitants of the estate of those days.

First

There was a remarkable house in "Utkino" estate, it was called castle of a nun. It was situated on a small hill close to a church and school. From architectural point of view the house wasn't anything special, just a usual manor of the estate, which lost bygone charm of antiquity.  The estate belonged for long time to ancient noble kin of princes of Minsk, the Zatsepin. 

At the times described the estate was owed by a handsome prince Andrey Zatsepin. Having been abroad he met an Italian earl and got his blessing to marry his daughter Anna. Their luxury wedding took place soon and after it young people came to live in their estate near Minsk.

Anna was a very tender and fragile creature not accustomed to our harsh climate. In a while she was sick with a throat consumption+ She had to go to Crimea, Caucasus or return to her native warm Italy to take treatment, but prince Andrew who married her because of vainglory cheated her with a daughter of local Polish magnate who lived close by. Considering a single obstacle for his union with the beloved girl to be Anna, he locked the martyr in one of local convents, where she took schema and deceased soon.

Now he could get married again. "And now on the wedding banquet when he stood up to say several greetings holding a goblet of wine in his hand and loudly cheered up by his guests in a huge lighted up hall, his voice suddenly trembled and his eyes fixed at one point+ Having opened the door slowly a pale shadow of a woman in a black garment of a nun entered the hall+" That was princess Anna. Pale as death the prince rushed out of the hall but he became weak in his knees and fell flat on his back. He died in an hour. The nun's shadow was seen by everybody who was in the hall, many had fainted. Since then a rare guest returned to the manor. Though, by words of local dwellers, the mysterious nun was seen more times than one in the estate.

There is one more legend about her.

Second

Once upon a time children of peasants played at a small square close to a house. They quarreled and one of them threw hat of the other on the eaves of the house. The hat fell into a basement through an air-hole, and it became impossible to take it out. The entrance of the basement was tightly nailed up, to addition there were rumors among people that ghosts lived there, that some woman in white clothes sat there praying constantly. Poor boy started to cry and having put his head among rods of the air-hole intently looked into the darkness.  Suddenly he heard soft and nice voice "Why are you crying, boy?" and he saw a beautiful young woman with sad eyes in front of him. He explained the reason of his tears and in a minute the sad Beauty gave him a hat filled with golden coins up to the edges+ Coins were real. He gave them to his father having saved his family from poverty and made his father the richest man in their village.

After that all fellows of the village threw their hats to the air-hole but none of them was returned by the Beauty.

And one more story about mysterious nun.

Third

It was in summer when the whole house was subjected to complete reconstruction. One worker, who ever scared of nobody or nothing, went to the basement and didn't return for whole day. In the evening of next day he ran out of the basement being sick and trembling with a pale face and eyes filled with horror, mumbling something incoherent+ He was completely lost. But there was gold in his pockets and in his bosom+ As it was possible to understand from separate words of the mad man, when he entered the basement he saw a woman in white clothes sitting at the corner and reading a Bible. She asked him why he disturbed her and then led him to another room filled with different treasures and told him to fill up his pockets which was done by him+. Then some other ghosts came and began to argue with the woman in white saying that she had no rights to give out treasures. But she didn't yield, ghosts attacked the worker to take gold from him. He fainted. As a result he went mad and his hair became gray because of things he went through that night.

Translated by Ekaterina Ludvigovna Prokopovich, Odessa