The people of Budča paid their dues to the king at Pustý hrad castle in the fish they caught in the Hron. Time and again the poor serfs handed their whole catch over to the lord's court and were left in want and hunger themselves.
One day a man from Budča did not catch a single fish from dawn to dusk. He was about to go home in a temper, saying: “Even the devil is a better master than our noble lord.” No sooner had he said it than a real devil stood before him. Laughing, the devil told him he gladly took him into his service. He asked only one thing – that the man stop praying and going to church.
The poor man thought and thought, and could think of nothing better. He took the offer. He cast his net into the water, and in a moment it was full. So it went, day after day.
“You have deceived me. Punishment will fall on you and on the whole village with you. I will dam the Hron where its valley is narrowest!”
On the third Sunday before Easter his wife made him go to church. He had barely crossed himself when something struck him on the back of the head. The devil lost no time. Over seven nights he laid the stone seas on Veľké Sietno. On the eighth night he meant to finish his work of ruin. Somewhere beyond Dubové he found a great boulder and hauled it all the way to the place he had chosen.
Devil or no devil, the rock was heavy even for him. He fell behind. Just short of the stone seas, daybreak and the crowing of the village cocks caught up with him. A devil, they say, has no strength by day. The rock slipped from his claws and came to rest on a stone pedestal – and there it stands to this day.