If it weren’t for the stern local aga (a supervisor during the Ottoman Empire), it’s questionable whether the villagers would dare to wander through the dense coniferous forest on terrain highly susceptible to erosion.

When the aga’s horse disappeared, chaos ensued in the village as the aga threatened to burn down the village if they didn’t return the horse or provide valid proof of its disappearance or demise.

Faced with the threat of their village being set ablaze and bloodshed, they had little choice but to embark on a quest to find the aga’s missing horse. After some time, they came across a large opening in the ground and visible traces of a large animal sliding.

Since, at that time (early 19th century), they lacked equipment for entering spelunking sites, they felled several tall trees, crafting ladders to approach the unexplored cave. Little did they know that it concealed much greater treasure than anticipated.

The horse was found dead, evidence brought to the surface, and the secret of the ice-bearing cave, a wealth at that time, surfaced. Villagers improvised a pulley system using ropes and pulleys to extract ice from the cave, selling it to important trading centers and nearby fairs.

Legend has it that the ice blocks they extracted weighed up to 70 kilograms and were wrapped in straw for transportation to Dubrovnik.