The Legends Of Morčićima ("Little Moors")

Legends about the "Little Moors" arose from the need explain the origin of a piece of valuable jewelry, unusual in this area -- the face of a black man in a turban. One legend that explains the origin of the "Little Moors" comes from the 16th century: "The Turks were at Grobničko Polje. In the city there was fear because from the Turks nothing good could be expected - only pillage and arson. For a long time already there had been news of their attacks in our vicinity, about bloody battles around Senj, in Perušić... All of the men were on the tower. They were stoutly resisting the attacks, [their] strength was less, but sailors from out of nowhere. Women and children were closed up in their houses, praying for salvation, [when] the hand of God directed an arrow shot from the hand of the noble Zrinski to strike the temple of the Turkish pasha. Seeing that their leader was dead, the Turks fled the field. Meanwhile, heaven also answered the prayers of the women of Rijeka, and [it] was opened and buried the Turks with stones. On the field all that was left was a discarded white Turkish turban. As a commemoration of that victory, the men of Rijeka had their women make earrings that looked like a "little moor."