The Whisperers and I did not always get along as Whisperers were neither people’s friends nor foes, and their services could be treacherous.

Sometimes, when a man died, his wife hanged herself on a branch, so she would take off like a bird and join her spouse in his flight towards the divine abode. Sometimes, she was forced to do just that.

It also happened in the settlement where Libushka was born. She chose her lovers on her own, and she finally gave birth to a beautiful baby. Since it was healthy and strong, she and her man stayed together.

And so Libushka began bearing child after child so that there would always be enough men and women to work and fight. As fights were aplenty, Libushka’s lover often took part in them. He had always been victorious, but one day, his horse came back, dragging his lifeless body behind it.

Everyone was devastated by the news, and Libushka most of all, for she did not want to die and fall prey to Veles’s serpents.

So she ran to a Whisperer who lived beside the settlement. She begged and begged, from dusk until dawn, and the Whisperer finally used her power.

And so Libushka became a Navka, who cries every night in a trembling voice, and warns men of death.