ABSTRACT
Princess Kinga, daughter of the thirteenth century King Bela IV of Hungary, journeyed to Poland to be united with her betrothed, Boleslaus the Bashful, Duke of Cracow. The Poland she came to was a prosperous country but it had no salt. When Kinga’s father realised this, he included in her dowry the salt mine at Maramures. Guided by intuition, Kinga went to the mine and cast her betrothal ring into the depths of the shaft. She then journeyed on towards the city of Cracow where she had a deep pit dug in the ground. A large lump of salt was discovered in the pit with the princess’s ring wedged in its crust. Further down, more and more salt was extracted, so much indeed it was enough for the whole country even to the present day.
