One of the most interesting caves in Bosnia and Herzegovina is located near Kladanj, in Brateljevići. The entrance to the cave is about 30 meters above the right bank of the Bukovica River, a tributary of the Drinjača River. Besides being called "The Cave in Brateljevići", the people commonly call it by its widely accepted local name "the Maiden's Cave" because of the legend of a girl (folk tales say that the legend dates back to the early Ottoman period, some 400 years ago) that it was passed down from generation to generation to the present day.
The legend says (and the site, cult and the grave prove it) that it all happened at an ordinary village gathering where boys and girls teased each other with various quips, and one of the dares for the boys to prove their courage was to "hop over" to the cave and bring a jug of cold water from the spring in its very centre. As none of the boys had the courage to do it, one of the girls stepped forward. To convince the others that she would actually do the dare, she took a spindle with her as evidence, to stick it into the ground next to the spring in the cave. The courageous girl actually went to the distant cave, caught water from the spring, but when she stuck the spindle next to the spring as evidence, she also pierced through the edges of her long dress. When she tried to get up, she felt that "something" was pulling her into the spring and died of great fear on the spot.
The girl was buried next to the spring and, not long afterwards, her grave became petrified in stone.