阿尔达河上的魔鬼桥，保加利亚 Dyavolski Most (Devil's Bridge) over the Arda River in Bulgaria (© Petar Mladenov/Alamy)

阿尔达河上的魔鬼桥，保加利亚 Dyavolski Most (Devil's Bridge) over the Arda River in Bulgaria (© Petar Mladenov/Alamy)

Does this crossing carry a curse?

You've heard of a bridge over troubled waters, but what if the bridge is troubled too? Legend tells of a Bulgarian stonemason, Dimitar, who was tasked with solving a bridge problem here in the early 1500s. Dimitar was hired to construct a crossing that wouldn't collapse into the rushing Arda river, as had all previous spans in this strange spot.

How could Dimitar build a bridge to beat all the others? By making a deal with the devil, of course. As one version of the story goes, Lucifer impelled Dimitar to encase his wife's shadow in the stonework, which imbued the bridge with supernatural strength against the rapids. The diabolical catch? Trapping her shadow meant she was doomed to death once construction was completed. Dimitar finished the bridge in 40 days, and his wife died shortly after.

Dyavolski Most (Devil's Bridge) in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria stands tall to this day as proof of Dimitar's deadly pact. Or could it be, perhaps, that Dimitar was just a really good stonemason? Five centuries on, it's all water under the bridge…

这个十字路口有诅咒吗？

你听说过一座跨越麻烦的桥，但如果这座桥也有麻烦呢？传说中有一位名叫迪米塔尔的保加利亚石匠，在16世纪初被派来解决这里的一座桥梁问题。迪米塔尔被雇来建造一条不会倒塌到湍急的阿尔达河中的渡口，就像在这个陌生的地方以前所有的跨度一样。

迪米特尔怎么能建造一座桥梁来击败其他所有人？当然是和魔鬼做交易。正如故事的一个版本所说，路西法迫使迪米特尔将他妻子的影子包裹在石雕中，石雕使桥充满了抵御急流的超自然力量。恶魔般的捕获？困在她的影子里意味着一旦建筑完工，她就注定要死。迪米特尔在40天内完成了这座桥，他的妻子不久就去世了。

位于保加利亚南部罗多普山脉的迪亚沃斯基Most（魔鬼之桥）屹立至今，是迪米塔尔致命契约的证明。或者，也许迪米特尔只是一个真正优秀的石匠？五个世纪过去了，桥下全是水…