According to the old custom, in the past, the Roma tribe used to choose the chief among the oldest of all members of the tribe. One by one all the old people tried the throne and died after.
One day the chief died again and the oldest was to replace him. His name was Pis Memish, which meant ‘the Crazy Memish’ (‘Pis’ in Turkish means ‘crazy). He was really a crazy man.
All the people gathered in front of the coffin of the dead chief and Pis Memish started to speak:
“Dear Chief, when you go up to the heavens, where our predecessors are tell them that Pis Memish is already in charge here on the earth. Do not tell them anything else – they will guess what will follow.’
Thus the falling apart of the Romani state started. It is existing no more.
A Legend about Kotel
In the past my grandmother used telling me that she had lived in Kotel as a child. But the Turkish came and started to chase everybody. My grandmother was a little child but very pretty. Her mother was scared. She did not know where to hide her! They had eaves and she put her there. Then she piled bedclothes above her to hide her. The Turkish fired Kotel. They started to burn the houses. People were running away. The whole town was set on fire except for one house. A Roma woman was giving birth to a child there. People say that the house did not burn because of this. Now they have made it a museum. After this everybody ran away. My grandmother came in Lyaskovetz. I do not know where her husband came from. His name was Memet Chokoi. He probably came from Romania.