Once upon a time, Lithuanian prince Giediminas was hunting in Bielski
Great Forest. He was chasing an urus or a dear, far to the north-west
end of the Great Forest almost to the Masovian border. Dusk was already
falling when he eventually caught the animal at an unknown spring. It
was a long distance to Suraż castle and in this wild and uninhabited
area there was not even a hunting lodge which noble men tended to build
for their comfort in these old times. No wonder, this soil had not
belonged to Lithuania for very long, and even though the aristocrats
wanted to keep it, the prince was worried that the forest could be
returned to Masovia. In fact there were some poorly built sheds nearby
which maybe one day could deserve the name of a house and which their
inhabitants called “Old Village” but the prince preferred to stay in a
quickly erected hut rather than in a stuffy old shed.
Prince's consorts got together and in no time there was a lovely hut
for the prince to sleep in. When the archers were busy cutting the meat
the prince was taking a rest at the nearby spring. The water was flowing
from it rapidly and unlike other springs they had come across it was
very clean. Probably because it had a bed of sand and didn't flow like
other ones through peat swamps.
- Clean, white river*—said the price.—We could build here a hunting lodge or even found a village…
They did as the prince said. Soon they built a prince's residency at
the spring and after that a village which they called White River –
Biały Stok.
