Јуче сам упознао једног цењеног и угледног припадника братства Шаљић. Кроз причу сам му поменуо и “проблематику“ овог нашег тестираног Шаљића. Човек се јако заинтересовао ко би то од његових могао бити . Рекао ми је да су у Машници некада живели Шаљићи, а да их сада тамо више нема. Такође ми је испричао и верзију њихове приче о Тому родоначелнику Шаљића.
Томо (Милија) је рођен у селу Велика као Томо Кнежевић. Није имао браће ни сестара, а као дете остао је без родитеља. Због сиромаштва и тешког живота одлази из Велике у село Машницу да надничи, а где су га тамошњи мештани прихватили као да је дошао из Шаље. Временом су га прозвали Том Шаља (тај надимак му је остао до краја живота). Пошто је био сналажљив радио је све и свашта и почео је по нешто зарађивати. Купио је најпре неку стоку па препродао, а за те паре купује и нешто земље. У Машници се заљубљује у кћер тамошњег житеља са којом се касније оженио и ту засновао породицу и ородио. Његови синови узимају из добијеног надимка презиме Шаљић. Неки Шаљићи сматрају Машницу завичајем, а неки Велику. Ето таква вам је веза Величких Шаљана братства Кнежевића и Шаљића.
Приликом растанка Шаљић ми је поклонио брошуру о братству Шаљића. У њој су набројани сви Шаљићи од Тома па на овамо до 2004. године. Можда се и “спорни“ Шаљић налази у њој тако да би требало упоредити податке које је он дао са подацима из брошуре. Ако је неко заинтересован за то нек се јави. Надам се да смо мало појаснили ствар. Поздрав свим форумашима.
ISNIQ: A VILLAGE AND ITS FAMILIES
Once upon a time
Once upon a time - perhaps three or four hundred years ago - three brothers from the Shala clan in Malësia e Madhe (literally: the Great Mountain Land) north of Shkodra in present-day Albania, had to flee from their home region. We don’t know why, but they had ‘fallen in blood’ with some other families there.
They walked up the mountain towards the east, and came down on the other side into the Plava region of Montenegro. In one of the villages they were attacked by a dog, but a girl came out to rescue them. They were all tired and one of the brothers could not go any further. He stayed in the house of their rescuer and later married her. Thus the people of Veliku village are actually Albanian, but they became Montenegrins at a later stage. ‘So close are the Albanians and Montenegrins.’
The two other brothers continued further over the mountain and one of them, Lek Vuka, who had brought his three sons Nik, Prek and Vuk, arrived in the hills just above Isniq. There he settled in the cave called Shpella e Bojkut after the Bojkaj who were already living in a village on the mountain’s slope. Where the third brother eventually settled is not known.
The area which today is Isniq was empty bushland at that time. It was owned by the Bey of Peja1, Çefatin Begu of the Lullolis. In those days there was no Albania and no Yugoslavia. The whole territory belonged to the Sultan. But his men never managed to rule the high mountain areas of Albania or Montenegro. The population in those places remained Christian. So the three brothers were Catholic when they came to Shpella e Bojkut, while the Bojkaj were ‘Serbs’ (in other words, Serbian Orthodox), but still Albanian because they belonged to the clan of Thaqi. Another household lived near the Bojkajs, the Blakajs, and they were Catholic, of the Krasniqi clan.
One day a band of Montenegrins from Lugit e Gushit robbed a girl from the Bojkaj. Some say she was the daughter of the Bey, who had been sent to the countryside to recover from poor health. The Bojkaj took up her defence, and Lek Vuka and his sons came to their assistance. They fought very bravely and Led Vuka was killed as was his eldest son, Nika. They succeeded in driving the intruders away, but the girl was killed in the battle. At the place where she died is a stone called the ‘Guri i nusës’ (the stone of the bride).
When Çefatin Begut heard about the bravery of the three brothers, he came and asked: ‘What can I do to reward your great courage?’ But the two remaining brothers said: ‘Nothing. We are much obliged, but it was our duty. We are of a brave and honourable breed and could not have acted otherwise.’ The Bey insisted, however, and in the end it was agreed that they should be allowed to settle on the land now called Isniq on condition that they covert to Islam. They hesitated for a while, but eventually gave in and finally built a mosque to prove their sincere intentions. Their own dwellings, made of branches, were not very impressive: they were small sheds, kolibe (meaning ‘nest,’ such as are used only as dogs’ kennels today).
After the Shala brothers had settled, the news about the newcomers reached the neighbouring village of Lebusha.
Ovo je izvod iz knjige na engleskom gde albanci iz sela Isniq kod Decana, prenose potpuno isto predanje kao i Saljani u Veliku. Od jednoga su brata Velicani a od drugog Insniqani
