The Vovcha river. Sources and course. Stories and legends

Toponymic legends are linked to famous personalities who were the founders of cities or the discoverers of unexplored lands. Oral folk art has from ancient times brought down to our day the stories of the origin of geographical features. One of the most famous and ancient of the world's legends tells of the Capitoline she-wolf, which suckled two brothers, one of whom would become the founder of Rome. In honour of the mother of the Romans a bronze sculpture was created, copies of which are a source of pride in many countries of the world. In Ukraine there is also a stone statue of a local predator, the progenitress of a hydronym.

Prohres, Pokrovsk district, Donetsk region. Monument to the she-wolf - founder of the name of the watercourse

The founder of the name of the Vovcha river was immortalised in concrete in the village of Prohres in the Pokrovsk district of the Donetsk region, on the outskirts of which lie at once two sources of the steppe river, a tributary of the Samara, in the Dnipro basin. Thanks to a master sculptor and enterprising villagers, the grey beast with two cubs has been raised onto a pedestal in the centre of Prohres. The she-wolf is depicted calm, but with a wary gaze; she is ready to defend the little ones playing beside their mother.

The predator listens intently and, in case of danger, will fight and save her offspring. At the foot of the monument a plaque is set with a brief account of the legend, which for centuries has been passed from generation to generation.

Of course, there are scientific hypotheses based on historical facts. One version of the origin of the hydronym asserts that it arose from the word "volok" (portage). From the times of Kyivan Rus, a natural route ran along the river from the Sea of Azov up the Mius river and then by portage into the Vovchi Vody, as the watercourse was then called, and then into the Samara, the Dnipro and Kyiv. Another version points to a connection of the name with the name of a chieftain or the predator-patron of the Cuman horde that inhabited the river's shores.

But the people explain the origin of their beloved river in their own way, and in these tales are interwoven life observations, centuries-old experience, mysticism, dream and, above all — love for the native land and the river.

The Vovcha river, Mezhova district, Dnipropetrovsk region.

In the various settlements situated on the banks of the Vovcha, each keeps its own interpretation of the origin of the river and its name.

Once, in the gully along which the river flows, there grew dense forests inhabited by wolves. Feeling thirst, a beast sensed the coolness in the hollow and began to dig the earth, until water appeared in the pit. Gradually the spring of life-saving moisture filled the gully and the water flowed on, giving birth to a river, which people named the Vovcha.

The tales and stories vary and are supplemented with new details, but in every legend the wolf is not a mythical figure but a real hero of the story.

Once, long ago, a pack of wolves chose a place to live in an oak grove. The she-wolf had cubs. But the people living nearby organised a hunt for the uninvited guests; they did not meet the adult predators, but came upon the she-wolf's den and killed all the cubs. When the she-wolf returned and saw what the people had done with her offspring, she began to weep. This weeping was so sorrowful and helpless that from the den a stream gushed forth, which grew into a river. For a long time yet the people heard every night the mournful howl of the inconsolable mother she-wolf. And in the village from which the hunters had come, wolves constantly killed the domestic livestock — thus taking revenge on the people for their cruelty.

Once, people gave chase to a she-wolf that had cubs. The she-wolf began to dig a pit to hide her children there. Suddenly water flowed from the pit and blocked the hunters' path to the beast. The people came down from the hill and saw that water was quickly covering the lowland, spreading with all its might, creating a river. And so the Vovcha river was born.

In ancient times a pack of wolves lived in this area. Once the fanged, tusked ones saw that in their lair water had appeared from somewhere, a little stream had broken through and flooded the gully with its meadows. The wolves were forced to abandon their settled places, because the stream had spread into a full-flowing river. This river was named the Vovcha, for its source began from a wolf's den.

In fact, the Vovcha has two sources; one barely breaks through in a small wood on the eastern side of the village of Prohres. It is joined by a little stream from the reed thickets in the gully between the villages of Vovche and Prohres.

The source of the Vovcha river near the village of Prohres, Pokrovsk district, Donetsk region

Having united their life-giving forces, on the territory of the Donetsk region the Vovcha is not yet like a full-flowing river; rather it is a chain of narrow streamlets, springs that dry up, and shallow bodies of water.

The water is boggy, and the slopes of the gullies are strewn with rubbish. The state of the water resource of the Western Donbas is catastrophic; the bed of the Vovcha is quickly turning into a dry ravine overgrown with weeds.

Striving westward, the river becomes wider and deeper, taking in the waters of about 500 small rivers and streams. Further on it flows through the Mezhova, Pokrovsk, Vasylkivka and Pavlohrad districts of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

The Vovcha river, Vasylkivka district, Dnipropetrovsk region.

At the point of confluence with the Samara, the Vovcha surpasses it in water exchange. In the floodplains nest cranes, storks, warblers, ducks, geese, avocets, stilts and other animals and birds listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. To preserve the biological resources, in the river valley was created the "Bakai" landscape reserve.

Vasylkivka district, Dnipropetrovsk region. The "Bakai" landscape reserve

The shoreline of the river is covered with forest tracts, in which its progenitors — the wolves — were once spotted.

The Vovcha river. Vasylkivka district, Dnipropetrovsk region.

Coordinates: 48°14'41"N 37°29'35"E