“Ognjilo” (fire steel) is a piece of steel forged or bent in the shape of a Greek beta (B) or a horseshoe. It strikes the flint to create sparks to ignite “uśeka” or “trud” (tinder). “Ognjilo” was also called “kresivo” or “ocilo”. („Kreše ognjilom kremen da zapali trud” – “He strikes the flint with fire steel to ignite tinder”). Flint is a very hard stone, which was used for striking fire (igniting) in tinder (uśeka) (quartz, chert). Tinder (uśeka, usjeka, trud) is a type of fungus (mushroom) that lives in trees as a parasite, and when cooked with ashes and dried it is used to light fire with fire steel striking sparks from flint stone. („Udar nađe iskru u kamenu, bez njega bi i kam očajala.“ – “The strike finds the spark in the stone, without it the spark would not come alive.” Njegoš). Fire steel is used to strike the sparks from stone that ignite tinder held with fingers. Fire steel, flint and tinder are parts of a fire starting kit, which was carried in a leather bag called “tobolac”. The Montenegro Post is publishing a commemorative postage stamp “Fire steel, flint and tinder” and a First Day envelope within the edition “Historical Heritage”. The author of the conceptual design is Zoran Popović, a graphic designer from Podgorica.
The Chronicle of the Priest of Doclea originates from the mid-twelfth century, and a part of it is an actual love story, about the life, love and death of Doclean king Vladimir and his wife Kosara, daughter of Macedonian emperor Samuel. In the war with the Emperor Samuel in¬ 997, King Vl¬adimir sacrificed himself and surrendered in order to save his country from pogrom and hunger. He was captured and taken to prison in Prespa. One day, the Emperor’s daughter, Kosara, received permission with her maids to wash the heads and feet of the shackled and imprisoned. In the prison, she saw the young and handsome King and spoke to him, and she felt his voice was “sweeter than honey and honeycomb“. Kosara asked permission from her father to marry Vladimir, threatening that she would rather die than marry someone else. And so, Vladimir, who had already bidden farewell to life, was rescued by love of a wonderful woman and enthroned.
