Once upon a time there was a king who had a beautiful daughter. She was bright, gentle and good girl and he loved her more than everything in the world. One day the princess got ill. All doctors and medicine-men in the country were called to help her but she felt worse every day. None of them could do anything for her as nobody knew what she really had. The girl was dying in front of the eyes of her father and the old king felt very unhappy seeing that he was losing her. So he sent horsemen in all directions of the Earth to search for someone who would cure the princess. The time was passing and many foreign medicine-men, doctors and herbalists coming from all edges of the world took turn in trying to give the girl a remedy. And when nobody believed she would live, an old stranger stood at the king and told him to send her to a little town, far from there, just to live in it for some time. The desperate father immediately told the servants to prepare the princess and the other day sent her with a small group of loyal courtiers to that unknown place. It was a small stone-built town in the foot of a beautiful mountain with nice and tranquil inhabitants. They loved the foreign princess and took care of her like if she was their own child. She soon felt better breathing the fresh air and drinking the clear water. She fell in love with those kind people and their wonderful town, Serdika. She decided to stay living there. As she was so nice and tender all her life that people loved her and kept her in their minds forever. After her death they built a church in her memory and named it after her name, St. Sofia. Later they even started to call their town with it.
