It
was a bleak November evening. Wojciech Dodola, a night watchman in Szydłowiecki
castle, looked out of the window, because the time of the round was coming. He
reluctantly went for a stroll around the castle. When he was next to the gate,
he saw light in a living room.
He was happy that this evening he would spend in a company. He hoped that a
newcomer would treat him with good alcoholic drink like others. As people in
Szydłowiec said that the night
watchman was into drinking a lot.. Dodola went up the stairs and knocked at the
door.
Almost immediately someone opened it. The stranger invited him inside.
Feeling as if he were the host of the castle Dodola started a conversation
with the newcomer. He introduced himself, complained about the weather
and then asked about his destination. They had a nice talk. Then the stranger
invited Dodola to the glass of vodka.. Then he said that “he had a strong
head” and he would bet even a devil couldn’t manage to drink more than him. Unexpectledy
the stranger was very interested in this. He
mentioned he would ask a favour of Dodola in return for food and drinks. The night
watchman couldn’t understand what favour the stranger was talking about when
he asked if Dodola ever heard a story about Princess Elizabeth who was in love
with a poor nobleman. Wojciech lied that he had known very little about it, only
what he heard from people. Supposedly the nobelman reached a pact with the
devil, who betrayed him and the princess went missing. On hearing this, the
newcomer got angry and said with a strong voice that the devil never betrayed
anyone when he made a deal. He told another story. It
was him who reached a pact with the poor nobleman in return of taking out
Princess Elizabeth by a secret passage linking the castle with the church.
Unfortunately during the escape the princess got frightened of bats and
died. The young man died too, because he didn’t believe that the devil told
the truth. Elizabeth’s father, Radziwiłł, told the people to brick
up the passage after this event. The devil got cursed and stuck in the castle
for ages. After all he looked like a monster. The cast would last untill someone
would believe that the devil didn’t betray. Then he would be able to go back
where he came from, so to the rocks.
Dodola
was listening to the story and felt more and more frightened. He understood that
the rocky devil was in front of him. He demanded Dodola to tell the story all
the visitors coming to the castle from that time on, the story about the good
rocky devil. The night watchman agreed, then he fall down on the bed.
Since then a lot of people had visited the Castle of Szydłowiec. Wojciech
Dodola, as he promised, told the new story about the Rocky Devil. However,
nobody may have believed it yet as still different strange things happen in the
castle. Some yells, moans, shouts, laughter and other sounds are heard at night.
IN THE BASEMENT OF THE CHLEWICKIS’ CASTLE
In
the second half of the 17th century, when the Tatar army attacked our
country the castle in Chlewiska burst into flames. The castle burnt down. Some
of the Tatar soldiers were taken as prisoners.
For many years captives were
building the Chlewickis’ castle, they were boring secret dungeons witch still
aren’t well known. They are secret because they have their own legend. Kostek
Chlewicki, Chlewiska’s owner’s son, was coming back home from a hunt when he
saw a poor but beautiful village-girl. He decided to marry her. His father did
not want it so he took the girl to the dungeon and bricked her up. The son ,
very desperate looked for the entrance to dungeons every day. He finally found
it and started the search for his beloved girl. He had luck. The girl was still
alive. However, they could not return to the castle. Kostek’s father found out
that his son had found the entrance to the dungeons. He still did not want their
marriage so he bricked them up in the dungeons. The legend says that ghosts of
the lovers have haunted the castle since then we can hear their cries and moans
at nights.
The Voit and the Hawk
The
vilagers of one of the
communities convened for the forty-fourth time, to estabnlich the name of the
vilage. The voit believed that the name could not be neither too long or too
short and that everybody should like it. But, unfortunately,
by that time nobody had invented it. The voit was very disappointed the
more that he was to present the name of the village the following day.
On
his way to the council meeting he was thinking about what he was to say.
Suddenly,he found himself surrounded by numbers of mice in the field. The
animals animals were so hungry that they began to eat his food, and even tear
his trousers. Attacted, he screamed. The scream was heard by a hawk flying
nearby. The bird helped the poor voit to get out of oppression and he also
carried him to the place of the meeting. The voit was so confused by the events
of the previous day that he could hardly concentrate on the discussion.Suddenly,
ha was asked about the name of his vilage. Without hesitation, he told said
"HAWK". The members of the council, convinced that it was the name of
the village, wrote it down in the book. After the council meeting, the brave
bird flew away with the voit to the vilage and stayed there. However, after a
few years, the hawk decided to leave the vilage. But he told the villagers to
bury his feather so they would have
fertile and fecund soil. His words came true.
