Where the Pans Came from in Polesie
It was a long time ago. Even the old folks don’t remember it anymore and only tell what they’ve heard from their fathers and grandfathers.So here’s the story. One evening, a devil was making his way through the dense forests of Polesia to his swamp. He was gloomy, utterly gloomy: the whole day had passed without him managing to cause any harm to people. And what kind of devil is he after that? Now he couldn’t even show his face in hell—they’d laugh at him there!
The devil trudged along, seething with anger, his mind filled with bitter thoughts. Suddenly, he saw a nobleman from Warsaw rushing down the road. Outriders rode ahead, more followed behind, and in the middle sat the nobleman in a carriage on soft cushions. His mustache stuck out like a bark beetle’s, his hat had three horns, his boots were made of red morocco, his belt was adorned with twisted cords, gilded... In short, he reeked of nobility for a hundred fathoms around!
The devil blocked the road, bulged his eyes, and stared: he had never seen such a scarecrow in Polesia before!
"Out of the way, you dog’s blood!" the nobleman shouted at the devil and angrily twitched his mustache. The devil didn’t budge.
"Go around if you must," he said. The nobleman, full of arrogance, turned black with rage:
"Hey, outriders, give him twenty lashes!"
The outriders cracked their whips and rushed at the devil. But he just leaped over them, grabbed the nobleman by his forelock, and carried him above the forest, baring his teeth...
The devil flew, bashing the nobleman against the treetops. Wherever the nobleman hit an oak, a nobleman named Dembicki instantly sprouted, and after Dembicki came Dubicki...
When he crashed into a birch, a nobleman named Brzezinski appeared, followed by Brzezowski, and after Brzezowski came Berezowski...
Noblemen grew like mushrooms.
When the nobleman slammed into a pine, a nobleman named Sosnowski sprang up; against a hornbeam—Grabowski; against a spruce—Elski; against a willow—Verbicki; against an ash—Jasieński; against an aspen—Osiński...
The devil jumped and jumped with the nobleman until he was completely worn out. He looked, and all that was left of the nobleman was his guts: he had really worn him out!
"What should I do with him?" the devil thought. "I can’t carry him to hell!" So the devil shook the nobleman’s guts out onto the ground. And from them grew small noblemen and petty lords—Kiszki, Pechenki...
And that’s how the noblemen multiplied in Polesia—the devil himself sowed them as a curse upon the people.
More fairy tales
- The Peasant and the Devil
- Father's Gift
- Trem, the Nameless Son
- The Golden Bird
- Poleshchuks and Poleviks
