Intro
That's the 6th post from that series which in total will include 16 publications. If you want to read the previous legend published by me, check those links:
- Why swans mate for life
- About the good devil who gave the pipe to Janek
- About the lake Leleskie and the evil governor
- About the brave Netta who saved the king
- About creating Warsaw
It's the legend, so obviously it's not the story I created, but it may vary a bit from the versions that other people know. I wrote it on my own, with my words, in a way it was said to me when I was a child and how I remembered it.
The legend about a little ghost
It was a long time ago. In a land behind the mountains and dark forests lived a little ghost, smaller than a dwarf. He had no one around to take care of him, so he felt very lonely.
He was only five years old but already was very smart and powerful. What's more, he had the gift of foresight which he was using to save the people who got in trouble. There were many stories across the province about how wonderful and brave he was. The little spirit itself was very modest, helpful, conscientious, and hard-working. He never complained or felt sad about being alone in the world.
In the other part of the country, a powerful king was living in a castle. He felt a great sadness that his beloved daughter had disappeared, so announced that whoever will save his daughter would be rewarded with a monument and a new village would be built in their honor. The king heard about the brave ghost so asked to send the information about the reward to him.
Many wizards have tried to save the princess, but no one has succeeded. Our little spirit was afraid to tackle such a difficult matter. Responsibility and the king's promise terrified him. He never had anything or anyone so it was hard for him to imagine that he could have his village.
Despite the king's request, the ghost refused. After a while, he felt the desire to help, because he could not leave anyone in need, so finally, he decided to help the King and find the princess.
The princess hid in caves, dark holes, in old houses, trees, and many other strange places. It took a long, long time to find her and persuade her to let help herself. When the ghost finally found her, he found out that the old witch cruised the princess. The magic of the witch was very powerful and according to the spell, everyone who will ever try to help the princess will die. It terrified the girl so much, that she decided to hide for the rest of her life. She did not want to hurt anyone and break the heart of her father.
The clever ghost figured out how to outwit the malicious witch though. He knew that she is very greedy and loves all the material goods, so he decided that he will give her a monument, which he was supposed to get as a reward for saving the princess. He was right - that suggestion made the witch very content and she agreed to cancel the spell.
To the king's delight, his daughter returned home. His joy knew no bounds. He did as he promised before: ordered to build a new village for the brave spirit and called it Duszniki in honor of him (Duszniki in Polish means "Ghosts"). The ghost was very happy. He didn't know before that such reward could give so much joy.
The king ordered also to build a statue of a witch. It was beautiful and the witch could not be happier when she saw it. She liked it so much that she forgot about everything, even such a basic thing as eating the food. She was just starring at the statue for many weeks until she finally starved to the death.
Thank you for reading,
@papi.mati