Polish legends: The Knights Sleeping under the Wawel Castle

The article comes in English and Polish

The Knights Sleeping under the Wawel Castle 

The highlanders who often visited Krakow told stories about the glory of the castle which stands tall in the mountain called Wawel. But they also used to say about another castle which is in the heart of the mountain, that castle stands alone but it isn’t as quiet, gloomy and sad as the one in Wawel. The other castle is quite the opposite: beautiful, dear,  wonderful, made of shiny gold with a coral roof, always lit by the clear sun. Once it is nice to look at that castle just as it was nice looking at the Wawel castle, which is now deserted.

There, deep down underground there is a vast chamber which resembles a church. At its walls there

is plenty of armor: shields, sabers and flags. In the middle of the chamber, there stands a table and

around this table there are Polish kings sitting in the coronation apparels. Once in a year, people can

hear a huge boom and the neighing of horses, the noise of whirlwinds and some rumps of war. Then

king Boleslaw Chrobry stands up from the table, the sword which he got from an angel is shining with

a weird clarity on his arm. He exits the underground castle at midnight, he strolls slowly through the

castle courtyard and you can only hear his iron armor on him. If anybody mortal meets with him at that night, it is a good person, he can see the king in his finest shape and it will make his soft heart joyful. However, if this is a bad person, he will not see him at all, on the contrary, he will feel trepidation, fear and regret will turn his brain and he will faint inevitably.

The entrance to this underground castle is said to lead through the pit of the dragon which can be

found at the very foot of Wawel. This entrance is dark, secret, and for a very long time it was praised

by poets as a beautiful spot. But then, a German hand redecorated the king’s castle into a citadel and

to see through the ancient beauty of the castle is nearly impossible.

The people of Krakov claim that when a huge misery falls on the city, one can hear from the underground castle and the cathedral nearby sounds as if a massive cry. A man who can hear this miserable

call cannot refrain from crying himself. 

Author: Kazimierz Władysław Wójcicki

„Legenda o rycerzach śpiących pod Wawelem” 

Siedząc pod smoczą jamą, nawiązałam znajomość ze starszą Panią. Kiedy powiedziałam

jej, że zrobiłyśmy sobie wycieczkę szlakiem krakowskich legend zapytała, czy wiemy, że

ze smoczą jamą wiąże się też inna legenda. Moje zaskoczenie było duże, bo nie mogłam

skojarzyć żadnej legendy. Dlatego też chętnie jej wysłuchałyśmy.

„Raz w roku z podziemi zamku słychać rżenie koni i wrzawę wojenną. Wtedy Bolesław

Chrobry o północy wychodzi na zewnątrz i przechadza się po zamkowych podworcach.

Kiedy w czasie jego przechadzek spotka go jakiś dobry człowiek, to odchodzi

szczęśliwy, jeżeli natomiast zły, to odczuwa przeraźliwy strach i żal. Mówi się też, że gdy

jakieś nieszczęście ma spotkać naród to z podziemi słychać jęki".

Excerpts from 'Ethno treasure hunt – Book of traditions”, published by Instituto comprensivo di Santa Teresa di Riva (Me), Italy, coordinated by Rosa Crupi, Linda Cigala, Domenica Crupi, Antonina Morabito, Graphic designer Arch. Tania Consalvo, with the collaboration of Georgi Ivanov, Bulgaria, Domenica Crupi, Italy, Rima Stongvillene, Lithuania, Joanna Wilczynska, Poland, Daniela Buda, Romania, Ozgur Boyaci, Turkey, 2011.