User:Jimregan/Waligóra and Wyrwidąb

A hunter's wife, picking berries in a nearby wood, gave birth to twins, both boys, and dies immediately afterward.

The infants were not nursed by any woman; one was suckled by a she-wolf, the other by a she-bear. The one suckled by the she-wolf was called Waligóra (Mountain Beater); the other Wyrwidąb (Oak Ripper).

The first brought down mountains with his strength, the second plucked oaks as if they were the brightest ears of corn.

Because they loved each other, they left on a hike, to travel the whole wide world. The went through the dark forest one day and the next, stopping on the third day because a high and rocky mountain blocked the road.

"Whatever will we do now, bother?" cried Wyrwidąb sadly.

"Do not worry, brother. I will cast aside the mountain and the road will be clear."

And he braced his back against it and set it back with a bang; he had pushed it back half a mile. They then continued on their journey.

They went straight, until a great oak standing in the middle of the road blocked their passage. So Wyrwidąb goes forward, embraces it with both hands, rips it out at the roots and throws it into a nearby river.

But although they were so strong, their legs were tired, so they rested in the forest. Sleep having not yet glued their eyes, they spot a small man flying towards them, but so quickly, that no bird or animal could match him.

Surprised, they rose to their feet, when the little man in bird flight stops in front of them.

"How are you?", he said cheerfully and happily. "I see that you are tired, if you like I can take you in an instant to anywhere you ask".

He unrolled a beautiful carpet.

"Well, sit down with me!"

Waligóra and Wyrwidąb sat on it comfortably. The little man clapped, and the carpet raised them up, like a bird on wings.

"You are undoubtedly surprised" the little man said again "that I run so quickly: these shoes, which I got from a wizard, when I wear them, and then run every step is a mile, every jump is two."

Waligóra then asks, Wyrwidąb joining their requests, to give one shoe, because although they are so strong, the road still tires their legs. Moved by their requests, he gave them the shoes!

When they had flown some distance, he set them down in a great city, and in this city was a great dragon, who every day ate many people. The king proclaimed: "Who can be found, that will kill this dragon! I have two daughters to choose from; one I will give for a wife, and leave him my throne after my death."

So the brothers stand before the king, declaring their willingness to kill the dragon. They were taken to the cave, where this monster lived. They went boldly; half way up the little man appears.

"How are you, my friends! I know where the end of your road lies, so listen to my advice: both of you put on one of the shoes, because the dragon leaps out so suddenly, that you can't even swing an arm."

They listened to this wise advice. Wyrwidąb stood before the lair, raising with a swing a giant oak, so at the appearance of a paw, he could slay the dragon with a single blow. Waligóra had gone to the back, and the cave of solid rock shakes like a sheaf of rye.

The dragon suddenly rushes from the cave, and terrified Wyrwidąb, having forgotten the log that he had uprooted with both hands, was in luck that he had put on the shoe, because he jumped two miles. The dragon, unable to catch up with him, turned on Waligóra; he, in terror, picked up the rock and threw it with a powerful swing, and the boulder fell whistling to the ground and pinned down the dragon's tail. Waligóra, though so powerful, jumped back two miles and saw his brother.

"Let's go now, brother, together, the dragon will not move from that place, you hit him with the oak log, and I'll thump him with the mountain."

They went forward more boldly, one carries a mountain in his hand, the other brandishes an oak. The dragon howled like a pack of wolves, seeing the two opponents: he wanted to lash out, but in vain, tail pinned by the heavy boulder. Wyrwidąb mightily strikes the head and crushes it to a pulp, and his brother throws the mountain and covers the whole carcass.

The king was waiting; he received them both and gave them each one of his daughters; and when he died soon after, they divided the kingdom between them, and they both lived happily ever after.