"The Story of How Jagienka Rescued Jasko"

In a poor cottage on the edge of the forest there lived an old fisherman with his daughter, Jagienka. The girl’s mother had died and her brother had been killed by the Teutonic Knights. The father and daughter lived alone, far from other people.

One evening, when Jagienka was having supper with her dad, someone knocked on the door. It was a young, good-looking man called Jaśko. Jagienka invited the guest in and after supper the guest told them his story.

It turned out that one day, as he was fishing in a nearby lake, some Teutonic Knights approached and kidnapped him. They wanted to take him to the Grand Master of their order, because it was not allowed to fish in this pond. As the knights said, the pond belonged to the Order.

When the Knights were leading Jaśko along the forest path, a huge animal appeared right in front of them. In the resulting commotion, horses got scared and threw the Knights off their backs. Jaśko took the advantage of this situation and escaped. As he was running, he came across Jagienka’s cottage.

Jaśko stayed in the cottage. He helped as much as he could – chopped wood and carried water. One day Jagienka rushed to the house saying that the Knights were approaching. Jaśko hid in a specially prepared hole in the ground. The Knights rode away quickly. After a while Jaśko left his hideout, still a bit worried they might return. Jagienka, however, told him not to be afraid. The path she had shown them was leading straight to the marshes, from which there was no coming back. The Knights fell into it and drowned, one by one. This was how Jagienka took revenge for her brother’s death.

Soon Jagienka and Jaśko got married. They lived long and happily and the Teutonic Knights never came to trouble them again.