WARSZAWA Wars and Sawa

Once upon a time (again, funny how these things always happened then) there was a noble king of Poland named Kazimierz Odnowiciel ("Restorer"), and each year he journeyed from the then-capital of Poland, Krakow, north to Gniezno. The King would journey up the Vistula River to the north, and on the second day of his trip he was already tiring of the dried food prepared for him in Krakow. Craving a fresh meal and dreaming of fresh fish and milk, he noticed smoke coming from the shore, and soon he saw a small house.

The King ordered the ship to dock on shore and the King carefully made his way towards the house. As he and his company approached it, they could see it was a common fisherman's house. As was common in Polish custom, the hostess gave a very warm reception to the unexpected guests; she offered the King fresh milk and told him her husband, Piotr Rybak ("Fisherman") would be home soon with fresh fish. Soon, Piotr came home with a basket of fish he'd just caught, and soon his wife prepared them and they all sat down to a delicious meal.

As they were feasting on the well-prepared fish, the best the King had ever tasted, Piotr told him about the newest addition to his family, a pair of twins who had recently been born. The family was having a really hard time christening them, however, as there was no church in their village and the neighboring village was seldom visited by a priest. In fact, the priest had been there right before the twins' birth, so no one expected him to be back anytime soon.

The King had been very moved by the poor fisherman's hospitality and his story, and as he was leaving he put gold coins on the hosts' table. The fisherman would not accept, as it was old Polish custom to welcome all guests as family. But before his departure, the King requested to be received again on his way back from Gniezno, and to be honoured to as the godfather of the twins. He also decided to help the fisherman arrange a christening ceremony.

Two months later, as the King was making his way back to Krakow, he landed ashore at the small village accompanied by several boats. Piotr and his wife happily received them again. The King had kept his promise, and with him was a priest and gentry to perform the christening ceremony, and who bore gifts for the King's godchildren. On an alter made on a hill, the boy twin was christened Wars and the girl, Sawa. After the ceremony, amongst food and drink and merrymaking, the King declared that Piotr Rybak will be now called Piotr Warsz - the royal fisherman, the father of Wars and Sawa, and the owner of the vast forest in the vicinity. And as a settlement would arise in the surrounding lands, it would bear his name.

Years passed, and a village grew around Piotr's homestead, called Warszawa ("belonging to Warsz"). Whether the resulting name Warszawa came from Warsz or from the twins Wars and Sawa, no one knows, but eventually that village grew into our beloved city of Warsaw.

The Authors: Kowalska Natalia Fasuga Iwona