Queen Wanda

[franek80]

The Legend of Wanda
She chose to drown herself rather that marry a German
Krakus had three children, two sons and a daughter. His eldest son should have been a ruler upon his death, but was slain by his younger brother, who coveted power for himself. But the people were angered by such wickedness, and they banished the murderer from their country for ever.

So the daughter of Krakus became the ruler of the country. Her name was Wanda, and she was very beautiful and although she was but a young girl when she became Queen, she had wisdom and understanding far beyond her years. She loved her country very dearly and she ruled wisely and justly over the people who looked upon her with the greatest of love and respect.

With all her qualities, her beauty and her wisdom, many princes sought to marry her, but Wanda would accept none of them, for she had not yet found one who was pleasing in her sight and who would help her to rule wisely and well over her beloved country. Poland was dear to Wanda, above all else, and she spared no effort to make her people happy. She waged war against aggressors who tried to invade her country, herself leading her soldiers in the battlefield. Her presence inspired them to defeat many foes.

Wanda's fame spread far and wide, and even a German prince, named Rytigier, heard of her beauty, her valour and, what was even more attractive to him, he heard that the lands of Poland were fruitful and rich. He therefore sent messengers with a letter to Wanda. The messengers were received at Wanda's court with courtesy and hospitality, as was always the custom in Poland. It was noticed that they were rough, uncivilized men who seemed surprised at the luxury and comfort of Wanda's Court. After they had rested and changed their apparel, they were ushered into Wanda's presence. Although they made their obeisance before her, with seeming respect, they looked about them with an air of apprising the value of everything they saw before them, as though it would soon be theirs.

Wanda read the letter and turned deathly pale. The contents were clear enough; Rytigier asked her for her hand in marriage, stipulating that as her dowry she should bring him the lands of Poland, and threatening war in the event of a refusal . Now Rytigier had a very powerful army, famed all over Europe as the strongest and best equipped of any prince. Wanda's army, on the other hand, had lost heavily in recent wars. To accept Rytigier's proposal of marriage was unthinkable. Wanda could not, would not subject her country to a German rule. She looked at the to messengers and shuddered. Cruelty and rapacity were written plainly in their faces; and these, thought Wanda, were typical Germans. To wage war might be fatal with the armies so ill-matched. Defeat at the hands of the Germans would certainly bring the cruellest possible reprisals to the Poles. But, in a firm voice, Wanda made her answer. She refused to surrender herself and her country to the Germans. She had made her decision. Wanda would sacrifice her life for Poland.

She retired to her own appartaments and there prayed to the gods that they would grant Poland freedom from the Germans in return for her sacrificing her life. Her prayer was granted, and Wanda threw herself into the Vistula. When her body was recovered, she was buried with all honours, and a mound was raised to her memory beside that of her father, Krakus.

[bescheid]

Frank

The story of Queen Wanda, what a wonderful story of courage and dedication. I reread this story several times to understand and appreciate her story.

On each reading, the story of her plight struck with vengeance into the deeper most part of my heart.

A combination of admiration for her inner self courage, her dedication to the responsibility of rule, to the welfare and safety of her subjects under her protection.

And to this end, destroyed her self.

The story brought at this same time, answers to many questions that have been to my mind. I had until this story, never understood or appreciated the reasoning of Polish thinking, this as being so suspicious of any thing German.

Now, I have a base of understanding, and to this end, I have you to thank for your story of Queen Wanda. What a touching and wonderful story.

Charles

[franek80]

Charles;
There was a web site on here called Okana's Web .. At one time Jaga rated it as the site of the month.. It was the greatest source of information about early and present day Poland.. I can no longer find it on the web..(SIGH).. There is anothe story that she told about LECH,CHEC,and Rus It is a story about how Poland came to be. I will go into Google and try to find it on another site..
PS Where are you in WASHINGTON?

[bescheid]

Frank

I am in Edmonds Washington (Washington DC, good heavens no, that place of ill repute)

We are located 12 miles (19 Km) north of Seattle, in the Edmonds/Lynnwood/MountLake Terrace area.

Now don't tell me, you live close to here? If so, that is good news!

Charles

[franek80]

Lol Charles
No I live as far away from you as it gets.. I live in Florida, But I have been to Seatlle.. It is beautiful there. I have a childhood friend that lives in Port Orchard. She tells me a lot of things about the State

[bescheid]

Frank

Port Ochard is above us about 35 miles, it is nice! This coming year on or about March, we are relocating not so far from there in the Burlington/Sedro Wooly area. It is close to the sea, and closer to the mountains, I miss the mountains.

I had my heart set for the community of Concrete this previous summer. Lost out a bid for a house there. It is at the close base of the Cascade mountain range with not too much population in the area. I love the solitude. My wife will move there, but, no further, she loves her family. My family is very small, distance is no problem for me, I just want to distance a bit from people.

Florida, boy, you are so fortunant! Now, with the rain/damp, Florida has a nice ring to it...

You have lived there long? Florida..

Charles

[franek80]

first city.

To all the Poles Gniezno is the town which has a special place in the history of the Polish State. Here our statehood was born and grew in power, here we find the foundations of christianity. Gniezno was the first capital - the seat of Polish rulers. In the Cathedral the body of St. Adalbertus was buried, it was laid in the tomb Emperor Otto III made a pilgrimage to in the year 1000. Possesing the relics of the Martyr made it easier for prince Boleslaus The Brave to endeavour to have a metropolis created, which was an indispensable condition to gain the crown for the ruler. The realization of those endeavours caused the cathedral of Gniezno to become the coronational aula of the Polish kings, and the metropolitan of Gniezno became the only legal person to crown the kings. Here there took place the first synod during which the metropolis of Gniezno was announced, created by Pope Sylvester II, embracing with its borders the Polish State of those times. The importance of Gniezno grew in the beginning of XV century when the archbishop of Gniezno first obtained the title of The Primate of Poland, and 100 years later the title of a born lagate, since the first interreign the archbishop of Gniezno acted as interrex and styled himself the prince of the Polish Kingdom.


Look at the map to check its location:) near to Bydgoszcz,Torun and Poznan. Gniezno is circled by a black ring.

[franek80]

Lech, Czech, and Rus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Lech, Czech and Rus)
Jump to: navigation, search
According to an old legend, Lech, Czech and Rus were eponymous brothers who founded the three Slavic nations: Poland (formerly also known as Lechia), Èechy or Èesko (known also as Bohemia - now the Czech Republic) and Ruthenia (Rus') respectively. In one of the legend's variations, the three brothers went hunting together but each of them followed a different prey and eventually they all travelled in different directions.

Rus went to the east, Czech headed to the west to settle on the Øíp Mountain rising up from the Bohemian hilly countryside, while Lech travelled to the north until he came across a magnificent white eagle guarding her nest. Startled but impressed by this spectacle, he decided to settle there. He named his settlement (gród) Gniezno (early Polish for "nest") and adopted the White Eagle as his coat-of-arms which remains a symbol of Poland to this day.

Other variations of Lech's name include: Lechus, Lachus, Lestus and Leszek.