THE LEGEND OF KRÓL SIELAW

Who is King Sielaw and why is he so important to the inhabitants of Mikołajki? This is explained in the legend below. And when you have read it, a question awaits you, the answer of which should be given at the end of the text. It is worth adding that every year in the summer, during the Days of Mikołajki, the famous launching takes place and the attachment of the King of Sielawy to the bridge in Mikołajki to bring abundance to the inhabitants of the city. Mikołajki also has the legendary King of Sielawy in their coat of arms.

In the old days, when the wild areas of Warmia were covered with inexhaustible forests, and Masurian lakes were inhabited by large amounts of fish. The largest and most powerful of them was King Sielaw – a huge fish with a crown-shaped fin on its head. King Sielaw was not only the biggest fish, but also the smartest. With time, people began to arrive near the lakes, who very quickly settled in the Masurian Lake District.

People often went out to the lakes and cast their nets. The enraged King Sielaw started a fight with the fishermen. The king was so big that he could easily overturn fishing boats and even tear nets. At first, no one dared to fish in other lakes, but when the fishermen discovered which of them were not under the authority of King Sielawy, they immediately started fishing, but the road to these lakes was long and arduous, so the fish brought to the villages were not always fresh.

The fisherman’s wife decided to make a sacrifice on the darkest night to appease the Prussian gods. Suddenly, the sky was even more cloudy, and just as suddenly bright with the moonlight. A metal circle appeared at the place where the victim was sacrificed. Delighted, the woman ran to her husband and told him everything.

Before he came to the present village and started fishing, this fisherman was previously a blacksmith. All night long he was working on a net made of metal rings, a net that would defeat King Sielawy. They went out in the boat to the lake and when they noticed the approaching King they cast the net. King Vielaw struggled with the metal net, but the strong fishermen held it very tightly.

When the fish gave up, they hauled it on board. "Let me out," said King Sielaw in a human voice. Give me life and I will keep your nets full of fish. – having heard this, the fisherman spared King Sielaw's life and let him back into the water in the net. For several days, the fisherman would go out to the lake every morning and bring fresh fish to the village. In this way he became very rich, but he did not forget about the King of Sielaw. One evening, happy with the next fishing, he went to the inn, where he got very drunk and told people his story, even telling exactly where the hiding place of the lord of the lakes was. They were amazed the next morning when they saw a large fish in an iron net.

The fishermen put the boat on the water and, holding the net tightly, allowed King Sielaw to regain his strength. – Give me my life and I will make your nets always full – said King

Sielaw. And so King Sielaw spent the rest of his life in captivity, at the same time bringing prosperity to the inhabitants of Mikołajki.

QUESTION: Who and how found the idea to defeat King Sielaw?