In some town, a long time ago, there lived a married couple. They had one son and his name was Wojtek. Wojtek had a strange habit – one phrase kept popping into his head. And not only during the day, but even in his sleep he would mumble:
— May the shivers get me!
He repeated this so often that people called him stupid Wojtek and he was often poked by his impa-tient parents. They didn’t know what to do with such a strange son, so in the end they sent him out into the world, saying that if he found something to do, he might become smarter.
— Well, I can go, replied Wojtek, but after a moment he added, Brrrrr… May the shivers get me!
His parents shrugged, gave Wojtek food for the road and blessed him, saying that if he got better and stooped talking about the shivers, he should come back to his parents.
A day passed, then another, then another, and Wojtek was still talking about getting the shiv-ers and could not find a job because of that expression, which made everyone think he was stupid.
On the fourth day of his journey, he noticed a wild pear tree growing by the road. He climbed it, picked some fruit, put it in his pocket and moved on. He walked and walked until he reached the forest. Then Wojtek felt hungry, and as it was already getting dark in the forest, he gathered some brushwood, lit a fire, warmed himself up, took the pears out of his bosom and roasted them one by one over the fire.
When Wojtek had eaten his fill, it was probably already past midnight. As he was getting ready to sleep, he muttered:
— May the shivers get me, and looked up.
And there, on the branches above the fire, two hanged men were dangling! Wojtek looked at them, and they, as if they were living people, began to move their legs and arms. Finally, one of them spoke:
— Take us down from these ropes and warm us up a little, because we’re frozen, and you’re warm there!
And Wojtek replied:
— May the shivers get me, you’d better not disturb my sleep.
But, whether he liked it or not, he got up from the ground, because he felt sorry for them, because the wind was blowing mercilessly that day, so he thought to himself: let them warm up too. So Wojtek climbed a tree, pulled one of them out of the loop and carried him to the fire. He climbed up and got the second one, and laid it near the fire too. Then he turned one and then the other, some-times sideways, sometimes with their backs to the heat, and finally rubbed their hands and feet be-cause they were very stiff. Finally, the hanged men came to life, began to move, sat down by the fire and said:
— Now we are going to eat you because we have not eaten anything in a long time and we are hungry!
— Oh, is that how you are? I warmed you up here because you were stiff as a board, and this is how you repay me? I’d rather hang you back up.
Without thinking twice, he grabbed one of them, climbed a tree with the agility of a squirrel, and hung him back up; he did the same with the other one. Then he sat down on the ground and said:
— May the shivers get me! and fell asleep.
That night, however, something bad was haunting him because he kept calling out about those shivers.
In the morning, Wojtek woke up from the cold and immediately said:
— May the shivers get me, he said.
He quickly added some brushwood to the dying fire, ate a few wild pears with bread, and, hav-ing eaten his fill, set off again.
He walked and walked until he reached a large castle, and because he was tired, he sat down un-der a large linden tree and, muttering sleepily, ‘May the shivers get me,’ he fell asleep.
People were heading to work that way; one of the braver men, hearing about Wojtek’s creeps, woke him up and advised him:
— Listen, traveller, if you want to get the shivers, go and sleep in the royal castle, and you’re sure to get the shivers there!
At these words, the people accompanying him began to laugh heartily. Then the king was in-formed that there was a man who wanted to get the shivers. The king was very pleased because the castle was terribly haunted, so he ordered the daredevil to be brought to him. So they brought Wojtek before the king, and he said:
— Listen, son, if you drive the ghost out of the castle, you will get half the kingdom and my daughter as your wife!
Wojtek agreed, even though he did not understand what it was all about. He quickly thought to himself that some good man had taken pity on him and was offering him a place to stay, so he agreed all the more willingly.
Wojtek was taken to the haunted chamber and told to sleep there. Meanwhile, Wojtek had already recited a whole litany of his ‘shivers’ but he felt like eating, so he took out the rest of the pears, bread and knife and began to eat. Suddenly, the ceiling shook above him and a voice from above said:
— Run away, I’m flying!
And Wojtek replied:
– Fly, just don’t fly into my pears.
And then again: everything shook even more, and a voice from above said:
– Run away, I’m flying!
And Wojtek, without stopping eating:
– Fly, fly, just don’t fly into my pears!
Then something groaned, then something moaned, and a head with eyes that blinked in all di-rections fell onto the table. Then the torso fell, and finally the legs. Everything suddenly came togeth-er and the creature’s hands reached out for Wojtek! Without hesitation, Wojtek grabbed the knife ly-ing on the table and cut off the apparition’s hands with one swing. Seeing his valiant opponent, the ghost immediately fled through the window leading to the garden, and Wojtek, saying:
— May the shivers get me,’ he fell asleep exhausted.
In the morning, the king himself came and saw Wojtek mumbling in his sleep. But he also saw the two shaggy arms that had been cut off, so he was very happy. He kept his word and soon threw a grand wedding for his daughter and the stupid Wojtek.
And Wojtek… well, Wojtek was Wojtek. He just gorged himself, repeated his phrase about the shivers all the time, and did not care much about ruling the kingdom or his wife. The subjects were unhappy, the queen withered like a leaf and might even have died if it had not been for the fairy, who advised the unhappy woman what to do to finally give Wojtek the shivers.
She told the princess to fill a tub with water and place it by the bed. When Wojtek got up in the night, still half asleep, and fell into the icy water, he would get the shivers and never talk about shiv-ers again! The princess was very happy and immediately followed the fairy’s instructions. When her husband fell into the cold water, he cried out:
— Brrrr, gosh, I’m shivering! and jumped into bed.
In the morning, when he woke up, he was already wise Wojtek, the best king and the most be-loved husband. Soon after all this, he visited his parents… Then he took them to the castle, and to this day everyone is happy with Wojtek’s good rule!
A fairy tale written down in 1956 by Feliks Paczkowski from Włocławek, told by his sister Kazimi-era Rucińska.
