Everybody who decides to make a walk in the beatutiful, green, old forest near the village of Zloty Potok can come accross the monumental limestone rock shaped like a real, regular gate. According to the legend, this extraordinary formation has nothing to do with nature… On the contrary, it was created by magical forces. How did it happen? Let me present you a story of Mr Twardowski’s Gate…
Mr Twardowski was a very famous Polish magician and alchemist. The nobleman who lived in the XVI century and got obsessed with the idea to find the way to the Philosophers’ stone. Moreover, his goal was to find a magic formula to create pure gold from lead and discover the elixir of life. The legend says that Mr Twardowski sold his soul to the devil in exchange for magical powers, money and fame. However, according to his contract with satan, the devil could take Mr.Twardowski’s soul to hell only during his visit to Rome – where, of course, the clever magician never planned to go…
But the devil was not a stupid one… According to the legend, during one of his journeys around Poland, Mr Twardowski and his attendants stopped for the night in one of many roadhouses. They started the feast after a long and fatiguing journey, drinking and eating, singing and dancing… But just around midnight… The devil entered the room… Wearing elegant, french tailcoat, started to laugh and said: “Dear Mr Twardowski! Your moment has just come! Enjoy this hour as it is the last one in your life! This roadhouse is called Rome…!”
Oh, poor Mr Twardowski… His face became pale like snow in the winter, he immediately sobered up and tried to search for escape… The horses were in the stall and he needed to run away right at that moment. What could he do then? Like it used to be hundreds of years ago, the owner of the roadhouse kept his livestock in the same building, just nearby the dining room.
Without any hesitation, Mr Twardowki caught the first cock he saw, said some of his magic words and run away bestriding the animal…
Of course, the devil immediately went after him. Twardowski hoped to be able to disappear in the nearby forest… So he ran that direction. But as we all know, Polish Jura is full of limestone rocks… And one of them appeared on Mr Twardowski’s escape way. A huge, hard piece of stone was blocking his way to save his life.
Although all the panic, stress and fear, Mr Twardowski did not forget his magical powers. After all, he was still alive and the powers where there. So in the blink of an eye, he created the gate. The flee was possible again!
The legend says that to be really safe, Mr Twardowski had to go as far as to the moon. Locals believe that if you look up the sky during the harvest moon, you can spot the shadow of him and his crock… The old magician is still afraid to come back to the Earth…
And Mr Twardowski’s gate near Zloty Potok is the proof of the story from ages ago…