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Legend of Wars and Sawa

The are several legends of Wars and Sawa It is not known where the name of the capital came from. One thing is certain. though. Wars and Sawa lived on the beautiful Vistula River, and the beginning of the settlement is associated with hospitality and the good hearts of local people.

Let’s find out two versions of the legend:

Wisła, fot. Ewelina Lach
One day King Kazimierz the Restorer was on his way from Krakow to Gniezno when he came across a poor fisherman’s hut. The hungry king was brought there by the smoke and the smell of fresh food. While eating delicious fish from that night’s catch, the fisherman told the king about his family, which had recently grown by two wonderful twins. The poor fisherman, however, had trouble with christening them because there was no temple nearby. The king wanted to pay the hosts for the delicious meal with gold, but, according to an old folk custom, they would not accept payment for hospitality. So the king promised to organise the ceremony and asked for the honour of being godfather to the twins. At the altar built on the embankment, the priest, on the orders of Kazimierz, gave the boy the name Wars, and the girl Sawa.
Plaża nad Wisłą, fot. m.st. Warszawa
At the same time, the king solemnly declared that from now on Pietrko Rybak would be called Piotr Warsz, a royal fisherman, father of Wars and Sawa, and owner of the vast surrounding forest. And when the settlement grows around the fisherman’s home, its name will receive his name, which it will carry for centuries.
Another version of the legend says that a long time ago there was a tiny hut on the Vistula River, in which the fisherman Wars and his wife Sawa lived. Once time, there was a hunt in the area, during which Prince Ziemomysł, the owner of the surrounding lands, got lost in the woods. He wandered around the forest for a long time until he came to the fisherman’s hut by the Vistula. Wars and Sawa welcomed the stranger. In the morning, the grateful prince said: “You did not hesitate to take a stranger under your roof and save him from hunger, cold, and perhaps from wild animals. That is why these lands will always be called Warszowa so that your goodness will not be forgotten.”
See More:
Pomnik Syrenki, fot. Tomasz Nowak
Barbakan, fot. Filip Kwiatkowski
Ulica Świętojańska, fot. m.st. Warszawa
Zamek Królewski, fot. Iwona Gmyrek
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