Polish legend

The Legend of the Devil's Hand

A long time ago, not far away from Lublin a widow with three children lived. The woman had a very dificult life ploughing with oxen and cultivating the soil is a man's job. The woman loved her children very much and she could sacrifice everything to make them happy. The soil was fertile, the house had yet been built by her husband so they somehow coped with it.
One day, a noble man, the owner of neighbouring areas sent one of his servants to the widow with information that the lord wanted to buy her lands together with the buildings. The offer would be very interesting but the lord offered such a small amount of money that the widow wouldn't afford to buy even a tiny flat to make her life easier. The woman turned down the offer. A few days later the servant came back giving even less money and tried to convince her that she would regret not accepting it. The woman refused again.
Few more days passed when suddenly in the middle of the night some strange noises and bangs woke the widow up. Her house was on fire and her children were inside. She was terrified, woke her children up, took the youngest one in her arms, grabbed the box with documents and money (for it is known that in the past all important documents and money were kept together) and jumped out of the window at the last moment... The house with all belongings burnt completely.

The widow brought a case to the court in Lublin.When the day of the court case came the widow went there with her children. The noble man arrived there too together with some witnesses whom he took from the local pub, so they testified what the man wanted. The case started. The widow presented her version of what had happened but she had the impression that nobody listened to her. She had no witnesses to confirm her story. Afterwards, it was the noble and his people who told their version.
"The widow is lying, she set fire by herself and she wrongfully wants to trick the money out."-they said. "The noble is a good, decent and innocent man!" - the witnesses assured. The verdict was announced: the noble is innocent and the widow is expected to apologise to the man for false accusations and pay for the cost of the process.
"What are we supposed to do," the widow cried hugging her children, "where are we going to live? Even the devil would judge the case fairly!"
No sooner had she spoken those words than it suddenly boomed and rustled in the Tribunal and the devil appeared. "Even I can't stand such justice! We should start the case from the beginning!" said he.
Frightened judges wouldn't dare to oppose the devil and the second case started so different from the first one. The judges listened to the widow attentively and the witnesses told the truth. The devil announced the verdict: "The noble is guilty and he is expected to rebuild and equip the widow's house. What is more, false witnesses should be flogged in public so as they wouldn't lie any more."
The judges signed the verdict and the devil sealed it with his own hand. He did it with a such strengh that the mark of devil's hand on the table to this day is a visible testimony to that process and warns all judges against giving false and unjust verdicts.

The legend was translated from Polish to English bu Klaudia Wawszczak from our Polish partner school in Swidnik.