Pan Twardowski, the Polish Faust
In old Kraków there lived a nobleman and sorcerer, Pan Twardowski. It was said that he knew more than a man is allowed to know, and that he had paid a price for it no one else dared to pay.
1 The pact
Twardowski wished to possess all the knowledge of the world. He summoned the devil and struck a pact: the evil one would grant him power and secret science, and claim his soul only in return. But the sorcerer was cunning and added a condition.
The devil could take his soul only in the city of Rome, and nowhere else. The evil one signed, thinking Twardowski would surely travel to Rome one day. For years the sorcerer enjoyed his gifts and helped the poor, while carefully avoiding Rome.
2 The inn with the false name
The devil waited, bound by the pact, but not with endless patience. One day he lured Twardowski to a remote village inn. Above the door hung a sign bearing a name the sorcerer read too late: Rzym, the Polish word for Rome.
The evil one appeared and seized him. Twardowski had walked into the trap, for the letter of the pact was fulfilled. He was torn upward, away from the earth, towards the realm of the devil.
3 The flight to the moon
In his despair Twardowski began to sing an old church hymn, a song to the Mother of God that he had learned as a child. The pious words held power. The devil could no longer hold him and let go, but this happened high in the air.
Twardowski did not fall down but stayed suspended, and came to rest on the moon, far from Rome and far from hell. There he sits still, people say, alone with his spider, and on clear nights he gazes longingly down at Kraków.
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