About „Utopki” and „Bies”

„UTOPKI” (drown men) Where did they come from? In our region there are lots of boggy areas, such as lakes,

rivers, streams, or drainage ditches. There are also numerous ”chain lakes” (connected with one another) nearby.

Majority of them were located far from the human residences. Sometimes strange things hapenned there , and many of them were caused by the existence of Utopki (drown men).

They came from the clayish water, in which God used to clean his dirty hands. God Poured out water with utopki after work. They got out of paradise.

Utopki, like all ghosts, were cruelly malicious, but they didn’t have devilish powers, beacause the Devil didn’t like creatures living in the water.

Utopek from Kościelniok Lake

Kościelniok” is a big Lake, located by the Road to Rybnik. One Day a priest consecrated the Lake and Utopek was forced to leave it. Utopek wanted to go to another Lake. He decided to take revenge on the group of shoemakers heading towards Rybnik.

When the shoemakers passed Kościelniok lake something hit the cart violently . The men looked back, but all their belongings were on their place. They kept on talking. From that moment the horse was trudging slower and slower, as if it carried a cart filled with stones. When they reached a cross something hit the cart twice and shoemakers heard a frightful giggle.

The horse got very anxious and statred to flap its ears. Both men Got out and went to see what happenned. In the middle of the road they saw a little creature wearing colourful clothes. He jumped and clapped his hands, then tumbled and fell to the nearest ditch. It must have been utopek , because there was a dark wisp behind him and the road was wet. The shoemakers froze to death at the sight of a burning horseshoe sign at the rear of the cart. Frightened shoemakers began to say all the prayers they knew.

Our team members decided to look for Utopek…

Unfortunately, they didn’t meet him. They found horses, a motorboat and probably his tree house. Maybe he got scared and ran away. He left strange blue snakes in one of the

lakes.

That is how our younger students see Utopki

March to „Bies”„Bies” is a name of a farmstead. This name was taken from a nickname of his

owner, who had an Inn and was very rich. A lot of people say that strange things happenned there. Nowadays, In this classicistic palace there is a restaurant „At Bies’ ’”

Legend of Bies

The owner of farmstead turned out to be a cruel tyrant. He wasn’t young, always wore black, and used to wander in the woods with his dog. His rifle was always ready to shoot, he killed everything on his way and laughed wildly. Once he let his dog bite an old lady collecting brushwood in the woods.

People hated and cursed him. They also steered clear of his farm. The woods and lakes went quiet, but more often his devilish laughter could be heard In the area. People thought the farmer entered into collusion with the devil and started to call him „Bies” (the other word for devil).

One day a storm raged in the woods. The farm burned in a fire, and the farmer dissapeared. His servants were searching for him, but heavy rain washed away all the traces. However, the footprints of him and his dog were found on the edge of the wood.

People avoided walking around ruins of the farm.

Nowadays, you can sometimes hear a strange laughter in the area or see a dark person with a dog wandering along dams.

Ladies looking for Bies

He wasn’t in the chapel nor did he see a snowball fight. Tired girls took a nap in the forest. There they saw a very big molehill. It must have been Bies who got scared of the girls and went underground to pretend to be a mole.

BIES potrayed by our younger students.