Original
Jedyn pachowek dycki swyšaw, jag ludże padali, jiže ćeby vźgn s truwy z umarwygo, jak kopidów ńeraz kope dów, to vyćepńe kọnski deski i kośći z grobu, to ke by trefiw takų deskę, co by buw sąnk ś ńi vylecany, a šow do kośćowa, a kedy kśųndz zaglundáŭ bez mustrancyjọ, to máŭ vidżeć všystké mory i čarovńice, i tén, ktori by máŭ tą deskạ s ty truwy, zaglundaw by bez tạ dżurạ, co tyn sạnk vylećáŭ, to by tyž všystki ty mory i čarovńicé vidżáw. Obráŭ śe jeden pachowek, byw ćekavi vedżéć, tégo pozorováŭ, gdżeby jény po kerchovach. Aže jeden ráŭz trefiwa mu śe taki kosek deski. Vżón jų ze sobų do dóm, a v ńédżelạ pošow do kośćowa. Jak kśọdz mustrancyjọ podnošiw, i ón bez svojạ deskạ zaglundáŭ. Ludże ńechtoři markovali, na co-to, ale ńic mu ńe padali. A vidżáŭ všystko, jag bywo od ludżi póvadano, bo ty čarovńicé bywo bardzo dobře poznać bo máwa každáŭ na gwoťe povọskạ takọ, jak śe mléko, kedy krovy vydojọ na gwoťe. Poznáw jich moc, ale śe kśųndz o tich řečach dovedżaw, poswáw po ńego, povedżáŭ mu, jiže co vidżáŭ, to źle zrobuw. Ale véš, coś vidżáŭ, ńe pŏadaj žáŭdnymu. Páŭrę časóv trfawo, přyšew między kamratóv, pochvaliw śe trochạ. A ći go na ty méli, co ś ńégo věncy vybadali. Dovedżawy śe o tym čarovńicy, chćawy go jakémi śidwami skáŭrać, ale mu kśọndz doradżuw, že gdy z jizby, albo z maštalńe vychodżi, že máŭ přody křiž pański zrobić na čole, to mu žáŭden ńigdy ńic ńe uškodżi. Tak páŭrę časóv, to go rożńémi śidwami chćawy té čarovńicé dopaść, ale pachowek dycki mu śe přypomńawo, že óné na ńégo pasujọ, zrobiw dycki křiž pański na sobie, uškodżić mu ńi mógwy. Ale óny jedén rauz přyšwy do kupy, móviwy między sobọm, że pod vela ńe bédże skáŭrani, to je dicki bandże vyzdraudżáŭ. I tak buw véiki bruk (bróg) swómy i śana na placu. I zrobiwy, że tén bruk cawi ogńę byw optočoni. Zrobili křik gospodářé jego v placu, ón vypáŭd bez křiža pańskégo na plac. Zaráŭz mu tag zrobiwy, że ranki nogi mu pokrọciwy, że śe z mejsca rušyć ńe mók. Ten bruk cawy zostáŭ, ńidz ńe byw narušoni.
Translation
The source is recorded as continuous, unpunctuated speech. Sentence breaks and punctuation below are editorial, added for readability; no wording has been changed.
A farmhand had always heard people say that if you stab at a coffin of a dead person — the way a gravedigger sometimes digs a grave — you'd knock a horse-shaped splinter and bone loose from the grave; and if one managed to find such a splinter, out of which a knot had been struck free, and went to church, then when the priest raised the monstrance, one would see all the demons and witches. Whoever held that splinter from the coffin, looking through the very hole from which that knot had fallen out, would likewise see all the demons and witches.
One farmhand resolved to find out for himself; he watched, wherever there were graveyards. Then one day he did find such a small piece of board. He took it home with him, and on Sunday went to church. When the priest raised the monstrance, he looked through his own splinter. Some people noticed something, but he told them nothing. And he saw everything, just as people had said, for witches were very easy to recognize, since each one had a wisp on her forehead, like the cream that rises when cows are milked. He recognized a great many of them — but the priest found out about the matter, sent for him, and told him that what he had seen, he had done wrong to see; and whatever he had seen, he was to tell no one.
Some time passed; he went among his companions and boasted about it a little. And those who were there questioned him further about it. When the witches learned of this, they wanted to harm him with some sort of witchcraft, but the priest advised him that whenever he left the room or the stable, he should first make the sign of the cross on his forehead, and then nothing would ever harm him. So for quite a while they tried various charms to catch that witch-seer, but the farmhand always remembered, made the sign of the cross on himself, and they could not harm him.
But one day they all gathered together and agreed among themselves that if this went on much longer, he would give them all away. So there stood a great haystack (a rick) of his hay in the yard, and they arranged it so that the whole rick was surrounded by fire. His employers raised the alarm about it in the yard, and he ran out without the sign of the cross. At once they did this to him: they twisted both his legs, so that he could not move from the spot. That hayrick remained whole; it was never damaged.
Translator's note
A few dialect words in this text resisted the standard dictionaries and were resolved through comparison with other passages in Malinowski's own corpus and reader input: kopidów ("gravedigger," from kopać "to dig" + dół "pit/grave"); vyćepńe ("knocks/flings loose," confirmed by parallel uses elsewhere in the volume meaning "to throw/hurl out"); vźgn (read as a dialect form of żgnąć, "to stab, to poke"); sąnk (read as a dialect form of sęk, "a knot" in wood, and the hole it leaves when knocked out); śidwami ("witchcraft, sorcery, dark charms"); markovali (from the German-derived pomarkować, "to notice, to take note of"); optočoni ("surrounded, encircled"); and vyzdraudżáŭ (from zdradzić, "to betray, to give away").
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