Original
Tuž ráz jedén chwop máw bardzo moc dżeći, że mu už kumotrove ńe chćeli jiść křćić. Poswáw nošačke z dżéćem do kośćowa i póvadáw jij, żeby tam kośćelny za kumotřička stanyw, ale óna śe zebrawa z jednóm babóm. Óna śe jij pytawa, kąnyż idżeće? jidém do kośćowa z dżećém, ale ńé mám pátki. Tuž já pójdem s vámi, já bedém za pátke. I dawa vęzewek i pošwa preč ŭod ńéj. Óna jọm vowawa za sobóm, jako ku gośćińe, ale óna ńe chćawa jiść. Jednego véčora šew ten sam chwopek na svoje pole. V'ečór přišwa ku ńemu ta sama baba i vowawa go, coby šew ś ńóm. I ón šew ś ńóm v jedno ḿejsce. Tam bywa dżura do żeḿe. Tam bywy same śvéčki velké i mawe. Óna mu pokazovawa śvéčki, kerá jes čyjá. I ónemu, temu chwopu dawa velkóm śvéčke, a dawa mu vęzewek. V tym vęzewku bywy żeliny. A póvadawa mu tak: ty teráz bedżeš doktorém, a kąny přidżeš, jak me uvidżiš v gwovach śedżeć, to ńechej tak, to jidż preč. Jag bedém v nogach, to témi żelinami léč. Tak śe mu bardzo ščęśćivo, że moc ludżi pryndko vyličyw. I bardzo śe ta řeč ŭó ńim rozńóswa, że śe królovi rozńemógwa jedna pryncezna. I přijechali po ńego. Ale óna, ta sama baba śedżawa v gwovach. Uvidżáw, że už pómocy ńé maš. Ale go tam bardzo pytali, że mu bardzo moc bogactvá dajóm, jeśi jóm vyléčy. Ón sobe potym rozmyśláw, i ńecháw ŭobróćić, kąny bywa gwovóm, to nogami. Potym jéj żeliny varyw, i hnet jéj bywo lepéj. I potém mu dali bardzo moc péńęndzy i ŭodvéżli go dó dómu. Ale na třeći dżeń zaś se vyšew na svoje pole. Zaś přišwa do ńego ta baba i póvadá mu: poćće se mnóm. I ón šew ś ńóm tam zaś do dżury, kąny té śvéčki gorawy. I bywy tam dvé śvéčki: jedna bardzo velká, a drugá už dogorovawa. I óna vźéwa te velkóm śvéčke, a dawa tam, kąny bywa ta mawá, a póvadawa mu: jakoż me ty ŭošydżiw při tej pryncežńe, dyż jóm kázáw ŭobróćić v vóżku, tag já će tež tu teraz tag ŭošydżém při tych śvéčkach. Ta velká bywa tfoja, ta malućká bywa tej pryncezny. A teraz jidż dó domu, a zrób se pořóndek, bo už umřeš. Ón přišew dó domu i póvedżáw to všycko svoim dżećom, pořọndek ḿędzy ńémi zrobiw, a potem za páre godżin umřiw.
Translation
The source is recorded as continuous, unpunctuated speech. Sentence breaks and punctuation below are editorial, added for readability; no wording has been changed.
So once there was a man who had very many children, so that the godparents no longer wanted to come and have them baptized. He sent the midwife with the child to church, and told her that the sexton should stand in as godfather there, but she met up with a certain old woman on the way. She [the old woman] asked her, "Where are you going?" "I'm going to church with the child, but I have no godmother." "Well then I'll go with you, I'll be the godmother." And she gave her a little bundle and went away from her. She [the old woman] kept inviting her to come along, as if to a visit, but she [the midwife] didn't want to go.
One evening that same man went out to his field. In the evening that same old woman came to him and invited him to go with her. And he went with her to one place. There was a hole down into the earth there. There were nothing but candles there, big ones and small ones. She showed him the candles, which one belonged to whom. And to him, to that man, she gave a big candle, and gave him a little bundle. In that bundle there were herbs.
And she told him: "You will now be a doctor, and wherever you go, if you see me sitting at the head [of the bed], then leave it be, go away. If I'm at the feet, then heal with these herbs."
So it went very well for him, that he cured many people quickly. And word of him spread so much that the king's own daughter, a princess, fell ill. And they came to fetch him. But she, that same old woman, was sitting at the head. He saw that there was no help for it. But they begged him so much there, promising him great riches if he would heal her. He thought it over, and had her turned around, so that where the head had been, now the feet were. Then he brewed her the herbs, and at once she felt better. And then they gave him a great deal of money and drove him home.
But on the third day he again went out to his field. Again that old woman came to him and said: "Come with me." And he went with her again there to the hole, where those candles were burning. And there were two candles there: one very big, and the other already burning down. And she took that big candle, and put it where the small one had been, and said to him: "Just as you disregarded me over that princess, when you had her turned around, so now I will disregard you too with these candles. That big one is yours, that little one is the princess's. And now go home, and set your affairs in order, because you are about to die."
He went home and told his children everything, put his affairs in order among them, and a few hours later he died.
Translator's note
This is a Silesian telling of the widespread "Godfather Death" tale type (ATU 332), with the death-figure appearing as an old woman rather than the more commonly recorded male "Godfather Death." A few dialect words were clarified with reader input: vęzewek (węzełek, "a little bundle" — appearing twice, first as an unspecified gift to the midwife, later as the bundle of healing herbs); and ŭošydżiw / ŭošydżém, the verb in the old woman's closing words. Read initially as "deceived," and considered also as a form of osądzić, "to judge, to pass judgment," the term is rendered here more neutrally as "disregarded" — describing what the doctor did (acting against her instruction) as a plain fact rather than an accusation, in keeping with the story's tone: death here is less a punishment for wrongdoing than an unavoidable rule that was, for a time, gotten around.
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