Men can be stupid and naive when it comes to women. They can also be very jealous when they perceive another man as a threat. We often hear on the news that one guy fought another guy, or committed some horrible crime, because of a girl. You may have heard of the Trojan War, a legendary conflict supposedly fought over one woman, Helen of Troy.
It’s true across all cultures—women, even if they don’t want to—can cause us guys to do insane things. There’s a local myth that comes from lesser Poland called “Pięciolipki,” (The five linden trees). It takes place around the small Polish village of Grodkowice and involves five guys who went nuts over one woman. And she enjoyed every minute of it.
There was a beautiful girl named Jagienka who lived with her father in a house on the road from Grodkowice to Brzezie. Unfortunately, she was as nasty as they come when it came to personality. She took pleasure in crushing other people’s spirits. It just so happened that she was also very wealthy.
Because she was rich, and very attractive, she gained the attention of five brothers who lived down the street. These boys were the sons of a laborer and were very poor. Each of them wanted to be the one to marry her and be lifted out of poverty. They each flirted with her for years. For her part, Jagienka was uninterested in any one of them. Rather, she led them all on to keep attention on herself.
One day, the five brothers had enough. They wanted Jagienka to pick one of them to marry. So, losing what little self-respect they had, they begged her to choose. Jagienka decided to play a twisted game. She ordered all five brothers to fight each other to the death. The winner would get her hand in marriage.
So they fought. They were so crazily obsessed with her that they were willing to kill each other. After hours of bloodshed (they probably used sickles), they ALL lay dead. Jagienka was, of course, quite pleased with her work. Now she didn’t have to marry any of them!
She buried the five bodies on the side of the road and started the Five Guys restaurant chain in America. Just kidding. She buried them and planted a linden tree above each grave. After this incident, she supposedly broke many more men’s hearts during her life. Hurting people became her hobby, and she never married. One day, after many, many years, lightening struck her home, and started a huge fire. Amid this chaos, it is said the devil himself personally arrived to escort Jagienka to hell. So ended her miserable existence.
As for the five linden trees, they remain there to this day. Villagers claim that the area is haunted by the five brothers, who continue to fight each other in death.
So we need to be careful, guys. Don’t be stupid. Don’t be naive. In this story, the five brothers were as much to blame as Jagienka. The same can be true for the ladies out there. There’s a lot of male “Jagienkas” who want nothing more than to inflate their vanity by having you compete over them. Don’t give them the satisfaction.
Crazy Polish Guy 