My Family history is nothing exciting; no records broken, no Kings or Queens… But, however, there was one great-grandma, who, even though she wasn’t famous, was still FULL of stories; from interesting to… bloodcurdling.
So be prepared; this is no normal biography… This is the biography of Waleria Kwasny.
*(a picture and a few details about my great-grandmother - date of birth etc...)*
See those courageous eyes, that brave smile! There is something about my great grandmother that is deeply respectable… Don’t you think? I know, I know, you want to get onto the bloodcurdling stories! If you’re so desperate, then here it is; this is the story of my amazing great-grandmother, Waleria.
Where do I start? Well, firstly everyone knows that a NORMAL biography begins with the boring details, (date of birth etc.) but as you already know, this is no normal biography, and anyway – all the details are on the profile above! (If you’re interested). So in this case, I will start with when she was a young lady, which seems to be about a million years ago… yes, she’s that ancient!
As a lady, my great grandma had many encounters with wolves. That’s right. Vicious, ferocious, human-eating wolves. I know wolves are NEVER seen nor heard of in places like London, so let me tell you now. They are NOT dogs. They are in no way similar to dogs. (Apart from their physical appearance, but as the wise ones say, it’s not what’s on the outside, it’s what’s on the INSIDE!). Wolves are NASTY, and most of all they have the most petrifying howl that in the WHOLE earth there is nothing that can sound so terrifying. Before you get scared out of your wits, let me tell you they are only found in the mountainous parts of countries, in this case, Poland.
The first encounter Valeria had with wolves is… Well YOU read what happened! As she was strolling down a path one day, Waleria came face-to-face with an Alsatian-breed-dog. Now, being the woman she was (adoring animals of all sorts), she bent down and patted it nicely on the head. The dog responded warmly to this, and did not growl. As the dog scampered off a hunter with a huge gun screeched in a petrified tone: “ Have you seen it?” to which my puzzled great grandma replied “What, have I seen what?” and the hunter responded – somewhat confounded that the woman hadn’t seen ‘it’ “THE WOLF! I saw it pass this way!” Not even waiting for a reply, he ran off in attempt to catch the wolf-on-the-loose. As my great grandma walked home she made sense of it all. It wasn’t an Alsatian she had stroked at all, it was a KILLER WOLF!
Now that was the FUNNY story of wolf encounters, but let me tell you now, the next one really is the most bloodcurdling story, the one that you’ve been waiting for!
As my great-grandma rode in a horse-and-cart with her friend to go to a fancy ball, her horse suddenly stopped in its tracks. Pricking its ears up and down, the horse kept continuously neighing in a whimpering fashion. Waleria, being the lover of all animals, trusted her horse very much. Now I’m not talking about normal human-animal trust here, I’m talking about Waleria-animal trust, and that is BIG. So as you can guess, when the horse stopped in its tracks and started whimpering, Waleria became extremely worried. It was then that she heard it. ‘AWOOOooooooooooooooooooo!’ The sound of wolves piercing cry filled the air, and echoed through the silent night. Noticing that the cries were getting louder each second from the last, Waleria realised that the wolves were getting closer. And closer. Being sensible, Waleria told her friend in an urgent but firm tone: “We are going home. Now.” To which her friend replied, “Oh don’t be so scared! I really want to go to this ball, just whip the silly horse!” But my great-grandma wasn’t taking no for an answer. “We are going home.” Ordering the horses to turn around and go home, Waleria’s friend became rather angry, but after seeing how eagerly the horse galloped home, she realised there must have been something wrong. As it turned out, there was. The next day, someone passing along the road that the two women had turned back on the previous night, found an upturned carriage that belonged to tradesmen. Turning the carriage over; the man found a half-eaten horse, and wondering where the men had got to, searched far and wide… only to find their boots – with their feet inside…
Bloodcurdling or what?! The next series of events in my great granny’s life was when the Germans took over Poland (sorry folks, I can’t remember the date! I’m no historian…). ANYway, things got really tough for Waleria; with two small children (4 and 9) and her husband taken prisoner in somewhere like Russia, things got really tricky. It got even worse when her beautiful big house was taken away from her, only to be replaced by a tiny council flat fit for a mouse…
This is the reason why she kept a radio in the house, to listen to how the war was progressing, and when the endless torture for her family would end. Now it’s not as simple as it sounds – having a radio in the wartime was STRICTLY FORBIDDEN by the Germans, and the punishment for having one was death, not only for the owner of the house, but for the whole family. (Talk about HARSH!). So as you can see, my ancient grandma was extremely brave to have a radio!
As she was enjoying a cup of tea one day, (well, so I am guessing – tea is a great remedy for stress), Waleria heard the sound of the main doors of her itchy-titchy council estate opening, followed by the sound of German being spoken. Listening as hard as her ears could, Waleria heard a knock on door number 1, the door of the first flat opening, loud controlling voices, and then silence. The cycle repeated itself once more, and it was then that Waleria realised the Germans were in the building she was in, and if she didn’t act quickly and do something to get rid of her radio, then her and her family’s fate was just around the corner (literally).
You can imagine what a panic my great grandmother was in as she heard the Germans knocking from door to door, proceeding quickly down the corridor… And then she thought of it… CAMPHOR OIL! (If you don’t know what it is, then you’re better off not knowing; it smells vile, worse then vile!) As she smeared the disgusting stuff all over the walls and floor, brave Waleria hatched a rather sneaky plan, keeping in mind that if the plan didn’t work – her and her family would be dead in less then a few minutes time.
The moment of truth finally came. Sitting tensely on her 4th hand couch, Waleria finally heard it: BANG BANG on the door, followed by a bellowing man screeching threatening words if they didn’t open up. My great grandmother bravely and confidently turned the handle to open the door, and after what seemed like years, the door opened. All too soon there she was, standing face to face with her enemy; the Germans.
“Oh Good afternoon! You are VERY welcome to come and search my house; the only problem is that my uncle has got Typhoid, it is very contagious but you don’t mind do you?” Blurted out Waleria, trying to sound as realistic as possible. The Germans looked unsatisfied; but then remembering that people with typhoid really smelt bad; they sniffed inside the house. The two men backed away, choking at the vile smell of what they thought was typhoid, but was actually camphor oil! One of the Germans then replied, sounding as big a man as possible “Urm it’s alright, we won’t search your house now, urm maybe later? Yes, we shall come back later.” But being as vain as they were – they never came back. After that experience Waleria threw the radio straight into her well; the risk was too great.
That is another example of my Great grandmother’s great courage. Waleria had many tragedies throughout her life, such as her beloved beautiful sister dying of kidney disease when she was only 23. It is amazing how Waleria kept strong throughout all these awful happenings.
So that’s my Great Grandmother for you; Waleria Kwasny – the person not afraid of killer wolves, Germans or even death. But the funny thing was; she was petrified of mice!