Arys-Pole

A young woman lived with her kind husband, their little son, and an old nurse. She always wore a blue ribbon beside her braid. Her stepmother, who knew forest…

A young woman lived with her kind husband, their little son, and an old nurse. She always wore a blue ribbon beside her braid. Her stepmother, who knew forest spells, settled nearby. Envious of the family’s happiness, the stepmother one day turned her stepdaughter into a spotted forest lynx named Arys-Pole. The woman ran into the thicket, and her family began searching for her.

Only the nurse noticed the familiar blue ribbon at the edge of the forest. When the child missed his mother, the nurse brought him to the woods and sang, “Arys-Pole! The child is crying, the child is crying, he wants food and drink.” A calm lynx emerged from the ferns. The child immediately reached out to her. Beneath an old fallen log, she removed the spotted skin and became a woman again.

The mother embraced her son, fed him, and asked the nurse not to harm anyone in order to rescue her. The blue ribbon swayed on a branch above them. Then she put on the magic skin once more and disappeared among the firs. The next day, her husband quietly followed. He heard the song, saw the transformation, and understood where his wife had gone.

The husband did not burn the skin. He laid the blue ribbon beside it and asked, “Would you like us to break the spell together?” The woman nodded. The nurse repeated the song, the husband called his wife by her true name, and the child held out the ribbon to her. The spotted skin crumbled into dry birch leaves. The forest immediately grew brighter, and the family embraced beside the fallen log.

The stepmother admitted her envy and asked for forgiveness. The family explained that magic and deception were unacceptable and that trust would have to be restored through good deeds. The stepmother removed the last spell from the forest path and helped hang blue ribbons so that no one would become lost. Arys-Pole returned home, but she often came to the edge of the woods to thank the forest.