Following the outbreak of WW2, which closely followed the
signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Red Army occupied eastern Poland,
including the city of Lvov. And
following that, a lot of people
started getting arrested.
Thus it came to be that a Polish intellectual found himself
in a Lvov prison cell filled beyond capacity with Ukrainians, mostly nationalists
and simple criminals. The first thing
that happened to him was that he was robbed of his middle-class clothes. The second thing that happened was that he
was approached by the leader of the Ukrainians who, pointing out to his
compatriots who were fighting among themselves, said that the fighting would
only get worse unless the Pole would tell them a story.
The Pole thought for a moment and then started on a tale of
“events of long ago, when ataman (Ukrainian military leader) Odys, left his
island of Ithaka and went to fight a war against a mighty enemy city in Turkey
called Troy.”
The tale lasted for a few days and kept peace in the
cell. When it ended, the Ukrainians’
leader consulted with his group and approached the Pole again. He was to tell his tale again but this time
without mistakes. In particular, in the
second telling, it should be made clear that ataman Odys was Ukrainian all
along, and also, that there should be included some thieving Russians among the
suitors who were trying to fuck Penelope. The Pole complied without qualms.
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| The Brigidki Prison in Lvov (a former nunnery) |
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