Adam Mickiewicz listened to folk tales about Lake Świteź and its inhabitants as a child - his nanny Horbatowska sang to him, among other things, about a flooded city, a fish-nymph and about three lilies growing on the grave of a man killed by a lady. Memories were revived when in 1821 the young poet visited the Wereszczak family in Płużyny, not far from the place known from the nurse's story. A year later, he published a collection of Ballady i Romanse (Ballades and Romances), considered the first work of the Romantic era. He included three pieces reminiscent of the legends about the water maidens. ‘Świteź’ is the name of a sunken city whose inhabitants were turned into toxic plants, while the ruler's daughter became a water maiden and told the story of her city to ‘The Lord of Płużyny’.
In ‘Świtezianka,’ the alluring ondine seduces a man and consequently administers justice for his infidelity. In turn, Rybka (Little Fish) is a ballad about a land full of fairies taking the form of mermaids, whom the unhappy Krysia wants to join. This triptych was neatly summed up by Jan Czeczot in the piece Świteź (in fact, the work was originally written in 1819 and it was Mickiewicz who modeled the first of these ballads on it, and only after the entire volume was published, Czeczot decided to add a beginning referring to the bard's work):
Pay no heed that the Nemunas’ bard
Fantasy far and grand
And speech graceful, mild
Drove to the Świteź land
And Świtezianki it envisioned
And crafted them three wreaths with precision
[quote after: Bartłomiej Grzegorz Sala, ‘Among Polish mermaids, rusalkas, meluzyns, fairies and other water maidens,’ Olszanica 2020, p. 156, trans. M.P]
There is no doubt that it was Mickiewicz who made Świtezianki famous in literature, but he was certainly not the only artist who succumbed to their charm. In a nutshell: in Słowacki's Beniowski, the water maiden is the patron saint of drowned men and poetry, Lucjan Siemieński's fantastic-grotesque ‘Świtezianki’ cannot be read without knowing Mickiewicz's ballad of the same title, the further fate of the ladies of Świteź can be followed in Antoni Lange, even in Legion by Stanisław Wyspiański, along with the Romantic bard, ‘Lithuanian goddesses, Świtezianki, sorceresses…’ wander. Separate lists should be prepared with the names of relevant musicians (e.g. Moniuszko) or painters (e.g. Raczyński, Alchimowicz).
Rusalka from the bottom of the Dnipro