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Kujawsko-Pomorskie

LEOSIA, GM. DRZYCIM, POW. WYECKIE LEOSIA, GM. DRZYCIM, POW. WYECKIE

LEOSIA, GM. DRZYCIM, POW. WYECKIE

"Stone of St. Adalbert", also called "Devil's Stone". The third largest erratic boulder in Poland. Pink-gray granite with dimensions of about 9 × 11 × 3 m and a circumference of 24 m.

Three legends are associated with the stone. According to the first, St. Adalbert was supposed to preach from the stone, which was worshipped by pagan Prussians. The stone anointed St. Adalbert with oil, after which the pagans, seeing the impotence of their gods, were to start converting.

The second legend says that the stone was carried by the devil who wanted to throw it into the river Wda in order to flood the peasants' fields. However, he was late and dawn found him in the air, a hen crowed three times and the devil, having lost his power, abandoned the boulder. Traces of the devil's chains are still to be seen on its surface.

A third legend tells of two millers on the Vda River. One of them made a pact with the devil to make a dam on the river below his mill, thus destroying the other's business. The devil carried a large stone for this purpose, but the hen crowed and dropped the boulder in the woods.

The boulder shows heavily obliterated inscriptions (graffiti) and traces of drilling and attempted smashing.

Sources of information: Czernicka-Chodkowska 1980, 57, fig. 21; Czernicka-Chodkowska 1977, 24-25;
http://falkowscy.eu/galeriawiedzy/legendy/leosia/ (accessed April 20, 2023); field queries

Geographic coordinates: 53.485137, 18.397931

Location on Google map