Studia Filologiczne UJK

Summary

Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Fairy Tales and Legends can be read in different ways: diachronically (according to the chronology included in the action of tales or taking into account the time of its composition); thematically (by dividing it into texts which express timeless and actual issues encrypted in fabulous plot); and culturally (by tracking motives characteristic for the Hindu, Greek, Roman and Christian religions). This article proposes a different strategy for reading Sienkiewicz – as reading about a journey. It enables us to travel through both earthly and unearthly areas and legendary and exotic lands, in order to see sensual and transcendental realities. It therefore leads to universal values which determine human existence and are known in every part of the world and in every epoch.