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adapted by Amy Friedman and illustrated by Jillian Gilliland
THE EVIL EYE (a story from Poland)
Long ago, a young boy named Casimir was born with the curse of the evil eye. When Casimir was only 3, he looked at his father's barns, and they burned to the ground. He looked at the trees, and they died. If the boy felt the slightest tinge of anger, his glance would destroy. And whenever Casimir hurt something or someone, he grew angrier still, and his evil eye was even more dangerous.
Casimir could do nothing to stop this, but he was kindhearted, and so when he was old enough, he left his family's home. With an old family servant, Casimir traveled across Poland searching for a place to live where he would harm no one. The servant loved the boy, and Casimir had never felt the slightest anger toward him. And so it seemed that the servant would be safe from the dangers of the evil eye.
At last the two found a stone house on the banks of the faraway Vistula River. The house was abandoned and far from any town. There they lived behind windows blocked by stones and walls covered with thick ivy. For years they lived in peace and solitude. Casimir grew to manhood, and though he was lonely, he was too kind and generous to venture out into the world for fear he might hurt those he saw.
One evening in late autumn, on a cold, stormy night, Casimir and his servant sat by the fire and Casimir wept with sadness. "I long to know people," he said, "but I dare not."
Suddenly a man's voice called through the doorway. "Please help us," it cried. "My wife is ill and we cannot travel farther tonight. We are lost, and the storm is terrible."
The voice sounded like the voice of a good man, and this made Casimir happy. "I am happy," he said, "and so perhaps I can help this good man." Before the servant could say a word, Casimir ran to the door.
He looked at the stranger with all the kindness he could find in his heart. When the man survived his look, Casimir felt even happier. He invited the man and his wife and daughter into his home, and there, for several weeks, he helped the man nurse his wife back to health. During that time, he also fell deeply in love with the man's daughter, whose name was Malka.
Before long Casimir was happier than he had ever been, and it seemed the power of his evil eye had vanished. By the time the man's wife was healthy, Casimir and Malka had fallen in love. They decided to marry.
Casimir was filled with joy. He said nothing about his evil eye, for he was convinced its power had ended. Now when he looked at the grass, it stayed bright green. When he looked at the trees, they kept their blossoms. Everything he looked upon glowed. He knew he had discovered a new life, and Casimir's servant was happy to know that his beloved boy, now a man, was cured.
"You must have broken the curse of the evil eye," he told Casimir.
Alas, one morning Casimir woke to the sound of men singing outside as they rowed a boat down the river. He felt angry at the sound, for he was exhausted from a long day's work. He went to the window to call to the men to be quiet, but the moment he looked outside, the boat burst into flames.
Casimir was devastated. He was afraid to turn and look at his wife, and he felt his heart breaking. But Casimir knew what he must do. He ran outside, and before anyone else had awoken, Casimir cut out his eyes. Now he was blind.
Although his wife was saddened by his blindness, Casimir felt so peaceful, he soon convinced her that all was well. He knew now that he truly had nothing to fear. The following spring, his wife gave birth to their first child, and Casimir thought he had found perfect happiness.
But one night, another stormy autumn night, Casimir could not fall asleep. He kept thinking about his son and wishing he could, for just one moment, see the child. He thought and thought, and at last decided he must restore his sight, if only for one day.
He had buried his eyes in loose dirt at the back of the house, and so with lightning streaking through the sky and rain falling in torrents, he stole to that place. He kneeled down and began to dig, feeling his way along the ground. He dug and dug, feeling here and there, searching for his eyes. He found a stone, a rock, a stick, but he could not find the eyes. He grew more and more frantic as he searched, and soon he was covered in mud and dirt. Still he dug.
At dawn the next day, the servant found Casimir's body. He lay on the ground, dead of a heart attack, or so the doctor said.
But the servant knew the truth. When he found Casimir's body, he saw an eye, its pupil pressed to the earth. And the servant knew that it was the look of the evil eye that had killed his beloved Casimir.
The second book collection of wonderful tales from "Tell Me a Story" is available for $14.95, plus $2 for postage and handling. Send your orders to "The Spectacular Gift," in care of Andrews McMeel Publishing, P.O. Box 419242, Kansas City, Mo. 64141; or call (800) 642-6480. Be sure to indicate your newspaper's name on your order. Allow three to four weeks for delivery.
