Janosik lived in Białka Tatrzańska, which was the seat of a group of robbers. The robbers, as the lords of Podhale, were not afraid of anyone, because they were strong men of large stature.
Janek did not want to work for the Lord, like the rest of the peasantry. For his son’s disobedience, he was ordered to beat his father, which resulted in his death. The boy had no one else in this world. He wanted to avenge the fate of his father and the Podhale people who worked beyond their strength and yet suffered from hunger. Janek decided to join the robbers, so he went to the mountains to their cave. In order to become a rogue companion, he had to go through a hard trial and many tests.
When Janek managed to get to the robbers, they were on their way to the big cave. There was another cave nearby, inhabited by goddesses, it was on the other side of the bear mountain. The third cave was already in the Liptovske Tatras, it was here that Janek used to hide for a long time with his beloved Maryna. When Janek caught up with the robbers, his way was blocked by guards who protected the robbers from their masters. The boy, when asked where he was going, replied that he wanted to join the robbers. However, they did not believe him. The robbers decided that the boy had to prove himself.
He had to jump from one mountain to the other, which was not easy because the mountains were still separated by a river. And the second time he had to sing and dance nicely, because that is what a true robber should do. Janek knew that despite the difficulties of the tasks, they were feasible. The robbers went to war, so Janek was given time to practice. The boy was taking a long time so he decided to walk towards the mountains, but he got lost in the depths of the Bukovian forest. Fortunately, Janek saw the light and headed towards it. He saw the hut, so he went inside and praised God.
In the room, he saw a woman who was a witch and asked her to stay overnight. The woman warned the boy that there were two more sisters living with her who could kill him. Janek, however, did not have the strength to go further and decided to spend the night there. He lay down on the bench and fell asleep. When the other two witches came, they decided not to kill Janek, because they liked the boy very much, but he had to put himself to the test. It consisted in placing hot coals on the belly. Janek survived the test despite the fact that the hot coals had gouged a hole in his stomach. The witches decided to help the boy become a robber.
One of the women collected horseshoes in order to forge him a robber cuff. The second hunted the animal to make it a robber headband. The third was gathering flax and braiding his shirt. Ciupaga helped him jump from top to top and could break eight doors at once, on the ninths she lost her power. The headband was giving him, giving him supernatural strength, so that he could uproot trees and the shirt would not let bullets pass through.
In the morning, Janek left the hut to meet the robbers. They reminded him of the conditions he must meet in order to join them. The boy made an impact on the ciupadze and jumped from the top to the top. Harnaś, however, did not want to accept Janek to his robber group, so he decided that Janek would face the robbers by force. Of course, thanks to the shirt, he defeated everyone. So Harnaś himself stood up to him. It was difficult to defeat Harnas, as he was as strong as the turn. However, thanks to gifts from witches, Janek and Harnas were defeated. As a token of respect, Harnaś took off his high, rogue cap, put it on his head and called it Janosik. From then on, everyone respected Janosik, now they were both masters of Podhale.
Janosik took rich masters and helped the poor not to starve to death. It always eluded the army from the hands of the army. So it was decided to resort to deception. Maryna was told that Janosik on the Slovak side found another girl he loves. It was an insidious lie. Janosik never cheated on Maryna. But Maryna, like a broken-hearted woman, believed these lies and decided to help the army. When Janosik entered the room, Maryna unfastened his armbands, took off his shirt and threw them into the abyss together with the Axe (ciupaga). After a while, the guards ran to catch Janosik. Only then did Maryna realize that it was a trap and what she had just done. But it was too late for that. The court ruled to hang Janosik on a hook for “intermediate rib” (last rib)
Maryna cried all the time and apologized to Janosik. However, as befits a real robber, he smoked his pipe and was dying in pain and agony. Apparently he smoked a pound of snuff before he died. Maryna hugged him, and Janosik, wanting to stroke her, did not realize what strength was left in his hand and crushed her skull. This is how they both died.
