[4] Wiedźmin The King of Temeria, Foltest, has offered a reward to anyone who can lift the curse on his daughter (the result of an incestuous union with his late sister, Adda), who was born as a striga, and terrorizes the town every night.
Geralt fights the striga, but, unable to subdue it, seals himself into its crypt, forcing it to spend the night outside its lair, lifting the curse.
Nivellen relates that, as the leader of his late father's gang of bandits, he raped a priestess of a temple, who cursed him to be a beast before killing herself.
Geralt confides that the old stories about a kiss from a maiden lifting a curse like Nivellen's contain "a grain of truth": there has to be true love for the cure to work.
Mniejsze zło On the eve of a festival, Geralt rides into the town of Blaviken with a monster carcass in tow.
In the morning, on the day of the festival, Geralt realizes that Renfri lied, and will massacre the people of Blaviken to draw Stregobor out and kill him.
Stregobor leaves, and the townsfolk, believing Geralt had just murdered a group of innocent men, hurl rocks at him.
Kwestia ceny Geralt is at the castle of Cintra, at the invitation of Queen Calanthe, attending the betrothal celebration for Crown Princess Pavetta.
The suitors attack Urcheon, but he is defended by Geralt and the King of Skellige, Eist Tuirseach, who loves Calanthe.
The attack provokes Pavetta, revealing her latent magical powers, which threaten to destroy the castle.
Moving on to Lower Posada, the village elder, Dhun, tells of a "devil" whose mischief has become a problem, but under no circumstances should be killed.
In a second confrontation, Geralt and Dandelion are knocked out and taken to the hideout of Aen Seidhe elves, with whom the sylvan, Torque, is taking refuge.
While Geralt and Dandelion bargain for their lives, the legendary Queen of the Fields appears - she is the young witch from the village.
Geralt banishes the creature with a local exorcism, and rushes Dandelion to the nearest city, Rinde, for medical aid.
Three other detainees - elves Chireadan, his cousin, Errdil, and half-elf knight Vratimir - inform him that the city authorities have imposed heavy duties for spellcasting, and mages are boycotting Rinde.
Głos rozsądku Geralt and Dandelion leave the temple, but are stopped by Falwick, Tailles and a company of soldiers.
The first collection of Andrzej Sapkowski's short stories was simply titled The Witcher and published by Reporter in 1990.
It includes the same stories, except "The Road with No Return", with the addition of "The Voice of Reason", "A Question of Price", and "The Last Wish".
"The Witcher" (1986) was conceived as a retelling of a Polish fairy tale where a princess turned into a monster as punishment for the incest of her parents.
[6] "A Question of Price" (and later "Sword of Destiny") were based on the universally known fairy tale in which a monster or sorcerer saves somebody's life and then demands payment.
[6] The 'Law of Surprise' in the story mirrors a similar 'law' established in the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, as popularized by the Brothers Grimm in 1812.
[7] The novel Season of Storms (excluding some interludes and the epilogue) takes place between "The Last Wish" and "The Witcher".
A Polish-language audio book based on The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny was released in 2011 by Fonopolis and audioteka.pl.
[8] "The Lesser Evil" story included in the collection earned Sapkowski the Janusz A. Zajdel Award in 1990.
[10] In 2011, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave U.S. President Barack Obama diplomatic presents, as is custom, on his visit to Poland.
[11] The English edition charted on The New York Times Best Seller list in June 2015,[12] coinciding with the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game.
Although the magical elements are familiar, he found them refreshing because they were "reinterpreted through the myths and folklore of Sapkowski's Polish/Slavic background".