Krystyna Drohojowska (later Ketling of Elgin) is a fictional character of the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...

, Fire in the Steppe

Fire in the Steppe

Fire in the Steppe is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1888. It is the third volume in a series known to Poles as "the Trilogy," preceded by With Fire and Sword and The Deluge...

. She is an beautiful orphan who marries Hassling-Ketling of Elgin

Hassling-Ketling of Elgin

Ketling was a fictional character in Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel Fire in the Steppe, the third volume of his award-winning The Trilogy...

.

In 1969 Jerzy Hoffman's

Jerzy Hoffman

Jerzy Hoffman is a Polish film director and screenwriter. He is the father of early Macintosh development team member Joanna Hoffman.-Selected filmography:*Battle of Warsaw 1920...

 film Krzysia is portrayed by Barbara Brylska

Barbara Brylska

Barbara Brylska is a native Polish actress who also was featured in numerous films throughout the countries of the Warsaw Pact including the Soviet Union. She is noted especially for her role as Nadya in the 1975 Soviet comedy film Irony of Fate.-Biography:Barbara Brylska was born on June 5, 1941,...

.

Story

Krystyna was an orphan in the care of stolnik

Stolnik

Stolnik was a court office in Poland and Muscovy, responsible for serving the royal table.- Stolnik in Crown of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania : In Crown of Poland under the first Piast dukes and kings, this was a court office....

 Makowiecki. In 1668 she arrived (together with Barbara Jeziorkowska

Barbara Jeziorkowska

Barbara Jeziorkowska is a fictional character of the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Fire in the Steppe. She is the main female protagonist, an orphan who marries Michał Wołodyjowski....

) to Warsaw and met Michał Wołodyjowski. He fell in love with her and proposed. Krystyna accepted his prposal, even though her feelings for him were platonic. Soon she met Hassling-Ketling of Elgin

Hassling-Ketling of Elgin

Ketling was a fictional character in Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel Fire in the Steppe, the third volume of his award-winning The Trilogy...

, Wołodyjowski's friend. Krystyna and Ketling quickly fell in love with each other but since she was already engaged, they couldn't be together. Krzysia decided then to enter a convent, but Wołodyjowski gave up Krystyna to his friend.

After marriage Krystyna and Ketling lived in Courland

Courland

Courland is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland.- Geography and climate :...

. They had one son. In 1672 Ketling went to Kamianets-Podilskyi

Kamianets-Podilskyi

Kamyanets-Podilsky or Kamienets-Podolsky is a city located on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi...

 which was to be attacted by Turks

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. Krzysia accompanied him. Her husband died after the city surrendered: together with Michał Wołodyjowski he blew himself up.

Description

Krystyna is a young and very beautiful woman. She is tall and slender. She's got black hair, big blue eyes and pale complexion. She is a shy and passive but honest person. When she realized her love for Ketling, she feels guilty. She prefers to become a nun rather than marry unloved Wołodyjowski. At the end of the novel, she shows up to be very brave, she decides not to leave Ketling even during the war with Turks.