Głaz "Czerwona Małpa"

It is the most famous erratic boulder in the Tarnowskie Forest. It is located in the north-west part of the forest division no. "119" in the part of Bory Tarnowskie administered by the Nowa Sól Forest District. It is located at the crossroads of the old forest track called Droga Chełmkowska (Kölmchener Weg in German). It is here that the road from Siedlisko diverged towards Chełmek and Dąbrowna. Currently, the green Wiatraków and Jezior bicycle trail runs along the former one. Until recently, the branch towards Dąbrowna was gradually obliterated and it was more and more difficult to navigate it, even on foot. The location of the Red Monkey is shrouded in numerous legends. The first one is that there used to be an inn in the place where we are. It disappeared with the decline in the importance of the road where it served as a shelter for travelers. Another, that it was at this crossroads that a forester was murdered by a forest worker, and the murder weapon was to be ... a needle. You can guess that it was a method of murder characteristic of black magic. You can also find a message that the drawing on the rock shows a robber from Saxony, who roamed the area robbing merchants, and his activity was ended by a forest apprentice. Gerhard Gohle, in his work devoted to the history of the Przyborów Forest District, even mentions that the weapon with which the robber was shot was supposed to be located in Siedlisko in the "prince's chamber of arms". Another legend says that it was here that the lost princess in the forest was saved by a man in a red coat, and the Red Monkey, called by the Germans the Red Man (in German Roter Mann), is a symbolic memento of this event. The circumstances of the boulder appearance are not certain either. According to the story, the drawing was revealed after the boulder was broken into two parts by workers who obtained material for the building material. The natural image created by the rock crystals must have made a considerable impression on them, because they had not decided to take the rock anymore. The authorship and vitality of the painting remain a mystery. Despite the passage of subsequent decades and the permanent influence of weather conditions, the saturation of colors and the drawing do not suffer any more visible destruction. Someone who has made a kind of "facelift" of a work of nature certainly knew about the durability of paints. Nowosole foresters are convinced that the author is their senior colleague. Unfortunately, no one wants to indicate the name. Until the trail was marked, finding the Red Monkey was considered a feat and some "forest explorers" took up to several days to do so. On the other hand, for forest workers, hunters and local undergrowth pickers, it has long served as a signpost to help them find their way in the forest expanses.