The boy who lived has, in fact, lived ever since 19 March 1972, when literary magazine Życie Literackie published a short story titled “Harry Potter”. The author – Jan Rostworowski – was a Polish writer and poet who, as a soldier of the Polish Army, spent twenty-eight years in Great Britain.
Rostworowski’s text tells a story of a seventeen-year-old Harry whose life is much more muggle-like than that of his namesake. In fact, his life is rather ordinary – as a shopkeeper, he delivers the original Cracovian sausage and pickles. And in the end – he suddenly vanishes.
