Ketling (Hassling-Ketling of Elgin) is a fictional character in Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel '' Fire in the Steppe'', the third volume of his award-winning ''The Trilogy''. A Scotsman, Ketling moved to Poland where he became a Colonel of Artillery in service of the king of Poland John Casimir.
Ketling married Krystyna Drohojowska, a former fiancée of his friend,
Michał Wołodyjowski
Jerzy Michał Wołodyjowski () is a fictional Polish hero in Henryk Sienkiewicz's Trilogy: ''With Fire and Sword'', ''The Deluge'' and ''Pan Wołodyjowski''.
Michał Wołodyjowski is partly based on the historic figure, Colonel , a Polish noble ...
, when he (together with Wołodyjowski) blew himself up in a gunpowder depot.
The historical personality on which the character was loosely based was certain Major Heyking, a mercenary from
Courland
Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...
and the commander of the Kamieniec Fortress during the said war.
In 1969 Jerzy Hoffman's
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...