Franciszek Ptak (30 August 1859 – 29 July 1936) was a Polish peasant, innkeeper, politician and publisher active in the peasant movement, who was a member of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria between 1908–1913. Ptak ran an inn in the village of Bieńczyce, on the outskirts of Kraków. He began his political activity in the 1890s. He published peasant magazines, that he distributed in his inn, and became a member of the Polish People's Party (PSL). He held various positions in the PSL local structures, and ran for the deputy of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria several times. He succeeded in 1908, when he was elected a representative of the rural communes of the Kraków poviat. His lack of success in the elections to the Austrian Imperial Council some years earlier was referenced in the plot of The Wedding by Stanisław Wyspiański (1901), "So it's Ptak that you were taking on the position?" According to Young Poland's notable literary critic Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Ptak was to some extent a model persona of Czepiec, one of the protagonists of The Wedding. Alongside his wife, Ptak was a special guest at the world premiere of The Wedding in the Kraków Municipal Theater. From 1907, he was a member of the Supreme Council of the Polish People's Party. After the party split, he was a member of the Polish People's Party "Left" (1913–1924) and the Polish People's Party "Piast" (1924–1931). He co-financed the construction of the "Falcon" Polish Gymnastic Society House and the public school in his native village Bieńczyce, as well as in the construction of the Bonifratres Hospital in Kraków, and was friends with several artists, among them Włodzimierz Tetmajer. Biography Early years He was born to a peasant family, the son of Antoni Ptak, who owned seven acres, and Salomea née Włodek. The family name Ptak means a bird in Polish. Franciszek Ptak graduated from a peasant elementary school and was also a self-taught; he read a lot. He started with farming on his three acres. Periodically he was a wage worker in a mill. For nine years he charged a toll tax on the behalf of local authorities. In 1886 he married Marcjanna née Szafrańska (7 January 1864 – 4 August 1947). They had twelve children: five sons and seven daughters. Innkeeper He founded and ran an inn in the village Bieńczyce outside Kraków. As an innkeeper, he