Antoni J贸sef Gli艅ski (often published in English under A.J. Glinski) was to Poland what the Brothers Grimm were to Germany. He travelled the country and collected folk legends and fairy tales and wrote them down exactly as they were told to him by local peasants.
This small story book includes seven fairy tales, translated from the original Polish. I鈥檇 describe each story as whimsical, easy to understand, good winning against evil, and with an obvious moral at the end. But this is what fairy tales are made up of, created to teach kids lessons by using stories of beautiful princesses, brave knights, evil stepmothers, ect. I enjoyed each and every one of them, but my favorite was The Bear in the Forest Hut. Not your typical fairy tales, but worth a read.
A collection of fairy tales, where most of the types are recognizable among European fairy tales, but with their own touches. I suspect literary influence on some.
I love the illustrations by Cecile Walton for Hans Andersen鈥檚 fairy tales translated by Sommer. When I discovered she鈥檇 also illustrated this book of Polish fairy tales, I did my best to find a copy that I could afford. Eventually, reproduction copies appeared but they were poorly done and people said the pictures were dreadful and so I鈥檝e waited鈥nd waited. When I came across this Kindle version, I wasn鈥檛 expecting much 鈥� but it鈥檚 wonderful! I can鈥檛 see the images properly on my Kindle Oasis but on the iPad they鈥檙e brilliant. The stories are an interesting mix of all the strands you鈥檒l find in other famous tales. There are challenges, magic, the young underdog triumphing through cunning, good deeds repaid. These are of their time and need to be read as such. They are not politically correct but I enjoyed seeing the Polish twists on the fairy tales I already knew.
The Frog Princess: The princess and her attendants are clearly the personification of the elemental forces in nature.
Princess Miranda and Prince Hero: This is a short story of the triumph of Light over Darkness, and in many ways is an allegory of Poland of a century ago, and perhaps it can be applied now to Europe in the current history of being overrun by militarism. The old woman "Jandza" is a reoccurring character type in Polish and Russian fairy tales 鈥� she is The Witch of Witches, so to speak, and she is malevolent.
The Eagles: A smooth-flowing short story.
The Whirlwind: The name of the heroine, " 艁adna," means "pretty" in Polish, and the name of the prince is "Dobrotek," roughly translates as "good.鈥� This short story has Eastern flair that suggests Persia or India, including the ugly dwarf who suggests an evil Jinn.
The Good Ferryman and the Water Nymphs: Enjoyable and the story flows well.
The Princess of the Brazen Mountain: Here is a tale of a mystical damsel, compelled by the theft of her wings to remain temporarily as a mortal with a mortal husband, actually has counterparts in many other fairy tales around the world.
The Bear in the Forest Hut: This short fairy tale is all right.
I quite enjoyed this collection of seven Polish fairy tales, some of which I heard growing up.
Read like half the tales. A lot about the importance of charity, not judging a book by its cover, and priests got to do a marriage; which is interesting knowing the main point of most religions. In that sense, folklore is antithetical to religion- or perhaps a clever commentary on it. The enchanted balls of yarn were interesting. Also a lot of flying and flying animals.
Some of the translation is a little rough, but not terrible. This is especially evident in the name translations, but it does get explained. Almost as good as the Polish version.