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Another Czech fairytale: How the egg goes for a wander / Jak slo vejce na vandr

This is not one of my all-time favorite Czech tales (it’s kind of boring to tell you the truth)  but nonetheless it does belong to the Czech classics so let’s get it over with :).

CZ: Musim se priznat, ze tato ceska pohadka neni jedna z mych nejoblibenejsich (prijde mi z odpustenim trosku nudna); nicmene patri k ceskym klasikam, tak jsem si rekla, ze ji sem pridam.

Once on a beautiful day the egg says, “It’s a nice day today, I am going to go see the world.” On his way he meets a bull. “Where are you going, egg?” asks the bull. “I am going for a walk,” replies the egg. “I will go with you, there will be more of us, we wont be scared of the wolf or anything, ” says the bull. So they go. There are two of them when they meet a horse. “Where are you going?” asks the horse. “We are going for a walk,” says the egg and the bull adds: “Come with us, there will be more of us, we won’t be scared of the wolf or anything else.” So they go. There are now three of them when they meet a cat. The cat decides to go with them  too. So they go and now there are four of them when they meet a turkey. “Where are you going?” asks the turkey. “We are going to see the world,” answers the egg, the bull, the horse and the cat. “Come with us turkey, there will be more of us, we won’t be afraid of the wolf or anything else,” says the cat.

Now there are five of them when they meet a duck.  The duck goes with them too, so there are six of them. So they go and meet a crayfish. “Where are you going?” asks the crayfish. “Come with us crayfish, there will be more of us, we won’t be scared of the wolf or anything else,” says the egg, the bull, the horse, the cat, the turkey and the duck. So they go and there are seven of them.

Suddenly they realize that they are in the deep forest. “I think we are lost,” says the egg and the animals agree. “Yes, we are lost, we are hungry and thirsty and where are we going to sleep tonight?” the all cry.  But then the egg says to the cat, “You have good eyes, climb up this tree and look for a light.” The cat shouts from the tree, “I can see a light shinning from a cottage window.” “Let’s go there,” says the egg, “and even if the wolves live there, they will have to give us something to eat and drink.” So they go to the cottage.

“Is anybody home?” asks the horse while he knocks on the window with his hoof. But nobody answers. The bull looks through the window, but he can’t see anybody. “Let us go in and let’s wait until someone arrives,” suggests the duck. Suddenly, the egg and the animals hear  terrible shouting. “Those must be bandits and we are in their cottage,” says the turkey. “Don’t be scared, turkey. We will give them a special ‘welcome'” says the egg and quickly whispers to the animals what to do.

The bandits arrive at the cottage. The first one opens the door and the horse kicks him so hard that he flies far away from the door. The second bandit ends up even worse.  He doesn’t have a clue what is happening to him. Something throws  him high up, another thing scratches him, something  stings him, pecks him and shakes him up.  The thief gathers all of his remaining strength and runs away from the cottage to escape these terrible ‘monsters’.  “We won!” shouts the duck. “Even the bandits are scared of us!” says the crayfish happily. “Why don’t we stay in the cottage and live ever after happily toghether?” suggests the egg and everyone agrees.

CZ: Jednoho krasneho dne si vejce rika: “Dnes je hezky, pujdu se podivat do sveta.” Jak tak jde, potka ho vul. “Kam jdes, vejce?” pta se vul. “Jdu na wandr,” odpovida vejce. “Pujdu s tebou, bude nas vic, nebudeme se bat vlka nic,” rekl vul. Jdou, jdou, jsou dva a potkaji kone. “Kam jdete?” pta se kun. “Jdeme na vandr,” rika vejce a vul dodava: “Pojd s nami, koni, bude nas vic, nebudeme se bat vlka, nic.” Jdou dal, jsou tri a potkaji kocku. Kocka se rozhodla, ze s nimi pujde do sveta na vandr. A tak jdou, uz jsou ctyri. Potkaji krocana. “Kam jdete?” pta se krocan. Jdeme do sveta na vandr,” odpovidaji vejce, vul, kiun a kocka. “Pojd s nami, krocane, bude nas vic, nebudeme se bat vlka, nic,” rika kocka. A jejich pet. Jdou a jdou a potkaji kachnu. Take kachna jde s nimi a jej jich tedy sest. Jdou dal a potkaji raka. “Kam jdete?” pta se rak. “Pojd s nami, raku, bude nas vic, nebudeme se bat vlka, nic,” rikaji vejce, vul, kun, kocka, krocan a kachna. Jdou dal a je jich sedm.

Najednou zjisti, ze jsou v hlubokem lese. “Asi jsme zabloudili,” rika vajicko a zviratka s nim souhlasi. “Ano, zabloudili jsme a uz mame hlad a zizen a kde budeme spat?!,” narikaji. Vajicko se zamysli a rika kocce: “Ty mas dobre oci, vylez na strom a podivej se po nejakem svetylku. “Kocka krici ze stromu: “Uz vidim svetylko, uz vidim chaloupku.” “Jdeme tam,” rika vajicko, ” a i kdyby tam zili vlci, musi nam dat najist a napit.” Jdou tekdy k chaloupce.

“Je nekdo doma?” klepe kun kopytem na dvere, ale nikdo neotvira. Vul se diva oknem dovnitr, ale nikoho nevidi. “Pojdme tam a pockejme, dokud nekdo neprijde,” rika kachna. Najednou vejce a zviratka slysi strasny rev. “To jsou loupeznici a my jsme v jejich chaloupce,” rika krocan. “Nic se neboj, krocane. My je uvitame,” povida vejce a rychle septa zviratkum, co maji delat.

Loupeznici jsou uz u chaloupky. Prvni loupeznik otvira dvere a vtom ho kopne kun, az odleti daleko od dveri. Druhy loupeznik ma mene stesti. Nevi, co se s nim deje. Neco ho vyhodilo do vysky, neco ho hrozne drape, neco ho stipe a neco ho klova a clouma s nim. Loupeznik sebral vsechny sily a zacal utikat z chaloupky pryc od tech hroznych priser. “Vyhrali jsme!” krici kachna. “I loupeznici se nas boji,” raduje se rak. “Zustaneme v chaloupce, a budeme tu spolu zit,” rika vejce.

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8 comments… add one
  • Sarka April 2, 2011, 8:58 am

    I don’t even know this story/ Ja tuhle pohadku ani neznam

  • milus April 2, 2011, 2:57 pm

    Tak ja jsem pohadky mela moc rada, ale tuhle vubec neznam…. Mozna, ze jsem z jineho kraje 🙂

  • Thalia April 2, 2011, 4:00 pm

    Ahojko vsechny!

    Jsem ten pohad libala, ale prvni jsem myslela oni budou jit veicko…:P I’m glad to nedelaly…jeje Jsem to neslisela ‘before’ ale dobry pro moje cesky ‘practice’. Ja to muzu cist moje ‘babycko…:)’

  • Crystal April 2, 2011, 4:02 pm

    i liked this,kind of silly but most fairy tales are!
    thanks!!

  • Tanja April 2, 2011, 8:51 pm

    What bugs me about it is that there is no surprise in the story line. The egg goes for a wander, meets bunch of friends, finds a house to sleep in, there are bad people living in the house, the egg and his friends fight them off – the end. C’mon! Give me some more meat to chew on here!
    Maybe that’s why this is a less known fairy tale.

  • Vlastimil April 3, 2011, 3:55 am

    Moralni ponauceni z teto pohadky: “Co neukradnes, nemas” :), neco na zpusob komnistickeho porekadla: “Kdo neokrada stat, okrada rodinu” 🙂
    i kdyz: “neni zlocin okradat zlodeje”,
    nehlede na to, ze: “Kradeny majetek by mel byt vracen pravoplatnym vlastnikum”…
    O tom se v pohadce nepise, zviratka si to ukradli a nic se vracet nebude 🙂

  • Vlastimil April 3, 2011, 4:01 am

    Tak me napadlo, co kdyz ti loupeznici byli Janosikova druzina? Prece bylo zname, ze bohatym brali a chudym davali. Diky krutym zviratku “redistribution of wealth” se zastavila a tisice rodin, ktere uz nekolik pokoleni jsou zavisle na Janosikovi a nekolik pokoleni se bez Janosika neobejdou, ted budou trpet hlady, jestlize nezacnou pracovat, jakoze pracovat nezacnou :))))

  • Greg April 13, 2011, 6:45 am

    I thought since the animals were hungry the egg was a goner. I need more meat in this story too. =)

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