books

To add to the diversity of this blog I decided I am going to introduce you to the world of Czech and Slovak fairy tales (and if you know all about them it may just be a good review for you). Since we are currently in the middle of – for some of us – quite the hash winter, there is no better suited children’s tale than the one about the Twelve Months (O Dvanacti Mesickach). I found it translated into English  in the “Hudba in the Czech Republic” blog and that person did a marvelous job (Czech translation can be found here):

CZ: Ahoj! Tak jsem si rikala, ze bych mohla k pestrosti tohoto blogu take pridat treba pohadky. Vestina lidi ted dosti mrzne, tak jsem si rikala, ze je velmi vhodne venovat se pohadce O dvanacti mesickach, co rikate? Anglicky preklad jsem nasla na blogu zvanem “Hudba in the Czech Republic” a cesky preklad muzete najit zde (kliknete zde).

ONCE UPON A TIME there lived a mother who had two daughters. One was her own child, the other her stepdaughter. She was very fond of her own daughter, but she would not so much as look at her step-daughter. The only reason was that Maruša, the stepdaughter, was prettier than her own daughter, Holena. The gentle-hearted Maruša did not know how beautiful she was, and so she could never make out why her mother was so cross with her whenever she looked at her. She had to do all the housework, tidying up the cottage, cooking, washing, and sewing, and then she had to take the hay to the cow and look after her. She did all this work alone, while Holena spent the time adorning herself and lazing about. But Maruša liked work, for she was a patient girl, and when her mother scolded and rated her, she bore it like a lamb. [click to continue…]