Stories of Old

Folklore and folklore scholarsip has been see as one of the ways to promote and develop national identities in the new independent states. They are also a link between the diaspora and their native culture. Thus many of the books on this blog happen to be translatios of folk tales.

Some Great Old Stories From the Old Country is a small book, only 35 pages, published in 2006 by Nettle Hollow.  The stories in this book are old stories from the oral folk tradition of Macedonia. They are fun to share with both young and old. 

The translator and illustrator is Michael Seraphinoff, is a scholar with degrees in anthropology and an M.A. in Slavic linguistics. In addition to this latest publication, Seraphinoff has written some academic books and papers, and has translated Silyan the Stork. 

You can buy this book from the Canadian Macedonian Historical Society and Amazon. 

Even more folk tales

If you liked Tales from Long Ago here is one more book of fairytales from Croatia. Published in 2011 by Leykam International Zagreb, this book contains eleven folktales selected and adapted by Sanja Lovrenćič. The stories have been translated in English by Karen Butler, and the book is illustrated by Ivana Guljašević.

The book includes the following tales:
The cat and the fox
And the third son was a real bandit
The glutton
How a soldier became king
The rabbit, the bear, the man, and the fox
The servant changed the master
The rooster's company
The young man and the devil emperor
The little frog girl
The bridman and the black crow
The little fairy

If you want to check this book it's available from the Balkan Bookshop.

Winter reading

The holidays are over and I am back with another wonderful collection of fairy tales. I don't know about you, but for me winter is always about snuggling up in cozy chair, soft blanket and a fairy tale book. So here it is a book of Serbian Fairy Tales published in 2013 by Flying Fish Publications. The collection contains 20 stories, selected and translated by Jelena Ćurčić, edited by Sam Quinn and featuring illustrations by Rosanna Morris. It is part of a larger project  supported by Arts Council England and Serbian Council of Great Britain.

Here is part of the description offered on their internet site: "Serbian fairy tales were first compiled in 1821 by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, 'father of the study of Serbian folklore', who was a collaborator, friend and a well-known contemporary of Brothers Grimm and Goethe...The book also contains a wealth of information about the origin of the tales, about Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, Serbian folk lore and mythology and Serbian language, shining a light on the material previously not available in the UK."

And this is part of a review published on amazon by a reader: "the translation is easy to read, which makes the decision to leave key elements of Serbian folklore untranslated (Vila, and Zmaj, and Azdaja, and even Tzar) a gentle reminder that these are not English fairy tales, after all!"

Once upon a time...

A selection of twenty two Albanian folktales translated by Robert Elsie are free to read from his website. Most of the tales are translated as they appeared in Albanian language in Folklor shqiptar 1, Proza popullore (Tirana 1963). Together with about ten legends and an introduction by the translator they have been published in a book format first by Naim Frashëri Publishing Company, Tirana (Albania) in 1994; and than again by Dukagjini Publishing Company, Peja (Kosova) in 2001.

The stories in the collection are not necessarily written for children, but as in other folktales and adaptations children would find much pleasure in the fantastic world of the tales. As the translator and editor of the book states in his introduction: "The fundamental theme of Albanian folk tales, as no doubt of folk tales everywhere, is the struggle between good and evil, a reflection of social values as we perceive them. The cautious reader may rest assured ... that in the fantastic world of Albanian folk literature the good always win out."

Another folk story

Theater for Children and Youth Skopje

After the Croatian folk tales, you can also check the translation of an old folk story from Macedonia, Silyan the Stork translated in English by Michael Seraphinoff.

The story comes from the collections of folk tales recorded by Marko Cepenkov (or Tsepenkov) (1829 - 1920). A selection from the collection is also available in English edited by Dr. Ilija Casule, translated by Fay Thomev and published by Macquarie Univerity, Sidney.

The Macedonian language children adaptation of the story can be found at the Digital Children's Library.

Tales from Long Ago

illustration by Vladimir Kirin

And now something for the fantasy lovers. Probably most of the translated text for children from the Balkans are traditional folk tales. But this book offers a twist to the folk tales from the Croatian Tolkin. Croatian Tales of Long Ago were written by Ivana Brlić Mažuranić in 1916 in Zagreb. It was translated in English by F.S. Coperland and published in 1922 in New York and 1924 in London, with illustrations by the Croatian artist Vladimir Kirin. The six (or eight) stories included in the collection will also give you an insight into Slavic mythology.

Recently, the tales have been given a new look in a wonderful animation project by Helena Bulaja.