Poetry
John the Valiant
János vitéz
Sándor Petőfi · 1845
Opening lines
Tüzesen süt le a nyári nap sugára
Az ég tetejéről a juhászbojtárra ;
Fölösleges dolog sütnie oly nagyon,
A juhásznak úgy is nagy melege vagyon.
The summer sun's rays beat down fiercely
From the top of the sky upon the shepherd boy;
There is no need for it to burn so hard,
The shepherd is hot enough as it is.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from mek.oszk.hu
Synopsis
Kukorica Jancsi, a young orphan shepherd, loves Iluska, who is also an orphan and is tormented by her stepmother. One day when he lingers with her, his sheep scatter, and he is driven out of his home. Setting off to seek adventure, he joins the hussars, who cross fantastical lands to help the King of France against the Turks. He frees the king's daughter; the king gives him the name János vitéz and offers him her hand and his kingdom, but Jancsi refuses, faithful to Iluska.
Context
The poem was written in 1844 and published in 1845. It consists of three hundred and seventy quatrains, divided into twenty-seven chapters. The narrative starts from the real life of a village on the great plain, then escapes from it into folktale: griffin, giants, witches and the land of the fairies. Petőfi wrote it for simple people, and that is why the folktale serves him as a model. In English, John Ridland's rhymed verse translation, in 1999, received the Bálint Balassi Prize.
Who it is for
A long tale in verse, in simple language, that can be read in one sitting; there are several French translations, under the title Jean le Preux.
Prizes and reception
The most popular of its author's poems according to the Britannica, which sees in it an enchanting fairy tale.
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