Tale
Traditional Slovak Folktales
Prostonárodné slovenské povesti
Pavol Dobšinský · 1880
Synopsis
Ninety folktales gathered in eight volumes, of every kind: wonder tales, animal tales, legends, comic stories. We set out with an old beggar in search of a tale in Zlatá krajina, we follow little Janko Hraško, or the prophet who unmasks the thieves of a ring. To make these stories accessible to children, the collector removed much of the brutality, eroticism and bawdy humour of the oral versions.
Context
The collection appeared from 1880 to 1883, at the author's own expense, in eight volumes and seven hundred and sixty-eight pages; its author worked on it for some twenty years. It continues the six fascicles of Slovenské povesti published with Škultéty from 1858 to 1861. Most of the tales come from the collection of Ján Francisci, others from Božena Němcová, from the author's own collecting or from that of Čipka, Ormis and Daxner, all heavily reworked. Martin Benka illustrated the edition of the fifties, and the tales have been reprinted in more than twenty-one countries.
Who it is for
Short tales, in a language of the late nineteenth century, of which illustrated selections exist in French and English.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the largest and most complete collection of Slovak folk tales.