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FOLKTALES
C U L T U R E
T R A D I T I O N S
F O L K L O R E
H I S T O R Y
Collection of Bulgarian, Turkish and Latvian folktales
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This publication is carried out in the framework of "The value of
divercity in our cultural heritage" project. This project has been
funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may
be made of the information contained therein.
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Partners:Coordinating institution
Name: State High School of Economics
“Dimitar Hadjivasilev”
11 “Dimitar Hadjivasilev” Street
5250 Svishtov, Bulgaria
Partner institution N°1
Name: Selcuk Primary School
Ereglikapi Mahallesi Selcuk
Caddesi 1451 Nolu Sokak
Aksaray, Turkey
THE VALUE OF DIVERSITYIN OUR CULTURAL HERITAGEComenius School partnership
Theme for 2007 - 2008:
FOLKTALES
Partner institution N°2
Name: Zakumuizas Primary School
Skolas 3, Zakumuiza,
LV – 2133, Riga region
Latvia
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B U L G A R I A N
F O L K T A L E S
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A grandfather left his home and made his way across the plains to the
town of Zlatica. Along the way he lost his glove.
A little mouse who was playing in the plain ran across the glove. She
saw the glove and went inside it.
Next, a rabbit, running wet and scared of something came across the
glove.
“Who is inside the glove?” asked the long-eared rabbit.
“It is me, the little mouse, Grizana. Who are you?” asked the frightened
mouse.
“I am rabbit, Srednogorski. I am hiding from people's words,” said the
rabbit who was also afraid, and asked very carefully, “Is there room in
that warm glove where I can find peace for my soul?”
“Come in! When I am alone I am bored,” said the mouse.
Next, came a fox. She
stopped on the road and
smiled, “Who is in that
glove?”
“The little mouse is resting
in the warmth, and the
rabbit is hiding from
people's words, and what
are your troubles? Why
Grand Fathers' Glove
Drawn by Kristina Pusheva
Translated by Michael Bennion, Bulgaria
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are you disrupting us?” “I
am the golden fox and I
would like to warm in
your glove, too.”
“Well, come in. Even if it
is crowded you are still a
member of our family,”
said the mouse.
The wolf from the Balkans next came by and spotting the glove, stopped
and smelt it. Then he felt the glove and it moved and he asked, “Whose
scared soul is hiding in that glove?”
“In the glove is the resting little mouse Grizliva, the rabbit Srednogorski,
hiding from the bad people's words, and the golden fox who is warming
herself in the glove,” said a voice from the glove. “Be our guest and
accept our invitation.” The wolf from the Balkans obliged and went
inside the glove.
Not soon after, there was another visitor seeking solace in the glove.
“Who is there and why are you disrupting us?” said a voice from the
glove.
“I am the shaggy bear, and I wish to be your guest”, said the shaggy
bear.
“Come inside! Even if we are plenty, you are still our relative.”
They all became friendly together sitting like kings, and began getting to
know eachother.
Soon the grandfather from Zlatica went to find his warm glove, knowing
Drawn by Florans Miteva
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if he didn’t find it his wife would hit him with a stick. And while he was
walking and coughing from the cold, his soul became shaken and his
heart started beating harder. He searched everywhere and finally spotted
it, and was startled by what he saw. His glove was moving. He could
see a head of mouse, a shinny tooth, a long bushy tail wagging, a little
piece of mountain wolf’s ear, and one small chunk of bear’s fur.
“What are you thinking?” asked the grandfather to himself. He got his
stick, rolled up his sleeves, and began to start violently hitting his glove
over and over again.
That night at home his wife was waiting for him. The old man, smoking
his pipe and smiling from ear to ear, came inside and laid down on the
table more game (animal meat) than either had seen in years.
Drawn by Tsvetelina Vidiova
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Lazy Bogdanka
Translated by Galabina Todorova, Bulgaria
When was time for Bogdanka to get married her mother gave instructions
to her parents-in-law:
- My child shouldn’t overwork herself, she isn’t taught to work. Take
care of her. Don’t give her the broom to clean the house or the yard
because she’ll get dust into her eyes. Don’t let her carry the coppers
because her shoulder is tender and isn’t used to carrying full coppers.
Put under her head a down pillow because she is used to sleeping on a
soft pillow.
The parents-in-law looked at each other but didn’t say anything.
- Promise me to never tell her a bad word. Her ears are not used to
listening bad words.
- Don’t worry about bad words, there
isn’t such thing in our house – said
the father-in-law and got on the cart.
Next to him sat the mother-in-law and
at the back sat the groom and
Bogdanka. They set off for the other
village. They traveled all day because
the other village was far away.
In the evening when they arrived, the
mother-in-law got to work, preparedDrawn by Diana Hristova
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a cheese pasty, killed a chicken, boiled it in the pot, went down to the
cellar and poured some wine. Bogdanka was sitting on a stool, arms-
crossed and thought to herself:
“What a nimble woman my mother-in-law is just like my mother. We’ll
have a good life here.”
They had dinner and went to bed. The night was soon over.
On the next day her father-in-law got up early and woke up everyone:
- C’mon – he said, - get up, let’s go to the field!
- What will we do there? – rubbed her sleepy eyes Bogdanka and
started to yawn sweetly.
- We’ll hoe the corn.
- With hoes? – asked the spoiled bride.
- Of course with hoes- answered her mother-in-law.
- I won’t come.
- Why? – asked the groom.
- Because the hoe is very heavy and I shouldn’t pick up heavy things.
- Leave her – said the father. – let her clean the house and prepare
something to eat for tonight. We need a person here too.
The hosts went to the field and the young bride stayed at home. She
stayed in bed until noon. When she got up she felt hungry and started to
look for something to eat but she didn’t find anything in the pots.
- They didn’t leave me anything, they have forgotten me – Bogdanka
stretched and entered the garden to look at the flowers. - Àh, what
beautiful flowers! – she exclaimed and started to pick them and smell
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them. The little bees were flying fast
from flower to flower and were
buzzing happily.
- Why are those in a hurry? – said
Bogdanka and started to walk idly
to
the nearest cherry-tree.
She lied on the grass under the tree,
reached up as she was lying down
and picked a few cherries to beguile
her hunger and started to yawn. She spent the whole day like that.
In the evening the three hoers came back beaten from work and
extremely tired. They looked around and what did they see: the house
wasn’t in order, there was no water in the coppers, the fire had went
out, the hens fell asleep without being fed.
The mother-in-law threw the hoe and grabbed the coppers first. She
brought water from the fountain. She made fire, put potatoes in the pot
and kneaded a white round loaf. She prepared the dinner fast. Bogdanka
was watching her sitting on a chair and dangling her legs.
When the dinner was ready, the mother-in-law invited everyone.
- Let’s have dinner!
Bogdanka sat first. The father-in-law took the loaf and broke it in three
parts. He gave one part to his wife, one to his son and the third one left
for himself.
Drawn by Kristina Pusheva
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- And what about the bride? – the mother-in-law asked him.
- She isn’t hungry. He, who doesn’t work, doesn’t get hungry.
Bogdanka bit her lips, frowned and got up from the table. She went to
her room and started to cry. She couldn’t sleep all night because of the
hunger.
On the next morning everything repeated. The three workers went to
plant the vegetable garden. Bogdanka didn’t feel like going with them.
- The sun shines too much – she said, - I’ll sunburn.
They left her again at home. That day the spoiled bride didn’t do anything
again. She found under a dish a piece of dry bread left for the dog and
ate it, afterwards she lied down all day until the evening in the garden.
Because she didn’t bring water to water the garden the beautiful flowers
started to dry out.
Late in the evening the three workers came back again, extremely tired.
The mother-in-law frowning started to knead a loaf and when they sat
around the table the father-in-law again split the round loaf in three.
Bogdanka again was left empty-handed.
- Why don’t you give bread to the bride? – asked the mother-in-law.
- Because he who doesn’t work, mustn’t eat! – replied the father.
Bogdanka turned in her bed all night and thought for a long time. She fell
asleep at dawn. At third cock-crow she jumped. She looked for her
parents-in-law and her husband but she didn’t find them because they
had gone out to the field at dark. Then Bogdanka got to work. She ran
here and there. She swept the house. She brought water from the fountain,
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watered the flowers in the garden, made fire and cooked a meal for the
workers. She kneaded with some flour from the bread-trough. She
baked a round loaf. When she finished all the housework she sat at the
doorstep to spin. In the evening the eyes of the tired workers brightened
up when the saw all the work the bride had done. Bogdanka set the
table gave the loaf to her father-in-law and waited anxiously what he
would do. Her father-in-law took the round loaf and split it in four pieces.
The biggest one gave to Bogdanka and said:
- Eat, my child, you earned this bread because you worked hard today!
Bogdanka took the bread and started to eat. She has never tasted such
sweet bread.
Drawn by Vania Nikolova
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The people of Sly Peter’s village got together in
the square of their village to elect a mayor. The
man known as Sly Peter also turned up. He put on
his new fur cap because he knew that there were
people who judged a person by what was on his
head and not what was in it.
Soon the village crier arrived. He was a man with a
big stomach, who had a long pipe and a rosary.
“Peter, the fur cap you have put on looks like mine.
Give it to me to have a look at it,” said the crier.
Sly Peter gave him the fur cap.
“Let’s see if it rolls,” said the village crier who then threw it on the
ground in an attempt to make the villagers laugh. Sly Peter bent down,
picked up his fur cap, shook it off and said, “Listen to me, people of the
village, as I’m going to tell you one story.” The people of the village
knew that he could tell stories very well, so they crowded around him.
The Sly Peter began, “I think that everyone has heard something about
the Jewish king, King Solomon. People say, that he knew people’s pasts,
could predict the future and understood the language of every creature
on the Earth. Once Solomon invited to his garden all the animals: Lions,
bears, wolves, deer, horses, and animals both big and small alike. You
will ask me why he invited them. He invited them because he knew their
The Sly Peter as Mayor
Drawn by VaniaNikolova
Translated by Michael Bennion, Bulgaria
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languages and wanted to
listen to their conversations
and to laugh with them,
knowing that animals told
each other very funny things.
The king’s garden soon filled
up.”
The villagers listened carefully,
as did the village crier, as Sly Peter continued. “Eventually the donkey
(jackass) came. When it saw so many animals in one place, it stood in
front of Solomon and started braying (the sound a jackass makes) with
all the power it had. All the animals were taken aback and Solomon
plugged his ears. When the jackass stopped braying, the lion came up
to it and asked what the jackass was doing? ‘I’m braying,’ replied the
jackass. ‘Why are braying?’ the lion asked. ‘Because I am a jackass
and if I don’t show my ass trick in front of this big meeting, where will I
show it?’ said the ass.”
“This is the end of the story,” Sly Peter said. “Did you understand it?”
The people of the village said
they did and showed it by
laughing. The village crier got
up and ran away from the
square. In the end, the
people of the village elected
Sly Peter for mayor.
Drawn by Diana Hristova
Drawn by Mihaela Markova
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T U R K I S H
F O L K T A L E S
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Translated by Tugba Cevik, Turkey
Once upon a time, there is a man whose name is Ali Baba. He lives in a
small town with his wife, his son and his son’s wife together. He makes
his living by cutting wood. He is so poor but his brother- Kasim is too
rich.
One day, while he is cutting woods he sees a troapof horsemen. He is
afraid of so he hides behind a tree and watches them. There are forty
horsemen. They are robbers. They stop in front of a big rock. One of
them says "Open sesame open!" and the rock opens slowly. They all go
into the cave. Then the door close after them. After a short time the
door opens and the horseman says "Close sesame close!" The door
closes and they all ride away.
After they go away, Ali Baba comes down. He says the magic words
and goes into the cave. He can’t believe his eyes. The cave is full of all
kinds of treasure. He
loads his three asses with
them. He goes out and
says "Close sesame
close!"
He gets home. He tells
everything to his family.
They want to count the
gold. But it will take too
Ali Baba and Forty Thieves
Drawn by Kezban Altintas
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long time so they
decide to measure
them with a bucket.
They haven’t got a
bucket so his wife runs
to Kasim’s house to
borrow one. Kasim’s
wife is very inquisitive
and she wants to learn
what they will measure. She covers the bottom of the bucket with honey.
When the bucket is brought, they see a piece of gold is stuck to the
honey.
They are surprised and immediately Kasim goes his brother’s house to
learn everything. Ali Baba tells him his secret. Then Kasim wants to get
the treasure too. He goes and gets some treasure. After he fills up bags
of gold, he wants to go out from the cave but he forgets the magic
words. He can’t go out and the horsemen return. They cut his body into
four parts and kills him.
Kasim doesn’t return so his wife is very curious about him. He goes to
Ali Baba to find him. Ali Baba goes the cave and find his dead. He
brings his dead and want to show his death normal. So they find an old
cobbler to get his body stitch. They close the cobbler’s eyes not to
learn their house. But he counts his steps to find their house again.
When forty horsemen return, they can’t find Kasim’s dead. So they
decide to go to town to find the person who learns their secret. They
Drawn by Yasemin Eser
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hears Kasim’s death, then find an old cobbler. They give him a lot of
money to bring them to Ali Baba’s house.
They find his house and make a cross sign on its door to find it again
easily. When Ali Baba’s son’s wife- Mihriban returns home, she notices
it and makes the same sign on every doors. Forty men come but they
can’t find.
Later they manage to find his house again. This time they come their
house as a merchant to sell some oil. They bring a lot of large earthenware
pots in which men are hidden. They plan to kill them at night. Mihriban
notices them. She boils a lot of oil and pour oil into these pots. She kills
these men. By this way, they get rid of these robbers and pass a very
happy and wealthy life together.
Prepared by English Club
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Translated by Tugba Cevik, Turkey
Once upon a time there lived an
orphan named Keloglan. He was
too poor. In his childhood he had
to learn how to earn his own living.
He had to work at difficult jobs and
to use his mind while his friends had
been playing games.
One day, Keloglan was passing by
the Sultan’s palace. He saw Sultan’s
daughter and fell in love. When
Sultan was returning from hunting,
he found Keloglan staring at his
daughter. Keloglan admited; he fell in love with her daughter. The Sultan
was very angry with Keloglan because of his being fearless and
disrespectful. So the Sultan put him into dungeon.
One day, a letter and a stick from Sultan of India came to this country’s
Sultan. He asked them to find the thicker part of this stick otherwise he
said ‘I will attack you with my army. Nobody found the answer. Sultan’s
daughter reminded Keloglan and finally he found. But again they put
him into the dungeon.
Later, Indian Sultan sent them three horses and wanted them to find
which horse was mother, which one was foal and which one was the
Keloglan and the Sultans
Drawn by Melike Yener
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foal’s colt? Again
nobody but Keloglan
found the answers.
Then Indian Sultan said
them to send the
greatest and the most
clever person in their
country. He said
otherwise he would
invade their country and take them as a prisoner. Nobody wanted to
help to The Sultan. Then they brought Keloglan.
Keloglan accepted his offer but he said "I will go to the Indian Sultan
and bring him to you as a prisoner on the condition that you let me
marry your daughter as a reward." The Sultan accepted his offer because
he thought it was impossible.
Finally, Keloglan managed to bring Indian Sultan as a prisoner and get
married to Sultan’s daughter…
Drawn by Ali Arik
Drawn by Elif Akpinar
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Translated by Tugba Cevik, Turkey
GIVE ME TEN OR GIVE ME NONE!
One day, after lunch Hodja was sleeping. He had dream. In his dream
there was a rich man. This man was giving nine pieces of gold to Hodja.
But Hodja was saying; "Give me ten or give me none!"
Then Hodja woke up. He looked at his hand. It was empty. The gold
pieces in his dream weren’t there! The rich man wasn’t there either.
Hodja closed his eyes again and open his hand.
He said; "Ok! Ok! I’ll take nine…"
Nasrettin Hodja
Drawn by Ayse Nur Tekin
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BAKLAVA
One day Hodja’s student said, "Look, Hodja! The baker
is carrying a big tray of baklava!" Hodja didn’t stop reading.
|"It is none of my business what the baker is carrying." he
said.
"But Hodja," the student said, "He is carrying it to your
house!" Hodja looked up then.
"In that case, it is none of your business."
Drawn by Kubra Cakmak
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Drawn by Mustafa Erdogan
THEN, WHERE IS THE CAT?
One day Nasrettin Hodja brought home, some meat but
never got a chance to eat it. His wife ate it with her friends.
When Hodja returned his home, he asked for some meat.
His wife said: "The cat stole it. I run after it but I couldn’t
catch it."
Hodja said; "Bring the cat please." He grabbed the cat and
weighed it. It weighed three kilos. Hodja then turned his
wife and said; " This is three kilos. If this is the cat, then
where is the meat? But if this is the meat, then where is the
cat?"
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L A T V I A N
FOLKTALES
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A king makes his son
work the land. Once
while ploughing, the
son hits his horse too
strong. The horse
says, “Do not hit me,
you’ll need me
tomorrow. Your
father is going to send
you to the underworld with a message.” “What message?” wonders the
son. But in the morning it is obvious that the horse was right. The king
wakes his son up very early to carry a message to the underworld. All
right. The son mounts the horse and goes like a hurricane. In the
underground he leaves his horse in the clover field, and goes directly to
the devil.
The devil says, “It’s good, it’s good that you came with a message! But
stay with me! You can walk wherever you want, but do not enter that
room that is tied with basts”.
The son is thinking, “What a joke! He won’t let me where I want!
Special rooms, indeed!” and opens the door. And what is in it? He sees
a big wolf riding on his horse’s back. But it is not clear who has led the
horse in there.
Translated by Dzintra Kalnina, Latvia
Silver, gold and diamond
Drawn by Kaspars Ciris
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The son gets angry, “What a bad luck! This thief is going to ride my
horse!” and wants to give him a good scold. But the wolf calmly gets
down from the horse’s back and starts to eat meat in the other corner of
the room. The horse has got a manger full of oats, and he is eating as
well.
The son is thinking,“What a nice lifestyle he is leading! He can eat meet
as much as he wants!”
Then, deliberately mocking at the wolf, the son takes meat and puts it in
front of his horse, but the manger with oats he brings to the wolf. The
very moment the wolf gets an-gry. How could he change the food? But
the son doe’s not answer. It stays the way it is.
On the second day the son unlocks the room and changes the food
once more. The devil goes mad but the son does not answer.
On the third day, when the oats are changed to meet, the horse says,
“Listen, the right time has come. Here
is silver, gold, diamonds and three
cauldrons. Pour silver, gold and
diamonds each into a separate
cauldron and heat till it boils. Then
pour the boiling liquid from the
cauldrons into three little pots, again
separately, and tomorrow drop a bit
from all the three pots on me and
yourself, and that moment we will
glitter in pure silver, gold and Drawn by Kristiana Miezite
- 30 -
diamond.”
All right, the son does as it was said. In the following morning, he puts
some drops from the pots onto himself and his horse, and at the same
moment both are glittering and shimmering. The wolf stands nearby and
looks desperately, as if willing to have few drops. The son being in high
spirits, thinks, “A11 right, lets give the wolf as well” and drops a bit
from the pots. But as soon as he does it, the scoffed wolf turns into such
a beautiful girl in silver, golden and diamond robes that his heart cannot
stand still. Being so happy he puts the girl onto his horse and rides home
as quick as possible.
But not much time has gone when the devil sees it and runs after them
making the earth thunder.
But the son pours few drops from the silver pot onto the ground - this
very moment a dense forest springs up. The devil goes like madman.
He tears the silvery trees with his teeth, and finally he gets through and
runs after them again. Now, the son pours a bit from the pot with gold,
and a golden mountain rises there. The devil goes back to get an ax and
axes his way through the mountain. He tries to bury the ax under a
stone, but the gray crow is crying, “I’l1 steal, I’ll steal it!”
Nothing doing, the devil has to bring the ax home. When he gets back,
the riders are far away, and the devil has to go really quickly. But the
son spills some drops from the diamond pot, and the very moment large,
wide diamond river is flowing there. The devil has to spend several days
to get over, but by that time the riders are safely at home with the girl’s
father.
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The daughter goes to meet her father, while the son stays outside in the
king’s garden where he spills few drops from his pots. In a short while
the garden is full of silver trees with golden and diamond fruit. The king
comes out very happy, “My trees have not been fruitful for ages! But
now, look, how full they are. How does it come?”
The very second the devil arrives and asks to give him the girl, otherwise
all will go bad way.
“Yes, yes, what can I do, you can take her!” But the devil, waiting for
the girl, falls asleep in the silver garden. The son comes with some sleeping
drug and drops it in the devil’s nose. The devil springs up to kill the son,
but he is so sleepy that cannot fight prop-erly. So the son beats the
devil. Now the hero laughs and runs to the king: he asks to give the girl
to him, because he has freed the king from the devil. The king is so
pleased that he allows him to marry king’s daughter.
Drawin by Aleksejs Polukovs
- 32 -
Once there lived two
neighbours -an ant and a
grasshopper. The ant was
diligent and hardworking,
the grasshopper, in its turn,
wasn't at all. When the
summer came, the ant
started building its house
and worked hard to get enough food to last through the winter. In the
autumn its larders were well stocked. So while the ant was working, the
grasshopper was jumping, singing and having just fun without thinking
of the coming winter.
The summer was soon over. Rainy and cold weather set in. The ant
lived in its warm house having its tummy full, but the grasshopper was
hungry and had to shiver in
the cold weather, for it had
neither a house to get in to
warm itself, nor a morsel of
food to satiate its hunger.
Weak with hunger the grass-
hopper finally went to the ant
and asked humbly: "Dear
Translated by Elina Luca-Ratfelde, Latvia
The ant and the grasshopper
Drawn by Diana Vitola
Drawn by Paula Pure
- 33 -
Anty, help me! Please, give me
just a little bit to eat, otherwise I
am going to die of hunger...."
"What did you do in the summer-
time, if you have not gathered
enough food for the winter?" -
the ant asked the grasshopper.
"I didn't do anything special -just jumped, sang and didn't think of the
winter" - was the grasshopper's answer. "What a terrible lazybones you
are! All the summer you've
spent without working! And
haven't thought at all, how it will
be in the cold wintertime!" "I
didn't do anything special -just
jumped, sang and didn't think
of the winter" - was the
grasshopper's answer. "What a terrible lazybones you are! All the sum-
mer you've spent without working! And haven't thought at all, how it
will be in the cold wintertime!" "Dear Anty, please help me! I swear I
will build my own house in the next
summer and will have gathered my
own food when the winter comes!"
The ant listened to the promises of
the grasshopper and gave the grass-
hopper a shelter and a meal.
Drawn by Dinars Matiss
Drawn by Girts Rudzitis
Drawn by Sandra Podina
- 34 -
One day a farmer’s wife took
some butter and a handful of
meal and wanted to bake a
great crumpet. When the
crumpet was put on the
bread-shovel, it looked so
delicious that it made the
mouths of her seven children and the grandfather water.
The crumpet saw everything and started considering, how to run away
from them. Finally, when the farmer’s wife drew the crumpet out of the
oven in order to look at it a little, the crumpet jumped down of the
bread-shovel and ran to the door.
The door was open because it was a hot summer day. The crumpet
rolled out through the door and rolled further along the way, without
knowing where. The seven
children of the farmer’s wife
and the grandfather followed
it, but they couldn’t catch the
crumpet.
On the way it met a rooster
that called to wait for it. “If
the farmer’s wife, her seven
Translated by Elina Luca-Ratfelde, Latvia
The crumpet
Drawn by Arturs Rinkevichs
Drawn by Marika Kumma
- 35 -
children and the grandfather
followed me, but couldn’t
catch me, what do you want
then?!” answered the crumpet
and rolled further.
Then it met a duck that called
to wait for it as well, but the
crumpet answered the same
“If the farmer’s wife, her seven children, the grandfather and the rooster
followed me, but couldn’t catch me, what do you want then?!”
Then it met the tailor Jegermeier that also called to wait for him, but the
crumpet answered however: “If the farmer’s wife, her seven children,
the grandfather, the rooster and the duck followed me, but couldn’t
catch me, what do you want then?!”
Finally the crumpet met a pig that offered to carry it on its muzzle. The
crumpet gladly agreed and as it had set itself down on the pig’s muzzle,
the pig ate it immediately up.
Drawn by Einars Vaichekausks
Drawn by Unigunda Meijere
- 36 -
Summary
Every child likes reading
fairytales because this is how we learn
many useful things and we dream to
be in the place of the characters. In
fairytales there is always a moral that
helps us to understand what the
important things are. Fairytales
always use unusual characters and
magical objects and that makes them
similar to the games that we play. And
the most important thing of course is that we find out a lot about the customs
and traditions of people from different countries around the world.
Latvian fairytales were very close and familiar to us because we have the
same stories in our folklore. They have almost the same names in Bulgaria
“The Damper” and “A cricket and an ant”. In both fairytales the good and the
wise is that with work and diligence you could overcome any hardship. The
wisdom of the crumpet is similar to the desire of each of us to explore the world
without considering even for a moment the problems and obstacles we might
face on our way. We notice the desire of elder people to help, to show us the
way, but we see also the disobedience of the young. “The cricket and the ant”
shows a different side of life; there the qualities of the characters are leading.
The diligence of the ant, her foresight meets the merriment and careless of the
cricket. Music is opposed to the care for the home. But the happy end makes
everything alright and the message is understood by the readers.
Turkish fairytales were familiar to us too, not in plot but in the qualities
of the characters. Nasrettin Hoca looks like our Sly Peter and the little Keloglan
looks like the poor boy we have in the story “The poor boy and the king’s
daughter”. The common thing is that the ordinary person, the poor villager
could win only with his qualities. The good thing is that the characters are
always led by the desire to help others. Their reactions are always fun and
witty; they manage to outwit the bad guy with a joke. And naturally love wins.
Fairytales are wealth and reading them bear us delight as well as wise
advice about life.
Drawn by Gergana Hristova
Written by Bulgarian students
- 37 -
Written by Turkish students
There are lots of Turkish folktales. Keloglan, Nasrettin Hodja and Ali
Baba and Forty Thieves are the most well-known ones.
There are a lot of folktales about Nasrettin Hodja. Nasrettin Hodja is
loved and well-known in Turkey. These folktales aim to give some lessons to
the readers and make them laugh at the same time. They can be named as
anecdotes at the same time. Thet aren’t too long but the are too funny. At the
end of the tales, they make readers think.
Ali Baba and Forty Thieves is an enjoyable tale too. There is only one
tale about Ali Baba. At the end of the tale it gives lessons to the readers too.
There are a lot of folktales which have been written about Keloglan.
Keloðlan means bald boy in Turkish. Keloglan is very intelligent like Nasrettin
Hodja and Sly Peter. These tales about him make the readers think too.
There aren’t any clear differences between Turkish, Bulgarian and Latvian
folktales. But there are lots of similarities among them.
Bulgarian tales have got some similarities with the Turkish ones. “Sly
Peter as Mayor” is similar to Nasrettin Hodja. This folktale makes the people
think and laugh. At the end of the tale it gives lessons to the readers. This tale
is about one man who is too intelligent like Nasrettin Hodja. Like these tales,
the folktale whose name is “Lazy Bogdanka” gives a lesson at the end of it.
Grand father’s glove is found enjoyable and funny by little readers like other
all folktales.
Latvian folktales "Silver, gold and
diamond" and "The crumpet" make the
reader curious about the conclusion like
other folktales. Silver, gold and diamond
has resemblance to Keloglan and the
Sultans. The ant and the grasshopper is
well known in Turkey too. Turkish readers
read and like this story very much.
Readers read these stories fondly and
gladly. They make the readers curious
about the conclusion. At the end of the tales,
most of these tales give some lessons to the
readers. Most of time, at the end, they make
the readers smile.Drawn by Gergana Hristova
- 38 -
Written by Latvian students
Folktales, which we had read, are
full of incredible events, interesting
characters. There are many elements of
fantasy in every tale. But the tale has
wisdom of the ages. It can tell for the
reader who to act in complicated
situation. There are described good and
bad and wicked things, values of our
lives. A reader acquires experience and
knowledge.
We wanted to learn some
similarities in Turkish and Bulgarian
tales. We found out every people’s tale
differs with language, main characters,
but all of them contains some instructions
or wisdom.
Latvian folklore has a similar story with Bulgarian tale “Grandfather’s
glove”, where main characters are clever animals. There are lots of stories
about young girls, lazy daughters in the Latvian fairy tales too.
Turkish people’s tales are full of comic elements, jokes and jests. Every
folktale contains nation wisdom told by clever joke, comic situation. We found
out about clever little boy Keloglan and interesting national character
Nasrettin Hodja. The tale about Ali Baba and Forty Thieves was well known
from animation film and book for children.
Every nation differs with their tales, songs, dances, beliefs and rituals,
and these differences we can see in national literature, music and art. But we
are glad to find out some similarities in folk tales, that makes our people
closer and friendlier to each other.
Drawn by Gergana Hristova
- 39 -
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