Croatian Tales of Long Ago
Encyclopedia
Croatian Tales of Long Ago , is a short story collection
written by the acclaimed children's author Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić
(sometimes spelled as "Ivana Berlić-Mažuranić" in English), originally published in 1916 in Zagreb
by the Matica hrvatska
publishing house. The collection is considered her masterpiece
and it features a series of newly written fairy tales heavily inspired by motifs taken from ancient Slavic mythology
of pre-Christian Croatia
.
Croatian Tales of Long Ago are seen as one of the most typical examples of her writing style which has been compared by literary critics to Hans Christian Andersen
and J. R. R. Tolkien
due to the way it combines original fantasy plots with folk mythology.
The collection was translated into English by F.S. Copeland and first published in New York in 1922 by the Frederick A. Stokes Co. and in 1924 in London by the George Allen & Unwin
publishing house, the same company which originally published J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
in 1937, and The Lord of the Rings
trilogy in 1954–55. The English-language editions also featured illustrations by the Croatian illustrator Vladimir Kirin.
The original Croatian edition published in 1916 consisted of six stories. Two additional stories were later added and first published in the Croatian 1926 edition. These eight appear in contemporary Croatian editions. Since the English translation was published before the extra two stories were written, they featured only the original six tales. The following is the list of original titles followed by English titles as translated by Copeland (stories missing from the English version are marked with the † symbol):
Between 2002 and 2006, the eight stories from the collection were adapted into a series of flash animated cartoons and interactive games made by an international team of animators from eight different countries, led by Helena Bulaja
. The project won numerous awards at various new media
and animation festivals. The cartoons were produced in Croatian, English and German and published in CD-ROM
format, and are available for viewing online.
Short story collection
A short story collection is a book of short stories by a single author, as distinguished by an anthology of fiction by more than one author. The stories in a collection can share a theme, setting, or characters and sometimes can also include work of poetry. Notable collections include Nine Stories...
written by the acclaimed children's author Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić
Ivana Brlic-Mažuranic
Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić was a Croatian writer. Within her native land, as well as internationally, she has been praised as the best Croatian writer for children.-Life:She was born on April 18, 1874 in Ogulin into a well-known Croatian family of Mažuranić...
(sometimes spelled as "Ivana Berlić-Mažuranić" in English), originally published in 1916 in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
by the Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
publishing house. The collection is considered her masterpiece
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
and it features a series of newly written fairy tales heavily inspired by motifs taken from ancient Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation.The religion possesses many common traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European religion....
of pre-Christian Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
.
Croatian Tales of Long Ago are seen as one of the most typical examples of her writing style which has been compared by literary critics to Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
and J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
due to the way it combines original fantasy plots with folk mythology.
The collection was translated into English by F.S. Copeland and first published in New York in 1922 by the Frederick A. Stokes Co. and in 1924 in London by the George Allen & Unwin
Allen & Unwin
Allen & Unwin, formerly a major British publishing house, is now an independent book publisher and distributor based in Australia. The Australian directors have been the sole owners of the Allen & Unwin name since effecting a management buy out at the time the UK parent company, Unwin Hyman, was...
publishing house, the same company which originally published J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
in 1937, and The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
trilogy in 1954–55. The English-language editions also featured illustrations by the Croatian illustrator Vladimir Kirin.
The original Croatian edition published in 1916 consisted of six stories. Two additional stories were later added and first published in the Croatian 1926 edition. These eight appear in contemporary Croatian editions. Since the English translation was published before the extra two stories were written, they featured only the original six tales. The following is the list of original titles followed by English titles as translated by Copeland (stories missing from the English version are marked with the † symbol):
- Kako je Potjeh tražio istinu (How Quest Sought the Truth)
- Ribar Palunko i njegova žena (Fisherman Plunk and His Wife)
- Regoč (Reygoch)
- Šuma Striborova (Stribor's Forest)
- Bratac Jaglenac i sestrica Rutvica (Little Brother Primrose and Sister Lavender)
- Lutonjica Toporko i devet župančića †
- Sunce djever i Neva Nevičica (Bridesman Sun and Bride Bridekins)
- Jagor †
Between 2002 and 2006, the eight stories from the collection were adapted into a series of flash animated cartoons and interactive games made by an international team of animators from eight different countries, led by Helena Bulaja
Helena Bulaja
Helena Bulaja is a Croatian multimedia artist, film director, scriptwriter, designer and film producer.- Career:Helena Bulaja was born in Split, Croatia. She was educated in art history and comparative literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb....
. The project won numerous awards at various new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
and animation festivals. The cartoons were produced in Croatian, English and German and published in CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
format, and are available for viewing online.
List of translations
| Language | Year | Translator | Title (Location) |
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
1922 | F.S. Copeland | Croatian Tales of Long Ago (New York) |
| 1924 | Croatian Tales of Long Ago (London) | ||
| Swedish Swedish language Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish... |
1928 | Lavendel och Rosmarin (Stockholm) | |
| Czech Czech language Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century... |
1928 | Jan Hudec | Pohádky z dávných dob (Prague) |
| Danish Danish language Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language... |
1929 | Lavendel og Rosmarin (Copenhagen) | |
| Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... |
1930 | Skazki davnjago vremeni (Zagreb) (Рассказы из древности) |
|
| German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... |
1931 | Aus Urväterzeiten (Zagreb) | |
| 1933 | Aus Urväterzeiten (Salzburg) | ||
| Slovak Slovak language Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people... |
1931 | Povesti iz pradávna | |
| Slovene | 1950 | Zgodbine iz davnine (Zagreb) | |
| 1955 | Pripovedke iz davnine (Ljubljana) | ||
| 1962 | Zgodbe iz davnine (Zagreb) | ||
| Macedonian Macedonian language Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora... |
1956 | Prikazni od staro vreme (Skopje) | |
| 1957 | Pripovedke iz davnine (Toronto) | ||
| Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia... |
1957 | Franjo Trogrančić | Racconti e leggende della Croazia (Torino) |
| Albanian Albanian language Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece... |
1957 | Tregime te lashtesis (Priština) | |
| Hungarian Hungarian language Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe.... |
1965 | Rég mült idök meséi (Novi Sad) | |
| Ukrainian Ukrainian language Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet.... |
1965 | Kazky z davnyny (Kiev) | |
| Japanese Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an... |
2010 | Shigeo Kurihara | Mukashimukashi no mukashi kara (Kyoto) |
External links
- Complete 1922 New York edition in PDF format from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- Scans of the 1924 English edition at the Yale University LibraryYale University LibraryYale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. It is the second-largest academic library in the North America, with approximately 12.5 million volumes housed in 20 buildings on campus...
website - List of works by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić including a comprehensive list of foreign translations
- Croatian Tales of Long Ago animated series online