Polish Fairy Tales is a collection of seven Polish fairy tales published in 1920. The collection by British translator Maude Ashurt Biggs was translated from the work by A.J. Glinski. In the fairy tale book’s foreword, Biggs explains that the tales are from a collection Glinski printed in 1862. Not much is known of who Glinski is, but Biggs says “these fairy tales come from a far past.” The tales Glinski shared and Biggs later translated came from the peasants of East Poland, and from the area known as White Russia.
Biggs notes in her foreword too that she had to shorten them from the originals, because the Polish folk tales were fond of continuous repetition. She notes that readers will notice their similarity to German fairy tales, as well as Celtic ballads. Biggs lived in London and learned Polish from political immigrants who taught her the dialect. She published the first english translation of Pan Tadeusz, the national epic of Poland, in 1885.
There was once an old man, who was a widower, and he had married an old woman, who was a widow. Both had had children by their first marriage; and now the old man had a daughter of his own still living, and the old woman also had a daughter. The old man was an…
There was a young prince, who was not only most handsome and well-grown, but also most kind-hearted and good. Now sooner or later kindness always meets its reward, though it may not seem so at first. One summer’s evening the prince was walking on the banks of a lake, when he looked up, and saw…
There was once an old man, very poor, with three sons. They lived chiefly by ferrying people over a river; but he had had nothing but ill-luck all his life. And to crown all, on the night he died, there was a great storm, and in it the crazy old ferry-boat, on which his sons…
In a far-off country, beyond the sea and the mountains, there lived a king and queen, with a beautiful daughter, who was called Princess Ladna. A great many princes came to woo her; but she liked only one of them, called Prince Dobrotek; so they confessed their love for one another to the king, who…
There was once a king, who had lost his wife. They had a family of thirteen—twelve gallant sons, and one daughter, who was exquisitely beautiful. For twelve years after his wife’s death the king grieved very much; he used to go daily to her tomb, and there weep, and pray, and give away alms to…
Far away, in the wide ocean there was once a green island where lived the most beautiful princess in the world, named Miranda. She had lived there ever since her birth, and was queen of the island. Nobody knew who were her parents, or how she had come there. But she was not alone; for…
There was once a king, who was very old; but he had three grown-up sons. So he called them to him, and said: “My dear sons, I am very old, and the cares of government press heavily upon me. I must therefore give them over to one of you. But as it is the law…