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Slavic Folk Tales From Croatian Region of Slavonia

Mostly told by grandmas to their grandkids…

Prawny (CC0), Pixabay

Croatia, as well as many other countries, is rich with non written treasures such as tales, wisdoms and various narratives that were transferred from one generation to another. Back in the day, those stories were used in a manner of discipline, and were about teaching children various life wisdoms and advices. Mostly told by grandmas to their grandkids (even today!), we are about to tell you some of them, this time mostly from the region of Slavonia.

How they lied to a king

Once lived a king who had a daughter. When she grew up, king decided to find her a husband, and he gave an announcement, which stated that whoever turns out to be the best liar in the kingdom can marry his daughter.
Two brothers, one very smart, and one kinda silly, came to the king to try their luck.
The silly one goes in first, stands in front of a king and starts to tell his story: “I had a field of millet, which grew so high, almost up  ’till the sky! And of course I couldn’t reach that high with my axe to cut it, so I brought a ladder and started to climb up there! But, I forgot that my ladder are not leaning onto anything so it fell wit me on them, straight on the ground and through it to the other side of the world! On the other side, there was one rock right next to the place I landed, so I asked the rock what to do, and it told me that I fell across the sea, but I was lucky there was a bridge, so I ran over it to get to a hoe. So i dug so hard and dug my way to this castle and to you, my king!”.
Smart brother got so mad at this nonsense the younger one was saying so he yelled at him: “What are you lying about!!! There is no bridge over the sea, nor a brain in a rock, and neither a ladder to the sky!!!”.
The younger, silly lying brother got his wife, and the smart(?) one went home alone.

The lazy and the virtuous

Once there was a tailor who had two sons – lazy and virtuous one – but sadly, the day of his death was approaching and he had nothing but some money and a ball of thread. Lazy one immediately took the money, and the virtuous got left with the ball of thread.
Lazy one decided that he also wants to be a tailor like his father, so he went to the city to buy him some needles. He bought them, but hence he was so lazy, he didn’t want to carry the needles all the way to home so he put the needles next to a big haystack his neighbor was driving back home. When they arrived, he couldn’t find needles because they got lost in hay. Angry, he packed his bag and left everything, and went to the world.
The virtuous one asked his neighbor if he could burn down the hay, so together they burned everything, and needles started to shine bright through the ashes! And that is how the virtuous brother suddenly had both a ball of thread and needles, and became a famous tailor, while lazy one got lost in a big world.

Why do pigs root

Once there was a mother who had small children. Children, in order to help her, they helped her in the field of wheat, and right next to it pigs were eating the grass. Mother made polenta to her kids and when she cooked it,  she cut it with a wooden spoon and started to put the pieces on a plate. One piece fell on the floor, hid under the table, and started to run! Mother went running after it, then the kids saw the whole thing and also started chasing it! The pigs saw that whole show and started running to, but that poor piece of polenta got so scared it dug itself so deep into the ground so nobody could ever find it! That is why to this day pigs are still rooting the ground – thy are trying to find that escaped piece of polenta!!!
Now, now, y we know there are not the only ones with a bit strange kids stories (and believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg), so please, share your favorite and most interesting stories that you were told as a child down in the comments!

What do you think?

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Written by Lucija S.

Lucija Sucic - a skilled writer based in Croatia. She shares great love for all Slavic related things and enjoys the opportunity to write for Slavorum because of her passion for reading and writing.

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