Zašao neki momak u šumu Striborovu.....A young man wandered into Stribor's forest....

 Zašao neki momak u šumu Striborovu, a nije znao, da je ono šuma začarana i da se u njoj svakojaka čuda zbivaju. Zbivala se u njoj čuda dobra, ali i naopaka — svakome po zasluzi.

   

Morala je pak ta šuma ostati začarana, dokle god u nju ne stupi onaj, kojemu je milija njegova nevolja nego sva sreća ovoga svijeta.

  Nasjekao dakle onaj momak drva i sjeo na panj, da počine, jer bijaše lijep zimski dan. Ali iz panja iziđe pred njega zmija i stade se umiljati oko njega. Ono pak ne bijaše prava zmija, nego bijaše ljudska duša, radi grijeha i zlobe ukleta, a mogao je osloboditi samo onaj, koji bi se s njom vjenčao. Bljeskala se zmija kao srebro na suncu i gledala momku upravo u oči.

"Lijepe li gujice, Bože moj! Gotovo da bi je kući ponio.", progovori momak od šale.

" Evo budalaste glave koja će me osloboditi na svoju nesreću.", pomisli grješna duša i pretvori se odmah iz guje u ljepotu djevojku, te stane pred momka.

                                                                                    Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, Šuma Striborova

A young man wondered into Stribor's forest but he knew not that it is an enchanted forest,  a place where all kind of miraculous wonders take place. Indeed, miraculous wonders occured there, both good and bad- to each according to his merit.

This forest had to remain enchanted until it was not graced by the one who will prefer his sorrow to all the happiness in this world. 

After he cut the wood, the young man set down on a stump to rest, for it had been a beautiful winter day. Suddenly, a snake came out of the stump and started to fawn upon him. It was not a real snake, but a human soul, cursed for its sin and malice. It could be freed only by the one who would marry it. The snake glittered like silver under the sun and watched the young man straight into the eyes.

"My God, what a charming little snake! I almost feel like taking it home", said the young man in merriment.

"Here comes the foolish mind that will free me to his own unfortunate.", thought the sinful soul. Instantly she transfored herself from a snake into a girl of great beauty and stood  there before the young man.

                                                                   Ivana Brlic Mazuranic, Stribor's forests

 These were the opening lines of a fairy tale written by Croatian writer Ivana Brlic Mazuranic. This fairy tale titled 'Stribor's forest' has a cult status in Croatia. I doubt that there is anyone here who hasn't at least heard about it and for a good reason. The reason I'm  mentioning it today (besides the fact these photos made me think of it) is because for me it is one of the most profound fairy tales ever written. It is a story about love, for love is that force that can make us choose to forget about ourselves. What makes love so powerful? It is quite simple. As Heinlein said, love is a condition in which someone's else happiness is essential for our own. To love is to become more than one person. With love we can reach our potential.

Ovo je početak poznate bajke Ivane Brlić Mažuranić. Sumnjam da ima itko u Hrvatskoj tko nije čuo za nju i s dobrim razlogom. Razlog što je danas spominjem (osim toga što su me ove fotografije podsjetile na nju) je što je za mene to jedna od najdubljih bajki ikada napisanih. Ova bajka, koja kao i sve ponajbolje, skriva važnu pouku. To je priča o ljubavi jer je ljubav ta sila koja nas može navesti da zaboravimo sebe. Što čini ljubav tako silnom? Jednostavno je. Kao što je Heinlein rekao, ljubav je stanje u kojem je nečija sreća najbitna za našu. Voljeti je postati više od jedne osobe. Ljubavlju se ostvarujemo.

Back to our fairy-tale. What do you think happened next? What did the young man do? Would you like to know? I'm thinking about opening another blog (I'm crazy I know) that would be dedicated to translations of Croatian literature (and by that I obviously mean traslations of those literature works whose copy rights are expired). The reason I plan to do it is simply because I want to do it. This will give me an excuse to reread all of my favourite books again. 

Razmišljam o tome da otvorim još jedan blog (luda sam znam) koji će biti posvećen prijevodima hrvatske književnosti i pri tome naravno mislim na prijevode onih djela koja više ne podliježu zakonima o autorskim pravima. Razlog zašto to planiram je jednostavno taj što to želim. To će mi dati izliku da pročitam ponovo sve svoje omiljene knjige. 

Hvala na čitanju!

Thank you for reading!