Book Comenius Dtg

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FOLKTALES CULTURE TRADITIONS FOLKLORE HISTORY Collection of Bulgarian, Turkish and Latvian folktales

Transcript of Book Comenius Dtg

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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