All the fairy tales included in the book "Miracle cure and other folktales. Podkarpacie" originally were created in the Lasowiak and Rzeszow dialects. Their author is Joanna Papuzinska, one of the most recognized contemporary authors of children's books.
A great asset of our book are the illustrations. Their author is Jola Richter-Magnuszewska, well-known and respected in the market of children's publications. The artist, in order to faithfully reflect the "spirit" of Podkarpacie, worked closely with museums of folk culture of the region: Folk Culture Museum in Kolbuszowa, Folk Building Museum in Sanok, and Lemko Culture Museum in Zyndranowa. Thanks to this, the illustrations capture the mood of local folk designs, costumes and architecture. But above all, they captivate with color, style and delicacy.
The fairy tales are inspired by the tales of women fairy-tellers and folk artists - Stefania Buda, Anna Cieśla, Zofia Wydro, Barbara Sroczynska) originating from the Lasowiak and Rzeszow areas. These fairy tales refer to local legends, tal es, "godkas" and customs and traditions. Thus introducing the young reader to the magical world of folk tales, they show him what life was like in the old Podkarpackie countryside.
For those who are curious about how the stories sound in the original, we've included a QR code at the end of each chapter so you can listen to them in the dialect in which they were written. On the adjacent page there is also a small glossary explaining some of the dialect words appearing in the texts of the tales.
In addition to the fairy tales, the book includes a map of Podkarpacie with marked areas where each ethnic group resides: the Lasowiacy, Rzeszowiacy, Boykos, Dolinians, Lemkos and Pogórzanie. About where they come from and why they bear such names, ethnologist Jacek Żukowski explains in a short and very accessible text. And about what fairy tales are, Prof. Katarzyna Smyk explains. The publication concludes with a Bojkovska wesnianka (song) and Lemko sayings and proverbs.
The book is available for download (.pdf)
*Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License or Free Art License.
The piece is based on a book from the Free Reads site.
Aut. illustrations by Jola Richter-Magnuszewska
