Ivana Brlic - Croatian Tales of Long Ago
Croatian Tales of Long Ago
Ivana Brlic, Mazuranic
Description
Croatian Tales of Long Ago (Croatian: Price iz davnine), is a short story collection written by the acclaimed children's author Ivana Brlic-Mažuranic (sometimes spelled as "Ivana Berlic-Mažuranic" in English), originally published in 1916 in Zagreb by the Matica hrvatska publishing house. The collection is considered her masterpiece and it features a series of newly written fairy tales heavily inspired by motifs taken from ancient Slavic mythology of pre-Christian Croatia.
Croatian Tales of Long Ago are seen as one of the most typical examples of her writing style which has been compared by literary critics to Hans Christian Andersen and J. R. R. Tolkien due to the way it combines original fantasy plots with folk mythology.
The collection was translated into English by F.S. Copeland and first published in New York in 1922 by the Frederick A. Stokes Co. and in 1924 in London by the George Allen & Unwin publishing house, the same company which originally published J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit in 1937, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in 1954–55. The English-language editions also featured illustrations by the Croatian illustrator Vladimir Kirin.
The original Croatian edition published in 1916 consisted of six stories. Two additional stories were later added and first published in the Croatian 1926 edition. These eight appear in contemporary Croatian editions. Since the English translation was published before the extra two stories were written, they featured only the original six tales.
Contents
How Quest sought the truth -- Fisherman Plunk and his wife -- Reygoch -- Bridesman Sun and bride Bridekins -- Stribor's forest -- Little brother Primrose and sister Lavender -- Notes.