برابو والعملاق: حكايات شعبية من هولندا

by William Elliot Griffis, يوسف رخا (Translator)

".. حت عهد الملكة (وليمينا) كان أطفال هولندا يربطون قطعاً من الورق متناهية الصغر إلى أرجل اللقالق الحمر ليبعثوا برسائل في الخريف للأولاد والبنات في أرض أبي الهول والأهرام، أرض موسى وأبناء فلسطين، وفي الربيع كانت الردود على رسائلهم تصلهم في البلاد التي ترحب دوماً بطائر يسمى (جالب البركة).. ولهذا تحب اللقالق هولندا!" هذه الإضمامة المتنوعة من حكايات الفلكلور الهولندي، وإن كانت تحمل الطابع الوعظي والتعليمي إلا أنها تعبق بالروح الخاصة لهولندا، حيث تذكر، بشكل تسجيلي، أسماء الأشخاص والأمكنة والنباتات والحيوانات والأنهار، وحتى الملوك والملكات، وعلى الرغم من هذا يجد فيها القارئ العربي الكثير من العوامل المشتركة مع تراثه، خاصة بعض الخرافات أو القيم الإنسانية الجامعة.

Genres: Classics, Fairy Tales, Fiction, Folklore, Mythology, Cultural, Childrens

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer.

Griffis was an English and Latin language tutor for Tarō Kusakabe, a young samurai from the province of Echizen.

In September 1870 Griffis was invited to Japan to organize schools along modern lines.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Canadian of Dutch heritage, I was interested in reading these stories. I thought perhaps I would recognize a few, but only one was familiar, "Het vrouwtje van Stavoren," whose title Griffis renders as "When Wheat Worked Woe." Griffis does a fair job explaining names, clothing, customs, words and the elements of pre-Christian religion in these stories. However, he tends to overdo it and seems to like talking down to his juvenile audience in a chatty, confidential sort of way. I also wonder how much liberty he took with the original material.

[Merel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Disappointed with all the misspelled words maar ach dat is het minste. Being Dutch, some stories were unfamiliar to me (but interesting), unfortunately all the familiar stories were disappointedly twisted. Then, there were other stories so inaccurate and false it was quite bewildering. For example, the Sinterklaas tale- ahem "Santa Klaas" as the author writes- is wrong nearly all the way through, the biggest surprise being that apparently Black Pete was a slave boy from the USA (I've heard lots about the origins of Black Pete but never that). Anyways, ignoring the heavy anglicisation and inaccuracies, I suppose it's a nice read for the descendants of Dutch immigrants as it seems more like Dutch-American folklore. Don't read this hoping to get accurate Dutch Fairytales and Folklore.

[Pia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heavily Christianised, along with contextual racism, xenophobia, animal cruelty, religious bigotry towards paganism and of course any story involving Black Pete and mentioning how good Santa Klaas was to 'the good slaves' is difficult to read. Taken in context, these are still tales of cultural and religious erasure, colonialism, superior attitudes and a level of racism that can be - even keeping in mind the time in which they were written (1918) - disturbing to parse.

I still like fairy tales like this because they situate the perspectives of the time and the place, and they also don't pretend that this isn't the heritage, or handwave it away, or make it seem like it wasn't that bad at the time when it was. I was most fascinated hearing about the hints of Pagan druidry and similar, but they are largely only hints, and in many cases all of these figures die to make way for Christianity, saints, and farms. These fairy tales are dark not because they're particularly grotesque, but because they show us that in many ways, we actually haven't come that far from these roots, and we have a long way to go.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

surprisingly good read :) these are great stories!

[Suzanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok so, I finally found the time to read and review this book.

I was interested in seeing a foreign perspective on Dutch stories. And I think overall there were some interesting stories here. Some were familiar, others weren't. The ones that were familiar were often NOT accurate at all. Versions of the story I have never heard or seen of. This is the first time EVER I read about Zwarte Piet being a slave boy from America???

It is clear the writer isn't Dutch, nor does he seem to have much understanding of Dutch history and culture. This wouldn't be a big problem if he kept his own opinion out of it. But he's simply incapable. He's a product of his time, makes fun of paganism, praises Christanity as the saviour of the "savage" Dutch.

Overall a dissapointing experience. Would not recommend to people who are interested in Dutch legends and folklore.

[Zainab Albaqal · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب ممتع جدا ، فقد سبق لي زيارة هذا البلد ، لهذا استمتعت بكل الحكايات التي توضح الكثير عن هذا البلد الذي يتمتع بطبيعة رائعة . و بتأكيد سوف أقرأ بقية السلسلة ( ثقافات الشعوب ) من دار كلمة لإنها قامت بعمل رائع .

[Debra Barstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of short fairy tales some were ok

[♤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب جميل ملئ بالحكايات الشيقة الممتعة، احببت جدًا اساطير هولندا التي تتحدث عن الجنيات والعفاريت والاقزام واستمتعت جدًا بقراءة ومعرفة هذة الاساطير المذهلة ، من اكثر الحكايات التي اعجبتني هي حكاية الأمير نول الآنسة بياض الثلج، وعجائب العفاريت، العفاريت والأجراس، لماذا تحب اللقالق هولندا؟

[Jessica Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heck yes it is Anglicized, BUT

There is a really interesting mix here. Ancient myth, medieval and old-time folktales. Flax stories, and the odd standard fairy tale. Mind you it's told in an English forced-to-fit style, but it's enjoyable.

[Grayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this interesting because Grimm's fairy tales, which came from a nearby country, are moral tales more than anything else, while the Dutch tales in this book are more origin stories than just moral ones. There's a lot of "way back when our ancestors worshipped Wotan..." That was neat. The stories were collected just after the turn of the twentieth century, from what I can tell; there are references to newfangled radios and submarines. But the stories are all set in the distant past. A curious one was about an Oni from Japan making it's way to Holland. I liked most of the stories. Fun read.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

folklore is so interesting.