Czech Fairytales

Erben compiled and wrote A Bouquetbased on his studies of Slavic folktales and folk songs. First published in 1853, it is dotted with murder and mayhem : graves opening and the dead walking the earth, the animate becoming the inanimate and vice versa, ogres and monsters of lake and wood, human transformations reminiscent of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Written as ballads, Marcela Sulak's new translation perfectly captures the cadence and rhythm in an English that is fresh and energetic. Through the years A Bouquethas come to be regarded as a masterpiece and wellspring of inspiration to artists of all stripes, including Antonin Dvorak, who composed a series of symphonic poems to some of these tales. Of the many illustrators who have contributed to the various editions that have appeared over the past century and a half, Alen Divis's artwork is generally considered the most powerful. This edition also includes Erben's own notes explaining the origins of many of these tales.