Fairy Tales

LETEĆI KOVČEG

LETEĆI KOVČEG	THE FLYING TRUNK
Bio jednom jedan trgovac koji je bio tako bogat da je mogao svojim srebrenjacima popločati čitavu svoju ulicu pa i dio susjedne. Ali on to nije učinio, nego je svoj novac tako vješto ulagao da je za svaki uloženi srebrenjak zlatnik dobijao. Eto takav je to bio trgovački vještak, bio pa i umro.	ONCE UPON A TIME there was a merchant who was so rich that he could pave the entire street and almost another little alley with silver coins. But he didn’t do that. He knew of other ways to use his money, and if he paid out a penny, he got a dollar back. That’s the kind of merchant he was—and then he died.
Njegov sin je naslijedio čitavo to veliko blago, ali on se odao bezbrižnom životu, iz noći u noć je išao na razne zabave, od novčanica pravio zmajeve a zlatnike mjesto kamenih pločica bacao da kao žabice skakuću površinom jezera. Tako je ubrzo rastračio čitavo bogatstvo, od onog silnog novca ostala su mu samo još četiri šilinga, a od odjeće samo još jedne papuče i stara kućna haljina. Sad su ga ostavili i njegovi prijatelji, jer su se stidjeli da izađu s njim na ulicu. Ali jedan od njih, dobričina po duši, jednog dana mu je poslao stari kovčeg sa porukom: "Pakuj se!" Lijepo je to bilo od njega, ali on nije imao šta da pakuje, pa zato je sam sjeo u kovčeg.	His son got all this money, and he lived merrily, went to parties every night, made kites from his dollar bills, and skipped stones on the water with gold coins instead of pebbles. That makes money go, and go it did. Finally he only had four coins left and no other clothes than a pair of slippers and an old robe. Now none of his friends cared about him anymore since they couldn’t walk down the street together, but one of them, who was kind, sent him an old trunk and advised, “pack it in!” That was all well and good, but he had nothing to pack so he sat in the trunk himself.
Ali to je bio neobičan kovčeg, čim bi neko pritisnuo bravu, kovčeg bi poletio. Tako je bilo i sada. Čim je trgovački sin pritisnuo bravu, kovčeg je s njim zajedno izletio kroz dimnjak i poletio nebu pod oblake. Dno je počelo pucketati i njega je jeza hvatala pri pomisli da se, ne daj bože, provali i da on zajedno sa komadima kovčega tresne na zemlju.	It was a strange trunk. As soon as you pressed on the lock, the trunk could fly. And that’s what it did. Whee! It flew with him up the chimney and high up over the clouds, further and further away. The bottom kept groaning, and he was afraid that it would fall to pieces, and then he would have done a nice somersault, heaven knows!
Leteći tako sve dalje i dalje, stigao je u Tursku. Kovčeg sakrije pod suho lišće i krene u grad. A to je mogao bez po brige, jer u Turskoj svi idu odjeveni kao i on – u kućnoj haljini i u papučama. Idući tako, na putu sretne dojilju s malim djetetom i upita je: – Slušaj ti, turska dojiljo! Kakvi su ono veliki dvori pokraj samog grada što su im prozori onako visoko uzdignuti?	Soon he came to the land of the Turks. He hid the trunk in the forest under some wilted leaves and walked into town. He could do that safely because all the Turks walked around like him in robes and slippers. Then he met a wet nurse with a little child. “Listen here, you Turkananny,” he said, “what kind of castle is that here close to town? The windows are so high up.”
– U njima živi mlada sultanija – odgovorila mu je dojilja. – Njoj su prorekli da će biti nesretna u ljubavi, pa joj ne smije niko doći osim sultana i sultanice.	“The king’s daughter lives there,” she said. “It’s been prophesied that she will be unlucky in love, and therefore no one can visit her unless the king and queen are there.”
– Hvala ti! – reče joj trgovčev sin, pa se vrati u šumu i sjede u svoj kovčeg. Samo malo zatim on se već spustio na dvorski krov i kroz prozor se uvukao u sultanijinu odaju.	“Thanks,” said the merchant’s son, and then he went back into the forest, sat in his trunk, flew up on the roof, and crept through the window to the princess.
Sultanija je spavala na divanu, a bila je tako lijepa da se trgovčev sin nije mogao uzdržati a da je ne poljubi. Od tog poljupca sultanija se probudi i silno se uplaši. Ali kada joj on reče da je melek, anđeo, i da se zrakom do nje spustio, njoj se to dopade.	She was lying on the sofa sleeping. She was so beautiful that the merchant’s son had to kiss her. She woke up and was quite alarmed, but he said he was the Turkish God, who had come down through the sky to her, and she liked that.
Tako, njih dvoje sjedoše jedno pored drugog i on poče da joj govori o njenim očima: to su bila dva divna tamna jezera po kojima misli plove kao morske vile. Opisujući njeno čelo, rekao joj je da je to lednik s prekrasnim dvoranama i slikama. A onda joj je pričao o rodi što donosi slatku malu dječicu.	Then they sat side by side, and he told stories about her eyes: they were the most lovely, dark oceans, and thoughts were swimming there like mermaids. Then he talked about her forehead: it was a snow-topped mountain with the most magnificent rooms and pictures, and he told her about the stork that brings the sweet little babies.
Divno je pričao. A na kraju joj je ponudio ruku i ona je to odmah prihvatila.	They were certainly some wonderful stories! Then he proposed to the princess, and she said yes at once!
– Ali moraćete da dođete u subotu – rekla je sultanija. – Tada će ovdje biti i sultan i sultanica. Biće ponosni što se udajem za meleka. Samo gledajte da dođete s nekom osobito lijepom pričom, jer to moji roditelji najviše vole. Majka više voli ćudoredne i plemenite priče, a otac voli nešto veselije, da se može smijati!	“But you have to come on Saturday,” she said. “The king and queen are coming here for tea then. They’ll be very proud that I’m going to marry the Turkish God, but listen, be sure you can tell a really lovely fairy tale because they particularly like them. My mother likes them to be elegant and moralistic, and my father likes funny ones so he can laugh.”
– Ta priča će biti moj svadbeni dar! – obećao je prosac. Opraštajući se s njim, sultanija mu je poklonila sablju optočenu zlatnicima koji su mu i te kako dobro došli.	“I’ll bring no other wedding gift than a fairy tale,” he said, and then they parted, but the princess gave him a sword that was studded with gold coins, something he could really use.
Zatim je on u svom kovčegu odletio u grad, kupio novi ogrtač i vratio se u šumu da smišlja novu priču. Trebalo je da sve smisli do subote, a to nije bilo baš tako prosto i jednostavno.	Then he flew away, bought himself a new robe, and sat in the forest composing a fairy tale to be finished by Saturday. That’s not so easy either.
Sve do subote je smišljao tu svoju priču.	But he finished it, and then it was Saturday.
Kod sultanije su ga dočekali i sultan i sultanica i čitav dvor, i primili su ga veoma ljubazno.	The king and queen and all the court were waiting with tea at the princess’s tower, where he was very well received!
– E, hajde ispričajte nam nešto! – rekla je sultanica. – Samo da to bude nešto pametno i poučno.	“Won’t you tell a fairy tale?” asked the queen. “One that is profound and educational.”
– Ali i da se može nasmijati! – dodao je sultan.	“One that can make you laugh, too,” added the king.
– Svakako, svakako! – dočekao je prosac i počeo svoju priču:	“Yes certainly,” he said and told this story. Listen carefully.
– Bila jednom jedna kutija šibica čija su se palidrvca neobično ponosila svojim visokim porijeklom. Njihovo rodoslovlje je počinjalo od velikog šumskog stabla, stasitog zelenog bora, i svako od njih je nekad bilo njegov iver. A sada su ta palidrvca ležala na polici između kresiva i starog gvozdenog lonca i pričala im o svojoj mladosti: – Da, da, kad smo mi bili na grani, onda smo mi bili na jednoj zaista zelenoj grani! Svako jutro i veče rosa nam je dijamantski čaj nudila, čitave sunčane dane smo provodili u sunčevom sjaju, a ptice su morale da nam pričaju svoje priče.	“Once upon a time there was a package of matches that were extremely stuck-up because they were of such high origin. Their family tree, that is to say, the big pine tree that each of them was a little stick of, had been a tall old tree in the forest. The matches were now lying on a shelf between a tinderbox and an old iron kettle, and they told them stories about their youth. ‘Yes, when we were riding high,’ they said, ‘we really were riding high! Every morning and evening we had diamond tea, that was the dew. We had the sunshine all day when the sun was shining, and all the little birds had to tell us stories.
Tu se najbolje vidjelo da mi pripadamo odabranom rodu – lisnato drveće se odijevalo samo preko ljeta, a naša porodica je mogla da se oblači u zeleno ruho i ljeti i zimi. A onda su došle drvosječe, nastao je veliki preokret, i naša porodica se raspala. Starješina našeg roda je postao veliki jarbol na jednom divnom brodu i mogao je da plovi širom čitavog svijeta. Druge grane su stigle na druga mjesta, a mi eto imamo dužnost da ljudima palimo svjetlo. Zato nas smatraju odličnicima koji su došli u ovu kuhinju.	We could easily tell that we were rich because the ordinary trees only wore clothes in the summer, but our family could afford nice green clothes both summer and winter. But then the foresters came. It was the big revolution, and our family tree was split up. The head of the family got a place as the topmast on a magnificent ship that could sail around the world if it wanted to. The other branches went to other places, and we now have the task of bringing light to the common crowd. That’s how we who are so noble came to be here in this kitchen.’
– A sa mnom je drukčije! – javio se gvozdeni lonac pored kojeg je ležala šibica. – Otkako sam došao na svijet, stalno me stružu i kuhaju. Ja odgovaram za čvrstinu i, ako ćemo pravo, ja sam prvi u ovoj kući. Moje najveće zadovoljstvo je kada se poslije jela opet čist i lijep nađem na polici i sa drugovima mogu da vodim pametne razgovore. Ali mi svi, izuzevši vedricu za vodu, koja ponekad siđe u dvorište, živimo unutra. Naš jedini izvor novosti je korpa za pijacu, ali ona tako buntovnički govori o vladi i narodu. Da, nedavno je ovdje s nama bio i jedan stari glineni lonac, ali njega je to korpino buntovanje toliko uplašilo da je pao i u komadiće se razbio. Kažem vam, ta korpa je veoma slobodoumnih nazora!	“‘Yes, it’s quite different for me,’ said the iron kettle, standing next to the matches. ‘From the time I came into the world, I have been in hot water many times. I have the responsibility for the most substantial work and am strictly speaking the most important one in the house. My only joy is to sit here clean and tidy after dinner and have pleasant conversations with my companions. But with the exception of the water pail, who gets out in the yard once in a while, we all live a secluded indoor life. Our only news comes from the marketing basket, but he talks very critically of the government and the people. Just the other day an old jug over there fell over in alarm at what he said and smashed to pieces. He’s markedly liberal, I’ll tell you.’
– Eh, previše si se ti raspričao! – upade kresivo i tako udari o kremen da iskre poletješe na sve strane. – Zar nije bolje da se malo proveselimo?! – Hajde da pričamo o tome ko je važniji! – dočekala je šibica.	‘You spout off too much,’ the tinderbox said, and the flint struck the stone so the sparks flew. ‘Let’s have a cheerful, merry evening.’ “‘Yes, let’s talk about who is most distinguished,’ the matches said.
– Ja ne volim da govorim o sebi! – začula se zemljana činija. – Dajte vi da mi ovo veče pretvorimo u zabavno veče! Ja ću da počnem. Pričaću vam nešto što je svaki od nas doživio. A onda neka svako tako nešto ispriča, i eto nam zabave. Evo da počnem: – Pored Baltičkog mora, pored velikih bukovih gora ...	“‘No, I don’t like talking about myself,’ said the clay pot. ‘Let’s have an evening of entertainment. I’ll start. I’ll tell about something that we’ve all experienced. Everyone can follow along then, and it’s so amusing: On the Baltic where the Danish beech trees ...’
– Divan početak! – uzviknuše tanjiri u jedan glas. – To će sigurno biti nešto što nam se sviđa!	“‘That’s a great beginning,’ all the plates said, ‘this’ll definitely be a story we’ll like.’
– Da, eto, tamo sam ja provela mladost u jednoj mirnoj porodici. Namještaj smo glačali, podove prali a svakih četrnaest dana zavjese mijenjali!	“‘Yes, I spent my youth there with a quiet family. The furniture was polished, the floors washed, and there were clean curtains every other week.’
– Kako vi zanimljivo pričate! – javila se metlica za prašinu. – Odmah se osjeća da govori žensko čeljade, sve prožima red i čistoća!	“‘How interestingly you tell that!” said the broom. ‘You can hear at once that it’s a woman telling the story—there’s no dirt in it at all.’
– Jest, jest, odmah se osjeća! – uzviknu vedrica i kako od veselja poskoči, čak i pod malo vodom zapljusnu.	“‘Yes, one can tell that,” the water pail said, and it made a little hop of joy so that there was a splash on the floor.
A činija je nastavila da priča. Svršetak njene priče bio je isto tako lijep kao i početak.	“And the pot continued the story, and the ending was as good as the beginning.
Tanjiri su zveckali od radosti, a metla je izvukla zeleni peršun iz sandučića sa pijeskom i zakitila činiju, jer je znala da će to naljutiti sve ostale i jer je očekivala ono: "Ako ja tebe zakitim danas, ti ćeš mene sutra!"	“All the plates were rattling with pleasure, and the broom took some green parsley out of the parsley pot and crowned the pot with a wreath because he knew it would irritate the others, and ‘if I crown her today,’ he thought, ‘she’ll crown me tomorrow.’

– A sada da se igra! – uzviknu žarač i zaigra. Bože dragi, koliko je samo izdizao onu svoju jedinu nogu! Stara navlaka na stoliću u ćošku se razderala toliko se naprezala da bolje vidi to čudo od igre. – Zar i mene ne bi mogli ovjenčati! – viknuo je žarač. I njega su zakitili.	“‘Now I’ll dance,’ said the fire tongs and danced. Oh, God bless us, how she could kick a leg in the air! The old seat cover in the corner split from watching it! ‘May I also be crowned?’ asked the fire tongs, and so she was.
– Primitivci! – progunđala je šibica.	“‘These are just riffraff,’ thought the matches.
Sada je trebalo da samovar pjeva, ali on je rekao da je prehlađen i da može pjevati samo kada u njemu voda vrije. Ali to je bila samo njegova nadmenost. On je pjevao samo kad ga gospodar postavi na sto.	“Then the tea urn was supposed to sing, but she had a cold, she said. She couldn’t sing unless she was warmed up. Actually it was due to conceit because she didn’t want to sing except for the master and mistress in the dining room.
Na prozoru je stajalo staro guščje pero kojim je služavka ponekad pisala. Sva njegova osobitost se sastojala u tome što je bilo duboko umočeno u mastionicu, ali ono se upravo time i ponosilo. – Ako samovar neće da pjeva – reklo je pero – i ne mora! Napolju je kavez i slavuj u njemu, on može da nam pjeva. Doduše, on nije školovan, ali večeras nećemo nikoga ogovarati!	“On the windowsill sat an old quill pen that the maid used for writing. There was nothing remarkable about him, except that he had been dipped too deeply in the inkwell, but he was proud of that. ‘If the tea urn doesn’t want to sing,’ he said, ‘then she doesn’t have to. There is a nightingale hanging outside in a cage. It can sing. Granted it hasn’t had lessons, but we won’t criticize it this evening.’
– Ja smatram da to uopšte nije na mjestu da nam tu pjeva neka strana ptica! – umiješao se čajnik, kuhinjski pjevač i samovarov polubrat. – Je li to patriotizam? Neka to pijačna korpa presudi!	“‘I find it highly inappropriate,’ said the tea kettle, who usually sang in the kitchen and was a half sister of the tea urn, ‘that a foreign bird like that should sing. Is that patriotic? I’ll let the marketing basket judge!’
– A mene to sve skupa samo ljuti! – rekla je korpa. – Ne možete zamisliti kako me to ljuti! Zar je to način da se provede ovakvo veče? Zar ne bi bilo bolje da uvedemo neki pravi kućni red? Onda bi se svak nalazio na svom mjestu, a ja bih svime upravljala. Onda bi sve drukčije bilo!	“‘I’m just so annoyed,’ the marketing basket said. ‘I’m so thoroughly annoyed, you can’t imagine! Is this an appropriate way to spend the evening? Wouldn’t it be better to rearrange things and set the house in order? Then everyone would be in his correct place, and I would control the whole shebang. That would be something else!’
– Tako je! Hajde da napravimo predstavu! – sada povikaše svi u jedan glas. Ali u tom trenutku se otvoriše vrata i u kuhinju uđe služavka. U tren oka sve se umiri, niko ni da pisne. Samo glinenog lonca više nije bilo, on nije ni pomislio šta je sve mogao učiniti i koliko je važan bio. A svi ostali su sada u sebi ponavljali: "A da sam ja htio, imali bismo sjajno veče!"	“‘Yes, let’s cause a riot!’ they all said. At that moment the door opened. It was the maid, and so everyone stopped talking. No one said a word. But there wasn’t a pot who didn’t know what it could do and how dignified it was. ‘Well, if I had wanted it,’ they all thought, ‘it really would have been a merry evening!’
Služavka je uzela šibice da potpali vatru. Bože dragi, kako su samo zaiskrile i zaplamsale!	“The maid took the matches and made a fire with them—God bless us, how they sizzled and burned in flames!
"Sada svako može da vidi da smo mi prve! – gordile su se šibice. – Kakav sjaj širimo! Kakvo svjetlo! Tako su mislile šibice i tako izgorjele.	“‘Now everyone can see,’ they thought, ‘that we are the best! What radiance we have! What light!’—and then they were burned out.”
– E, baš si divno pričao! – rekla je sultanica. – Ja sam se osjećala kao da sam i sama bila u kuhinji pored one kutije šibica. E, sada možeš dobiti našu kćer!	“That was a lovely fairy tale,” the queen said. “I felt just like I was in the kitchen with the matches. You may certainly marry our daughter.”
– Tako je! – potvrdio je sultan. – Dobićeš je u ponedjeljak. Sada su mu se obraćali na "ti", kao budućem članu svoje porodice. Time je bila i svadba dogovorena. Uoči svečanosti čitav grad je bio osvijetljen.	“Of course,” the king agreed, “you’ll marry our daughter on Monday!” Now they said “du” to him, since he was going to be part of the family. So the wedding day was decided, and the evening before the whole town was lit up.
Narodu su dijelili đevreke i somune, djeca su se propinjala na prste, zviždala i vikala "hura!"	Rolls and pastries were thrown to the crowds. Street urchins stood on their toes, shouted hurrah, and whistled through their fingers. It was extremely splendid.
Trebalo bi da i ja tu nešto učinim, pomislio je mladoženja, pa nakupovao prskalica, raketa, žabica i svega što treba za vatromet, a onda sjeo u svoj kovčeg i poletio iznad grada.	“Well, I’d better also do something,” the merchant’s son thought, and so he bought some rockets, caps, and all the fireworks you could think of, put them in his trunk, and flew up in the air with it.
O, kakav je to bio vatromet! Kakav prasak i tutnjava!	Whoosh, how it went! And how it popped and puffed!
Turci su tako poskakali da su im papuče do ušiju poletjele. Takve nebeske pojave još nikada nisu vidjeli. Sada su već svi bili uvjereni da je to sveti gromovnik došao po sultaniju.	All the Turks jumped in the air at this so that their slippers flew around their ears. They had never seen such a sight in the sky before. Now they understood that it really was the Turkish God himself who was going to marry the princess.
Čim se mladoženja opet spustio u šumu, pomislio je: idem u grad da čujem kako je to bilo. O, šta mu sve nisu govorili! Koga god je pitao, svak je to drukčije vidio, ali svi su se slagali u tome da je bilo divno!	As soon as the merchant’s son landed in the forest with his trunk, he thought, “I’ll just go into town to find out how that looked to everyone.” And it was understandable that he wanted to do that. Well, how the people were talking! Every single one he asked about it had seen it in his own way, but it had been beautiful for all of them.
Jedan mu je rekao: – Vidio sam svetog gromovnika! Oči su mu kao zvijezde svijetlile, a brada mu je bila kao zapjenjeno more!	“I saw the Turkish God himself,” one said. “He had eyes like shining stars and a beard like foaming water.”
Drugi je govorio: – Letio je na ognjenom plaštu. A iz nabora tog plašta su nas gledali čudesni mali meleki, anđelčići!	“He flew in a coat of fire,” another one said, “and the most gorgeous little angels peeked out from the folds.”
Da, danas se, eto, naslušao divnih stvari, a sutra je njegova svadba.	Yes, he heard lovely things, and the next day he was getting married.
Pošao je nazad u šumu da sjedine u svoj kovčeg. Ali šta je to? Kovčeg je izgorio. Poslije onog njegovog vatrometa u kovčegu je ostala jedna iskra, ona je planula, i od kovčega je ostao samo pepeo. On više nije mogao letjeti, više nije mogao doći do svoje zaručnice.	Then he went back to the forest to put himself in his trunk—but where was it? The trunk had burned up. A spark from the fireworks had remained, had started a fire, and the trunk was in ashes. He couldn’t fly any longer and couldn’t get to his bride.
A sultanija je čitav taj dan stajala na krovu i čekala ga. Ona ga još i sada čeka, a on kruži svijetom i priča svoje priče. Samo njegove priče nisu više onako vedre i vesele kao njegova priča o šibicama.	She stood all day on the roof waiting. She’s still waiting, but he’s wandering the world telling fairy tales. But they aren’t any longer so lighthearted as the one he told about the matches.

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