Hungarian / Hungary
Betyárvilág
(Prankster world)
Komjáthy, István
(text)
Dóka, Péter
(adapt.)
Szántói, Krisztián
(illus.)
Budapest: Móra, 2011. – 154 p.
ISBN 978-963-11-8913-1
Bandit | Prankster | Soldier
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2012
This volume brings together a collection of Hungarian bandit and prankster stories of the nineteenth century, edited by Péter Dóka and published for the first time. It contains both comic and tragic stories, bawdy fun and sad romances. The heroes of these stories are cunning, clever, and funny bandits or dumb, stolid soldiers with giant moustaches. How does Sobri Joska trick the police commissioner? Why does Savanyu Joska paint the pub owner’s cow white as snow? What did Juhasz Andris hide in the buried container? We find out the answers in these entertaining stories, which have preserved their drollness over the centuries. The illustrations imitate the style of nineteenth-century folk painting and also transport readers to a time long past.