Dragon Castle (29 page)

Slovakia, which has often been called by its people “the Heart of Europe,” is, indeed, located in the geographic center of Europe. To the east of the Alps, south of Poland, and north of Hungary, where the great Danube River forms a wide plain, Slovakia's capital of Bratislava has been a crossroads for both war and trade for thousands of years. Although its people long saw themselves as a separate nation, for much of its history Slovakia was ruled by others. The many castles of Slovakia are a visible record of that long history—and of the frequent domination of the Slovak people by such stronger powers as Hungary. The fact that the Slovak nation and language exist at all is a measure of the devotion of its people to their own history and culture. Even after throwing off Hungarian rule, for seventy-five years Slovakia was not a nation of its own but part of the country of Czechoslovakia, which was itself dominated by the Soviet Union for several decades after World War II. Slovakia quite literally had to fight for centuries not only for its borders, but for its own mother tongue. Those who ruled the Slovak people tried at various times to force the people to speak German, Latin, or Hungarian rather than Slovak.

One of my favorite stories about Slovakia has to do with that language.

Long ago, it is said, all of the nations gathered at the throne of God. Each nation asked for great gifts. Some wanted fertile land. Some wanted strength and power to rule other lands. Others asked for splendor and glory. And the Lord gave each nation what it requested.

The last nation of all was that of the Slovaks.

“My children,” the Lord said, “welcome. Why are you the last to come before me?”

“Father,” the Slovaks answered, “the bigger nations pushed us aside.”

“What then shall I give you? The other nations have taken all of the most fertile lands, the power, and the glory.”

“All that we ask for, Lord,” the Slovaks replied, “is your love.”

God nodded his head and smiled. “You shall have it, my children. And I shall give you other gifts as well.”

Then God wet his finger in the well of Paradise and touched each of their tongues.

“Here,” he said, “I am giving you the most beautiful language in the world. It will be as lovely as the singing of angels, the sun shining on the dew, the laugh of an innocent child.”

The Lord smiled, turned again to the well of Paradise, and dipped in his hand.

“And next I am giving you the most beautiful songs. When your women sing, the birds will fall silent and listen. The brooks and the hills will dance and your land will be a paradise.”

Then the Lord smiled a third time. “Because all good things come in threes,” he said, “I am giving you a beautiful land to live in. There, under the Tatra Mountains, you will find your homes, work in your fields, raise your families, keep your language and your faith. There, even though you may suffer, never give up, for I will always remember you with a father's heart.”

And so it remains to this day.

 

 

THERE ARE A number of people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. Without them this book would never have come to be. The first are my Slovak grandparents, Joseph (whose name was passed down to me) and Appolina (who real name I never learned until she was in her eighties). Though they were reticent to pass the Slovak language on to their grandchildren, I often heard it spoken in their home, and the echo of its gentle music lingers with me still.

The next person I need to mention is my friend, the artist Anna Vojtech, who illustrated
The First Strawberries,
my retelling of a Cherokee traditional tale. Anna, who was born in what is now the Czech Republic, urged me to find out more about the rich folklore on the Slovak side of my heritage. She also introduced me to Marta Zora, who did me the great favor of reading the early draft of this book and correcting the Slovak language that appears in it.
Dakujem,
Marta.
Som zaviazany!

Over the last two decades, I've been fortunate enough to have a number of things I've written translated into several European languages. In 1996, I was contacted by Vlasta Chylkova about translating some of my stories into Czech. She and her husband, who was then the Czech ambassador to Canada, came to visit me at my home and brought with them the gift of several books of folktales from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. And what a gift that was!

One of those treasured books Vlasta gave me was a small, beautifully illustrated guide to the nation. Called (of course)
Slovakia, the Heart of Europe,
it contains a version of that story I just retold and also these words about the heroes of the Slovak nation: “Every nation honors its forefathers. Those of the Slovaks include no fighters and leaders who exterminated smaller nations, destroying their towns and culture. The Slovaks were a peaceful, hardworking, and religious people who always proudly defended their rights against more powerful nations.”

That, one might say, is the underlying theme of
Dragon Castle,
and of the following folk song with lyrics by Janko Matuska, “There is Lightning on the Tatras,” which is the Slovak national anthem.

It can be argued that the best-known European folk tales are the stories published by the Brothers Grimm in their famous volume
Kinder-und Hausmarchen (Domestic and Children's Tales)
. However, Slovak folklore is just as diverse and marvelous. Epic heroes, clever maidens, dragons, and lucky fools are all to be found in stories that are by turns exciting, amusing and informative. Like American Indian stories, Slovak tales are often lesson stories—entertaining on the one hand and inspiring or instructive on the other. There is even a Slovak Robin Hood named Janosik, who took from the rich and gave to the poor (and deserves a book in English of his own). I was fortunate enough to also be given (in that stack of books from the Chylkovas)
Janko Hrasko (Johnny Littlepea)
a volume of Slovak folktales by Pavol Dobsinsky (1828–1885), the most important collector of Slovak folk stories. That book and David Cooper's
Traditional Slovak Folktales
(a well-edited and annotated translation of Dobsinsky's Slovak stories) were tremendously helpful and inspiring. The following quote from Cooper's introduction to
Traditional Slovak Folktales
may indicate just how helpful:

“Perhaps the most important animal helper in Slovak tales is the fairy horse . . . The heroes often receive magic objects from their helpers, including golden wands, magic rings, and sabers.”

Lastly, though much of this novel is the product of my imagination, traditional Slovak folklore and proverbs guided me along every step of the way. The wise words of the elders in my tale are frequently drawn from proverbs still in common use in Slovakia today. Such sayings as “Small fish taste sweetest,” “If a fool could keep quiet, he would not be a fool,” and “A good name is the best inheritance” offer us a glimpse into traditional Slovak values . . . and remind us of basic truths that go far beyond national borders. I am grateful for those lessons.

I hope, that in some small way, the journeys of my characters in
Dragon Castle
may also offer readers the sort of delight and instruction that my own journey into the Slovak half of my heritage has given me.