History Literature / ABouquet

''A Bouquet of Czech Folktales'' is a collection of ballads written by [[Creator/KarelJaromirErben Karel Jaromír Erben]]. It was first published in 1853 and contained 12 poems. Its second edition is from 1861 and had 13 poems. Erben had plans for more ballads, but they were not finished. The poems enjoyed a huge success and the book has been considered a treasure of Czech literature ever since it first appeared.

* WidowWoman:
** The protagonist of "Treasure" is a young widow with a baby.
** The heroine's evil stepmother in "The Golden Spinning Wheel" is widowed.
** The heroine's mother in "Water Sprite" is widowed and lives with her only daughter.

''A Bouquet of Czech Folktales'' is a collection of ballads written by [[Creator/KarelJaromirErben Karel Jaromír Erben]]. It was first published in 1853 and contained 12 poems. Its second edition is from 1861 and had 13 poems. Erben had plans for more ballads, but they were not finished. The poems had a huge success and it has been considered a treasure of Czech literature ever since it first appeared.

* "Noon Witch": Mother gets frustrated with her child who's very troublesome. She calls a noon witch to get him.
* "The Golden Spinning Wheel": This poem is based on a fairy-tale. A nobleman falls in love with a pretty spinner and wants to marry her. The heroine's evil step-mother murders her and her step-sister who looks exactly like the girl acts as her imposter.
* "Christmas Eve": Christmas Eve is the most magical night when the Earth reveals her secrets and it's possible to read one's future. Hana and Marie tempt their fate with dangerous fortune telling. Hana sees a happy marriage with her sweetheart. Marie sees her own funeral.
* "The Dove": Dove in Slavic mythology symbolizes a pure and innocent soul. The dove in the ballad is a soul of a poisoned husband. His guilt-ridden, unfaithful wife of a murderess cannot stand his cooing.

* "Willow": A ballad about a woman whose soul lives in a willow at nights. Her husband finds out and is disturbed. He decides to cut the tree.
* "Lily": A young girl dies and her soul is transferred into a lily. At nights, she's allowed to appear in her human form and a prince falls in love with her. His mother does not like his new bride.

* "The Prophetess": The closing poem includes prophecies about future fame of the Czech nation.

** The mother in "Noon Witch" gets so angry that she starts wishing for the title character to take away her child. She doesn't seem to expect the noon witch to actually show up to take the child, and is horrified when that happens.

* DrivenToSuicide: The daughter in "The Daughter's Curse". She blames her mother for poor parenting and is torn about her feelings to her seducer. She killed her baby and feels unredeemable guilt.

* IdenticalStranger: The two step-sisters in "The Golden Spinning Wheel" look absolutely alike, despite the fact that they share no genetical material.
* LitFic: Big time. Czech kids must know this book perfectly as it's one of the most important text from the 19th century and in the canon of Czech literature. They usually have to learn at least one poem (or its extract, as some are quite long) by heart.

** When the heroine of "Wedding Shirts" locks herself in the dead room near a church with a dead man who is about to be buried, her undead lover tries to raise him as well to kill her. He calls him three times. She manages to make him lie calmly.

** "Willow" is about a woman who shares her life with a willow. She's a woman during days, but she's lying as if she were dead at nights. When her husband finds out she actually lives as a willow, he decides to cut the tree down because he wants to have her ''fully''. It ends badly. She dies the instant he cuts it.
** "Lily": A lady in this poem is a woman at nights, but a lily during days.

** The heroine of "Golden Spinning Wheel" is a hard-working girl who likes spinning. Her step-sister takes her place as a bride of a nobleman. She longs to have the golden spinning wheel from the title, which reveals what she did to her sister. Her husband finds out what she did.
** The heroine of "Wedding Shirts" is waiting for her lover who went abroad. He told her to spin, weave and sew their wedding shirts and her bottom drawer until he comes back.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Water sprites and water goblins and their children have green hair in Czech folklore.

* HalfHumanHybrid: The child in "Water Sprite". His mother human and his father is a water goblin.

** The child in "The Treasure" is kept for a year in the magical cave and survives.
*** According to the folklore, that is because [[YearOutsideHourInside time flows differently in the cave]].

** In "The Golden Spinning Wheel," a series of three barters takes place in order to convey the missing parts of the girl's body from the WickedStepmother to the mysterious old man who needs them to bring her BackFromTheDead. A golden spinning wheel is exchanged for the legs, a golden distaff is exchanged for the hands, and a golden thimble is exhanged for the eyes. When the king returns and asks his new wife to demonstrate the golden spinning wheel, the wheel plays a song in three verses exposing the murder and deception.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The heroine of "Wedding Shirts" lost her entire family (they died) and has only one hope -- her lost lover might come back. She blasphemes in her prayer and says that either he returns, or that God should kill her as well. God grants her her wish -- her lover does come back, but he's dead.

''A Bouquet of Czech Folktales'' is a collection of ballads written by Karel Jaromir Erben. It was first published in 1853 and contained 12 poems. Its second edition is from 1861 and had 13 poems. Erben had plans for more ballads, but they were not finished. The poems had a huge success and it has been considered a treasure of Czech literature ever since it first appeared.

Erben focused on women and their role in life and society. The most important relationship for him was a relationship between a mother and her child. Sometimes, his heroine is torn between her role as a daughter and her role as a mother, and she cannot make the right choice -- as it will always wrong one of her loved ones.

''A Bouquet'' was translated to English in 2013.

* "A Bouquet": An introduction into the collection. A mother dies and her orphans mourn her, coming to her grave daily. The mother's soul comes back to them in the form of thymus. The children can sense their mother's breath in the scent of thyme and know that her soul is returned.[[note]]Thymus is called "mother's breath" in Czech and it's synonymous with "mother's soul".[[/note]]

* "The Dove": Dove in Slavic mythology symbolizes a pure and innocent soul. The dove in the ballad is a soul of a poisoned husband. His gilt-ridden, unfaithful wife of a murderess cannot stand his cooing.

* "Water Sprite": Water Sprite is a creature who lives in lakes and rivers, drowns people and keeps their souls trapped under the water. In some fairytales or folktales, he can be a benevolent and friendly figure, but he's a horrific being in Erben's poem. He kidnaps an innocent girl and forces her to live with him.
* "Willow": A ballad about a woman whose soul lives in a willow at nights. Her husband finds out and is desturbed. He decides to cut the tree.

* BittersweetEnding: Sometimes there is some hope in the fates of the heros or heroines.

* DownerEnding: Lots of the ballads end in tragedy like death of children or young people.

** In "Water Sprite", the protagnist's mother refuses to let her daughter go back to her monster of a husband and her child. As a punishment, the water sprite kills their little son.

** "Lily" starts with a narrator telling that a young virgin died of illness. She starts living as a lily duting the day and a woman at nigt.

Erben focused on women and their role in life and society. The most important relationship for him was a relationship between a mother and her child. Sometimes, his heroine is torned between her role as a daughter and her role as a mother, and she cannot make the right choice -- as it will always wrong one of her loved ones.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The heroine of "Wedding Shirts" lost her entire faily (they died) and has only one hope -- her lost lover might come back. She blasphemes in her prayer and says that either he returns, or that God should kill her as well. God grants her her wish -- her lover does come back, but he's dead.

* DrivenToSuicide: The daughter in "The Daughter's Curse". She blames her mother for poor parenting and is torn about her feelings to her seducer. She killed killed her baby and feels unredeemable guilt.

** The heroine of "Golden Spinning Wheel" is hard-working girl who likes spinning. Her step-sister takes her place as a bride of a nobleman. She longs to have the golden spinning wheel from the title, which reveals what she did to her sister. Her husband finds out what she did.
** The heroine of "Wedding Shirts" is waiting for her lover who went to war. He told her to spin, weave and sew their wedding shirts and her bottom drawer.

** When the heroine of "Wedding Shirts" locks herself in the dead room near a church with a dead man who is about to be burried, her undead lover tries to raise him as well to kill her. He calls him three times. She manages to make him lie calmly.

* HalfHumanHybrid: The child in "Water Sprite". His mother is a human woman and his father is a water goblin.

** In "Water Sprite", the protagnist's mother refuses her daugheter to go back to her monstrous husband and child. As a punishment, the water sprite kills his little son.

''A Bouquet of Czech Folktales'' is a collection of ballads written by Karel Jaromir Erben. It was first published in 1853 and contained 12 poems. Its second edition is from 1861 and had 13 poems. Erben had plans for more ballads, but they were not finished. The collection of poems had a huge success and it has been considered a treasure of Czech literature ever since it first appeared.