THE ADVENTURES OF PICCOLO
What do you think, do ladybugs and fireflies have shepherds too? You think not? I'm afraid you're mistaken. Piccolo is a little ladybug shepherd and he can play the flute beautifully, too. One day he loses his ladybugs and begins to look for them. Night falls while Piccolo is searching and he comes across Camellia, a little firefly shepherdess who helps him to find the lost ladybugs. Piccolo wants to do her a favour in return and when Camellia tells him that she’s never seen the sunrise, Piccolo promises her that for one night he will take over all of her shepherding duties and after that they will watch the sun rise together. But it doesn’t happen, because spies from Lilliputia kidnap Camellia that night: the lazybones Prince Putty wants to play with her. When Piccolo hears about it, he decides to find his new friend and make his promise come true. To rescue his friend, Piccolo walks the earth and, in case anything should befall him, he has learnt tightrope walking and fisticuffs… When he reaches the land of poets, he gets to know Printa, the daughter of the prime minister and Chief Secretary of Savory Land: she has fled from her father with her beloved, the poet Hilario Buera and had a nose operation done. From her Piccolo learns where Camellia is and reaches Savory Land, where the princess has apparently locked Camellia up in the attic. Meanwhile the Savory people have come out with a demand that an unfairly imprisoned footballer Trip-You-Up be freed. Whirlwind strikes everyone down, but Piccolo stands up to the prime minister’s bodyguard. At the princess’s command, the battle resumes, and Piccolo and his friends fight on and the dough is kneaded. The father puts on a big show for Hilario Buera’s father: dressed as a tightrope walker, Piccolo does a somersault and lands deliberately in the dough-kneader’s moustache, so that his identity is revealed. Piccolo and Whirlwind stand up to one another. This time Whirlwind is hit so badly that he can’t hold out any more and he begins to recite mocking verses about the Secretary of Savory, and therefore is locked up in prison. The Princess of Savory comes out with Piccolo, the shepherd flicks his finger at her and again flees, With his ladybugs Piccolo takes the fireflies with him to look for Camellia. That night Piccolo releases the fireflies, who find Camellia. Meanwhile in Savory Land tension grows: the locals are irritated by the tyrannical behaviour of the king and his prime minister: they rebel and are victorious. Piccolo helps his new friends, releases Camellia and shows her the sunrise. Years later, when they are grown up, they try to find Savory Land and their friends, but this is impossible, because, as the author explains, ‘to find Savory Land and see it, you have to be as little as the people of Savory Land are.’ The Adventures of Piccolo by Archil Sulakauri is one of the best children’s fictions ever written in Georgia. The adventure full of danger, action and numerous relationships teaches us how big the strength of friendship is and what beautiful and impressive things friendship and kindness can do.
EXTRACT
Translated into English by Lyn Coffin (with Veronica Muskheli)
Once the prince of the Lilliputia Nationhad a strange dream…
This dream really fascinated me and I was going to start this story with it. I changed my mind, though. How can I expect you to care about the prince’s dream when you don’t know a thing about the Lilliputia Nation?
To tell you the truth, you can'tfind the Lilliputia Nation now, even if you're a famous explorer. But I know for a fact it existed in the past. Times were different then. The whole Earth was covered with beautiful countries described in stories and legends and those countries were inhabited by all your favorite fairy tale characters.
All the fairy tales you've read or heard of are from those times.
So, okay, let’s start at the beginning.
From really high mountains, the Splashitup River rushed to the lowlands, passing through dense woods in its hurry to get there.
Once it came out in the open, the Splashitup split into two branches. And exactly between those two branches was the beautiful country of the small people-- the Lilliputia Nation.
The Lilliputia Nation was ruled by King Putian XV... (See PDF)
EXTRACT
Translated into German by Wolf Zippel and Stefan Otto
Einmal hatte der Sohn des Herrschers von Kondareti einen seltsamen Traum. Diesen Traum finde ich so interessant, dass ich die Geschichte damit beginnen lassen wollte. Aber dann habe ich meine Meinung geändert. Denn was nützt euch der Traum des Prinzen, wenn ihr doch noch gar nicht wisst, was für ein Land Kondareti ist und wer sein Herrscher ist.
Wenn ihr die Wahrheit wissen wollt, ihr könntet ein solches Land heutzutage nirgendwo finden, selbst wenn ihr ein berühmter Entdecker wäret. Ich jedoch weiß aus verlässlicher Quelle, dass es Kondareti gegeben hat.
Das war eine ganz andere Zeit damals, als es auf der ganzen Erde nur märchenhaft schöne Länder gab, in denen die euch bekannten und geliebten Märchenhelden wohnten. Alle Märchen, von denen ihr schon gehört oder gelesen habt, stammen nämlich aus jener Zeit.
Also dann! Beginnen wir am Anfang...
Von hohen Bergen herab schoss in wilden Flusstälern der reißende Fluss Tschkapuna in die weite Ebene hinab. Sobald er das Tal erreicht hatte und etwas breiter geworden war, teilte sich dieser Fluss in zwei Arme.
Und genau zwischen diesen beiden Flussarmen befand sich Kondareti, ein wunderschönes Land mit zwergenhaften Bewohnern... (See PDF)
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