Oh My! Sorry, Gramps!
O rety, proszę dziada!
by Jacek Nawrot
Little Timothy is a happy child (or perhaps a happy imp). He has everything he needs: scones with prunes, the forest, the creek, the sun and sometimes the rain, the lake... He has friends, too: his Mother, his Father, two tiny flying beings that can talk and a sky-blue little beast that can`t talk but is very nice nevertheless. No other children, though: there are no other children in the neighborhood. And not too many adults, for that matter...
But little Timmy doesn`t care: he is happy as long as he can play and explore and enjoy the fantastic scones only his Mother can bake. Only... why does everybody living in the neighborhood seems strange, somehow? It seems as if each and every one has lost something... Courage, trust, ability to speak, a beloved one... And who is the Him everybody seems to be afraid of? And who does Timmy`s Father the miller grind for? And why did the brave Grandma, the courageous Black Maiden, have to die? No one seems to be able or willing to answer the questions. But far away, beyond forests and swamps, there lives and old man who can answer any question.
So little Timothy takes a journey. He just has to find the old man and learn the answers. The journey is not easy, but Timmy is persistent. He finds the old man and he gets the answers. And then he comes to see he has either to do something or let things be. It would be safer to leave everything as it is, but that would lose Timothy his happiness. He thinks of the Black Maiden, he thinks of his friends, and he resolves to do something... He doesn`t expect much help, but help comes, after all!
The book is written in Polish and is worth translating. It is a sorrowful book, but the sorrow is fresh and bracing. And it is really worth reading more than once!
© Dodo