Heroes are mirrors of culture!         

                                                             Martin Krpan by Fran Levstik (1831-1887)

This folk tale has been handed down generation after generation, a Slovenian "cultural story".  As salt was once had a worth touching gold, folk tales about salt are abundant. Fairy stories are timeless, and Martin Krpan is just that, a typical man, and of course, a hero. This fairy story is written in typical form: good vs. evil, the common man vs. giants, kings. Remember:  Heroes are mirrors of culture! 

After reading the story log onto the following site. http://www.otroci.gov.si/  Martin Krpan:  Click on Games and Puzzles   Wonderful site for kid exploration on Slovenia!          

                                                       Martin Krpan, a Slovenian Folk Tale  

Once there lived a certain Krpan, a huge, powerful man in a village in Inner Carniola known as Hilltop. It is not often that you see his like. He did not care for work but he carried English salt from the coast on his old mare. At that time this was strictly prohibited. But the border guards were afraid of him and they were never able to lay their hands on him.            It was winter and the snow lay deep all around. There was only a narrow track between each village, just wide enough for the folk to get by, for at that time there were no roads as there are now. Krpan was leading his mare, laden with heavy sacks of salt, along this track when a beautiful carriage came jingling in the opposite direction. In the carriage sat the Emperor Johann who was on his was to Trieste. Krpan, who was a simple countryman, did not recognize him. He just picked up his mare, load and all, and moved to one side, safely out of the carriage’s way. To him, it was like moving a chair for someone.           

The Emperor, seeing this, asked the big man who he was and what he was carrying.  "They call me Krpan”, came the reply, “I come from Hilltop, by Holy Trinity, two hours walk from here”. Krpan thought quickly and said that it was German tinder and a few whetstones. The Emperor also asked him how he had managed to move his horse so easily. Krpan grinned and said he could carry two such for two hours or more if needed. The Emperor thought to himself that this was worth remembering.             

A little over a year passed when one day, a horrible giant named Brdaus appeared in Vienna. He challenged every man in the Empire to fight. All the Emperor’s men were defeated and Brdaus killed all of them. The Emperor was very troubled. The carriage man heard this and reminded the Emperor of Krpan. He immediately sent for him.           

When the emperor’s messenger came to Hilltop Krpan was just dealing with fifteen border guards. He grabbed one and swung him at the others until they took to their heels. The messenger explained that it was the Emperor who saw him how he had moved his mare and why they needed him in Vienna. It pleased Krpan to hear that he was Vienna’s last hope so he changed into his Sunday best and got into the carriage.           

When they arrived in Vienna, the whole city was in black because Brdaus had killed the Emperor’s son. The Emperor hurried to meet Krpan and took him to the upper quarters. Krpan could only stare, struck by how grand it all was. Although Krpan was strong the Emperor was worried whether he knew how to handle the weapons. But Krpan was proud and self-confident and reassured him. He ordered him bread and cheese and a jug of wine. Krpan said nothing because he had heard that the nobility eat very little. He ate up in a flash. The Emperor, a clever man, knew Krpan needed larger rations of food and ordered that each day Krpan was given two legs of pork, two quarters of lamb, three capons and, because he did not like the middle part, crusts of four white loaves, made with butter and eggs. And as much wine as he could drink.           

When Krpan was choosing his arms, everything he handled fell apart in his hands, such was his strength. So he went to a blacksmith’s and made himself something that resembled a butcher’s axe. Then he went into the Emperor’s garden and cut down a leafy linden tree under which the courtiers sat to cool down in the summer. The Emperor was terrified because he knew the Empress would rather have given up all her horses than that linden. Krpan did not care much for this. He made a mighty club, three feet long and tremendously thick at one end. He also needed a horse. The right horse would not have let him pull it out by its tail. But Krpan dragged every one of them. Therefore he sent for his mare at home. Although not much to look at the mare was so strong that no one could drag her to the threshold, let alone across it. She kicked every one of them onto the dung heap.            

The day of the fight arrived. Krpan took his club and axe, got onto his mare and rode out of town to the meadow where he was to do battle with Brdaus. He was a strange sight: his mare was so small and his legs so long that they almost dragged on the ground. He had an old wide-brimmed hat on his head and wore a thick jacket of homespun wool. But he feared no one.           

When Brdaus saw him he began to roar with laughter. But when they shook hands before the fight, Krpan squeezed Brdaus’s hand with such force that the blood spurted from his fingertips. Brdaus thought to himself: he’s a tough one and strong with it, but a farmer is a farmer, he doesn’t know how to fight like a champion. They turned their horses round, and then, from a distance, rode towards each other. Brdaus raised his sword high, to cut off his opponent’s head with his first blow, but Krpan quickly swung his club so that the blade sank deep into the soft wood. Before the giant was able to get it free, Krpan got off his mare, pulled Brdaus off his horse and laid him on the ground as if laying a baby in a crib. He slowly took his axe and cut off the giant’s head. Then he returned to the city.           

The people of Vienna, who had seen all this from afar, came rushing up to him and the Emperor himself came to embrace him in front of his subjects, who were shouting loudly: “Krpan has saved us! Krpan be praised for as long as Vienna stands”.           

Now the Emperor offered Krpan to choose his reward. He even offered him his daughter Yeritsa. The Empress, who still had not forgotten the leafy linden tree and was listening at the door, came in and refused to give her daughter to Krpan. She offered him fifty barrels of wine, a hundred and five loaves, twenty lambs and forty-eight legs of pork. But he was supposed to carry all this home to Carniola and not to sell it in Vienna or on the way.           

Krpan was very angry. He could not understand why that tree was so important. He took hold of the door handle as if to leave. He said he would build himself a shelter in the middle of courtyard and lie there until the food and drink were gone. But if there be another Brdaus they could make Krpan out of straw.           

The Emperor calmed him down. Krpan then told the truth about what he was carrying hen they first met. He wished he could have a letter saying that he was free to peddle English salt. Minister Gregor wanted to put him in prison but the Emperor took no notice of him and ordered Gregor to write down what Martin had asked. Then the Emperor bought the goods that the Empress gave Krpan. They were both pleased with the arrangement. Krpan took farewell and the Emperor wished him safe journey.