Baš Čelik. A Serbian Fairy Tale

By Vuk Stefanović Karadžić

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787-1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the modern Serbian language. For his collection and preservation of Serbian folktales, the Encyclopædia Britannica labelled Karadžić «the father of Serbian folk-literature scholarship». He was also the author of the first Serbian dictionary in the new reformed language. In addition, he translated the New Testament into the reformed form of the Serbian spelling and language.
Literary historian Jovan Deretić summarized his work as «During his fifty years of tireless activity, he accomplished as much as an entire academy of sciences».
Baš Čelik, meaning "head of steel" (from Turkish baş for "head" and çelik for "steel"), is a traditional Serbian fairy tale, collected by Vuk Karadžić.
The name of the tale was also translated as Bash Tchelik or Bashtchelik ("Real Steel", "True Steel") and it was also collected by British author Elodie Lawton Mijatović and included, in 1916, in the collection Edmund Dulac's Fairy Book; Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations, published in New York, edited by the French artist and illustrator Edmund Dulac.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edizioni Aurora Boreale
• Release date: Apr 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9791255045861

Book preview

SYMBOLS & MYTHS

VUK STEFANOVIĆ KARADŽIĆ

BAŠ ČELIK

A SERBIAN FAIRY TALE

LOGO EDIZIONI AURORA BOREALE

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

Title: Baš Čelik. A Serbian Fairy Tale

Author: Vuk Stefanović Karadžić

Publishing series: Symbols & Myths

With an introduction by Boris Yousef

Editing by Nicola Bizzi

ISBN: 979-12-5504-586-1

Cover image: Illustration by Edmund Dulac

LOGO EDIZIONI AURORA BOREALE

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

© 2024 Edizioni Aurora Boreale

Via del Fiordaliso 14 - 59100 Prato - Italia

[e-mail]

www.auroraboreale-edizioni.com

INTRODUCTION BY THE PUBLISHER

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787-1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the modern Serbian language. For his collection and preservation of Serbian folktales, the Encyclopædia Britannica labelled Karadžić «the father of Serbian folk-literature scholarship». He was also the author of the first Serbian dictionary in the new reformed language. In addition, he translated the New Testament into the reformed form of the Serbian spelling and language.

Karadžić was born on November 6 1787 in the village of Tršić, near Loznica, which was at the time in the Ottoman Empire. His family had a low infant survival rate, thus he was named Vuk (wolf) so that witches and evil spirits would not hurt him (the name was traditionally given to strengthen the bearer). He was fortunate to be a relative of Jevta Savić Čotrić, the only literate person in the area at the time, who taught him how to read and write. Karadžić continued his education in the Tronoša Monastery in Loznica. As a boy he learned calligraphy there, using a reed instead of a pen and a solution of gunpowder for ink. In lieu of proper writing paper, he was lucky if he could get cartridge wrappings. Throughout the whole region, regular schooling was not widespread at that time and his father at first did not allow him to go to Austria. Since most of the time, while in the monastery Karadžić was forced to pasture the livestock instead of studying, his father brought him back home.

Meanwhile, the First Serbian uprising seeking to overthrow the Ottomans began in 1804. After unsuccessful attempts to enroll in the gymnasium at Sremski Karlovci, for which 19-year-old Karadžić was too old, he left for Petrinja where he spent a few months learning Latin and German. Later on, he met highly respected scholar Dositej Obradović in Belgrade, which was now in the hands of the Revolutionary Serbia, to ask Obradović to support his studies. Obradović dismissed him. Disappointed, Karadžić left for Jadar and began working as a scribe for Jakov Nenadović and sometime later for Jevta Savić Čotrić as a customs officer all during the time of the War of Independence (1804-1813). After the founding of Belgrade's Grande École (University of Belgrade), Karadžić became one of its students.

Soon afterwards, he grew ill and left for medical treatment in Pest and Novi Sad, but was unable to receive treatment for his leg. It was rumored that Karadžić deliberately refused to undergo amputation, instead deciding to make do with a prosthetic wooden pegleg, of which there were several sarcastic references in some of his works.

Karadžić returned