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PAN KOTSKY A n Overview o f a U krainian F o lk Tale by Helene Turkewicz-Sanko Collecting folk tales and folk songs became very popular in Europe of the 1800s. "Pan Kotsky", which first appeared under the title of "The Fox and the Cat", was recorded in the county of Pyriatyns'ki in the province of Poltava by folklorist Ivan Yakovych Rudchenko, literary pseudonym of Ivan Bilyk (1845-1905). Rudchenko was the brother of Panas Mymyi with whom he published the first collection of Ukrainian folk tales under the title of Folk Tales from the South (Народні Підденноруські Казки. Вип. І-П, 1869&1870). It seems that the title was changed to "Pan Kotsky" by composer Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912) who created operas, based on Ukrainian folk tales, for children. Lysenko worked primarily in Eastern Ukraine. In a letter from Kyiv dated November 17, 1895, Lysenko wrote to his friend Hryhorii Ipatievych Markevych, mentioning that he had just published a one act opera for children about a goat (Koza Dereza ) and that he had also written a four act opera for children, Pan Kotsky. In Lysenko’s biography, we discover that Pan Kotsky was completed in 1891. This year, Pan Kotsky, is celebrating its ninetieth birthday in English translation. In 1908, Doubleday and Company, Inc. (Garden City, New York) published Crimson Classics, a collection of folk tales from around the world. Tales of Laughter, the third book in this collection, edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, included three Ukrainian folk tales: The Fox and the Cat (i.e. Pan Kotsky), The Straw Ox, and The Cat , the Cock and the Fox. The three Ukrainian folk tales are labelled "Cossack" folk tales and are followed by four "Russian" folk tales. It is significant that the tales are presented with these respective headings; the designations demonstrate that English language folklorists at the fcr n of the century made a distinction as to the ethnic origin of each of the stories. It is somewhat surprising to have "Cossack" or Ukrainian folk tales translated into English and published by an American publishing house as "Cossack" folk tales, particularly in view of the fact that in Ukraine, it was becoming increasingly difficult to publish anything in Ukrainian. Printing restrictions were imposed by Russian censors and the edict of 1876 established Russian as the one and only language in the land. Ukraine as a country was not recognized as such in the English speaking world until 1918, when it declared its independence and sovereignty. That year, the National Geographic published an article about Ukraine proclaiming its existence as a new country. But until then, the memoirs of Lysenko's contemporaries chronicle how difficult it was to publish or perform anything in the Ukrainian language. One recalls that the Ukrainian song "Doshtchyku" (Dear Little Rain) had to be sung in French in order to avoid censure. Despite these restrictions, Ukrainian folk tales survived, with Pan Kotsky remaining to this day as one of the most popular. Pan Kotsky, abandoned in the forest by his master, is an old cat who befriends a lady fox. One day a rabbit enter's the cat's garden and the cat frightens him so much that he tells all the forest animals about his terrible encounter. The rabbit is so convincing that all the animals become so concerned for their safety and decide to prepare a banquet to propitiate this frightening new inhabitant and to size up the threat. They invite the cat and his lady fox friend, prepare a banquet and hide. When the cat sees the good food, he meows with delight, but the animals misinterpret the sound and assume it means "not enough". They are even more frightened, thinking that Pan Kotsky must be a giant for whom the banquet is not enough and who may therefore devour all of them. They scatter, each in the most humorous manner, leaving all the goodies to the two soulmates, the Mr. Cat and Miss Fox. It is very fortunate that ethnographers and folklorists collected Ukrainian folklore and thus preserved them in the Ukrainian language of the nineteenth century. Through the years, the language of Ukrainian folk tales has evolved and translations have been reprinted, re-edited, re-translated and retold. It is interesting to examine the illustrations Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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