As long as I’ve lived
I’ve never done harm to anyone
as long as I’ve lived
I’ve never grazed anyone’s oats
just this once
I grazed on the gamekeeper’s wheat
and right away
he reported me to the authorities.

Erben’s later book of poems based on folktales inspired many artists of the time.  Antonin Dvorak wrote several tone poems based on Erben’s poetry and based his best-known opera, Rusalka, on a fairy tale.  In it, a wood nymph falls in love with a prince, is betrayed by her lover, and is finally the instrument of his death.  Here again is the theme of betrayal by the gentry and ensuing revenge, albeit in a romantically tragic grand opera setting.  Bedrich Smetana, the other great Czech nineteenth-century composer, also based several of his operas on folktales.

There is no doubt that folktales played an important part in the nationalist revival of the nineteenth century, but what place do they hold in the twentieth century? The oral tradition has been superseded by radio and television in even the most obscure villages of the Czechoslovak countryside.  Nevertheless, the survival tactics the tales teach remain valid in a nation that has suffered much under the rule of an oppressive elite: Wiliness is still the most valuable tool of survival.

The night watch

A young schoolteacher arrived in a village to take up his job as assistant to the local schoolmaster.  Knowing full well that an assistant will be rich in years long before he has a penny to his name, he thought to himself: “Why should I work so hard?  I’ll go find myself a rich wife.”  But wealthy brides aren’t as common as mushrooms in the forest after the rain.  He looked and looked but when he saw that all the wealthy women just made fun of him, he married a poor and honest girl and stayed a schoolteacher.

Although his bride was a thrifty woman, there was never quite enough for them to get by on.  And then their first baby was born.

It occurred to the schoolteacher that if he found a wealthy godfather for the child, it would help the family out of its troubles.  The wealthy miller seemed just the man.