Jan Marcin Szancer (1902 Kraków-1973 Warsaw), Illustration to The Tale of the Steel Hedgehog

ink, gouache, paper, 28 × 50.5 cm

Illustration reproduced in: Jan Brzechwa "A Tale of a Steel Hedgehog", Warsaw 1961, Ruch Publishing Office, Issue I, (nlb).

"The fog, as usual, guarded the road,
The road ran on the right side.
And when dawn was not far away,
The Hedgehog stood by the great river.
The current turbulent and frothy
Created whirlpools on the right side.
The Hedgehog saw this, but did not deviate,
Only into the middle of the whirlpools he jumped.
He swam boldly as if fishing,
And when he overcame the power of the elements,
He saw the Island of the Three Buffaloes.
There was a mighty forest on the island,
Not wooden, but mossy,
From the forest, planting through the levees,
Three buffaloes jumped out
And headed straight for the Hedgehog,
Who had already touched the coast.
The ground trembled, trodden
By the buffaloes. Thick foam
Stepped out on their snouts,
Bloody flashes twitched in their blind eyes,
And their hooves powerful,
Not ordinary, but brass,
And brass great horns
In a menacing and sinister manner
They pointed at the Hedgehog:
Only a buffalo strikes like this.
The Hedgehog, ready for battle already,
He took from his scabbard a steel sword,
To the side he dodged and fiercely
He chopped with his sword. A terrible cut
Swept away six buffalo horns,
Which fell among the clefts.
Their brassy sound resounded,
Against the brass trees smashed
And through the echo repeated,
Sounded and thundered on all sides.
And the buffaloes bowed their heads
Lied in a row. A hedgehog of steel
Stood propped up with a halberd
And watched with contempt
Defeated his enemies
And brass great horns,
Then to the right he set off down the road."
Jan Brzechwa "The Tale of the Steel Hedgehog", Warsaw 1961, Biuro Wydawnicze "Ruch", Edition I, (nlb).