Drd´s Fairy Tales

Drda's fairy tales often draw their themes from traditional folk tales (Drda is inspired by the fairy tales of K. J. Erben, for example), but are further developed. This type of fairy tale is characterised by its enrichment with an authorial element, which in the case of Jan Drda is often the use of proper names, especially geographical names. While folk tales are set in geographically vague places, Jan Drda's tales are set in very specific locations.

Proper names are geographical names whose originator is Drda himself. Some of them are used in the text in a mocking sense and characterise the mood in the villages in question (Stejskalov, Křepčín), poverty (Bezpenězy, Skromnětín, Hladonice) or human vices (Odřihosty). This group of names also includes the names of the countries Lenoráj, Machometánije and Sakrabonyje, which are told by the vagabonds in the fairy tale How Honza went to Lenoráj. Drd's associations also gave rise to the name of the town of Rukapáň, in which the novel Little Town in the Palm of Your Hand is set, and which also appears in the fairy tales Dařbuján and Pandrhola, The Waterman in the Brewery and The Foolish Havířka.

Realistic names closely resemble real names in their name, or at least one of their components occurs in real names. For example, the names Skoupá Lhota, Chytrá ves, Boromyšl, River Vydrůvka and others. This group of names also includes all names of inns (e.g. U Věnce, U Mouřenína, Malovánka, Čeřen).

Authentic names are allusions to places existing in the real world. "And when I think about what I think I've done, I realize more and more how it's all tied to my native land. (...) One forgets these things, but then they come up again." (Black Hour, 1967)

Czech fairy tales

The leading position in the fairy tale The Waterman in the Brewery is occupied by the Kaňka pond, which is located in the woods behind Rukapání and is the home of the waterman Mátala. Although we read in the text that the pond later became a potato farm, the pond of the same name can still be found on the outskirts of Příbram and its name is also preserved in the name of the street Nad Kaňka. The brewer Karas came across the pond on his way from the village of Kardavec, where a ball was being held in the local brewery. The real village of Kardavec is located near Příbram in the direction of Jince and is part of the village of Hluboš. The information about the brewery itself can be based on a real basis, as historical sources preserve a historical reference to the establishment of a brewery in Hluboš, which, however, already disappeared sometime at the end of the 19th century.

One of the places through which Karas returned home from Kardavec at night was Květná. Besides the fact that this name is given to a real village in the Pardubice Region, it is also the name of a hill in the forests that stretch around Kardavec to Příbram. There are two mentions of Květná in the fairy tale The Waterman in the Brewery. In the introduction it is described that the pond Kaňka is spotted by birds flying "from the spruces above Černý Blats to the oak above Květná". The second time, Květná is included in the list of places Karas passed through before he reached Kaňka from Kardavec.

In the fairy tale Bohemian Honza, the main character lives in "one village by the river". The signal that this village bears the name is found in the song that Honza sings to the derision of the envious boys from across the river. Subsequently, the name of the village appears in the adjectives "oubenitsa rychtář" and "oubenitsa parson". One of the two authentic villages with this name found in the Czech Republic is located near Příbram in the direction of Dobříš. It is not only the name of the village that is rooted in reality, but also its location near the river. This river may be the Kocába River, which actually flows past Ouběnice in the Příbram region. The proper name Ouběnice also appears in the fairy tale "The Foolish Havířka".

In the fairy tale "The Foolish Raven" the village of Čimelice is also mentioned. Although the real Čimelice belongs to the district of Písek, it is well known in the Příbramsko region because it is located on the traffic artery between Prague and Strakonice. In the fairy tale, the countess who is cursed in a horse comes from there. The designation of Čimelice as the residence of the aforementioned countess was not accidental, as there is indeed a castle in Čimelice.

Dalskabaty, the Sinful Village or The Forgotten Devil

The fairy tale comedy Dalskabaty, the Sinful Village, which was created as a reworking of the fairy tale The Forgotten Devil, bears a geographical name in its title. In both the fairy tale and the drama, the ramshackle cottage in which the devil Trepifajksl has taken up residence is located in the forest between the villages of Dalskabáty and Káciň. In the case of the fairy tale, the location of the cottage is determined directly. In the drama, it is implied that it is on the road to Kácin, where Plajzner was heading from Dalskabaty. Much of the action takes place in Dalskabaty at the parsonage and in the forge. The real village of this name is located in the Příbram region in the direction of Smolotely. The real location of the village corresponds to its neighbourhood with the village of Káciň. The village of Dalskabáty is also mentioned in the fairy tale How Honza went to Lenoráje.

In the play Dalskabáty, a sinful village or The Forgotten Devil, three other villages are mentioned which are also in fact in the immediate vicinity of Dalskabáty. When the churchman Piškytle and the wandering comedian Lupino go into the woods to hunt Trepifajksl, they do not recognise him (he was by then already stripped of his horns and tail) and take him for an inhabitant of one of the neighbouring villages: 'Vvodkuďpak you are, godfather? From Drsník, right? From Smolotel? Or from Nepřejov?" Nepřejov is also mentioned in the fairy tale How the Princess Guessed Till She Guessed.

The aforementioned villages of Dalskabaty, Káciň, Drsník, Smolotels and Nepřejov are unique in that while in other fairy tales authentic and fictional geographical names occur independently of each other, all these names are reflected in real places, and their real location roughly corresponds to the location in the story - they are neighbouring villages. Let us briefly consider the geographical name Dalskabaty. Henry V. Bezděka bases his interpretation of the name Dalskabáty mainly on old cadastral records. He concludes that the name carries a pejorative connotation and originated from the phrase "Dáš coat", which was used by robbers and thieves. The name was therefore intended to characterise the inhabitants of the village in a derisive way. The name carries the same negative connotation in Dred's drama. It is described as a 'sinful village'.

Thus, in Jan Drda's tales we find a number of geographical names that have a relationship to Příbram and its surroundings. However, there are also names where, despite the correspondence with authentic names, it is not entirely clear. However, Drda's inspiration, with a few exceptions, lies only in the naming of the above-mentioned places and the description of the area is purely fairy-tale.

We know many of Jan Drda's fairy tales in the form of their film adaptations (e.g. About Princess Jasněnka and the Flying Shoemaker, About the Foolish Havířka, From the Hell of Happiness, The Most Beautiful Riddle, etc.), but the geographical names have mostly disappeared. Therefore, if we want to see how much (though often subtly) the region of Pribram and Dred's relationship to it has been reflected in his fairy tales, let us not hesitate to pick up a book and discover these places together with the original stories that take place in these places.

■ Barbora Blahnová

Text based on BLAHNOVÁ, Barbora. Toponymy in selected fairy tales by Jan Drda. Prague, 2017. Bachelor thesis (B.A.) Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Czech Literature and Comparative Studies. Available from: https://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/detail/168150/