Last Thursday morning, five volunteers from five different countries, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy, went to Alen Mak kindergarten. There we each read out a fairytale from our country in our native language, accompanied by a video. This way the children got to listen to languages other than their own and follow the story through pictures. For clarification they also heard a summary of the story in Bulgarian.
First was the Turkish fairytale called “Nasreddenin hodja ye küküm ye”(“Eat my fur coat eat”). It’s about Hodja, who was invited to a dinner reception to which he wore his old robe. Nobody paid him any attention so he put on his new robe and fur coat. Suddenly everyone noticed him, so Hodja said “Eat My Fur Coat, Eat”.
Next was the lesser known German fairytale “Frau Holle” (“Mother Hulda”). It’s about a pretty and assiduous girl, who falls into a well and reaches the land of Frau Holle. After coming back rewarded with gold for her hard work, her lazy stepsister jumps in the well, but fails to help those in need and do the tasks she's assigned, thus being punished with tar. This story teaches that hard work pays off.
Then came the Spanish fairytale “Platero y yo” (“Platero and I”) by Juan Ramón Jiménez. It tells the story of the donkey Platero and its owner. The writer based the story on memories of his childhood in Andalusia.
The Spanish tale was followed by the Portuguese story “História da Carochinha” (“The Story of the Little Beetle”). Which goes as following: there was a poor little Beetle who was cleaning her house and found a golden coin on the floor. She decided to buy her wedding dress with it and then she put herself outside of her window asking who wanted to marry her. When John The Rat saw her, they decided to get married. One day, she went to the church and ask John The Rat to keep an eye on the beans cooking in the pot for dinner, and she warned him not the touch them! But he couldn’t resist and when he tried to reach them, he fell inside the cauldron. When the Little Beetle came back home, she found her John The Rat cooked and roasted inside the pot.
Last but not least the most famous Italian fairytale “Pinocchio” was presented. Pinocchio is a marionette made by Geppetto. He is brought to life by a blue fairy, who informs him that he can become a real boy if he proves himself to be "brave, truthful, and unselfish". Together with the talking cricket he will go on many adventures that, of course,have a happy ending.
The kindergarten also performed a story; the funny tale of family attempting and failing at pulling a huge vegetable out of the earth.
We are happy we got to share a part of our culture with the kindergarten and to learn about a Bulgarian story as well.
All in all it was a fun morning for the volunteers and the children alike.
