Welcome to Story Bothy!
My name is Alexa J Ispas, and I am the translator of the stories you will find through this website.
These stories are old…How old, no one knows.
They were being told among Romanian people in the 19th century while they were sitting by the fire, after long days working the field.
These stories are remarkable, in that they address universal human themes that are relevant to us today, yet also provide a glimpse into a way of life very different from our own.
Petre Ispirescu, a young man born in 1830 who had grown up around these stories and had trained at a publishing house, decided to start collecting these stories and publish them.
His first published collection dates from 1862, and he continued publishing these stories until close to his death, two decades later.
A couple of these stories form part of the Romanian literature curriculum in Romanian schools, which is how I first came across them.
Yet many of them are unknown to most Romanian people.
They had certainly been unknown to me, until I accidentally stumbled upon Ileana Samziana a while ago, many years after having moved from my native Romania to start a new life in the UK.
That story, which I re-titled The Girl Who Would Be King in my translated version, felt like a revelation.
Here was a transgender story, published in a 19th century Romanian book of fairy tales!
Petre Ispirescu’s collection had many more surprises in store for me, as I started making my way through the tales.
I fell head over heels in love with these stories, and decided to translate and adapt them for an English-speaking, contemporary audience.
In doing so, I did my best to stay true to the narrative of each story, yet filter out elements of racial discrimination and other such aspects that do not sit well with our 21st century values.
I have also taken creative license with many of the titles, as well as the sentence structure and length.
Following each tale, I have included a section in which I summarize the changes I have made, for any readers who would like to find out more about how the translated version differs from the original.
I hope you enjoy my translation and adaptation of these fairy tales. If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact me.
