world_pictures

5
Frane Milčinski-Ježek • Gorazd Vahen, ill.
Zvezdica Zaspanka [Twinkle Sleepyhead/ Little Sleepy Star]
Sanje, 2004 • ISBN 9789616767415 (Zvezdica Zaspanka) • ISBN 9789616767422 (Little Sleepy Star)
Famously, Twinkle Sleepyhead is the first Slovenian
radio play. It was written in the late 1940s by
Frane Milčinski-Ježek (1914-1988) and was first
broadcast nationally on 31 December, 1949.
Directed by Jože Pengov in 1955, it was staged
at the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre. In 1959, Frane
Milčinski-Ježek won the national Levstik award
for his Twinkle Sleepyhead. In terms of its visual
and design features, the shortlisted edition of
Twinkle Sleepyhead, featuring colourful, spirited
and yet somehow mysterious illustrations by
Gorazd Vahen (b. 1969), is far more fairy-tale like
than its predecessor, the 1992 edition illustrated
by Mojca Cerjak (published by Mladinska knjiga).
It is an adapted and abridged version of the
original radio play (lacking most of the songs,
as well as some scenes and characters that give
the story its characteristic thematic brilliance
and a humorous slant). This notwithstanding, the
presented adaptation follows the original plot
line, which makes it suitable for readers of all
age groups. In addition, the publisher Sanje put
out an even shorter version aimed at pre-school
children, and two English language versions
(Twinkle Sleepyhead in 2004, and Little Sleepy
Star in 2009). It is due to her careless attitude
to her duties and responsibilities, that Twinkle
Sleepyhead causes many problems for people on
Earth (children are unable to fall asleep, seamen
are unable to find their way home, poets are
unable to find words that rhyme). In his attempt
to reprimand her, Uncle Moon sends her to Earth.
She will be allowed to return to the sky after she
will have accomplished a good deed. She does so
by turning the robber Grovel, who has a heart of
stone and is after her precious hair of gold, into a
loving and sensitive person by teaching him how
to spell the word beLOVEd. Twinkle Sleepyhead
is highly evocative and works on several layers;
speaking of symbolism, it uses a poetic language
that will touch the readers’ hearts and feelings,
and will address the moral and ethical attitudes
shared universally by all human beings. Therefore
it is no surprise that these popular and eternally
revived stories for young readers have a massive
appeal as a picture book, or when reincarnated
in other media, even in its sixties, and will
definitely continue to be passed from generation
to generation as an essential item of Slovenian
literary heritage.
Zvezdica Zaspanka je prva slovenska radijska igra,
ki jo je v petdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja napisal
Frane Milčinski – Ježek (1914-1988), premierno
je bila predvajana na sporedu Radia Ljubljana na
silvestrovo leta 1949, leta 1955 pa so jo prvič uprizorili
v Lutkovnem gledališču Ljubljana, v režiji Jožeta
Pengova. Avtor je leta 1959 za besedilo prejel tudi
Levstikovo nagrado. Slikaniška izdaja Založbe Sanje je
na izvedbeni ravni (barvite, vitalne, a hkrati skrivnostne
ilustracije Gorazda Vahna, roj. 1969) zagotovo bolj
čarobna od svoje predhodnice iz leta 1992, ki jo je za
založbo Mladinska knjiga ilustrirala Mojca Cerjak.
Gre za priredbo oziroma skrajšavo originalne radijske
igre, v kateri je sicer umanjkala večina pesmi, pa
tudi nekateri prizori in liki, ki dajejo zgodbi posebno
motivno svežino in jo bogatijo s humorno perspektivo.
Kljub temu priredba uspešno zasleduje osnovni
pripovedni lok tako, da je primerno branje za otroke
vseh starosti. Založba Sanje je ob daljši izdala tudi
krajšo verzijo, namenjeno predšolskim otrokom in
izdajo v angleškem jeziku. Zvezdica Zaspanka zaradi
svojega brezbrižnega odnosa do službe povzroči kup
težav na Zemlji (otroci ne morejo zaspati, mornarji ne
najdejo poti domov in pesniki ne prave rime). Za kazen
jo boter Mesec pošlje na Zemljo, s katere se lahko vrne
šele, ko opravi zares dobro delo: razbojnika Ceferina, ki
ima kamen namesto srca in ga mikajo njeni zlati lasje,
spreobrne v dobrega in čutečega človeka, ko ga nauči
napisati besedo ljuba. Zgodba o Zvezdici Zaspanki
je večplastna in simbolična, saj govori v poetičnem
jeziku, ki se dotika bralčevega srca, njegovih čustev
ter moralnih in vrednostnih stališč, ki so občečloveška.
Nobeno presenečenje torej ni, da je večno zelena,
vedno znova oživljena, in v različnih knjižnih in
neknjižnih oblikah, kot literarna dediščina številnih
generacij, preživela več kot šest desetletij.
the world through picture books • books from slovenia • 175