Zagadka „fujarki ze srebra”. Pieśni hiszpańskie Edwarda Porębowicza – od spolszczenia do oryginału
The riddle of the “silver flute”. Edward Porebowicz's "Spanish chants": from the polonized version to the original text

Summary/Abstract: A hundred years after the first edition of Edward Porębowicz’s “Pieśni ludowe celtyckie, germańskie, romańskie” (1909), the author of the article finds about three quarters of the original „Spanish chants” and compares 60 selected texts with their Polonized versions. The reading of both versions as parallel texts confirms the high opinion of the poetic talent of this prominent European folklore expert, proving that he was an artist rather than simply a poetry translator. The original text is to him a source material, which he processes and dignifies. The effects of this processing are diverse. Alongside miniature masterpieces, such as Porebowicz’s seguidillas, we find (especially in coplas, the most abundant in his collection) strophes of folk character, typical for the „Young Poland” movement. They sound familiar to a Polish reader, but lose their southern character and emotional restraint in their expression of sentiments and experiences. Those Spanish folk song does not shine with their own but with reflected light, and sometimes become obscene or, to say the least, suggestive – raising unnecessary erotic connotations (as in Polish translation of „relicario de plata”, „the silver flute”).

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