janusz korczak Don’t you know where to buy cakes They haven’t taught us that yet he replies shrugging his shoulders as if he doesn’t know what to do The man loses his temper What are you waiting for Nothing And he leaves Well asks his pal He got riled up A grouchy kind of guy He’s always like that says the pal I know this store I never buy anything here whitefish You should have said I thought you’d do all right And I did He didn’t kill me did he They walk on Kaytek boldly enters a third store It’s a food store They have cheese butter sugar herring and Good day Good day Can I have some whale Whale Yes Four ounces Pickled So who sent you A friend He’s waiting outside Tell your friend he’s a rascal and you’re a dope So you don’t have any No we have not We’ll have it later When will that be When it gets warmer That’s enough now beat it And shut the door He carefully closes the door and tells his pal what happened Aren’t you afraid he’ll recognize you in the street So what They sell sea salmon Herrings are from the sea too What’s wrong with asking about whales 11
kaytek the wizard Just you wait That’s only three stores You can still lose We’ll see The fourth is a tiny little store It’s a shoemaker’s shop The shoemaker doesn’t have any work right now It’s already the dinner hour and he’s only sold a pair of laces and a can of shoe polish today He’s waiting for someone to buy something In comes Kaytek I’d like some cream cheese please Either guessing it’s a joke or because he’s angry at being dis turbed the shoemaker reaches for his belt I’ll give you cheese you clown He takes a swing This time it hasn’t quite worked Kaytek has had to make a quick escape Kaytek passes by several small stores He stops outside the barbershop and does some thinking But you keep doing the same thing says his pal There’s nothing smart about that No not if you don’t find it amusing But you go in and try thinking up something different yourself All right then What will you say in here Don’t be in such a rush Just wait a bit You’ll see Kaytek goes into the barbershop It’s nice in there clean and fragrant There are perfumes in lots of different bottles as well as colored soaps combs hair oil and powder The girl behind the cash register is reading a book What would you like young man asks the barber He’s young and chirpy Some hair oil to grow a king’s moustache please Who is it for It’s for me The girl stops reading and looks up The man opens his eyes wide 12
GD FR
kaytek the wizard What do you want a moustache for Kaytek puts on an innocent look and says For a show at school So who are you going to be King John Sobieski I can paint a moustache on you I’d prefer a real one But what’ll you do after the show I’ll shave it off They laugh They’ve fallen for it Give him some Eau de Cologne I don’t want any says Kaytek flinching Why not It’ll make you smell good I don’t want any The boys will laugh at me They’ll say I want to get married Don’t you want to get married No way What the heck for The young people in the store are bored so they’re happy to joke around conver sation says the girl But a lady comes in to buy something and interrupts the Come here and I’ll paint you a moustache It’ll be just like a real one says the barber But you will invite us to the show won’t you Don’t forget Kaytek’s friend is getting impatient What took you so long They wanted to spray me with perfume For free I guess so Why didn’t you let them Why should they waste their stuff It’s all right to have a joke but I’m not a jerk I don’t like cheats Well sure King John Sobieski 1629 1696 was the Polish king who defeated the Turks at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 All notes have been added by the translator 14
