A Memory (Translated by Adele Milch)

Korczak, Janusz

A MEMORY JANUSZ KORCZAK TRANSLATED BY ADELE MILCH These excerpts are from Krol Macius Pierwszy, King Matt the First, which Janusz Korczak wrote in 1923. The story tells of how Matt, the king's...

...The article said that the children in Queen Kampanella's kingdom were the first to demand their rights because the kingdom's warm climate made them very hot-tempered...
...As if we didn't have enough trouble with the workers and their red flag, now the kids are starting up...
...For example, the black children could explain that they don't need ice skates because there are no skating ponds in their country...
...Why do they have red flags...
...My dear ministers," he began, "since only the people can tell us what they need, we agreed that the whole nation would help to govern, but we forgot, gentlemen, that the nation is made up of children as well as adults...
...When he got there, however, Matt saw that children from the whole kingdom had gathered together to advise him on how to govern in a way that would be good for everyone and would make everyone happy...
...It seems to me that if all the children in the world could get together this way, white, black, and yellow, just as the kings did not so long ago, they could all tell what is "As if we didn't have enough trouble with the workers and their red flag, now the kids are starting up...
...As soon as he entered the station he sensed that something was brewing...
...The prime minister had a troubled look on his face, and the police prefect was there too, though in the past he had never been on hand to welcome Matt...
...When one of them discovered that children now had their own flag, just like the workers, and that the flag was green, the striking children began marching under the green flag...
...I am the king of both adults and children, but if the adults feel I'm too little, they can choose a grown-up king for themselves, and I will remain king of the children...
...They aren't going anywhere...
...Good, I'll come," said Matt...
...It's possible," said the prime minister, making an unpleasant face...
...If people learn not to fight when they are small, they won't fight when they grow up...
...He has shows forthcoming in Washington fat the International Monetary Fund, in November) and in Tokyo (at the Modern Art Museum, in 1982), among others...
...His painting was selected as the poster for the World Gathering, and appeared on moment's cover in March/April 1981...
...Matt took a drink of water because he had quite a lot to say...
...say you are pleased that the nation is voicing its will and wish the deputies success...
...Our flag isn't red...
...When they got a bad mark or were yelled at, they began to say, "This wouldn't happen if we had our own government...
...Tomorrow the vacation ends and [the children's] Parliament will be holding its first session," said Felek...
...We have several million children, and they too should participate...
...The children's deputies gradually learned how to conduct themselves in Parliament...
...A non-Jew, he recalls the Korczak tales from his own childhood...
...Enough is enough...
...If someone is chosen to be a deputy, he must be on hand to advise...
...Some of you know what is needed in the cities, others know what is needed in the country...
...In a sequel volume...
...Everything will be fine...
...Please forgive me for being late," he said, "but I had a fight yesterday, and got a bloody nose, so Mama didn't want to let me come at all...
...The story tells of how Matt, the king's young son, ascends the throne of their land upon his father's death...
...So let there be two parliaments, one for adults, with grownup deputies and grown-up ministers, and another for children, with children as deputies and ministers...
...Workers' parade...
...The station was surrounded by soldiers...
...And as a result, children everywhere were starting to talk about the things that happened to them at home and at school...
...Everyone will love one another, and there won't be any wars...
...eventually, Matt is overthrown and sent into exile...
...You are representatives," said Matt...
...And this was only the beginning, because even though Matt and the deputies didn't know it, the foreign newspapers were writing about the children's parliament...
...A dele Milch, the translator, was born and raised a Polish Catholic...
...He wasn't too enthusiastic, though, because he knew there would be shouting and that everyone would be looking at him...
...These are the men who built the summer camps for the children...
...Just then the parade came into view...
...His reception was not very pleasant...
...He remembered the parade of happy children leaving for the summer camps he had built for them in the forest...
...Nothing like this has ever happened before...
...She decided to convert to Judaism after visiting the concentration camp at Auschwitz in 1969...
...Once a deputy was tardy, arriving just before the end of a session...
...King Matt was the first to say that the children should have a green flag: King Matt thought it up all by himself, and now maybe he will be king of all the children, and not just those in his own country...
...Oh, the usual, like any other king...
...Suddenly Matt remembered the green forest and the green fields in the country...
...Children will have the same rights as grown-ups...
...The news made Matt very happy, though, and the children's newspaper ran a long article under the headline, "The Movement Is Beginning...
...King Matt on a Deserted Island, Korczak offers a more hopeful vision...
...Matt returned to the capital with a heavy heart...
...Where are they going...
...having always felt herself in some way Jewish, her ceremonial immersion in the mikvah was but a formality signalizing the return of a "pintele yid" that several centuries ago got lost in the Polish gene pool...
...Things go badly, however, and before long there is a vehement adult reaction...
...It'll be easier for you...
...He said out loud, "Wouldn't it be possible for all the children in the world to have a flag of their own—a green flag...
...There were hardly any flags or flowers...
...You can get a bloody nose at school too, but your parents wouldn't keep you home because of it...
...His cover art for this issue, as also the illustrations, were prepared specially for moment...
...What kind of system would that be...
...Jan Sawka, the illustrator, was born and raised in Poland...
...At that moment the car passed through a sad, gray, narrow street...
...Children will be obedient not because they are afraid but because they want things to be orderly...
...I wanted to govern the country in a way that would be good for all of you, but it's hard for one person to figure out what everyone else needs...
...A deputy's parents cannot prevent him from attending sessions...
...As she describes it, the visit was a catalyst...
...needed...
...Maybe we children should choose a green flag for ourselves, because children love the forest, and the forest is green...
...Seeing the peasant children he had recently played with so nicely filled him with new vigor and he made a lovely speech...
...With the green flag as its emblem, he sets up a children's parliament and founds what becomes an international children's movement...
...With a child's clarity of vision, Matt soon sees the need for social reform...
...Maybe all the children—the white kids, and the black and yellow ones too— could also have one flag," he said to himself...
...And then, in Queen Kampanella's little kingdom in southern Europe, the children got angry about something and went out on strike...
...On the contrary, they've just come back...
...Matt said in surprise...
...But what color...
...Matt became thoughtful...
...he also concludes that adults and children, having different needs, should be governed differently...
...And then, as children begin to understand that they should not fight, there will be order...
...Many of the movement's ideas are accepted by the society at last...
...The very young among you know what the little ones need, and others know what the older children need...
...And that's how the quarrel between the children and the grownups started...
...It continued: Before long the green flag will be accepted by all the children in the world...
...Why are we going this way...
...Until now I have been on my own...
...The workers already have a flag of their own," said Matt, "the red flag...
...The grown-ups were very angry...
...They say it belongs to all the workers no matter what country they live in...
...Surely your royal highness will want to say a few words...
...The workers, singing as they marched, were waving red flags...
...Now that the job is finished they have no work, so they're making trouble...
...Haven't you ever heard of parliamentary immunity...
...The red flag is the flag of working people everywhere...
...Because of the workers' parade...
...Children will be full citizens...
...That's all we needed...
...They got into the automobiles and set out along the side streets instead of the main boulevards...
...What should I say...

Vol. 6 • September 1981 • No. 8


 
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