Why Eastern Europeans frown – begins early
Tatjana was singing a lullabye to Tin in Croatian. When she translated it I knew why most people over there don’t smile a lot – it starts in childhood with sad lullabyes and then progresses to sad jokes as adults.
Zeko i potoi (Bunny and the Brook).
U jednoj zimskoj noi
tam gdje je visok brijeg
smrznuo se potoi i pokrio ga snijeg.
A jedan mali zeko taj potok
traži svud,
gdje je kud je nestao to njemu tišti grud.
I plae, plae zeko mal,
za potoiem tim
i žali žali zeko sad
žali srcem svim
i tužan misli zeko
da gdje je potok taj,
možda laste slijedi on
u dalek južni kraj.
a onda dodje ljeto
i snijeg se otopi
vratio se potoi
i zeko sretan bi.
One winter’s night
Where the mountain is high
A brook froze and was covered by snow.
And one little bunny
Looked everywhere to find it,
Where did it go, it troubled him so.
And he cried and cried, poor little thing,
And he felt sorrow with all his heart
And he wondered where the brook went,
Maybe it followed the birds to the
Faraway southern lands
And then the summer came
And the snow melted down,
The brook came back
And made bunny happy.