Polish Collections of Fairy Tales and Their Cultural Meanings (Reconnaissance)

Abstract

The main aim of the article is to show the functioning of bajarze in Polish culture, understood not as storytellers, but as collections of fairy tales. They began to be published in the 19th century and continue to be published today. The first Bajarz polski by Antoni Józef Gliński was created in 1853, and the latest, Współczesny bajarz polski, by Zuzanna Orlińska – in 2021. Over the centuries, many other collections of tales were released: their main goal has been to popularize Polish and/or folk traditions. The article presents known collections and shows their changing functions.

Keywords

• storyteller
• collection of fairy tales
• folk tale
• fairy tale
• folklore
• tradition