Bled

I Once Was A Child: School

Between September 15 and June 15, every child's life was hijacked by school. School was the children's only officially-sanctioned pursuit. Their only obligation. None of us got any thrill out of getting up early, eyes heavy with sleep, and trudging all the way

Fram The Polar Bear

excerpt XVI. THE END The blizzard howled, tumbling boulders of petty snow, gasping when hitting icy walls and cliffs or moaning and screaming along the white nowhere. You couldn't tell the sky from the earth or the ice from the water. Nature was unleashed and that

The Squeak-Squeak Family

excerpt I asked my neighbour to lend me his tomcat one more time. When he's at his wits' end a man will try anything. Come on then, let's give the tomcat another try. Maybe he'll have learned his lesson by now, especially since the neighbour was determined

Apolodor's Travels

excerpts 1The circus tent at Mosh-Mosh fairWas where – tucked in his frigidair –A penguin dwelt without a care. From Labrador he'd landed there.  His name? Apolodor, Esquire. Profession? Singer in the choir. He was no conjurer, therefore,Nor did he walk the tight

The Chick

Sandy, listen to your mammy! One spring, a very tired quail – tired since she was coming from far, far away, from Africa – alighted on a plain of green wheat, close to a stand of saplings. After she rested for a few days, she started to gather twigs, dried leaves, straws

Scaredy

It's winter. The night shines over a fairy tale world: sugar-coated trees, crystal field, mirror-like pond. And throughout the wide surface, the lights in the sky's huge chandelier are turned on one by one, as in an immense dance room. The wild animals of the forest

Magnanimity

At the break of dawn, the light performs wonders on the pond. Bits of broken mirrors glimmer on the water over here; steel plates glitter over there; treasures of yellow coins lay among the reeds. Rays of gold flow into the water lilies like into floating cups. A silvery

The Alley Boys

excerpt  3. THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF STING AND STUNG Sting and Stung came into being in a jar of mustard, on the very first morning after I'd dreamt of serpentine road bends and devils. Had it been necessary to invent a realm for them to come forth from – a

The Childhood Lane

excerpts II When my younger brother came into the world, the lane was waiting for him at the gate. He didn't know: he was so little! His home back then was a white cradle; mother's palms were the only lane he could walk on; mother's eyes – the only windows

The Enchanted Grove

Almost sixty years after the first edition, Lizuca – Victor Hugo's Cosette escaping into Lewis Carroll's Wonderland – became the heroine of a fantasy film directed by Gheorghe Naghi (The Enchanted Grove, 1980 - click here to see preview). excerpts II: MISS

The Children's Crusade

excerpt Attention on platform three! Please stand clear of the edge of platform three! The special train is now arriving from Oradea! Attention on platform three! Please stand clear of the edge of platform three! The special holiday train is now arriving from Oradea! The

Whirligig With Wing

excerpt I May the flame of Saint Vitus strike you, bubblehead! and the slaps shot out in pair like two barrels firing in unison. The one to give them was a very upset Simion Mandruta, and the one to receive them was his rascal of a son, Toader, thin like a rake, fair-haired,