Kekec is a fictional

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

character created by Slovenian author

Josip Vandot Josip Vandot (15 January 1884 – 11 July 1944) was a Slovene writer and poet who wrote mainly for young readers. Biography Vandot was born in Kranjska Gora in Upper Carniola, then part of Austria-Hungary, now in Slovenia. Under the interwar K ...

in 1918. He was first introduced in the serial "Kekec on the Hard Path" () in ''Zvonček'' magazine (volume 19, issue 1/2). He is a young shepherd boy living in the Julian Alps, revered in Slovenia, and the subject of several films.

List of characters featured in the Kekec novels

* ''Kekec'' (Mežnarčev Gregec) - is widely recognized as a Slovenian superhero and

cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic ...

. Kekec is a brave boy, a fearless

shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

from the highlands of his home region,

Kranjska Gora Kranjska Gora (; german: Kronau) is a town in northwestern Slovenia, on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region, close to the Austrian and Italian borders. It is the seat of the Municipality of Kranjska Gora. Name Kranjska Gora was f ...

and

Julian Alps The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large pa ...

. He is good guy who is fighting an evil wild hunter from the mountains (Bedanec) and evil herbalist woman from mountains who is stealing children (Pehta).Helga Glušič, ''Sto Slovenskih Pripovednikov'' (Ljubljana: Prešernova družba, 1996) * ''Bedanec'' (or. Bedanc) - evil

poacher Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

with long beard from the mountains * ''Mojca'' - sister of Rožle, captured by Bedanec and Pehta * ''Pehta'' - wild woman from the mountains * ''Rožle'' - scared boy, a friend of Kekec * ''Kosobrin'' - tiny old

herbalist Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

* ''Tinkara'' * ''Brincelj'' * ''Vitranc'' * ''Tinka''

Vandot's original novels

Original trilogy short novels with Kekec as the main character were published as annex in ''Zvonček'' publication, not in one piece at once but in total 12 parts for each novel: Novels weren't published in one piece, but every month one or two parts, as Zvonček publication was released at only every first in the month.

Kekec on the Hard Path

Kekec on the Wolf Trail

Kekec Above the Lonely Abyss

Gale's film trilogy

Jože Gale directed Slovene/Yugoslav film trilogy about Kekec, based on novels by Josip Vandot. But only the first and second film were a direct adaptation of the second and third book:

References

External links

* * *{{IMDb title, id=0063177, title=Kekec's Tricks Fictional Slovenian people Series of books Literary characters introduced in 1918 Fictional shepherds