Ilustracija za naslovnico knjige Martin Krpan

Martin Krpan is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

created on the basis of the

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( sl, Notranjska; german: Innerkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the ...

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

Ambivalent Dealings with an Imperial Past: The Habsburg Legacy and New Nationhood in ex-Yugoslavia
/ref> by the 19th-century Slovene writer Fran Levstik in the short story ''Martin Krpan from Vrh pri Sveti Trojici'' ( sl, Martin Krpan z Vrha pri Sveti Trojici). Published in 1858 in the literary journal '' Slovenski glasnik'', the popularity of the story led to it becoming a part of Slovene folklore and made its lead character a

folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore; a ...

The story

A Slovene subject of the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

and one of the strongest men in it, Martin Krpan hails from a fictional village in

, Hilltop by the Holy Trinity hurch('). A smuggler by profession, he makes a living by illegally transporting "English salt" (probably an euphemism for gunpowder). With the help of his loyal, diminutive

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...

, they transport the "salt" from the Adriatic coast throughout the

Slovene Lands The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provin ...

and Inner Austria. On one of his trips, after Krpan meets the imperial carriage on a snowbound road and makes way for it by simply picking up his laden horse and moving it aside, his extraordinary strength is noted by the Emperor John ('). Several years later, the Emperor summons Krpan to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

as his last hope against Brdaus ( sl, Brdavs), a brutal

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

warrior who has set up camp outside the imperial capital and issued a challenge to single combat, and has already slain most of the city's knights, including the Crown Prince. Reluctantly, Krpan accepts the challenge, scandalizing the court with his uncouthness, honesty and homespun manner before defeating the brute in a duel by using not only his strength but an unexpected reserve of ingenuity. In gratitude, the Emperor bestows him with pouch of gold pieces and - more valuably - a royal license to legally traffic in "English salt," as well an offer of his daughter's hand in marriage.

Figural representations

The story of Martin Krpan as rendered by Levstik in his epic story was first illustrated in 1917 by Hinko Smrekar. Today, Smrekar's illustrations are mainly known from the images on

tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...

playing cards. In 1954, the

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

painter Tone Kralj created a series of large full-page color illustrations of the story. His picture book, reprinted thirteen times, is now the most recognisable image of Martin Krpan. Krpan is often depicted carrying his mare, a reference to in an iconic scene from the story in which he moves his horse to make way for the imperial carriage.

Translation in foreign languages

*english Martin Krpan, 2014 ** Martin Krpan (picture book), 2017 *esperanto: Martin Krpan z Vrha, 1954 *croatian: Martin Krpan, 1986 *italian: Martin Krpan, 1983 *hungarian: Martin Krpan, 1963 *macedonian: Martin Krpan, 1965 *german: Martín Krpán, 2004 *russian: Martin Krpan : slovenskaja narodnaja povest, 2011 *slovak: Martin Krpan z Vrhcu, 1950 *srbian: Martin Krpan, 1962 *belorussian. Marcin Krpan, 1982 *swedish: Martin Krpan från Vrh, 2004 *multilingual: Martin Krpan, 2015

Notes

References

External links

Martin Kerpan z Verha
The original story published in ''Slovenski glasnik'' (1858).

- summary of the story {{DEFAULTSORT:Krpan, Martin European folklore characters Fictional characters with superhuman strength Slovene mythology Slovenian literature Fictional Slovenian people