MG: 'Przygody Sindbada Żeglarza’ by Bolesław Leśmian is a version of a classic tale found in the famous Arabic collection ‘A Thousand and One Nights’. What is the difference between Leśmian’s version and the original?
MB: There are a lot of differences, as well as some obvious overlaps. The basic outline of a seafarer’s seven voyages is there, but whereas in the Arabian story, Sindbad travels to seek his fortune, Leśmian’s Sindbad is a rich young man seduced into travel by a charming, persuasive monster, Diabeł Morski (the Sea Devil). I love Julia Konieczna’s images of the Diabeł Morski; they convey his almost endearing quality as well as his sly intent. There is no poor ‘Sindbad the Porter’ in Leśmian’s version, but instead, an annoying uncle, Wuj Tarabuk, who helps prompt Sindbad’s adventures by making him want to leave home. Tarabuk is a boastful and terrible poet – a crime in Leśmian’s books, yet he is also ultimately loveable, a bit like Toad in The Wind in the Willows.
Leśmian kept some famous episodes from the original: Sindbad stranded on an island that turns out to be a whale, Sindbad carried by the giant bird Roc to a valley of diamonds. But Leśmian’s book is not an adaptation so much as a riff on the original. It uses the familiar story as a springboard for his own wild imagination and preoccupations. On every voyage, Sindbad meets with both dangerous figures like Roc and with enchanting ones, like the wizard-princess, the ‘flaming’ (płomienna) Sermina. (As he admits to us, Sindbad falls in love easily and often.)
The menace mostly comes from a churlish, coarse figure, usually male, the allure from someone ethereal and mysterious, invariably female – most obviously in the struggle between Stella (a gourmand princess) and Urgela (Sindbad's lute-playing dream). (I call Urgela ‘Irgella’ in the text to avoid her name being read as ‘Erguhla’ or ‘Erjela’.) The other absolutely original quality which Leśmian brings to the story is the voice he tells it in – his special mix of styles, from the eerie and enigmatic to the downright hilarious.
MG: Why did you decide to translate this particular book by Leśmian and, say, not ‘Klechdy Sezamowe’ or ‘Klechdy Polskie’ – Leśmian’s other beautiful tales for children?
MB: Sindbad’s adventures were so entertaining and the narrator’s voice so unique that I’ve always wanted to share them with English speakers. Leśmian conjures up a real aura of mystery about the sea and its far-off places – that spoke to me as a child and still speaks to me now more than the idea of looking for one’s fortune.
In fact, I did mean to translate ‘Klechdy Sezamowe’ as well, but I only got as far as ‘Baśń o Rumaku Zaklętym’, which I called ‘The Enchanted Steed’. Finishing that translation is something that I'd like to do. There are some wonderfully feisty heroines in it, like the Bengal princess, and Morgana, who would capture readers’ imaginations. I never read ‘Klechdy Polskie’, as we didn’t own a copy.