A Fly with Whims

How many books there are in the world about animals and birds! A whole ocean!
Here you’ll find wonderful fairy tales—about Cuma the Fox and Little Brother Rabbit, about Grey Wolf and the Firebird; here you’ll find thousands of fables and marvelous stories by dozens of writers, from Seton-Thompson to Vitaly Bianki. There are also tales and even entire novels—for example, “Bambi”—in short, it’s impossible to list everything.
Sometimes you might think, “Well, what else can be said about animals?” Especially not about lions and elephants living in faraway, mysterious lands, or about fairy monsters—but about the most ordinary dogs and cats, chickens and sheep. What interesting can you tell about them? As it turns out—quite a lot!
Have you ever heard, for example, that a sheep—an utterly ordinary sheep—“turns into a dog”? It almost becomes one: it learns to “serve” and even barks at passersby?! Probably not!
Do you know the rules of dogly politeness? Are you familiar with the objects that starlings teach in their own university? Hardly!
But Polish writer Jan Grabowski knows all this in fine detail. I assure you: with all his furry and feathered heroes, this writer has such fascinating stories that once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop!
Jan Grabowski tells about animals in his own way—not the way other writers have.
His heroes—animals and birds—often talk to one another. And how they talk: they joke and argue, think aloud, and sometimes even swear.
And although we all know that animals can’t actually talk, not for a moment do you feel that the author is telling you made-up tales. On the contrary! You believe that everything happened exactly as the writer tells it.
So what’s the secret? you may ask. In this book you’ll read a tale—or a fairy-tale—that will help you find the answer to that question. It’s called “A Completely Tame Man.” Strange name, isn’t it? Especially considering that, according to the author, sparrows came up with it!