Prin Pris
Written in Spanish, translated into English and German.
A story for young people in thirteen chapters.
Prin Pris
Copyright © Genoveva Serra Caselles, 1995
All rights reserved.
Deposito legal V- 3481 - 1995
Valencia, August 1995
Translation, cover-design and layout:
Klaus-Dieter Zorn
Somewhere in the African Bush we can make acquaintance with a very special way of life in Prin Pris' company. Our hero, born and grown up in this world of his own, is on good terms with the little animals, the big ones make him scared.
He only refers to them in situations of maximum alert like e.g. when the giraffes had to rescue him from the vertiginous height of a treetop, because he fainted up there or when the elephants had to come in a hurry in order to help to stop a forest fire that threatened to turn into a disaster.
But it's with the crocodiles he doesn't want to have any contact in any moment because they make him panic although they only want to have fun with him, being that a fact he doesn't realize.
We will make the acquaintance of Mr. Buhodín, the spy, who was scarcely able to avoid the throw of a banana that Prin Pris launched against his head, as well as his old friend, the best he ever had. He is called Gabón, is a Swedish goblin who taught him to dance under the moonlight.
The bush is full of small and big problems for all the little animals and there is Gabón's nearly unsuccessful love. And we won't even intend to mention the "black monkey" here.
But of course there is Prin Pris, brave, wise and adventurer. He has always a solution for all in present times and for sure as well in future.
The adventures of Prin Pris won't surely come to an end with this book as they won't do it either in the real life.
Genoveva Serra is an author of delightful books for very young people with a true spirit of adventure. Those who have read the tales of "just stories" are already familiar with the personality called Gabón.
First chapter
If you walk along the hillside you stumble on Prin Pris' house. The nearer you come the more branches you have to snap and to get rid of undergrowth growing here in the woodland all the time and that nobody goes to the trouble of taking away.
The trees too have grown up and nobody has taken their branches away either. Why, Prin Pris obviously is a man who hasn't got the time to pay attention to those things. He's busy with other actions. He goes hunting for example, picks up fruit from the ground, wallows in the grass or is eating snails.
He always nudges the same stone and caresses his friends. Those generally are the smallest among the animals because he is afraid of the others and he gets nervous when he faces a crocodile. He is scared of the snakes and likes to dance and to dance under the moonlight, always at Gabón's side, his friend.
Gabón is a Swedish goblin of course. He taught Prin Pris dancing under the moonlight. They became friends long time ago and will be friends until the end of their lives.
The house of Prin Pris is rather small, made of wood, twigs and leaves. Inside there are hung up fruit that grow on trees. From time to time, when it's raining he has only to grab them if he wants to eat.
Gabón on the other hand doesn't live so near the ground as Prin Pris does. He's got his house on the first twigs of a tree, only a few yards away from the one of his friend.
Who's getting up first in the morning normally wakes up the other. On those days that Gabón goes to see Prin Pris, they have breakfast at his home, but if it's Prin Pris waking up Gabón they use to take a seat on the ground on some twigs for breakfast; it's the very small fruit that Gabón nearly always dishes up, and so Prin Pris is protesting with monotonous regularity because he doesn't get enough to eat.
Some time ago he found a little horse that had got lost. He hugged it and gave it all his tenderness. He took care of it for a long time. Later on they came to look for it and it went back to its people, but in the present time the horse often comes back to make a visit and they go all together for a stroll out into the countryside near the river and tell each other thousands of things.
Gabón comes along on those hikes once in a blue moon because one day the horse trod on his little foot unintentionally, and be that as it may, Gabón prefers to stay alone or to watch the fish in the river instead of walking with the two of them.
He's always afraid of a repetition of that story which is haunting him.
Prin Pris had never given the horse a name, he just calls it "his old friend" and that's that. The horse is almost wild and it only stops kicking out, when it's out and about with Prin Pris.
One day during a stroll near the river, Prin Pris wanted to prove his courage. Those sorts of things always happened. The demonstrations of his bravery always ended up with a tragedy or for at least nearly all the times.
His friend, the horse, had come several days ago very early in the morning and after lunch they all went out again to tell each other about their fun and their grieves during a hike. They had already done a long way when they reached one of the most beautiful banks of the river. You could smell the water there and it was less transparent.
Prin Pris asked his friend, the horse, to stop short because he was very keen of taking a bath. They stayed there and Prin Pris went down to the river adverting the experienced swimmer he was. He noticed the cold crawling up his legs but it was too late then to give up. His friend, the horse, looked at him and already knew how all would end.
Despite all it watched the situation and didn't move. The water already reached Prin Pris' hips and he did pirouettes in the water in order to take attentions off. Even the birds that flew past in that moment sat down on the trees to be present at the function, what in fact was worthwhile. Prin Pris behaved like a clown and didn't have the courage to step onwards not even one inch more.
He stood there for a long time and attracted the attention of all, yes of all, … of the crocodiles too. And so they went at him swimming in a hurry to give him a big surprise.
They wouldn't ever have done him any harm but Prin Pris, far from noticing the true intentions of their plans, started swimming desperately, but in the wrong direction. Instead of swimming in direction of the riverside he went the opposite way to the middle of the river. He was so scared that he had lost orientation and wasn't aware that he swam off the bank.
When he cleared his mind he thought for a moment in complete stillness and nearly drowned, but then started beating against the bank with strange movements of his arms shouting and crying for fear.
His friend, the horse, nearly began to stammer when it wanted to get straight that all that was only a joke and that the crocodiles that went on swimming at him and had almost encircled him wouldn't devour him. He reached the bank as he could and in complete despair.
Yet Prin Pris saw next to nothing. He went out of breath for a moment. His friend, the horse, headed for him to give him artificial respiration but he was still swimming and trampling in his bewilderment.
After quite a long time they continued their way. But things weren't like they had been before. Prin Pris showed off his heroic deed in the river all the time.
He talked and talked while his friend, the horse, walked at his side and almost gaped in astonishment.
As far as the crocodiles were concerned they shook with laughter and swallowed more water then they were accustomed to, causing them a fearful cough that could be heard all over the river. Second chapter
It often happened that Prin Pris pretended to hold his own and made himself the laughing stock of all who were watching him. When he came past a group of little animals for example, they were always asking themselves how the next prank would turn out, but he was well-liked among them all and basically they felt sorry for him because he was always trying to be gutsy and afterwards was frightened out of his mind.
He liked the animals and the animals liked him. He wasn't able to kill, but when he had to eat it wasn't his choice although he doesn't go hunting lately. He often eats fruit and goes fishing. He has changed his customs as one can observe.
And it happened on one of those days when he was very calmly making his way to the riverside. Without becoming aware of it he took another path and got to a group of giraffes. He didn't know them all. Of course he displayed his knack of attracting attention without doubt and started to strut about like a peacock.
One of the giraffes, the youngest of all, looked at him to its astonishment. It had never seen him before, and as the giraffes are relatively respectable animals, he seemed to be a jumping jack to it. Prin Pris lingered in front of the group while they were gazing at him and continuing with their meal from the trees.
It goes without telling that Prin Pris had to prove his ability in climbing trees and to jump down from them. So he took a run-up in front of the whole group and started to climb on one of the highest trees.
Before that of course there was the impact onto the tree trunk he had to suffer. His speed had become too enormous but what followed after that was the great ascent up the tree. The giraffes were impressed so deeply that they forgot to go on eating.
Prin Pris climbed and climbed like an ape and then, when he already was a long way up, he almost instinctively looked down.
When he saw the distance that separated him from the save ground he was overcome by a dizziness and started crying for help. The giraffes still stood there rooted to the spot and looked at him puzzled and laughed themselves silly.
Prin Pris was still yelling when one of the giraffes said to an other that they might perhaps help him, so they got nearer and gave him to understand that he should cling to the neck of one of them. Trembling all over and feeling dizzy he did as he was told. When he was spotted on the ground he stayed motionless for a moment.
Then he pulled off some leaves from his head, expressed his thanks with a smile and remarked that the problem of his dizzy feeling while climbing down was of course that he had eaten too much before, that was only too clear. Showing his teeth and still with tremulous legs that nearly didn't want to carry him he started to move again in the direction of the river.
When he arrived home after angling it had already got dark and Gabón was waiting for him at the entrance of his house sitting on one of the two steps.
So Prin Pris sat next to his little friend and told him the story of that day. Gabón listened attentively to his account with his head propped on his little hands. According to Prin Pris it all had happened like that: When he saw that one of the giraffes didn't reach as far as where its favourite fruit grew very high up in the tree, he himself,
the big man of the jungle, had offered to climb up there and to get it down showing his great climbing abilities off. He had climbed up there and had picked the fruit that the giraffe wanted to have, had been admired by the other giraffes and had been stimulated by their catcalls. When he asked Gabón afterwards about his view of that story this one had already shut his little eyes long since and had fallen asleep.
Prin Pris asked himself all night long which one might have been the instant his friend had been overcome by sleep. What a pity, don't you think so, too?
