To Bambo or not to Bambo

Each year at graduation teachers read poems in Polish, chosen by our homerooms. My group gave me a kind of nursery rhyme about Bambo, the Polish Little Black Sambo. The book/poem was written about a hundred years ago, by Juliam Towim, supposedly to introduce black people to Poland, which had seen so few (cover on left). Soon as I figured out what it was about, I balked, saying it had overtones of racism, was sterotyping blacks, and I would feel embarrassed to read it in the presence of my black friends. They protested it wasn't really rascist, and neither were they. I asked them to translate the poem and come back the next day (Friday.)

They came back Friday morning with a different poem entirely, said that after reading it again they agreed it was inappropriate. I was touched, the teaching moment had been successful. I used the opportunity to extend the lesson, and on Friday homeroom put together a paper with a Nazi poster showing a Slavic "Untermensch," or subhuman, and asked how were they different. I also introduced them to Polish jokes -- they had no idea there was such a thing -- and talked about how Polish jokes stereotype Poles.

The poem they gave me (Entliczek-Pentliczek), unfortunately, is even harder to read than Bambo. The lesson to me was: How ethics can make your life harder.

Here it is (rough translation...it's about a little red worm living in an apple. He complains that his grandpa, grandma, father & mother are living there, too, and eating up the apple. Anyway, he's fed up with nothing but apple, apple, apple...he wants a steak!

Entliczek-pentliczek, czerwony stoliczek,
A na tym stoliczku pleciony koszyczek,

W koszyczku jabłuszko, w jabłuszku robaczek,
A na tym robaczku zielony kubraczek.

Powiada robaczek: "I dziadek, i babka,
I ojciec, i matka jadali wciąż jabłka,

A ja już nie mogę! Już dosyć! Już basta!
Mam chęć na befsztyczek!" I poszedł do miasta.

Szedł tydzień, a jednak nie zmienił zamiaru,
Gdy znalazł się w mieście, poleciał do baru.

Są w barach - wiadomo - zwyczaje utarte:
Podchodzi doń kelner, podaje mu kartę,

A w karcie - okropność! - przyznacie to sami:
Jest zupa jabłkowa i knedle z jabłkami,

Duszone są jabłka, pieczone są jabłka
I z jabłek szarlotka, i komput [placek], i babka!

No, widzisz, robaczku! I gdzie twój befsztyczek?
Entliczek-pentliczek, czerwony stoliczek.