Activated Stories

Activated Stories


The Krakow Pigeons

June 23, 2016

The Krakow Pigeons is a story from Poland that supposedly explains why the people of the city of Krakow have so much respect for pigeons, those nasty, pesky, obnoxious little -- oops, those birds which many people revile. It tells how a medieval prince named Henryk tried to unite Poland, which had been divided into five kingdoms. He failed, and the country remained divided until 1333 when King Casimir III took the throne. We come to you from Jonesboro, AR in the middle of our summer tour. It's the 20th anniversary of our first yearly performance for the Jonesboro library. We continue telling about our travels in Europe, this time focusing on Krakow, which was our favorite city. Old Town Krakow has the look of a fairy tale city, with many structures well preserved for centuries. We were able to see the fire-breathing statue of the famous dragon and Wawel Hill (which we climbed, just like the boys in our story). We mention that the famed astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) studied at the University Of Krakow (now called Jagiellonian University), which was founded in 1364-- by King Casimir III. Krakow was also home of Oskar Schindler's enamelware factory, now the site of two museums. Happy Listening! Dennis (Henryk, First Prince) and Kimberly (Narrator, Hans, Witch, Second Prince)