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    Translation

    A beetle buzzes in the reeds in Szczebrzeszyn, shaking rain from its wings, and a bumblebee in the forest near Pszczyna raises a terrible hum… The husband of the cuckoo creaks in the thickets, a snipe dozes in the bushes… And in Trzemeszno there still haunts the wide-eyed stare of the strigas…

    Vocabulary

    • chrząszcz — beetle
    • trzcina — reed
    • strząsać — to shake off
    • dżdżu — rain (genitive of 'deszcz', archaic/poetic form)
    • trzmiel — bumblebee
    • puszcza — primeval forest
    • wszczynać — to start, to raise (a commotion)
    • gżegżółka — cuckoo (archaic/poetic)
    • chaszczy — thickets (genitive pl. of 'chaszcze')
    • trzeszczeć — to creak, to crack
    • kszyk — common snipe (bird)
    • strzygа — striga — a Slavic vampire-like creature (pl. strzyg)
    • wytrzeszcz oczu — wide-eyed stare, bulging eyes

    Grammar note

    'W trzcinie w Szczebrzeszynie' — two locatives stacked. 'Z dżdżu' — genitive after 'z' (from). 'Wszczyna szum' — 'szum' is the accusative direct object of 'wszczynać'. 'Strzyg' is genitive plural.

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