Wesele



Wesele (The Wedding) is a Polish drama written in 1901 by Stanisław Wyspiański. It was inspired by the wedding reception of Wyspiański's friend, poet Lucjan Rydel, and a country girl, Jadwiga Mikołajczykówna, which took place in the village of Bronowice near Kraków in 1900. The play, in which drunken wedding guests are haunted by ghosts of figures from Poland's history, reveals the lack of unity between Polish social classes – intelligentsia, landed gentry, peasants and Jews – and criticises the Poles' stupor and inability to take action for the cause of the nation's independence.

Act I
Chińcyki trzymają się mocno!?''
 * ''Cóż tam, panie, w polityce?
 * What's going on in politics, sir? Are the Chinese holding on?
 * Czepiec (a peasant)

byle polska wieś zaciszna, byle polska wieś spokojna.''
 * ''Niech na całym świecie wojna,
 * Let there be a war the world over, if only the Polish countryside was peaceful, if only the Polish countryside was quiet.
 * Journalist (Dziennikarz)

duza by juz mogli mieć, ino oni nie chcom chcieć!''
 * ''A, jak myślę, ze panowie
 * And I think the gentlemen could have already gained a lot, but they just don't want to want!
 * Czepiec




 * Trza być w butach na weselu.
 * You must wear shoes at a wedding.
 * Bride (Panna Młoda)


 * Ach, pan gada, gada, gada.
 * Oh, you're talking, talking, talking.
 * Councillor's wife (Radczyni)


 * Chłop potęgą jest i basta.
 * The peasant is a mighty power and that's it.
 * Host (Gospodarz)

czy Żyd jucha, cy dobrodzij!?''
 * ''To któż moich groszy złodzij,
 * So who's my pennies' thief, the bloody Jew or the Reverend?
 * Czepiec

Myśmy wszystko zapomnieli.''
 * ''Mego dziadka piłą rżnęli...
 * They hacked my grandfather with a saw... We've forgotten all that.
 * Groom (Pan Młody)

Act II
czego chciał?
 * ''Kto mnie wołał,
 * Who called me, what did they want?
 * Straw Man (Chochoł)

bo trza, żeby święte były''
 * ''Świętości nie szargać,
 * Do not tarnish what is sacred, for sacred it must remain.
 * Stańczyk (court jester)

Act III


toby pił''
 * ''Chopin gdyby jeszcze żył,
 * Chopin, if he was still alive, would drink.
 * Nos (a lesser member of intelligentsia)


 * A to Polska właśnie.
 * And this is what Poland is.
 * Poet (Poeta)

miałeś, chamie, czapkę z piór:'' (...) ostał ci sie ino sznur
 * ''Miałeś, chamie, złoty róg,
 * You had, boor, a golden horn; you had, boor, a feathered cap... Now you're left with just a string.
 * Straw Man