Articles by Initial Letters

Grandma’s headscarf. Arany Piroska writes short stories in a more or less folk tale style. She was born in 1931 in the eastern Hungarian town of Derecske. Since the 1960s she has been writing down stories she heard in her home village from her grandparents and extended family. folkMAGazin publishes another story from her book “Kendőmesék” (Magyar Kultúra Kiadó. Győr, 2008.) “Kendő” is the Hungarian word for the headscarf or kerchief worn by rural married women in this part of the world. “Grandma’s headscarf” is about kids who had to spend the summers with their grandparents. Grandma was strict and thought the children spoiled. Once the children were hungry, they thought Grandma had left the house, so they snuck into the pantry looking for something to eat. Hidden behind some jars of jam they found what had once been a beautiful headscarf. Grandma suddenly appeared and saw what they had found. She was angry. But after that Grandma became just a little nicer. Later on, Grandma finally told the story of the headscarf found in the pantry. Before Grandpa, there had been a boy, Józsi, who Grandma was to have married after he came back from military service, but he died while away. Józsi had asked his best friend to take her a scarf. Finally she married Józsi’s best friend: Grandpa. Grandma kept the scarf hidden from Grandpa, not wanting him to know how she treasured it. However it turns out that Grandpa knew she had the scarf the whole time…