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.

Wesele poster from 1901

Act I

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

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

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

Wesele poster from 1901, featuring Kazimierz Kamiński as Stańczyk

• 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)

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

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

Act II

• Kto mnie wołał,
  czego chciał?
  • Who called me, what did they want?
  • Straw Man (Chochoł)

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

Act III

Straw Men by Stanisław Wyspiański

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