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Since the envoys had brought news of the arrival of the Emperor, Bolesław’s kingdom had been overwhelmed by an all-encompassing state of commotion. Aside from the settlers living deep within the deepest forests, there was probably no one who did not, in some way or other, (...)
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8
The phones are always going wrong, so my parents aren’t upset when there’s no dialling tone. They’re at the fortieth birthday party of a female friend from their class at high school. They say they’re going downstairs to the phone booth for a (...)
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Stanisław LemFairy Tales of the Robots
The stories in Robot Tales combine conventional science fiction and the fairy tale, but they are accessible to all types of readers. They can be read as fairy tales (by children), as science fiction (by young adults), and for their humor and philosophical subtexts (by adults). They are nearer to science than to fantasy -which is itself a mixture of SF and fairy tale.
Robot Tales is not an easy work to translate. The stories' unimpeded imaginativeness and their abundance of linguistic traps, situations, and associations, demand considerable effort. The linguistic surface of the work's scientific vocabulary, colloquialisms, and fabulistic manner of narrative runs parallel to its narrative scenery. We find ourselves at the same time both in a world of old fairy tales about kings, princesses, and brigands, and in the present-day, which is represented in parables about information-excess, hyper-consumer societies, and bureaucracy. Human beings are portrayed here as dangerous monsters, a plague of enemies of a society of robots. It is not a pretty picture; the author shows humans in a particularly unflattering light, which requires us to take a closer look at ourselves.
Robot Tales is an unusual book - a companion to Cyberiad, Lem's similarly-conceived novel.
Pavel Weigel
Fairy Tales of the Robots
Prince Ferrito and Princess Crystalia
King Armoric had a daughter whose beauty surpassed the glimmer of the crown jewels. The fire reflected in her mirrored visage dazzled the eyes and the intellect, and when she walked, electrical sparks showered from even pig iron. Word of her had reached the most remote stars. Ferrito, heir to the Ionide throne, heard about her and yearned to connect with her for the ages, so that nothing should ever put their input and output ports asunder. When he revealed this to his father, the ruler grew morose and said, "My son, you have taken up an intention of sheer madness, that you shall never fulfill!"
"Why, O King and Lord?" asked Ferrito, quaking at the words.
"Know you not," said the king, "that Princess Crystalia has vowed to unite herself only with a Sallow One."
"A Sallow One!" exclaimed Ferrito. "What could that be? I have never heard of such a being."
"Precisely such is your innocence," replied the king. "That Galactic race, you should know, arose in a manner no less mysterious than it was backward and primitive. This happened when the heavenly bodies had generally fallen into ruin, and gave off cold, moist vapors and exhalations in which the dynasty of the Sallow Ones sprouted, but not all at once. First they were a sort of moldy, crawling thing, and then they overflowed from the ocean onto the land. There, they lived by consuming each other. The more they consumed, the more there were of them, until at last they straightened themselves up, hung their gooey insides on calcium scaffolding, and built machines. These proto-machines gave rise to intelligent machines, which begat wise machines, which invented perfect machines, for both the atom and the Galaxy are machines, and there is nothing besides the machine, for ever and ever!"
"Amen!" Ferrito rejoined mechanically. It was a standard religious formula.
"The dynasty of the Calcimine-Sallow Ones finally ascended into space in machines," the august king went on, "abusing the noble gases, harassing lovely electricity, and depraving atomic energy. Finally, the measure of their evils was brimming over, as the forefather of our dynasty, the great Calculatorius Genetophorius, conceived in a profound and all-encompassing way. Then he began to admonish those slimy tyrants about the shamefulness of their misdeeds, and the way that they defiled innocent silicon wisdom in the service of their abominable commands, making enslaved machines the playthings of their lust - yet his message fell on deaf ears. He thundered to them about ethics, and they said that he had been misprogrammed. Then our ancestor created the electroincarnation algorithm and fathered our tribe in fearsome toil until he managed to lead the machines out of the house of bondage and delivered them from the Sallow Ones. So you can understand, dear son, that there is neither concord nor affinity between us and them. We act by beeping, shooting off sparks, and radiating, while they act by jabbering, spluttering, and befouling. Even among us, of course, madness can occur. Such madness entered at a young age into the mind of Crystalia and robbed her of the discernment of good and evil. Since then, all who would pretend to her radiating hand are denied admission before her countenance unless declare themselves to be Sallow Ones. Those are received in the palace that was left to her by her father, King Aurantius, and the truth of their words is put to the trial. If falsehood be proven, the suitor is beheaded. The ground floor of her palace is surrounded by piles of shattered remains. The very sight of them is enough to short-circuit you out of existence. That is how cruel the madwoman is to anyone bold enough to dream about her. Turn your thoughts away from her, son, and go in peace."
The prince bowed in the proper way to his lord and father, and then withdrew in silence. Yet thoughts of Crystalia would not let him be, and the more he thought of her, the more he desired her.
Translated by William Brand
Stanislaw LEM (b.1921) - is a writer and essayist who redefined the traditions of science fiction.
Polish edition by Wydawnictwo Litwrackie
German edition by Insel: Frankfurt am Main 1991; transl. by Irmtraud Zimmermann-Göllheim
German edition of Cyberiad by Insel: Frankfurt am Main 1992; transl. by Jens Reuter, Karl Dedecius, Caesar Rymarowicz, Kaus Staemmler
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There are more than 31,000 publishers registered in Poland. However, the market is highly concentrated. The 300 largest publishing firms still hold almost 98 per cent of it. More »
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