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"Łowil ryby widłami, strzelał wróble gajdami"

"He caught fish with a pitchfork, [and] shot sparrows with [a] gajdy"; A stanza of the ballad "Słowo o Jakubie Szeli" [The lay of Jakub Szela (1926)] by Bruno Jasieński [born Wiktor Zysman] (1901-1938), inspired by a children’s song ("Kusy Janek" ["Twisted" Johnny]); The activities mentioned are impossible to perform, and they can therefore be used, by analogy, to define all absurdities; NB: The original stanza reads: "Łowił ryby grabiami, wróble strzelał makiem…" [He caught fish with a rake and shot sparrows with poppy seed].


Sources

Kubik, Józef: Przysłowia i wyrażenia przysłowiowe o instrumentach dętych (Proverbs and proverbial expressions about wind instruments). In: Polskie instrumenty ludowe… (1981), p.127 (»Krzyżanowski/Adalberg, III;106).

Kolberg, Oskar: Dzieła wszystkie ([Complete works]), 1-80 (Vols.1-36: 1857-1907; 37-74: Edited from manuscripts; 75: Biography; 76-80: Indexes), Dzieła wszystkie, XXV (Mazowsze, II (Mazowsze Polne), cz. 2), p.152.

Web

Google books (Nina Kolesnikoff, »Bruno Jasieński: his evolution from futurism to socialist realism« (Waterloo, Ontario, 1982), p.65)