Product Description: This is another posthumous work by that remarkable linguist and anthropologist, Jeremiah Curtin, whose translations of Sienkiewicz's novels were merely byplays in the midst of his strenuous lifework. He collected nearly fifty legends and stories of the Modocs, many of them from a squaw, after the tribe had been suppressed and exiled...read more

From the INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT: THE title of this book in the original is Rodzina Polanieckich (The Family of the Polanyetskis); “Children of the Soil” has been substituted, because of the difficulty of the Polish title for American and English readers, because the Polanyetskis are called children of the soil in the text of the volume, and because all the other characters are children of the soil in the same sense. For most readers this book will have a double interest,—the interest attaching to a picture of Polish life, and the general human interest inseparable from characters like those presented in the narrative of Pan Stanislav’s fortunes. The Poles form a part of the great Slav race, which has played so important a rôle in the world’s history already, and which is destined to play a far more important one yet in the future. The argument involved in the career and meditations of Pan Stanislav is of interest to every person in civilized society; it is an argument presented so clearly, and reinforced with such pointed examples, that neither comment nor explanation is needed. Were it not for the change of title, I might escape even this brief statement; but now I may add that the following translation was made in many places, in different countries, at various intervals, and at moments snatched from other work. I began “Children of the Soil” in Cahirciveen, Ireland, and continued it in London, Edinburgh, Fort William near the foot of Ben Nevis, Rome, Naples, and Florence, Tsarskoe Selo, Russia, and South Uist, an island of the Outer Hebrides. From the Outer Hebrides I was called home before I wished to come, and left that little granite kingdom in the Atlantic with sincere regret. The translation was finished in Warren, Vermont, and revised carefully. To new readers of Sienkiewicz I may state that Pan, Pani, and Panna, when prefixed to names, mean Mr., Mrs., and Miss respectively. JEREMIAH CURTIN.

An excerpt of a review from The Literary World, Volume 29: THIS story by Henryk Sienkiewicz is translated by Jeremiah Curtin. Its publication as a separate volume is warranted by the interest which attaches to it as the germ, so to speak, of Quo Vadis, which is among one of the most noteworthy of novels and has won a large audience as well in Europe as in America. It is the tale of Cains Septimus Cunia, a Roman patrician, rich, splendid, luxury-loving; who, sated with the life of Rome, travels to Alexandria, and there loves and weds a beautiful woman — Autea, daughter of Timon the sage. The intense and all-possessing passion of Cunia for his wife revolutionizes his life and nature. Autea falls ill, and in the hope of cure they journey to Jerusalem, arriving on the eve of the Crucifixion. It is a strange, beautiful little story, full of suggestion and pictures, and of possibilities, with the peculiar charm of which Sienkiewicz only of his generation possesses the secret.

During the tumultuous reign of Nero, Vinicius, a pagan, and Lygia, a Christian, fall in love.

Presents the original translation of Yana mythology by American linguist, Jeremiah Curtin, who recounts the Native American culture and beliefs as well as an account of its tragic demise.

Product Description: "On the Bright Shore" By Henryk Sienkiewicz, author of "Quo Vadis." Authorized unabridged translation from the Polish by Jeremiah Curtin. The story of a Polish artist in the Riviera, in contact with the woman he at last wins, told with vivid detail but simple in the general effect...read more

Product Description: IF we were asked to designate by a single epithet most of the stories in this little volume, that epithet would be weird. Within the compass of an equal number of pages we hardly know a collection of folk-lore, at any rate of recent date, containing so many thoroughly uncanny stories...read more

From the Translator's Introductory. "In Vain," the first literary work of Sienkiewicz, was written before he had passed the eighteenth year of his life and while he was studying at Warsaw. Though not included in his collected works by the author, this book will be received with much favor; of this I feel certain. The first book of the man who wrote "With Fire and Sword" and "Quo Vadis" will interest those of his admirers who live in America and the British Empire. These people are counted at present by millions. This volume contains pictures [words] of student life drawn by a student who saw the life which he describes in the following pages. This student was a person of exceptional power and exceptional qualities, hence the value of that which he gives us. —Jeremiah Curtin

Product Description: A series of short stories and legends is the work from the Polish author, Henryk Sienkiewicz. This collection consists of five stories, entitled “Life and Death: A Hindu Legend,” “Is He the Dearest One?” “A Legend of the Sea,” “The Cranes,” and “The Judgment of Peter and Paul on Olympus,” and is translated by Jeremiah Curtin, under the title “LIFE AND DEATH and Other Legends and Stories"...read more

The first region was called the Plain of Life, the second the Plain of Death.The supreme and all mighty Brahma had created both plains and had commanded the good Vishnu to rule in the Region of Life, while the wise Siva was lord in the Region of Death."Do what ye understand to be best," said Brahma to the two rulers.Hence in the region belonging to Vishnu life moved with all its activity. The sun rose and set; day followed night, and night followed day; the sea rose and fell; in the sky appeared clouds big with rain; the earth was soon covered with forests and crowded with beasts, birds and people.So that all living creatures might increase greatly and multiply, the kindly god created Love, which he made to be Happiness also.After this Brahma summoned Vishnu and said to him:"Thou canst produce nothing better on earth, and since heaven is created already by me, do thou rest and let those whom thou callest people weave the thread of life for themselves unassisted."