Reading Notes: Czech Fairytales part A

My last name, Bezdek, is Czech so I thought it would be interesting to read stories that were possibly told to my ancestors growing up in Europe. Since most of these stories are unfamiliar to me, I'm going to jot down notes on general plot and storyline

Bibliography: Czech Folktales, Source

Sleepy John

• He fell asleep a lot, I guess narcolepsy is what we'd say today
• Fell asleep in a cart, and men left him in the forest. Kinda rude.
• He fends off wolves, and goes to the mountains.
• Meets a dying hermit who gives him magical tools.
• He magically travels to the king's palace, and tells the king he will follow the queen
• He finds out the queen has been dancing in Hell and tells the king
• Sleepy John gets half the kingdom. wow

Silly Jura

• Two lazy brothers had a third brother Jura that they bullied
• They go off to find food for a feast, Jura finds nuts from burgomaster
• Jura cracks the nuts in a church and church people think it's haunted
• Jura scares the Burgomaster and cures him, Jura gets a little money
• Meets a cat in an enchanted forest, lives in forest for a year
• Cat asks to be lit on fire, he does it and the cat turns into a beautiful woman.
• Jura and cat lady trick his brothers, lived happily ever after

Bear, Source

The Bear, the Eagle, and the Fish

• Count had three daughters, he went hunting
• Got lost in a forest, promised  a bear his daughters marriage
• This repeated with fish and eagle, why does he keep getting lost in forests
• The countess is sad her husband let all her daughters marry animals
• They had a new son, who grew old and went out to find out a sorcerer cursed the animals
• He defeated the sorcerer and everyone turned into humans yay

A common trend in these stories is magic, and people turning into animals and other beings. Also the protagonist is always a man.